Secured a podium finish in rifle match
I had a great time participating in a recent PCSL All Rifle Match in the Poconos with 52 participants. And better still, I finished strong, competing against 23 other shooters in the Practical division, coming in 1st place on stages 1 and 2, 2nd place on stage 3, and 3rd place overall.
My top finishes confirmed for me that my personal training on the range is delivering results — and holds up under pressure. And for me, my personal training is spent honing shooting skills, not tactics.
Tactics and shooting are two separate skill sets. You can’t tactics your way out of a skills problem. I spend the majority of my time building foundational skills at speed. This enables me to competently and aggressively engage targets and confidently adapt to changing situations.
Varying distances, transitions and aggressive movement are all key components of both pistol and rifle matches. But one area that stands out in a rifle match, but is fairly negligible in a pistol match, is understanding your holds and offset.
For this match, with my 50 yard zero, I needed to know my hold under for three horizontal mini poppers at 100 yards. I also had to know my hold over on a set of six round 2 1/2” diameter hanging plates at 15 yards. Knowing my exact hold over was crucial. I was able to go one for one at speed, without any misses. I wasn’t guessing. People who didn’t know their holds blew through a lot of ammo, with some going through two or three magazines. They were guessing.