September 2000

Advice For The New Tactical Shooting Competitor

By Ed Pocock III

copyright Precision Shooting Magazine 2000 

Over the last decade, numerous sniper matches that test the skills of practical field shooting have popped into existence. The short list includes: D&L’s Tactical Marksmen’s Match & Golden Egg Shoot, Storm Mountain’s Sniper Rendezvous Competition, Blackwater Lodge’s Mid-Atlantic Challenge, Crosshairs’ New England Sniper Challenge, Autauga Rifles’ Super Sniper Shootout™, Autauga Sales’ European version of the same, Sniper’s Paradise Annual Sniper Challenge, Operational Tactic’s World Sniper Championship™, Snipercraft’s SniperWeek™, the Hickory Ground Hog & Egg Shoot, and the HardRock/Bottom Invitational Long Range Precision Rifle Shoot, are just a few that immediately come to mind. This, of course, doesn’t even begin to include the numerous local and state level sniper shoots that take place throughout the year.

While choosing which match to attend is a daunting task, the preparation for even a single event can be much more troublesome. Many new competitors commonly ask, "What gear, besides the rifle, should we bring?" The second question, which usually comes after attending their first match, is, "How did you train and mentally prepare for the match?" There are usually other questions but these two seem to dominate most conversations on the subject.

What Gear, Besides the Rifle, Should We Bring?

Before the rifle is forgotten, I ask, "So, what do you shoot?" Using a barely adequate gun (1-1 MOA—and this is stretching it) only exasperates mediocre shooting, hinders good shooting, and makes poor shooting difficult to correct and coach. Always encourage a shooter to buy the BEST rifle/scope/mounts and if they can’t afford it, save and buy the best. This is a definite, there is no such thing as a ‘starter’ rifle, that’s hogwash. Never settle on a rifle, either for the job or in competition. Point the new shooter in the direction of a great SNIPER rifle gunsmith or commercial product properly designed for such a purpose.

After the sniper rifle has made muster, I suggest the following pieces of major support equipment: The Backpack, The Long Gun Pack Mat™ (Rifle carrier/Drag Bag/Shooting Mat), Ammunition, Non-rifle Optics, and a category I refer to as Everything Else. All of these combined represent the basics.

The Backpack. For the longest time, I found myself unpacking my Eagle Becker Patrol Pack (similar to an ALICE ruck), which I use on the job [Roughing It Today (With apologies to Mark Twain), Tactical Shooter/June 1999], and reconfiguring it for competition. This minor inconvenience aside, the Becker was really too much gear for a sniper match. My partner and I soon found that our packs were usually empty—a waste to carry and crawl with. As Captain Bill Huskey/Opelika PD, AL, says to his troops, "If you don’t need the room, why carry the weight? Dump the full size pack for competitions and short term assignments and use something like the Liqua-Pak™ because it’s easier to handle."

Our search for a smaller pack, with a LARGE water reservoir (90 oz. or better), began and ended with the Eagle Liqua-Pak III™, shown in Photograph 1. The inside holds a large 90 oz. reservoir (the Liquidator™ system is of Eagle’s own—along the same lines as Camelbak) and enough room inside for our necessary gear. On the outside, we’ve attached two Blackhawk (Eagle also makes this product) Folding .308 Ammo Pouches (holds 20 rounds each) to ferry our ammunition around on the range (Photograph 2). This system is relatively small, lightweight, and can also serve as a light duty pack on the job, in support of (not a replacement for) your call out equipment for the field. Lieutenant Ray Smith/Phenix City PD, AL, who initially started the movement towards using this pack in competition, puts it best, "The bigger the pack, the more junk you will try to stuff in. I have seen some load themselves down with every gadget and special tool you can think of. To do the job, you need bullets, water, data book, food, binoculars, range finder, and maybe a windmeter. All of this and a lot more will fit in a three pocket Eagle pack."

The Long Gun Pack Mat™. BlackHawk really hit the nail on the head with this product, creating a soft rifle carrying case, a shooting mat (27" x 50"), and finally a drag bag.

As a police officer, it allows me to literally pack my "sniping office" up and go (Photograph 3a & 3b). As a competitor, it fills the same role but gives me something even more valuable in a competitive atmosphere, TIME. This thing is quick. Once your rifle is out, the shooting mat can be quickly unfolded with the flick of a wrist, creating a comfortable place to shoot. The shooting mat is fully functional; complete with a "rubberized" forward section called HawkTex, which provides an excellent non-slip surface for the elbows. Another great feature includes a Velcro strip that runs horizontally at the business end of the mat. This allows the shooter to secure Velcro compatible accessories to the mat in an easy reach location, while in position. We also find that an additional BlackHawk Folding .308 Ammo Pouch works very well here, along with a pocket to hold my Data Card System (Photograph 4).

Its use as a drag bag can be best described as; "It does the job". While not as rugged as a drag bag designed for this sole purpose, the Long Gun Pack Mat™ provides good protection, which is further enhanced by using a padded scope protector with crown cover that is made by both BlackHawk and Eagle (Photograph 5). I used this system as a drag bag at the SIG Arms Academy Advanced Tactical Marksman/Observer class and at several sniper competitions without any problems. This is one piece of gear you will not regret purchasing.

For those of you wondering why Eagle hasn’t entered this arena (Mat/Drag Bag/Soft Case), your wait may not be too long, John Carver, President of Eagle Industries, informed me they have a product in extensive research and development right now. He also informed me that there product would be vastly superior to anything currently offered. Knowing Eagle, that’s a good possibility.

Ammunition. Nothing frustrates a rifleman worse than garbage ammunition. Either handload your own high quality match ammunition (nearly all professional police snipers don’t for liability reasons) or stick with a true match grade round that has proven field performance. For those taking the commercial ammunition route, the picky shooters I know shoot one of two brands: Federal or Black Hills. There are others but these seem to be the norm.

The Federal Cartridge Company, under the Gold Medal banner, makes the most popular American match rifle cartridges. This fact should not be too surprising, since Federal had the distinction of being the only commercial firm around that made a quality match grade round in bulk. But that is changing fast.

Black Hills Ammunition is right on the heels of Federal. Their bold red boxes, with the Black Hills logo, have been seen on the range more frequently and the performance is, at minimum, equal to Federal’s best.

While they may not be personalized hand loads, churned from a trusty ‘O’ press, neither Federal nor Black Hills should disappoint.

Non-Rifle Optics. This area, more than any other, is where many competitors decide to ‘take the cheap route’. Don’t do it. Nothing compliments a great sniper/observer team like a fine quality spotting scope and binocular combination, allowing the team to see their targets with greater flexibility and clarity. It could be the difference between winning (seeing) and losing (not seeing), whether at a competition or on the job.

The preferred spotting scope comes with a 45-degree offset 25x (or in this area of magnification) Long Eye Relief (LER) eyepiece (Photograph 6). This configuration is most comfortable and is ‘glasses friendly’, since the LER allows you to see a full field of view while holding your eye nearly 1 inches off the eyepiece. Currently, the most popular spotting scope glass belongs to high quality brands like IOR, Kowa or even the expensive Swarovski. You will pay [Scope/Complete Stand/Eyepiece = (as of 6/22/00) around the area of $800] some significant money for quality but the superior visual advantage is well worth the money.

Binoculars should be durable and clear. There are many brands out there that can do the job. Conduct some research (reading articles by Jacob Gottfredson would be a great start), try before you buy, and refuse on settling on a mediocre set of glass. More often than not, a set of binoculars will be in your hands when you find yourself in a lousy contorted position and want to see your target area FAST. It’s then you say, "Boy, I wish I had bought…" Too late.

Everything Else. This consists of gear that we have found useful. The short list includes laser range finder, windmeter, reference material, and some other convenience items.

Laser range finders can be found in almost any outdoor catalog. Those offered have a reputation for accuracy and are quite simple to use. The ever-popular Bushnell laser range finder, which we use, is very dependable and has provided us with extremely accurate readings. In any case, whether your choice is a Leica, Bushnell, Tasco, Swarovski, or some other brand, this is a nice item to have in your bag of tricks.

Since a sniper’s most difficult long-range challenge will be the wind; a quality windmeter would seem to be a prudent investment. There are many available and they range from junk to marine (sailboat) quality. We chose the Kestrel, since it’s the pocket choice of competitive yachtsmen around here. This was enough to convince me that the unit is not only durable but accurate (guys who own/captain multi-million dollar racing yachts tend to buy good stuff—a rare thing that we can enjoy too).

Any mention of gear would not be complete without some guidebooks for the sniper to refer back to. I recommend three definite reads: The Ultimate Sniper, by Major John Plaster (Paladin Press); The Military and Police Sniper, by Mike Lau (Precision Shooting); and Survive Safely Anywhere, The SAS Survival Manual, by John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman (Crown Publishers). The sniper books by Lau and Plaster compliment each other, while Wiseman’s book includes some great field skills for any sniper or outdoorsman. This information, coupled with the sniper’s personal LogBook and Data Card System [The Field Shooter’s Logbook, Tactical Shooter/July 2000] create a nearly limitless sea of useful information.

Convenience items placed in my Eagle Liqua-Pak III™, which require little explanation but are often overlooked, include: Fog proofer for eyeglasses (a problem that only seems to present itself on a really important shot), Gore-Tex rain gear (trousers & jacket), a small tarp (a poncho in a pinch) to cover gear on a rainy line, bug repellant, a Leatherman, a small snack (protein bars work well, avoid things that melt easy), and sun block. All these small items will serve you well on the line during a competition and one more thing, don’t forget to fill the 90-oz. bladder with water.

How Did You Train and Mentally Prepare for the Match?

Let’s tackle this in two parts, starting with some training ideas and we will finish things off with some solid ‘keep your nerve’ in competition tips.

Training for Competition. Here are some basic guidelines to follow:

Know the type of match you are about to attend. While all sniper matches test a sniper team’s ability to detect, direct, and hit things at varying distances, they do differ. Is it a Restricted Match for a certain crowd (usually Military or Police), a Combined Match (usually Military and Police), or is it an Open Match (come one, come all). Once you know the type of match you will be attending, gear your training efforts in that particular area. For example: If the match is a Restricted Match for police, practicing on 400 to 1,000 yard targets might not be the best use of your time. Many police events rarely exceed the 300 yard line. A hint: A little research on the internet, where most matches are posted, and a few chats with past match participants can uncover many, or at least some, match ‘secrets’ that can be used to enhance your training efforts.

Know your weapons system. Have a system that allows you to adjust your weapon’s settings in a quick fashion. Study your Logbook or Data Card System whenever you have some down time. Try to create a mental picture of what is contained inside so that information can be found quickly when on the firing line. Time is a precious commodity at a sniper match that not only tests a sniper team’s equipment knowledge but their communication skills as well (see paragraph 4).

Know your partner’s weapons system. In some matches, they force competitors to switch rifles for an event. A hint here, if you both use the same basic system for making adjustments, the task becomes much easier. Keep it simple.

Concentrate on developing effective communications between you and your partner so that it becomes second nature. Communication deficiencies are an area of weakness that match directors love to expose. A favorite drill of ours is a target filled with MOA sized geometrical shapes, where only the observer is allowed to see a ‘key’ and then guides the sniper in to the designated targets shown on the ‘key’ (Photograph 7). The team then has 1 minute to hit all the targets. Times are then decreased as proficiency increases. This type of training is an excellent communication building exercise for any sniper/observer team.

Practice stalking and target recognition from a hide. Many matches cause a team to either crawl into or select a hide, while match cadre attempt to find them. Once in position, the sniper team must identify some mark or object without being seen. Some matches even use blanks that once fired, give the cadre a chance to locate the sniper team before giving them full credit for the exercise.

If you have already attended a sniper match, practice courses of fire from past matches. We’ve been doing this for years and it does work.

Mental Games. When I attended the CT Police Academy in 1989, we had a chief firearms instructor, Nate Tanguay, who said, "Shooting is 90% mental" and that good marksmanship demands a certain mental fortitude. He would finish his lecture with his famous line of, "Now don’t choke during qualification." Many did. They knew the elements of good shooting but let their mind beat them.

Dr. Aleksandr A. Yur’yev, in his book Competitive Shooting (NRA Publications), refers to this phenomena as the "prestart condition", which can occur before and during a competition. Dr. Yur’yev describes this condition as follows (Page 356, 2^nd Paragraph):

"Intense excitement during the prestart condition may be accompanied by a sharp quickening of the pulse that sometimes reaches 120 or more beats per minute. Because of the rise in blood pressure and quickening of the pulse, the shooter feels a strong pulsation that significantly increases the rhythmical pulsating oscillations of the gun. The shooter’s breathing becomes quicker and shallower and he feels hot and perspires. His anxiety affects muscle tone and the performance of the motor apparatus in such a way that his gun begins to oscillate significantly and, conscious of the loss of stability in his position, the shooter becomes even more excited. …This has a psychological effect on the shooter which produces feelings of fear, indecisiveness, and apprehension about his score"

Sound familiar? It’s starts out as simple "butterflies in the stomach" or excitement, but excitement over what? In a sniper competition, it’s the fear of letting your team down by poor shooting that’s what and if left unchecked, it turns into a form of shooting anxiety as described above.

In order to combat this destructive cycle; stop it when it starts. Simply relax. Use whatever mental means necessary but devise a way to ‘calm down’ in such a manner that no one else notices. My favorite way to relax amounts to finding a blade of grass, a small stone, or some other insignificant object 10 yards in front of me and I intensely study it. It’s shape, size and color. Things start to slow down and I bring myself back to the gun. Now it’s just me, the gun, and the pebble (or whatever I found). I’ve entered what many shooters call ‘the bubble’. It’s then that I take the shot.

Some shooters go through a short ritual of phrases that are designed to calm them down; while others have certain words they say to themselves that trigger a calming effect; and some even perform barely noticeable exercises that provide relaxation for them. In any case, all roads lead to ‘the bubble’. A state of utter concentration. Focus, focus, focus. A feeling of "I WILL make this happen" rather than "I may make this happen". Doubt is out. That is what occurs in ‘the bubble’.

Masters of these mind games pop in and out of their ‘bubble’, while others struggle with the invisible zipper that could let them in. Practice this each and every time you travel to the range for practice. If while shooting, you find yourself looking at flies around you while you shoot, or other nonsense, you are NOT in ‘the bubble’. Redirect yourself by calming down and focusing at the task at hand. You’ll know you have arrived the first time a bee stings you (usually at the rifle’s report) and then wonder how long he was there. Now that’s concentration.

Closing. Competitive sniper shooting is a great way to hone your skills as a precision marksman. It provides invaluable personal contacts, equipment lessons, field craft, and pushes your sniper/observer team to its limits. Police snipers should shoot military courses and visa versa. Open events, like the Hickory Ground Hog & Egg Shoot, are fun events that will, if nothing else certainly teach a lesson in Humility 101 and long range precision shooting.

Learn all there is to know about the craft of sniping, because someday, you just might find yourself in a position that requires those diversified past experiences to succeed.

*Special thanks to Lieutenant Ray Smith and Captain Bill Huskey for their input.

**I have included some specific names of products in this article and want to note that I am not on anyone’s payroll to endorse them—they simply work.