Rifle Team Weekly Happenings 2021-10-03
Hi Everyone!
I hope that everyone had the best homecoming weekend possible given the weather conditions.
Items this week:
- If you are interested in joining and are unsure, come down to the range and try us out! It's never too late to start!
- This week we will start our introduction to Smallbore - Prone, for anyone who wishes to shoot Smallbore and has gone through introductory Air Rifle. Due to time constraints this will be extremely abridged and will give you the minimal skills necessary to shoot Prone in a competition. We'll backfill basic skills after our first competition in November.
- Try to allocate 90 minutes (or more) for practice this week - It's alright if you can't make that commitment. Just let me know and we'll figure something out.
- You will need to purchase or provide your own ammunition to shoot Smallbore. The team sells F711B - 50 rounds for $3, or 500 rounds for $23
- In an attempt to consolidate new team member instruction into a more focused and productive and less hectic affair, we'll have more of a group-style introduction starting at times specified below. If you have any time constraints please email me; I'll try to work around them. If possible, please try to show up about 10 minutes early so we can get you registered in the membership system and handle any type of financial transitions (if necessary), or leave yourself about 10 minutes after practice to get this handled.
- If all goes planned we will start group-style instruction at the following times: 6:15; 7:15; 8:15
- Instruction Format (Times specified in minutes)
- 5-10 - Equipment Overview & Storage Locations
- 10-15 - Anschutz 1913 Overview, Safety & Handling, Setup
- 10ish - First Shots (Supported - Just 10 shots or so to get use to the trigger)
- 10-15 - Prone Instruction / Overview
- Because we will be shooting smallbore, everyone MUST wear hearing protection before entering the range. We include a complimentary pair of reusable earplugs with your membership. Disposable earplugs and earmuffs will be available in the entry room.
- Homework - Learn the rules
- Like all sports it's important to know the rules of the game. Both so that you don't get penalized for breaking the rules, and recognizing situations where another competitor or team has an advantage because they are breaking the rules. Along with when and how to call them out.
- Late next semester we will have a seminar on how to identify when someone is giving themselves an unfair advantage. Much like learning how to hack to better defend a network, this is strictly to teach you how to cheat so you can recognize it if it happens. I do not condone nor will I tolerate anyone on our team who attempts to cheat.
- Most competitions we will shoot this year will be under the NRA rulebook. We also can fire under the NCAA/USA Shooting (USAS) rulebooks. Most of these rules are identical, but they do differ in a few places.
- The NCAA rules are just the USAS rules with everything non-rifle related removed (shotgun & pistol) and a few things changed here and there. In general because the USAS rulebook is based off of the ISSF rulebook, the NCAA/USAS rules are more restrictive as far as equipment goes.
- All club-owned equipment will pass an equipment check for either rulebook.
- Your homework is to familiarize yourselves with these rulebooks. You don't need to know them inside and out - yet; Just a few pages here and there.
- Since we'll be starting prone, reading up on the rules for prone would be a good place to start.
- NCAA/USAS Page 41 / Rule 7.6.1.2
- NRA SB Rules Page 13 / 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.6)
- We'll be starting competitions at the end of the month, so reading up on Competition Procedures, Range Commands and Operations would be a good thing to do (These won't makes sense now, but it will give you a background for when we go over them)
- NRA SB Rules Page 20-32 / Rules 9.X, 10.X
- NRA Air Rules Page 26-36 / Rules 9.X, 10.X (Pretty much the same as above)
- NCAA/USAS Page 15-20 / Rules 6.11.X, 6.12.X, 6.13.X
- You can find the rulebooks here:
- Like all sports it's important to know the rules of the game. Both so that you don't get penalized for breaking the rules, and recognizing situations where another competitor or team has an advantage because they are breaking the rules. Along with when and how to call them out.
Upcoming Items:
- Next week we will start shooting Smallbore - Kneeling and Smallbore - Standing.
- For Smallbore you will need to either bring your own .22LR ammunition, or you can purchase it from the team. We sell Federal 711b: 50 rounds for $3, and 500 rounds for $23.
- If you choose to bring your own ammunition: Please make sure that what you are bringing is a plain lead bullet (It does not have any type of jacketing), and check with me or a team range officer before using it in the team's rifles. Our rifles are manufactured for precision competition, and are designed quite differently from your standard plinking rifle. The wrong ammunition through them can quickly strip out the rifling, resulting in a very expensive trip back to Germany for repair.
- Because we purchase the ammunition we sell through special programs at extreme discounts; Any ammunition you purchased through the team must be stored in team storage and used exclusively for team related practice & competition.
- Failure to comply with this puts the club at risk of being disqualified from future discount purchase programs.
- At the moment this ammunition retails for about $70 per 500 rounds...... If you can find it.
- We will be starting our first postal competition at the end of October. Look for more details in a separate email that will be sent out in a few weeks.
- We will have a few travel opportunities coming up in November & December. More details will be released when I finalize some plans with the other coaches.
Thank you for your attention, and have a great week!
GO HUSKIES!
- Zach