I did a previous post on my preparation to shoot 1000 yards for the first time which was an after the fact report.
Now I am preparing to go to my first PRS match, and I thought I would let you in on the laughs as I go along. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes without making them. Feel free to make your own mistakes in your own practices and post them here for all of us to learn from your misery.
For my starting point, I have a bolt action rifle / scope set up capable of going to 1000 yards. It will shoot sub MOA. Same set up that I used for going to 1000 yards but this time in 6.5 Creedmoor instead of 308. I have decent dope in various weather temperatures that I have confirmed out to 500 yards. I have a ballistic calculator. I covered all that in the other post so I won’t go over any of that again. This post is not about the rifle, loads, scope or dope. Its about practice.
For practice equipment I have an Armegeddon game changer bag that I really like for hunting. Over the rail of a ladder stand, or used on the sill on a shooting house it is great. Right now I plan to use the game changer bag as my one “do everything” PRS bag. I have a couple of empty chamber flags, a few spare mags. I have a shooting matt, and an 18” x 18” by 6” box I put together from scrap lumber. I have access to a couple of ranges going out to 300 yards. I have a CED7000 shot timer, which I picked up a few years ago but hadn’t used at all.
So that’s the starting point. Doing my online research, I came up with the following initial training plan, based on what I think I need. It is likely wrong and will be modified.
First, I’m planning for almost all my practice to be out of position shooting. I don’t need more time shooting small groups either prone or off the bench, but I will do some.
Second, I planned to do a selection of drills that I feel would be beneficial to me.
Third, I wanted to run some simulated stages in addition to the drills. Both the drills and simulated stages would be on the clock.
For the simulated stages I elected to begin with three of the PRS Skill Stages that are listed in the back of the PRS Rules book. Skill stages 1, 2 and 3 can be scaled to 100, 200 or 300 yards fairly easily. I chose to work at 200 yards. As you go from stage 1 to stage 2 to stage 3 they get increasingly harder but build on skills as you go. Stage 1 is prone with multiple targets. Stage 2 is a barricade with movement after each two shots. Stage 3 is multiple targets, movement, and mandatory mag changes. Use your google fu, and look up a copy of PRS rule book for 2020. The descriptions for the skill stages are at the end in the appendix. The PRS rule book is a short pamphlet, and I recommend you read the whole thing. At a minimum read the safety rules expected of each shooter. I plan to follow the rules in my practice and it will be one less thing to stress about in my first match.
As far as drills for practice, I opted to ignore (for now) the ubiquitous dot drills. Seems like a great way to burn a lot of ammo and get into bad habits. I may come back to them. What I am currently using is an 11 second drill. (I will have to go back and see where I first learned about this and give credit). The basis of the 11 second drill is you get in your starting position, and you have 11 seconds to move to your position, establish a stable shooting position, and make one good shot. So for PRS skill stage one, it was move to mat, get prone, make one good shot. For Stage two move to barricade, make one good shot (repeating for all four positions on barricade). For stage three I start prone on matt, move over to box, make one good shot.
Dry firing at home, the drills worked. I experimented with various ways to quickly build a stable shooting position. Times came down so I could meet the 11 second target. I was also breaking my habit of automatically chambering another round so I would be ready to move with an open bolt and empty chamber. I added to my 11 second drill a 15 second drill, where you have to make two good shots. I was ready for the range, and the first warmer afternoon I had free last week I headed out.
As an experienced deer hunter, I tell newer hunters that there are more ways you blow a chance to kill a good buck than you can count, most of which occur before the shot. Seems the same thing is true for running a PRS stage. I’ll continue in next post on what went wrong.
Now I am preparing to go to my first PRS match, and I thought I would let you in on the laughs as I go along. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes without making them. Feel free to make your own mistakes in your own practices and post them here for all of us to learn from your misery.
For my starting point, I have a bolt action rifle / scope set up capable of going to 1000 yards. It will shoot sub MOA. Same set up that I used for going to 1000 yards but this time in 6.5 Creedmoor instead of 308. I have decent dope in various weather temperatures that I have confirmed out to 500 yards. I have a ballistic calculator. I covered all that in the other post so I won’t go over any of that again. This post is not about the rifle, loads, scope or dope. Its about practice.
For practice equipment I have an Armegeddon game changer bag that I really like for hunting. Over the rail of a ladder stand, or used on the sill on a shooting house it is great. Right now I plan to use the game changer bag as my one “do everything” PRS bag. I have a couple of empty chamber flags, a few spare mags. I have a shooting matt, and an 18” x 18” by 6” box I put together from scrap lumber. I have access to a couple of ranges going out to 300 yards. I have a CED7000 shot timer, which I picked up a few years ago but hadn’t used at all.
So that’s the starting point. Doing my online research, I came up with the following initial training plan, based on what I think I need. It is likely wrong and will be modified.
First, I’m planning for almost all my practice to be out of position shooting. I don’t need more time shooting small groups either prone or off the bench, but I will do some.
Second, I planned to do a selection of drills that I feel would be beneficial to me.
Third, I wanted to run some simulated stages in addition to the drills. Both the drills and simulated stages would be on the clock.
For the simulated stages I elected to begin with three of the PRS Skill Stages that are listed in the back of the PRS Rules book. Skill stages 1, 2 and 3 can be scaled to 100, 200 or 300 yards fairly easily. I chose to work at 200 yards. As you go from stage 1 to stage 2 to stage 3 they get increasingly harder but build on skills as you go. Stage 1 is prone with multiple targets. Stage 2 is a barricade with movement after each two shots. Stage 3 is multiple targets, movement, and mandatory mag changes. Use your google fu, and look up a copy of PRS rule book for 2020. The descriptions for the skill stages are at the end in the appendix. The PRS rule book is a short pamphlet, and I recommend you read the whole thing. At a minimum read the safety rules expected of each shooter. I plan to follow the rules in my practice and it will be one less thing to stress about in my first match.
As far as drills for practice, I opted to ignore (for now) the ubiquitous dot drills. Seems like a great way to burn a lot of ammo and get into bad habits. I may come back to them. What I am currently using is an 11 second drill. (I will have to go back and see where I first learned about this and give credit). The basis of the 11 second drill is you get in your starting position, and you have 11 seconds to move to your position, establish a stable shooting position, and make one good shot. So for PRS skill stage one, it was move to mat, get prone, make one good shot. For Stage two move to barricade, make one good shot (repeating for all four positions on barricade). For stage three I start prone on matt, move over to box, make one good shot.
Dry firing at home, the drills worked. I experimented with various ways to quickly build a stable shooting position. Times came down so I could meet the 11 second target. I was also breaking my habit of automatically chambering another round so I would be ready to move with an open bolt and empty chamber. I added to my 11 second drill a 15 second drill, where you have to make two good shots. I was ready for the range, and the first warmer afternoon I had free last week I headed out.
As an experienced deer hunter, I tell newer hunters that there are more ways you blow a chance to kill a good buck than you can count, most of which occur before the shot. Seems the same thing is true for running a PRS stage. I’ll continue in next post on what went wrong.
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