Battle of Breakneck Match Report
On Friday I shot the match work up and side matches for the Battle of Breakneck and then returned to my camper to prepare for the match that Saturday. I went through the match book and transferred the distances and stages layouts to write in the rain paper to use in my wrist coach. I didn't put in drop data at that point, choosing to wait until shortly before the stages to make sure that I was using the correct Density Altitude for each stage. As I was finishing my stage cards the winds and rain started picking up. I fell asleep to a constant barrage of rain on the side of the camper. It didn't really feel like it let up until around five in the morning.
Match Briefing
As I woke the morning of the match, the winds had died down and the rain was softer, but the sky was still grey with clouds. It was a lot colder than the previous day and I knew that it was going to be a rough day. I dressed in layers and headed out to the briefing location.
The match was to take place at the edge of some rolling hills. Half of the match was at the top of the hills and involved shooting from various locations along a ridgeline into a number of different valleys. The lower half of the match was to take place where those hills met the farmland from the south. The shooters were to be split up into two groups and shoot one half the first day, then switch for the second. In a brilliant bit of forethought, the match directors decided to have everyone shot the top half of the course on Saturday. The thought was that if the weather continued to decline and the match had to be cancelled, everyone would have shot the same course of fire and scores could be assigned for the entire group.
My First PRS Match
After the briefing we all loaded up and drove around to the north side of the property to begin the day. As we started out, the weather was still cool and the winds were gusting around 20-25 MPH. There was some rain in the early morning, but it stayed fairly light and intermittent. My squad started out on a Know Your Limits stage. There was a plate rack at about 430 yards, and a confirmation plate at 620 yards. You had 10 rounds and could hit anywhere between one to four of the plates on the rack, but you had to hit the confirmation plate to lock in your score. My first round at the left target impacted on the target to the right of where I was aiming. I immediately realized that the wind was going to be a big factor through out the day. After getting a couple hits on the plate rack I tried to hit the confirmation plate with my remaining rounds, but failed. I started the match with zero points for the stage. It wouldn't be my last zero....
We moved on to a PRS skills stage, involving three targets. The targets are engaged in the order 1-2-3-3-2-1 and the times from the stage are used as a tiebreaker. I hit each of the targets, but had some difficulty getting onto the targets quickly and didn't have a very impressive time.
The next stage was one of my favorites. The theme was a buffalo hunt. There were four buffalo shaped targets, set out along a valley. I don't know the actual size of the buffalo, but I can tell you that they were a fraction of the size of a real buffalo! The first two targets were engaged from a set of "buffalo sticks" and the third and fourth target were engaged from the prone with the rifle rested on a leather saddle. I did fairly well on this stage, getting two first round hits, a second round hit and striking out on the furthest target.
The next two stages resulted in zeros for me again. The rain started to pick up a little and I couldn't spot my misses. That resulted in a frustrating couple stages were I would engage the targets, but wasn't able to make any corrections. I basically ended up bracketing my shots to try to figure out where they were hitting, but wasn't able to make them connect.
I started out the morning using the DA 3000 feet DOPE card that I had made. It seemed to work well for the first three stages, but stages three through five had a lot of waiting. After shooting the fifth stage and getting two zeros in a row I asked another shooter for a DA reading and was provided a number of about 3700 feet if I remember right. I switched to a DA 4000 feet DOPE card and the next several stages went much better. I'm not positive if the previous misses were due to the incorrect DOPE card or not. With the 260 Remington, there was not a lot of difference in some of the closer drop values.
After finishing our fifth stage we had to walk to the complete opposite end of the ridge to continue. I was actually quite happy that it worked out this way, because that meant that we started and ended near the middle of the course, which happened to be pretty close to where the vehicles were parked. In the morning that wasn't too important, but as the day went on, the weather got worse and I was glad that I ended closer to my truck.
The next stage was coyote shaped targets located in two separate valleys, pictured below. You engaged two coyotes in the right valley, then two in the left valley with a fifth target near the top of the ridgeline above the left valley. After the discouraging previous two stages I was determined to get back on track. As I worked my way through this stage, I started get my confidence back. I scored four first round hits for two points each and a second round hit on the fourth target for one point. That was a total of nine out of ten points and my personal best for the day.
Getting those hits and knowing that my drop values were correct improved my confidence quite a bit. For the rest of the day I stuck to the DA 4000 feet DOPE card and didn't have any issues with misses that weren't my own fault.
The next stage was a hit to move on stage with targets out to about 1400 yards. You had ten rounds and two minutes to engage the targets. You had to hit each one progressively to move on to the next. I fired a couple extra rounds at the first two targets trying to figure out the wind. This stage was fired to the south from the end of the finger-ridge we were on. Because the wind was coming from the valleys on both the left and right, the wind for these targets was blowing almost straight away from us. After figuring out the wind and hitting the first two targets I dialed for the third and missed way low.
I saw my miss impact the dirt and thought there was no way I pulled the shot that much. I double checked my turret and realized I hadn't dialed enough elevation. As I mentioned in the previous post about the mile shoot, my scope only has about 15 MOA of elevation per revolution of the turret. To dial the target at 1098 yards I needed about 22 MOA of adjustment. When I dialed the scope I didn't dial the full 7 additional MOA past the first revolution. After correcting my drop the next round impacted the target. I was about to dial for the next target, when the RO called that my time was up. I was annoyed that I had dialed the wrong DOPE! The correct DOPE was a first round hit, which would have meant that I would have most likely had time to get a least one more round at the next further target.
The next stage had us shooting at some moon shaped targets, which went okay until the last target. I thought I had spotted all of the targets with my naked eye, so I didn't bother glassing the targets. What I thought was the last target was actually from the next course of fire. That reminded me of what Rick Reeves had said the other day about using binoculars to spot the targets and practice moving from target to target with a magnified view!
As we moved to the next stage it seemed like the wind and rain started to kick up a level. This stage involved shooting from three different positions in a narrow slot of a rock outcropping. From each position you had to engage one target straight across the valley and a second down the valley (the one I tried to shoot from the previous stage). I actually did fairly well at this stage, I don't remember my exact hit count, but I got most of my hits. The wind was blowing at about 20-25 MPH from right to left at the cross-the-valley shot, but for the down valley shot the wind value was much lower.
For this stage I remembered one of the match directors mentioning that you would lose your brass if you weren't careful. I watched one of the competitors before me with a Mausingfield action. He was running the bolt hard and the Mausingfield was ejecting the brass just as hard! He was launching brass a good 15-20 feet out over the cliff below the rocks. After watching him, I would slowly extract my brass by working the bolt as I moved the rifle back to engage the next target. Although kind of hard to explain, it resulted in all of my brass hitting the rocks I was leaning against and then dropping to my feet.
From here we only had a couple stages left. Although we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, that's when the weather really started to turn for the worse. The on and off rain that we had for the early part of the day turned into a steady mix of snow and sleet. I had stayed relatively dry for most of the day, but for the last couple stages my clothing and especially my gloves just couldn't keep up.
The next stage involved shooting at three targets from near to far. The first target was from a standing position, then kneeling or seated and finally from prone. You could use any bags that you wanted, but for the standing and seated/kneeling positions you couldn't use any other support. I haven't practiced shooting off hand with my 260 very much, so I wasn't even close. Fortunately I at least got a few points once I got down to the prone and was able to build a steady position.
The next stage involved a close and far target engaged from a fence post. Each target was engaged once from three different positions. The fence post had a strand of barbed wire at about kneeling height. You had to engage both targets from each side of the fence post and from the top of it. Despite my scope covers keeping my lenses clean for most of the day, by this stage there was enough water on the glass that I was having a hard time seeing the targets. I had a cleaning cloth with me, but didn't check the glass before I started. I didn't think of it since I hadn't had an issue so far during the day, but quickly realized I would need to clean it before the last stage.
As the weather got worse and worse I went to the last stage. This was another know your limits stage. The picture below shows the group before us shooting the last stage. The picture doesn't portray how bad the weather felt, but if you look on the left side you can see that three of the squad mates are standing next to the shooter and trying to block some of the rain and snow from covering the shooter's scope.
Our squad tried the same thing and it helped a little, but my scope still filled up with water shortly after the timer started. I fired all ten rounds at the first target, trying to hit it, but not spotting any misses. About half way through I thought I saw splash on the target and heard a hit, but the spotters said they didn't see it, so I continued on. Unfortunately I ended the day with another zero on that last stage.
After shooting the final stage I worked my way back to the truck as quickly as possible. As I got back to the truck my hands were so wet and cold that I couldn't feel my keys as I was trying to dig them out of my pocket. In fact, my fingers didn't regain full feeling until the next morning!
Sunday Morning Let Down
The next morning I woke up to more rain and overcast skies. I got dressed again and prepared myself for another cold, wet day of shooting. I gathered with the other shooters and noticed that there mood seemed very light. I quickly found out that I had just missed the announcement that the Sunday half of the match was cancelled. They had announced that due to the weather and saturated terrain, there would be no additional shooting.
We were directed to head to the local firehouse for lunch and they would total the scores for the previous day, determine the tie breakers for shooters with the same score and then move into the awards ceremony.
And The Award Goes To...
My wife and I changed in to some more casual clothes and headed to the firehouse. There was quite the wait for the lunch and ceremony, but I would imagine that was mostly because it was originally planned as a dinner, not lunch.
Once we got some food in our stomachs, the award ceremony started. They announced the winners of the side matches and some special milestones, such as the highest number of first round hits at some of the longer targets. Finally the winner was announced. It was none other than John Griswold. It was nice to see someone that I had met the day before at the match work-up take home the win for the match. He was able to pick an incredible rifle from TS Customs off of the prize table.
Once the top few names were called, they continued to go down the list of shooters in order and each had the opportunity to go and pick something from the prize table. I ended up placing 63 out of 144 shooters. While not exactly an amazing win, I had personally set a goal that even though it was my first match, I wanted to score in the top half of all shooters.
Despite the strong winds, inclement weather and general lack of experience shooting PRS, I was able to break into the top 50%.
I was able to score a discount on a Jewell trigger off of the prize table and plan on using that to upgrade the factory trigger I am running on my rifle.
After the awards I returned to the sight in range to start hooking up the camper. As I was pulling up I noticed that the clouds seemed to be breaking and the rain had stopped. I found myself thinking that if we had shot that day, it might have actually turned out to be a better day than Saturday. Oh well, my first PRS match was in the books and I was already trying to figure out how to work in the next match with work and family life....
Stay tuned for an After Action Report on the Battle of Breakneck. I plan on writing a little more about some of the things that I learned shooting my first PRS match and what I could have done better, and some issues that I had with my equipment and how to work with or replace what wasn't working right.
If you want to read the other posts in the series, check out the links below:
My First PRS Match- A New Caliber
Battle of Breakneck Match Workup
Match Briefing
 |
| Preparing range cards the night before Battle of Breakneck. |
The match was to take place at the edge of some rolling hills. Half of the match was at the top of the hills and involved shooting from various locations along a ridgeline into a number of different valleys. The lower half of the match was to take place where those hills met the farmland from the south. The shooters were to be split up into two groups and shoot one half the first day, then switch for the second. In a brilliant bit of forethought, the match directors decided to have everyone shot the top half of the course on Saturday. The thought was that if the weather continued to decline and the match had to be cancelled, everyone would have shot the same course of fire and scores could be assigned for the entire group.
My First PRS Match
After the briefing we all loaded up and drove around to the north side of the property to begin the day. As we started out, the weather was still cool and the winds were gusting around 20-25 MPH. There was some rain in the early morning, but it stayed fairly light and intermittent. My squad started out on a Know Your Limits stage. There was a plate rack at about 430 yards, and a confirmation plate at 620 yards. You had 10 rounds and could hit anywhere between one to four of the plates on the rack, but you had to hit the confirmation plate to lock in your score. My first round at the left target impacted on the target to the right of where I was aiming. I immediately realized that the wind was going to be a big factor through out the day. After getting a couple hits on the plate rack I tried to hit the confirmation plate with my remaining rounds, but failed. I started the match with zero points for the stage. It wouldn't be my last zero....
We moved on to a PRS skills stage, involving three targets. The targets are engaged in the order 1-2-3-3-2-1 and the times from the stage are used as a tiebreaker. I hit each of the targets, but had some difficulty getting onto the targets quickly and didn't have a very impressive time.
The next stage was one of my favorites. The theme was a buffalo hunt. There were four buffalo shaped targets, set out along a valley. I don't know the actual size of the buffalo, but I can tell you that they were a fraction of the size of a real buffalo! The first two targets were engaged from a set of "buffalo sticks" and the third and fourth target were engaged from the prone with the rifle rested on a leather saddle. I did fairly well on this stage, getting two first round hits, a second round hit and striking out on the furthest target.
The next two stages resulted in zeros for me again. The rain started to pick up a little and I couldn't spot my misses. That resulted in a frustrating couple stages were I would engage the targets, but wasn't able to make any corrections. I basically ended up bracketing my shots to try to figure out where they were hitting, but wasn't able to make them connect.
 |
| Earlier in the morning the rain was light and sporadic. |
After finishing our fifth stage we had to walk to the complete opposite end of the ridge to continue. I was actually quite happy that it worked out this way, because that meant that we started and ended near the middle of the course, which happened to be pretty close to where the vehicles were parked. In the morning that wasn't too important, but as the day went on, the weather got worse and I was glad that I ended closer to my truck.
The next stage was coyote shaped targets located in two separate valleys, pictured below. You engaged two coyotes in the right valley, then two in the left valley with a fifth target near the top of the ridgeline above the left valley. After the discouraging previous two stages I was determined to get back on track. As I worked my way through this stage, I started get my confidence back. I scored four first round hits for two points each and a second round hit on the fourth target for one point. That was a total of nine out of ten points and my personal best for the day.
 |
| Engaging coyote targets in both valleys. |
The next stage was a hit to move on stage with targets out to about 1400 yards. You had ten rounds and two minutes to engage the targets. You had to hit each one progressively to move on to the next. I fired a couple extra rounds at the first two targets trying to figure out the wind. This stage was fired to the south from the end of the finger-ridge we were on. Because the wind was coming from the valleys on both the left and right, the wind for these targets was blowing almost straight away from us. After figuring out the wind and hitting the first two targets I dialed for the third and missed way low.
I saw my miss impact the dirt and thought there was no way I pulled the shot that much. I double checked my turret and realized I hadn't dialed enough elevation. As I mentioned in the previous post about the mile shoot, my scope only has about 15 MOA of elevation per revolution of the turret. To dial the target at 1098 yards I needed about 22 MOA of adjustment. When I dialed the scope I didn't dial the full 7 additional MOA past the first revolution. After correcting my drop the next round impacted the target. I was about to dial for the next target, when the RO called that my time was up. I was annoyed that I had dialed the wrong DOPE! The correct DOPE was a first round hit, which would have meant that I would have most likely had time to get a least one more round at the next further target.
 |
| Shooters waiting for the buffalo hunt themed stage. |
As we moved to the next stage it seemed like the wind and rain started to kick up a level. This stage involved shooting from three different positions in a narrow slot of a rock outcropping. From each position you had to engage one target straight across the valley and a second down the valley (the one I tried to shoot from the previous stage). I actually did fairly well at this stage, I don't remember my exact hit count, but I got most of my hits. The wind was blowing at about 20-25 MPH from right to left at the cross-the-valley shot, but for the down valley shot the wind value was much lower.
For this stage I remembered one of the match directors mentioning that you would lose your brass if you weren't careful. I watched one of the competitors before me with a Mausingfield action. He was running the bolt hard and the Mausingfield was ejecting the brass just as hard! He was launching brass a good 15-20 feet out over the cliff below the rocks. After watching him, I would slowly extract my brass by working the bolt as I moved the rifle back to engage the next target. Although kind of hard to explain, it resulted in all of my brass hitting the rocks I was leaning against and then dropping to my feet.
From here we only had a couple stages left. Although we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, that's when the weather really started to turn for the worse. The on and off rain that we had for the early part of the day turned into a steady mix of snow and sleet. I had stayed relatively dry for most of the day, but for the last couple stages my clothing and especially my gloves just couldn't keep up.
The next stage involved shooting at three targets from near to far. The first target was from a standing position, then kneeling or seated and finally from prone. You could use any bags that you wanted, but for the standing and seated/kneeling positions you couldn't use any other support. I haven't practiced shooting off hand with my 260 very much, so I wasn't even close. Fortunately I at least got a few points once I got down to the prone and was able to build a steady position.
The next stage involved a close and far target engaged from a fence post. Each target was engaged once from three different positions. The fence post had a strand of barbed wire at about kneeling height. You had to engage both targets from each side of the fence post and from the top of it. Despite my scope covers keeping my lenses clean for most of the day, by this stage there was enough water on the glass that I was having a hard time seeing the targets. I had a cleaning cloth with me, but didn't check the glass before I started. I didn't think of it since I hadn't had an issue so far during the day, but quickly realized I would need to clean it before the last stage.
As the weather got worse and worse I went to the last stage. This was another know your limits stage. The picture below shows the group before us shooting the last stage. The picture doesn't portray how bad the weather felt, but if you look on the left side you can see that three of the squad mates are standing next to the shooter and trying to block some of the rain and snow from covering the shooter's scope.
Our squad tried the same thing and it helped a little, but my scope still filled up with water shortly after the timer started. I fired all ten rounds at the first target, trying to hit it, but not spotting any misses. About half way through I thought I saw splash on the target and heard a hit, but the spotters said they didn't see it, so I continued on. Unfortunately I ended the day with another zero on that last stage.
 |
| Shooting the last stage, notice the squad on the left shielding their teammate from the rain. |
Sunday Morning Let Down
The next morning I woke up to more rain and overcast skies. I got dressed again and prepared myself for another cold, wet day of shooting. I gathered with the other shooters and noticed that there mood seemed very light. I quickly found out that I had just missed the announcement that the Sunday half of the match was cancelled. They had announced that due to the weather and saturated terrain, there would be no additional shooting.
We were directed to head to the local firehouse for lunch and they would total the scores for the previous day, determine the tie breakers for shooters with the same score and then move into the awards ceremony.
And The Award Goes To...
My wife and I changed in to some more casual clothes and headed to the firehouse. There was quite the wait for the lunch and ceremony, but I would imagine that was mostly because it was originally planned as a dinner, not lunch.
Once we got some food in our stomachs, the award ceremony started. They announced the winners of the side matches and some special milestones, such as the highest number of first round hits at some of the longer targets. Finally the winner was announced. It was none other than John Griswold. It was nice to see someone that I had met the day before at the match work-up take home the win for the match. He was able to pick an incredible rifle from TS Customs off of the prize table.
Once the top few names were called, they continued to go down the list of shooters in order and each had the opportunity to go and pick something from the prize table. I ended up placing 63 out of 144 shooters. While not exactly an amazing win, I had personally set a goal that even though it was my first match, I wanted to score in the top half of all shooters.
Despite the strong winds, inclement weather and general lack of experience shooting PRS, I was able to break into the top 50%.
I was able to score a discount on a Jewell trigger off of the prize table and plan on using that to upgrade the factory trigger I am running on my rifle.
After the awards I returned to the sight in range to start hooking up the camper. As I was pulling up I noticed that the clouds seemed to be breaking and the rain had stopped. I found myself thinking that if we had shot that day, it might have actually turned out to be a better day than Saturday. Oh well, my first PRS match was in the books and I was already trying to figure out how to work in the next match with work and family life....
Stay tuned for an After Action Report on the Battle of Breakneck. I plan on writing a little more about some of the things that I learned shooting my first PRS match and what I could have done better, and some issues that I had with my equipment and how to work with or replace what wasn't working right.
If you want to read the other posts in the series, check out the links below:
My First PRS Match- A New Caliber
Battle of Breakneck Match Workup
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