Annual SoCal Tactical Match

Last week, the third annual Southern California Precision Rifle Competition (SCPRC) was held. This match takes place each year in July at the West End Gun Club, 20 minutes west of San Bernadino, CA. Match director Mark Archuleta, aka “Spaniard”, ran a great match, with a diverse and challenging course of fire. Mark reports: “This was our third SCPRC, and we had 34 shooters from all over the US.” Mark posted a match report in our FORUM with lots of photos. CLICK HERE to read Mark’s full report. Below are some pictorial highlights from the Match, with Mark’s commentary:

Vu Pham from Nor-Cal, shown below, hit both his cold bore shots on day 1 & 2. This year’s Day Two cold bore shot (CBS) reprised our 2006 CBS. There was a 3.5″ Clay pigeon set at about 325 yards, with roughly a 10° down angle. In 2006, 7 out of 22 shooters made the hit, this year 12 out of 34 shooters made the hit. Some folks don’t think that the 10°-15° slope makes a difference, but it does.

Below Phil demonstrates textbook bipod shooting: working the bolt, maintaining a solid cheek weld and keeping an eye on the next target. Good job Phil. [Editor’s Note: the “pucks” on the bipod legs are “PodPaws” from Zephyr Dynamics]

One of the stages was shot from a squatting position with rifle supported by saw-horses. This stage obviously favored the shorter guys.

The match included timed stages. The challenge was how to record times for multiple shooters. I purchased a timing system and did some modifications to it so each shooter had his own stop button. It worked great and I could shoot whole teams all at once. This made the lines move very fast. It’s will be a part of all my future matches, local and not so local. Below, just like on Jeopardy, Scott Cochran stops the clock.

At the request of Kurt Stone (LV Steel Targets), a standing stage was added. It’s not easy to shot a heavy tactical rifle off-hand! Here, representing the United States Marine Corp., is SSgt. Tony Palzkill — a real professional and a nice guy too.