So you'll typically be firing 50 rounds in a match. Always bring more ammunition than you think you'll need. Also, in the Allies vs. Axis match, you can shoot the entire match twice, with different rifles (and therefore get two chances to win an award).

In most of the matches above, you'll start each stage in position, with your rifle loaded. In the Garand match, however, the rapid-fire stages start with you standing up, then the clock starts, then you have to dive into position with the clock running, and you also have to reload on the clock. You have to be in some kind of shape to get into the shooting positions anyway, but the Garand matches are even more physically challenging. They're also even more fun and an even better test of skill.

In either case you'll want to practice getting into and out of your shooting positions, in the living room or back yard, before the match. You'll also want as much live practice as you can get. Sometimes I use a kitchen timer I got at a dollar store (the match director uses pretty much the same thing) to simulate the rapid-fire stages.

There are lots of other things to spend money on, like jackets and gloves and hats and stools, and some are even useful, but I haven't found them necessary.

So let's pretend it's Match Day! You arrive a bit early to get signed in and drag all your stuff out of the car. You'll have been at your club before, for practice, so you'll know where the match is going to be; you'll have been following your club's newsletter or website so you know what the match fee will be, who to contact, and so on. When you sign in you'll probably be given your score cards and assigned a lane. Depending on the turnout there may be more than one relay, so find out if you're in the first or second; sometimes you can choose, and for your first match you might want the second, so you can watch people in the first and see how they do it.

There will be a safety and rules briefing - listen carefully, ask questions if necessary. Obey the match director's instructions as to when and how to handle your weapon. Be sure you completely understand the course of fire: how many shots, in what order, in how much time, on which targets.

Using my club as an example: There are twenty lanes on this line for bench shooting, but for matches they only use ten per relay, so there's empty space between each shooter for elbow room and added safety. When your relay starts, set up your gear in front of the table with the corresponding lane number - others will probably have already done this and you can follow their example (note the painted lines & numbers on the asphalt, though they're rather faint). This is a photo of one of the prone stages at the September 2006 Garand match:

And here's one from the '06 PIG:

Do not uncase or otherwise handle your weapon at this time unless the match director instructs you to. But you can lay out your prone mat, ammunition, and such, and set up your spotting scope.

Your prone mat should be up to 45 degrees from the direction of fire: that is, laying down with your head toward the targets, pivot your whole body to your left about 45 degrees (presuming you're shooting right-handed), with your head as the pivot point, and arrange the mat accordingly. (See photo above.) Backyard practice! Aim at dandelions or such. Find the angle that works best for you. I recommend Jeff Cooper's book, The Art of the Rifle, for detailed and illustrated descriptions of the classic shooting positions.

You'll be getting up and down, to and from Prone (and later, Sitting) several times during the match and as you set up your gear. Prepare yourself, physically. Practice these moves at home, with the rifle in your hands.

Using the spotting scope from prone depends on the design of the scope (straight or angled viewing lens) and the tripod. You'll note that some other competitors use very tall poles with flat tripod legs (photo above again); this allows them to set the scope way down low for the prone stages, way up high for standing, and in between for sitting or kneeling, so all they have to do is lean over to use the scope. These poles are spendy and usually have to be mail-ordered from the big suppliers like Sinclair Intl. or MidwayUSA. I use a photo tripod I found at a garage sale for $9.

I take a minimalist approach to riflery, using as little equipment as I can get away with. For some people this is nothing more, or less, than pure competition for its own sake, but for me, I'm trying to develop skills I may have to use in battle, i.e. massive civil unrest or looting/rioting, like the Gulf Coast hurricanes, a major earthquake, terrorist attack, etc. In such a case there will be no covered firing area, no prone mat, no ~$100 shooting jacket, and no time to set them up anyway.

Place the spotting scope as best you can, probably on your left. You should be able to roll to your left to bring an eye up to the scope, without having to get out of the rifle's sling. Backyard practice.

Now the director says you can get your weapon out. Insert your yellow chamber flag (Open Bolt Indicator - OBI) as soon as the weapon is out of the case. Watch your muzzle direction! Straight up until you get to the firing position, then straight at the targets.

Now you will have, typically, a 2- or 3-minute preparation period. Get into position and get everything ready. Usually you'll start with slow-fire prone, so get into it.

Before getting into prone, get into the rifle. I recommend the Hasty sling method, which Cooper doesn't like but which Fred, of the Guide to Becoming a Rifleman, is quite fond of. I've used the Hasty Sling in most matches until the 2007 season, after I attended an Appleseed rifle clinic, when I finally started using a simple loop sling, which can be rigged from most simple carry straps. The Hasty method is fast, simple, and works with any conventionally-attached sling or carry strap:

FIGURE 1 - Hold the rifle in your right hand, muzzle up, by the shooting grip (finger OFF the trigger of course), with the sling hanging down below it.

FIGURE 2 - Shove your left arm all the way through the space between the sling and the rifle; the sling should go all the way up into your left armpit.

FIGURE 3 - Now, move your left hand and forearm clockwise and bring it out, around, and back in over the sling, so the sling is wrapped around your forearm. Now tuck your hand between the sling and the rifle again, grasping the rifle's stock. The sling should now come straight back from the stock, below the back of your hand, then to your right of your left wrist, then around your left forearm, around the outside of your left upper arm, through your left armpit, across your chest, and back to the rifle's buttstock. Adjust the sling to the proper length for your body and your rifle.

FIGURE 4 - Now, you can put the rifle's butt into your right shoulder - remember that pocket, between the ball of the shoulder and the pectoral muscle. Slide your left hand toward the butt and the sling will tighten, snugging the weapon into your right shoulder. If you've done it right, you can now let go of the rifle with your right hand and it will stay put, even with the fingers of the left hand open.

FIGURE 5 - If you grasp the rifle with the fingers of the left hand, you should be able to move your right arm around and walk around, using your right arm normally, while still not losing the sling setup you've just built.

PRACTICE THIS UNTIL YOU CAN GET INTO THE HASTY SLING IN LESS THAN TWO SECONDS. It should become as natural and instinctive as tying shoelaces.

FIGURE 6 - Now you've got your right arm free and you can walk around with your rifle all slung-up on you. You can go down on one knee and your right hand while still holding the rifle and still keeping the sling on.

FIGURE 7 - From here you can scoot your other foot behind you and get down on your other knee, and from there it's simple to get into the full prone shooting position, while still controlling the rifle and keeping the sling on you.

So now you're in prone and slung into your rifle and your right hand is still free. No shooting yet though, pay attention to the director's instructions. But you can dry-fire, and do so, just as though you were shooting live rounds for score. The old surplus rifles, like the dirt-cheap Mosin, won't be hurt by dry-firing without snap caps or dummy rounds; just make sure you don't have a live round in there until the match director says "LOAD". (Don't use dummy rounds here either, someone might be annoyed.) Move your hands through the motions, as though you were single-loading rounds and firing them for score at your assigned target. Work the bolt, aim, squeeze the trigger, repeat. Scoot yourself around to fine-tune your position. Practice rolling over to use the spotting scope. Arrange your live ammunition where you can reach it. Dry-fire some more. Then, lay down and rest to get your circulation back. (You can do this without getting out of the sling.)

Presently the director will declare that the preparation period has ended. Now you get to fire your sighters. Sometimes this will be a separate stage, other times this will be included in the for-score stage with the 15-minute clock running. The director will tell you when, and how many rounds, to load, and when to commence and cease firing. This is your last chance, before scorekeeping starts, to confirm that your sights are set properly and to adjust them if necessary. Fire one round, then use the spotting scope to see where it hit, then compare that to where you think it should have hit. Then check your sights. Then shoot again, look again, etc.

If the match is being fired at more than one distance (i.e. 100 yards & 200 yards), you'll be expected to fire some minimum number of rounds at each distance to prove you can hit the paper. Often, after the sighters are fired, the range will go cold, all weapons will be made safe, and the whole line will go down to check targets. If you don't have the minimum number of holes in each of your assigned targets, you may not be allowed to fire the stage(s) for such targets.

If there is a separate sighting period, you hike down to the targets to check, score, and patch them, then hike back to the firing line. There may be another preparation period. Now you're shooting for score!

In the slow-prone stage you have a full minute for each shot - that's all the time in the world. The hurrying comes in the next stage. There may be two targets at the designated distance, one above the other; make sure you're shooting the right one for the current stage! This is why you pay close attention to the course-of-fire briefing earlier.

After the stage is done, you'll go down to score the targets. You can't score your own; hand your scoresheet to the person next to you on one side, and receive the scoresheet from the other side, and score that person's target. Here's one of the scoring periods from the September 2006 Garand match. To give you an idea of scale, the targets are 200 yards from the firing line, and I was using my digital camera's maximum optical zoom:

Hit the little black dot. On the Garand, the black part is just a little wider than the front sight, at that distance.

Shots touching the scoring ring receive the higher value; for example, on this target:

...you'd score three 10s, four 9s and three 8s, for a total of 90 points of a possible 100. Take your time and get it right. The shooter is trusting you to record an accurate score, just as you're trusting the other person on your target. (I use a dollar-store pocket calculator, just to be sure.) Record the score on the scoresheet, then help patch the holes with the black & beige pasters.

Hits in or touching the X ring count as 10 points, unless there's a tie, in which case the number of Xs is used to break the tie.

Possibly there will be two targets for each lane and you'll stay in position for the next stage, rapid-prone; otherwise you'll hike down and do the patch/score thing again. There may be another preparation period; do more dry-firing, but this time work that bolt, walk yourself through the entire rapid-fire string.

If you do have to reload on the clock, know ahead of time exactly where your reload is and which way it's oriented, so you can slap your hand out and grab it in an instant, slide it into the guide on the receiver, and shove the rounds down with your thumb. You will have to pull out the empty charger (aka "stripper clip", aka "clip") - just yank it clear and drop it, like your revolver speedloads. You can go hunt for it later, after the clock has stopped. (On the Mauser action, the charger guide is designed so you can leave the charger in place and just close the bolt, and the charger will pop out - Teutonic thoroughness in design, even a century ago. The Mosin won't do that.)

In the Mosin, if you have a jam where the cartridge won't feed from the magazine, STOP - take half a second. Pull the bolt all the way back, push the top cartridge all the way down with your right thumb (your left hand and arm are still in the sling, where they belong). Close the bolt. This will trip the internal interrupter in the Mosin's magazine and feed the top cartridge again, but at this moment your chamber's empty. Now cycle the bolt again and the cartridge should feed, and you can take your next shot.

In the rapid-prone stage you'll have, typically, 30 seconds to fire five shots, and you'll have to do it twice. That's six seconds per shot. Doesn't sound like much, eh? But after you've done it a few times, you'll come out of a string, look around, and see other people still shooting. All it takes is a bit of practice, and more important, true familiarity with your weapon.

In the slow stages you're single-loading and taking care to save the spent cases. In the rapid stages there's just no time - you can hunt down the brass later. Probably you'll start with a loaded weapon, in position, before the clock starts (the really exciting bit is when you have to start from standing, dive into position on the clock, and reload for the second string on the clock too - fun!). So when the command comes to fire, you can squeeze off your first shot. Bang! Remember your follow-through - don't anticipate the recoil, don't let your brain move to the next step until that shot is on its way. But, as soon as the bullet is on its way, work that bolt! Grab the bolt handle, turn it straight up, pull it all the way back, send that brass flying! Shove it forward, turn it down, and put your hand back in the firing position. Your rapid-fire stages will be moments of intense concentration punctuated by moments of vigorous movement. Practice. Lots of practice.

In most of the matches linked above, you'll do this twice: two five-shot strings, on the same target, in 30 seconds each. Then, usually, go down to score and patch targets again. This will be covered in the briefing when you arrive. In the Garand match you'll fire a single 10-shot string in 70 seconds, and you'll have to get into position with the clock running, with the rifle loaded with only two rounds; the Garand is an 8-shot and you'll have to reload with the clock running. If you want to try a Garand match, most clubs that hold them have loaner rifles for you to use through the Civiliam Marksmanship Program.

Remember your rapid-fire, bolt-handling technique from above. This photo is from the 2006 PIG, illustrating the cross-legged position I use:

Sitting is more stable than kneeling, but if you're old and creaky and maybe heavy, kneeling may be easier to get into. Use one of the sitting positions if you can possibly manage it.

Practice, practice, practice! Get yourself stretched and squished into these positions, get used to getting into and out of them. Lots of dry-firing, lots of loading and cycling drills.

This is always the most difficult, lowest-scoring stage, because you're shooting completely without support. You can't use the sling, it's against the rules. Depending on a particular rifle's design, the sling can be easily removed - not so the Mosin with it's "dog-collar" attachments. You'll have to gather up the sling with your support hand - leaving it hanging down loose will cause a pendulum effect which will throw off your aim. This is 10 shots in 10 minutes, single-loaded. Some shooters, with the expensive shooting jackets, have cartridge carriers attached to the jacket. You can get an elsatic-loop carrier from the hunting-accessories aisle of a sporting-goods store to put on your belt, or just carry the cartridges in a shirt or coat pocket. Here's another photo of me in the '06 PIG, with my VZ24 Mauser:

There are different techniques for the standing stage - everyone has a different way to place their hands and feet and angle their bodies.

The Mosin, as most other surplus rifles, is a big, heavy instrument. The longer you hold it up, the less steady you get - your muscles get fatigued, you start to tremble, and your front sight dances all over. My approach is, hold the weapon down low with both hands, relaxed. Breath deeply, get more oxygen into the bloodstream. Again, put your body about 45 degrees from the target.

When it feels right, load one round, bring the weapon up to the shoulder, get your sight picture, aim, and squeeze - don't take a lot of time or you get those tremors again. As soon as the shot is gone, lower the weapon again (always keeping the muzzle safely downrange of course) and let your muscles recover. And repeat. Remember, you have a full minute for each shot in this stage and that really is a lot of time. Spend maybe five or ten seconds per shot with the weapon at your shoulder, to avoid fatigue. I usually get about two shots per minute in this stage, sometimes three, which is way faster than necessary.

Ideally, I simulate the entire match, with the same targets, distances, positions, and times, the weekend before the actual match - so you'll need at least twice as much ammunition. But dry practice helps a lot. Get as much practice, of any kind, as you can.

My first shot in slow-fire prone - 26s, 1.5Mb
You can see me doublechecking my rear sight's elevation setting. This shot missed high, which is why the pit crew didn't pull the target right away to score it. This was the first of five sighters, which did not count for score.

My rapid-fire prone stage - 1m24s, 5.5Mb
This clip shows my entire stage, starting with the match director's commands. I had time left over.

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