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OSA EVENT AFTER ACTION REports
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March 2012 Ajax Club Shoot Here's Keith's report to members on the Ajax Club shoot: Last Saturday we had a Club Challenge with the Ajax club. It was a great experience. Thanks very much to Richard M and the Ajax club for putting on an excellent competition. It was scenario based IDPA style shooting with 4 stages. We shot it twice once with range lights on and once with flashlights. Just an outstanding experience!! It was good to see so many police officers there as this is the type of shooting they should be good at and you can only get good if you get out and get the experience. Thanks again Richard and we hope you can bring a team to the OSA Club Challenge. This Club Challenge event might yet catch on. March 2012 Snowshoe & Shoot Here's Keith's report to members on the final Snowshoe & Shoot of the new year: Just yesterday we conducted our last
Snowshoe & Shoot of the year. The February 2012 Snowshoe & Shoot Here's Keith's report to members on the second OSA event of the new year: Linda and I have received several reports back from individuals who attended the S&S this past weekend. All have said they had a great time and appreciated the efforts of Dan and Mike to make it so. I would also extend my appreciation to Dan who took on the challenge of running this S&S while Linda and I were away on another commitment. And thanks to Mike, who is a welcome regular here, for helping out as required. You guys are great and we appreciate everything you have ever done for MilCun and OSA. Dan provided me with an AAR report and I’ve added it here: Two groups were delayed due to foul weather and bad roads while en route from T.O. We were able to hold the briefing at 0900 hrs and march off slightly after. We left 2 radios and the sign-in sheet for the late-comers, who made it in while we were at Maple Tree Range. Most people used snowshoes but they weren’t really required. Again, I carried a pair on my pack all day and never used them. There were quite a few pistol shooters at 10 and then 20 m, and John brought his new Tavor with an EOTech, to zero it for CQB. Terry was able to pattern his shotgun. Isaac shot his new Springfield XD which groups extremely well. I shot my new Storm Lake barrel on my S&W M&P and was a little disappointed to find it doesn’t seem to shoot any better than the factory barrel. I plan to come back to the 100 m range, with both barrels and do some comparison deliberate test firing, to be sure. Mike B. watched me shoot and said it didn’t look like the ported barrel recoil seemed any different than factory, also. Back at the 100 m, several people confirmed zero and shot AR’s. Some stayed and shot some more on the 100 m while the rest of us went to the 600 m butts to shoot steel plate. Quite a few shot steel plate and then the rifle shooters shot from 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 m. Most precision rifles had no trouble hitting gongs at all distances. Even the AR shooters had no trouble back to about 400 m. After that, they seemed to have more difficulty, and were just wasting ammo at 600 m. At the 1000 m, Mike B took a little bit to get dialed into the gong (didn’t have elevation corrections yet) but when he found it, could hit it pretty consistently. Luckily the wind was at 1200, therefore no windage shifts. It was a good demo of how well the .260 shoots. I guess I am going to need a .260 barrel after I shoot all my .308 155 AMax’s. The weather was cool, started off overcast but was sunny for the afternoon. We all shed outer clothing fairly quickly. We linked up with the 100 m people on the 600, when we moved back from the butts. All accounted for and wheels up by 1645 hrs. Thanks very much to Mike B for his help. We didn’t miss any briefing points and range commands went smoothly. All shooters practiced safe handling and cleared each other prior to leaving any firing line. January 2012 Snowshoe & Shoot Here's Keith's report to members on the first OSA event of the new year: I think we broke our past record for attendance. We had 24 say they were going to attend and in the end there were 19 who actually showed up. We really appreciate those who contacted us to let us know you couldn’t make it this time. Doing this makes the job of the organizers a bit simpler and we appreciate you doing that for us. Travis was trying to join us from Montreal which has to be some kind of record for distance traveled. But unfortunately the bad weather we had just experienced was moving his way so he was trying to travel right in the middle of it. He wisely turned back. We appreciate the call, Travis, and hope you can make it next time. The weather was the coldest day we had this winter, starting the day at just below -20C. This morning we woke to -27C which only tells us that Saturday was likely the better day. We had bright sunshine and the day did warm a bit. We had almost everyone ready to go by 0900. We gave the safety briefing and off we went. Some used snowshoes and others just used boots on the packed trail. There were some areas, particularly on the 100 meter range, where the snow was deeper and snowshoes were required. Oh... and well done to Sergey who was on snowshoes for the first time and did very well. By the end of the day he was moving around as good as the Mad Trapper did. With so many shooters it took a bit longer to get everyone through what they wanted to shoot. We shot some pistol at cardboard and then moved back to some rifle at 100. By noon we were at the steel range. With 6 lanes set up everyone got to shoot as much as they wanted. Some tried other pistols and Dave had his day made when he got to shoot an M&P while still waiting on his new one to show up. Dave shoots left handed and the M&P is good for him because it can be made for true left hand use. At about 1330 we started the way out shooting steel at each distance on the 600 meter range as we went. I had set up 2 x LaRue targets and 2 x swinging paddles. And just to confirm what we teach about electronic devices, “they are always in one of two states... they have let you down or they are about to let you down...” one LaRue gave out after the 200 and the other stopped working after the 300. I’m going to leave them lay until spring and put up 5 or 6 stationary steel targets for the next S&S. Although the wind was picking up from the North (and in our face) as we moved back, Mike, Henry and Dave hung in there getting some shots away at the 600 meter firing line. Linda had some hot chocolate waiting for us when we got out and in all, it was a great day. January 2011 Snowshoe & Shoot Here's Keith's report to members on the first OSA event of the new year: So we made it through our first Snowshoe and Shoot and everyone had a good time. We had 10 people show up with a couple of more sending their regrets because down south there was a real snow storm going on. Certainly we don’t want anyone risking the dangers of driving in a snow storm to come to our events so we really appreciate those who did manage to show up. We had several new people show up for the first time and we hope they come back for future events. The weather report was fairly accurate with temperatures around -4C and a light snowfall that lasted all day. The snow did accumulate somewhat during the day but we still didn’t need snowshoes for the walk out, and everyone who drove in the driveway was able to get out without difficulty. As I mentioned in my last msg about how to dress, with snow falling all day one could certainly see the need for the outer shell to be wind and waterproof. Those that wore fleece on the outside had snow accumulate on them which eventually melted from body heat and made the clothing wet. And then if you planned to shoot some rifle from the prone, it was best to wear a complete rain suit so the snow wouldn’t stick to you and eventually get you wet. A light un-insulated rain suit still has its place in winter. One of the aims of these winter events is to get out into it. The best way to get over any winter glooms that might be creeping into your life is to dress properly and get out into it. There is no more satisfying feeling than to spend the day out in winter, dressed properly so you are comfortable and have fun. And adding the opportunity to shoot some shots... well... it can hardly get better than that. So, on the way in we split in half and some went to the 100 meter range to confirm some zeros while others, who brought only a pistol, went straight to the 600 meter butts and shot some steel. We later all linked up at the 600 meter butts. Tom brought in his new Glock 17 Gen 4 to shoot for the first time. What a marvellous pistol with adjustable grip and very accurate out of the box. I had a chance to shoot this pistol and was able to keep 10 shots into a quarter of one of our 3 inch orange sticky dots. One of our newbie’s, Jen, was trying several of the pistols available with the intention of maybe getting one to shoot in the other OSA pistol events. It’s a great place to start having the opportunity to shoot several different models with some coaching as to the advantages of each before you go off to buy the one you want. On the way out we shot some rifle at the various steel targets available back to 600 meters. Kevin was the only one who wanted to go for the 1000 meter gong and managed to ring it several times. We were all out and having hot chocolate by 1530. This was a great outing and I’m certainly looking forward to the next one. I will keep you informed as it draws near. December 2010 OSA/Ajax Challenge Here's Keith's report to members on the OSA/Ajax Club Challenged hosted by Ajax: Firstly I have to apologize to those members of
OSA who attended the October 2010 Founding Members Day Here's Keith's report to members on the OSA Founding Members Day: On Saturday we had the Founder’s Day event which included talking over last year’s events and discussing some activities for next year. With that done, it is now time to send out some thoughts and notes for everyone else to consider.
October 2010 Women's Day Here's Keith's report to members on the OSA Women's Day (where the men get to work and the women get to play!): Yesterday, OSA held it’s Women’s Day. This was the second year for this event and was again well attended. The weather was great and the “girls with guns” had a great day. This year Linda had them shooting ARs as well as pistols and we would love to see more of them getting involved with the various related activities offered by OSA. I overheard one of the ladies being referred to as “sniper” so we certainly hope she will return to boost OSA’s women’s team in some of our club invitational matches. Our Glock representative Ed M from Police Ordnance was present to provide a “Glock goodies bag” of related items. Elwood Epps provided a coupon for a special deal if any of the participants wanted to “get a Glock”. We had a couple of women who really “got it” and this is what brings the reward to the RSOs/coaches. A special thanks to Marcia and to the 2009 alumni who helped make this happen. The OSA men and some friends of OSA really stepped up to the plate as well, providing their equipment, time and expertise... I organized the ranges with help from Aaron (also the event medic), Dan, Al and Scott... thanks also to Dick and Walt who provided equipment. Finally, thanks in advance to Lyn Winans who promised to provide the many pictures she took... we look forward to seeing her story in The County Voice! October 2010 Police Marksmen Challenge Here's Keith's report to members on the Police Marksmen Challenge, hosted by our OSA affiliate at the Toronto Police Service: Last Wednesday the Police Marksmen Challenge (PMC) was held here at MilCun. This has become an annual event hosted by Sgt Mike B from the Toronto Police Service. It is a competition for police, security and military pers only (although when Dick and I whined enough at Mike, he did let us shoot it for honours only). The matches consisted of pistol, tactical rifle and sniper rifle. It was organized so that we shot a match with each weapon at cardboard and paper on Maple Tree range and then went to Hill Top Range for a second series of matches at steel. It was a great day of action type shooting and good training. The overall winner of the day was OSA’s own Sgt Dan C from the OPP. This is the second year in a row Dan has won this event. To keep this event interesting it takes good
leadership as well as interesting prizes. Kamran T from Coretac Solutions
again provided about $2,000 worth of gear, prizes and awards. Kamran is an
OSA member and in the business of providing tactical gear of all kinds.
Let me encourage you to consider him first when you or your agency is in
the market for such things. OSA and MilCun also provided prizes with
MilCun again this year offering a $500.00 discount on our Police Sniper 1
course. Now, as I mentioned, Dan won this match and this discount for the
second year in a row and since he used it last year for PS1, we have
offered him PS2 at this discount. Other OSA members were in the thick of things to help make this match happen. Scott B (from Questar International, the place to go for just about anything that’s hard to get and certainly tactical things) was Mike’s “go to guy” to help with organization and did much to set up the various ranges. He was the RO for the activities on Hill Top Range. Marcia worked with registration, stats and organizing the prize presentation. Dick was involved with helping with set up and he and I had the pleasure of shooting the matches to provide an experienced perspective from the competitor’s point of view. (This was a rough job, but someone has to do it – Mike, can we do this rough job again next year...?). Mike also had help from members of his OSA affiliated TPS shooting club. September 2010 3-Gun Championship Here's Keith's report to members on the OSA annual 3-Gun match and BBQ: Last weekend we did our 3-Gun match which involves pistol, service rifle and sniper rifle. With pistol we shot the same 5 matches as is shot at NSCC plus the Last One Standing match. With service rifle we shot 5 of the most demanding matches shot at NSCC. And with sniper rifle we shot 5 matches from the OSA Operational sniper course of fire. This included 3 matches shot at NSCC. We had some rain for the Saturday, not too much – just enough to know it was raining. We put up a “pop-up” for when it rained the hardest and where we took a short break until it stopped. Still we were finished by noon and on time. The afternoon was spent shooting service rifle and with almost no rain. Sunday was cool and dry with almost no wind. It was a great opportunity to establish a true wind zero but not very challenging as a wind reading opportunity. With some NSCC veterans out for the practice opportunity as well as some of the OSA regulars, one had to stay on your game to get into the winner’s circle. I did manage to win the pistol and service rifle while Mike T won the sniper. Mike, who works for Epps, is becoming a regular at these matches and a serious contender. I did hang on to the 3-Gun aggregate and won the championship. Of special note is Marcia, who is the first woman to shoot all three events in these matches. She braved the weather and shot well. She shot in these matches without the benefit of previous practice or training. Everyone with experience helped her with the preliminaries but in the end she was the one pulling the trigger. We all appreciate her leadership by example and hope other women follow her into these practical matches. On another note, OSA has received its best ever compliment. A member of the local police (who is a member of OSA) was recently talking with his tactical team about getting involved with OSA and the related training value. The police officers were concerned about getting involved with a civilian type shooting club because they just don’t know who and what type of person they might meet. Our OSA member assured them that this was the type of club they wanted to attend and that OSA members were the type of people they wanted to shoot with. We all thank him for this vote of confidence and hope that more police officer get involved with the events we put on. OSA was originally formed with these officers in mind. August 2010 Steel Challenge Championship Here's Keith's report to members on the inaugural OSA Steel Challenge Championship: This was the very first time we have conducted the OSA Steel Challenge Championships. The weather was perfect for both days with it best described as a wonderful cool summer day or as a warm fall day – the key point being that there was no rain on either days. Over the 2 days, we worked our way through 8 stages. Each stage has its own array of 5 steel plates, each with its own tactic to best engage all the plates faster than the other guy. Each has its own degree of difficulty, some have the emphasis on speed while others have it on accuracy – all challenging and a lot of fun. Our first ever Steel Challenge Champion turned out to be Mike B, with Scott B being second and myself finishing in third. There were OSA medals and dog tags for each of the stages as well for each day’s agg and, of course, for the overall agg. These matches were very well received and our plan is to make them a regular each year. We all saw areas where we could improve and recognized that if we can shoot them well we will improve our pistol shooting in other disciplines. We will see how next year’s scheduling goes but would like to include a weekend clinic on shooting steel and maybe a pre-championship weekend. A good positive note about this past weekend was
that there were three women competing. It is certainly hoped that they
will become regulars at our matches. This may be the start of a women’s
league that we can promote when we have other clubs come to our events. It
also lets other women who might be a bit reluctant to get involved in our
sport to realize that we have women already coming to these events. If
your lady is voicing some interest in shooting but is afraid she might be
the only woman there, well... keep her informed... and let her know about
the upcoming Women’s Day. August 2010 TPS-OSA Tactical Rifle Match Here's Keith's report to members on the Tactical Rifle Match organized by the Toronto Police shooting club (an OSA affiliate): What a great shoot!!! Mike and Scott spent the day before setting up the various target arrays and we launched bright and early on Friday morning. The matches were based around the many trails we have, each having its own scenario. The last match of the day was on Maple Tree range and involved an interesting series of props to include bursting bottles of coloured water and cars made of plywood. Truly a fun day. We had an even split of police officers and OSA member (well everyone was OSA members but some of us weren’t cops). This resulted in a team event for the aggregate of the day. The OSA team managed to nip the Police team. Below are the results: Match One: Advance to Contact - 1st. Kirk C, 2nd. Keith C, 3rd. Mike T Match Two: Jungle Lane - 1st. Kirk C, 2nd. Aaron G, 3rd. Mike B Match Three: Patrol Walk - 1st. Rob L, 2nd. Marcia B, 3rd. Kirk C Over-All Event Winners - 1st. Kirk C, 2nd. Keith C, 3rd. Rob L Good news for those who wanted to attend but didn’t – there are plans already in place for next year’s event. So start thinking about coming, we guarantee you’ll have fun. July 2010 Operational Sniper (Precision Rifle) Match Here's Keith's report to members on the Operational Sniper Match: We have certainly been having wonderful weather for our matches and this one was just as good. The temperatures for both days was comfortable with some overcast on Saturday, and Sunday was cool in the morning with brilliant blue skies. The bug season is virtually over with the odd one buzzing around only occasionally. Many of us have been wearing short sleeves for the past couple of weeks and repellent is no longer needed except in the bush after dark. The course, last week, went very well and we covered the matches plus more. Everyone was prepared for the matches and keen to compete. Each of the students won at least one match with Al B, who was completely new to these matches and this style of shooting, winning the Run Down match. Al is a welder by profession and not the “Run Down” type. He admitted that he hadn’t ran that far in quite some time but that didn’t seem to bother him when it involved getting to shoot as well. Aaron G won the weekend agg and is our sniper champion for this year. He did the course and match last year and came only for the match this year. Seems to have worked for him. July 2010 .22 cal Weekend Here's Keith's report to members on the .22 cal Weekend: We had a great weekend. The weather cooperated just right. The temperature was OK with some cloud cover from time to time to shade us and the rain didn’t happen until Sunday night. On Saturday we shot the NSCC Service Rifle course of fire using reduced targets and 22 cal tactical rifles from 100 meters down to 15 meters. Dave used his new S&W M&P AR1522. We were all keen to see how this dedicated 22 cal AR would work out. It has all the same handling requirements as it’s big brother and performed perfectively throughout the match. All I would like to do now is mount a good scope on it and shoot it with some match grade ammo to see what it’ll do from an accuracy point of view. But Garry dominated the day using his Ruger 1022, so there’s still room for other types of 22s in these matches. Dick and I shot our ARs in 223 in these matches and although not eligible for any prises, it turned out to be great training for NSCC. As we’ve always said, it’s what you do on the firing point that counts and this was another opportunity to practice just that. On Sunday we fired the 22 cal Long Range Match. This involved 22 cal rifles at 50, 100, 150 and 200 meters. I want to welcome Kris to these matches. He is working on and has tested some interesting gong targets that have a light that will light up when the gong is hit. Kris is hosting a 22 cal Long Range match next month at his home range (I sent out his info sheet with my last e-mail). If you have misplaced this info and are interested in attending, let me know and I will link you up. I continue to be amazed at how well these rifles shoot out to 200 meters. Dick chalked up 11 Xs at 200 meters and he was telling us that be bought his rifle in 1962. So you don’t need new equipment to be competitive, just good equipment. Because of the interest in these matches, we are thinking about extending it out to 300 meters next year. July 2010 Service Rifle Match Here's Keith's report to members on the Service Rifle Match: We had an outstanding weekend for our Service Rifle match. The skies were bright blue with some big fluffy clouds. The temperature was comfortable, although still a bit on the warm side for me. Certainly a relief from the heat of the week before. We shot the classic service rifle matches 1-12 plus a 400 meter stage matches 13-16. Being the only opportunity to shoot these matches before NSCC most of the competitors were there to get in the practice. Although there was a fairly good distribution of winners in the individual matches in the end Aaron G took the aggregate for the traditional 1-12 matches and Mike B took the medal for the Grand Agg. Both of these shooters are showing up in the winner’s circle more often and it has been interesting watching their shooting skills develop. Mike is with the Toronto Police Services and this is exactly why OSA was developed, to provide the police community with a place to develop their shooting skills. There are several police officers who are members of OSA and we hope others follow this example and come out to the OSA events. Now, an interesting story from the matches. The relay I was on was about to start the 500 – 100 run down. I had just given the “watch and shoot” when a bear came out on the range just forward of the 400 meter mound. The whole relay was busy watching the bear when Scott casually made the observation that the targets were up. We all dove to the ground and fired our shots and prepared to move to the 400, all the while the bear remained in sight. The targets appeared and we all started running towards the 400 mound. The bear stayed in sight until we approached the mound and then took off into the bush. The relay carried on and while walking back to the 500 meter firing point after the match we were all joking with each other how we had just expended all of our ammo and were now walking back past where the bear had disappeared. Someone mentioned that they hadn’t got all his rounds off and still had a bullet left. Earlier in the day a 2 year old bull moose ran across the range. Don’t let anyone tell you that wild life are frightened away from ranges. June 2010 Tactical Rifle Match Here's Keith's report to members on the Tactical Rifle Match: We have just a few hours ago finished the Tactical Rifle match. We shot the NSCC matches 17 and 18 and fired through each course of fire twice over the weekend. This match was the culmination of a 4 day course teaching these matches and the related skills. We learned the need to develop the position before we can shoot the match and it was especially the kneeling that needed the most work. The Moving Target match was of particular interest. This year will be the first time this match is fired at NSCC and it was a great opportunity to insure it will work as intended. Everyone commented that they particularly enjoyed this event. There is so little opportunity to shoot moving targets and this was a real concentration of them. We shot movers at 300, 200, 100 and 50 meters. As Dick said “This is a really a fun match and it’s going to be a great match at the Nationals.” So the results of this weekend were as follows: The Saturday Agg was won by our Executive Director, Dick S by only 1 point over Rob L. The Sunday Agg was won by Aaron G (who shot his M14 on one day and an AR on the second day) by eight V bulls over Dick. But Dick managed to keep all challenges at bay and won the Grand Agg. June 2010 Club Challenge
Here's Keith's report to members on the OSA-HCMC Club Challenge: Yesterday we finished our first ever Club Challenge match. This was a get-together with a local shooting club to share some camaraderie and to fire a few shots. The Haliburton County Marksmanship Club (HCMC) is only 3 km from us and we got together with them to get this started. We’re hoping this event will become a regular on our calendar. We shot the OSA Operational Pistol course of fire. This was a bit of a new approach to the usual IPSC shooters of HCMC. But despite this, several of them won matches and one took the OSA signature match, the Last on Standing (well done Robbin, who also came second in the agg). A special consideration to Courtney who was the only woman to compete, finishing in 11th overall (well done and nice to have you at the matches). The OSA team did well despite not having several of our favourite cops in attendance. They apparently were off at some G-20 thing and couldn’t brake away. We are hoping they can make it next time. I managed to win the agg, having one of my best ever performances. And Aaron G came third overall, providing the team with some needed depth. Our team, which was our top four shooters, was Dick S, Scott B, Aaron G and myself. We managed to hold off the HCMC challenge and in the end won the day. This way of selecting a team (using the top shooters of the day for a predetermined number of shooters) seems to work well, as team captains are often unaware of who is actually showing up until the day. Also, everyone gets to come out and play without feeling they might let the team down. We would like to extend an appreciation to Walter G who was the “go to guy” for HCMC. His efforts helped greatly in putting this event in place. OSA also appreciates the donation he provided us. A special appreciation to Scott and Marcia who helped out behind the scenes. They make sure our OSA events happen. Also a special thanks to Aaron, Dave and Dick who helped out everywhere and especially when we needed range staff. June 2010 Operational Pistol Weekend Here's Keith's report to members on the Operational Pistol Weekend match: We had a great weekend. Although the weather was a bit wet on Saturday morning it was just overcast for the rest of the day. Sunday was cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon, with lots of sun. The deer flies were about but were kept at bay with long sleeves, a hat and the occasional spraying with repellent. (In general it has been a light year for bugs.) We shot the OSA Operational course of fire using our new body target which worked out very well. It is actually a simpler target to use and score. The course of fire went well to include a couple of new drills we put into the program. The “Vertical Stitch” match is the toughest one to shoot and to score but we all got through it and thought the scoring wasn’t so bad once you got onto it. We do like to follow the “Keep it Simple Smart” concept when designing any of our matches and if something is even a little complicated it gets worse with more competitors. We shot late on Saturday to get the tie shoots done and the “Last One Standing” match in. Anyone who has shot this match appreciates the training value it has. It is a magnificent match that calls for a steady head as well as a steady hand. We are now using this match as the foundation for our Basic Pistol course. It really does produce results. May 2010 Wind Reading Weekend
Here's Keith's report to members on the Wind Reading Weekend course: The Wind Reading course this past weekend was outstanding. We had just the right number of students to make the course perfect. The weather was warm on Saturday with lots of wind and overcast with a very interesting wind on Sunday. There was a hint of rain on Sunday but quite literally only a few drops fell. If there was anything negative about the weekend it was that we drove up to Connaught with the air conditioner on and home with the heater on. But then it is still only May. There were a few deer flies about on the range so we needed long sleeve shirts, but then it is only May. But the best part was this wonderful wind that happened on Sunday. We were working through an exercise at 900 meters with a 2 to 4 minute left wind blowing from 11 o’clock at 15-20 kph, when suddenly it went to zero and eventually went to 2 right and then back to the 2-4 minutes of left– all this happening in about a 15-20 minute time span. And all this could be easily seen with the mirage. We couldn’t have ordered a more perfect learning scenario. May 2010 Reloader Weekend
Here's Keith's report to members on the Reloader Clinic: Well, the weather certainly took the edge off it being a great weekend, but still we accomplished the aim. On Saturday it rained hard all day but most of that day was spent in the cabin (with a warm fire) doing the classroom part towards learning to reload. We did manage to get out to do some testing of the new rounds we made and were happy to do it under the covered firing point at the 100 mound. We finished the day loading the next batch of test rounds, ready to shoot on Sunday morning. Sunday surprised us with a little bit of snow and the temperature hovering around zero. But at least it wasn’t raining and the skies were bright enough to let the chronograph work properly. All it meant was an extra layer of clothes, all in all, it was fine if you know how to deal with it. The sun did come out in the afternoon and all was well again. The lesson of the weekend seemed to be that if your rifle or scope are acting up, reloading isn’t going to help much. 01-02 May 2010 Guest Instructor Weekend Here's Keith's report to members on the Guest Instructor Weekend: Wow!! What an incredible weekend we had. Over the past years all of our Guest Instructors have been outstanding and this year’s was equally outstanding. We had the perfect turnout that just filled the range so we didn’t have to go into relays. Although we got rained on (very hard at times) during Saturday’s activities, we were kept so busy with interesting training that hardly anyone noticed. Besides that’s what they make rain gear for. We spent the day doing individual workups with tactical rifle and pistol all of which was developing our skills towards what we would be doing on Sunday. Sunday was cool with only a light drizzle at some time during the day. This day was the most exciting as we were formed up into teams and started to learn the techniques for clearing a room. First we did it as a 2 man team, each of us going through the drill as the number 1 and then the number 2. Then we did the drill as members of 3 man teams and eventually as 4 and 5 man teams. All was live fire with transitioning to pistol as required. It was great – and we got to use the skills that were taught to us by our past Guest Instructors – did I mention that it was great!! There was an interesting array of rifles. One with a 7 inch barrel as well as the usual assortment of 10.5, 14.5 and 20 inch barrels. We were curious to know what the velocities would be, so I brought up a Chronograph and we fired 5 rounds from each barrel length. We used standard IVI military type ammo in all rifles with the following results:
A couple of weeks ago Linda and I ran an Advanced Tactical Rifle course. To provide the skills drills we used the OSA Operational Pistol course of fire at a base distance of 25 meters and adjusted some timings appropriately. This turned out to be successful with many skills being developed. After talking with some of the senior OSA members, we decided to create a Tactical Rifle match based on these skills drills. Once I get it written up I will send it out to everyone for a look. You will need to be able to shoot fast and carry out your handling drills with an element of efficiency. 01-02 May 2010 Pistol Basic & Holster Clinic Here's Keith's report to members on the Pistol Basic & Holster Course: Hope everyone is having the wonderful weather there that we are having here.
Just to note – on the course, we replaced a Trijicon Reflex sight (because it wouldn’t hold a zero) with a Leupold CQT and replaced an EO Tech (because the reticle kept going off) with a Leupold prismatic. Thanks again for those who let us have these Leupold sights on loan, once again they saved the day and the course. There just isn’t a course go by without needing to bring these sights into service. 20 March 2010 Snowshoe & Shoot
Here's Keith's report to members on the March Boot & Shoot: Wow, did we dodge the weather bullet this past weekend. Except for it being seasonally cold instead of the warm weather we had grown accustomed to this past week, the weather was great. What I mean by that is “no rain”. We had 12 folks come out to play with one coming all the way from Ottawa. Since the road in was in good shape we decided to drive in. This allowed some of us to bring in an extra rifle to shoot. Some of you (bless your hearts) keeping part of the aim in mind as to why we do these ‘walk-in and shoot’ decided to walk in and out anyways. Well done! Once we got everyone at the 100 meter range we did the usual confirmation zero or testing loads. While we were there, Linda and Marcia went off to the pistol steel range to do some informal practicing and coaching in a more relaxed situation. Garry L and Keith L decided to stay at the 100 meter range while the rest of us made our way to the pistol steel range. After ‘bang’n and clang’n’ there and having lunch we made our way back the 600 meter range knocking the LaRue targets down. Scott was clearing some cobwebs out of his 22-250, Mike B was trying out a new AR in 308 and Tom K was confirming some elevation settings with is 6.5- 284. Henry and his friend have decided that Federal Match ammo shoots better then hunting ammo and I was testing a King Optic scope on my pet AR. Finally during the late afternoon we made it to the 1000 meter range. There, only 3 of us clanged some long range steel. Mike F’s new 260 continues to hit the plates at will and made a rock at 930 meters take one center of visible mass. I have settled on a good load for my 7mm WSM shooting a respectable group on the 800 meter plate using hunting bullet. But our new comer Bill M, reserved the exact center of the 700 meter plate for himself. 20 February 2010 Snowshoe & Shoot
Here's Keith's report to members on the February Snowshoe & Shoot: We had a wonderful day for this month’s S&S. The temperature was -8 early in the morning and warmed up steadily throughout the day to something just above zero. The skies were a little overcast first thing but we had bright sunshine in the afternoon. The wind was gentle until we got to the long range and then it was interesting. The snow was in good shape for snowshoeing and, in fact, it had snowed only a little since we were last in there and the trail, although covered, was still packed.
We had 11 folks and two dogs who came to play in the snow. They came from Ottawa, Peterborough, the Toronto area and places closer. We shot at the 100 meter range to test fire some ammo and confirm zeros. Next we shot steel plates in the 600 meter butts and finally steel with rifle as we went out the long ranges. It was fun to watch Tom shoot his 7.5 Swiss, he often brings some interesting rifles. Mike shot a 3 shot group the size of your hand at 800 meters with is new 260 Remington. Carl was shooting his recently re-barrelled 6.5-284 with a newly developed load and he made some nice hits at 800. Henry and his friend brought some neat stuff made by the Chinese. Linda shot her M&P with a new Sig laser sight. Jesse used his Glock 24C and Shelby fired the OSA Glock 17 as well as Linda’s M&P. Scott put lots of hits on the steel with his favourite pistol (he’s going to be someone to watch at the upcoming Steel Challenge C’ship) and Aaron has his M-14 looking sharp with a new synthetic stock with an adjustable butt. I tried my new 7mm WSM with the 160 gr Sierra HPBT hunting bullet at long range and you know I don’t ever go into the ranges without my Glock. 16 January 2010 Snowshoe & Shoot Here's Keith's report to members on the first event of the 2010 season: The temperature was around zero with overcast skies, we didn’t see the sun even once all day. There was very little wind, so generally speaking the weather was good.
There were 7 of us who made the walk in. The snow was perfect for snowshoeing with 12 to 15 inches on the ground. The broken trail was frozen over so walking on it was like being on hard sand. But if you tried to go without the snowshoes you would sink in to nearly your boot tops. There was a fresh moose track walking down nearly the full length of the track Linda and I put down last weekend. Lots of rabbit tracks and a few wolf tracks.
We went directly to the 100 meter range and shot some pistol and confirmed some rifle zeros. Mike F took possession of his brand new custom built MilCun 260 Remington and shot it for the first time. His first 2 shots touched each other about 1 inch right. He made a 3 click adjustment and put the next three on the half MOA white square. He continued with a “hit anything he shot at” all the way back to 700 meters. Well done, Mike!
After the 100 meter range we went to the steel plates range and fired some pistol. This is such a great course of fire – an excellent combination of accuracy with speed. We are looking at a weekend event of the 8 steel courses of fire we have developed with an OSA Championship.
The LaRues worked perfectly as we fired some shots at 300, 400, 500 and 600 meters. Both Mike B and Mike F made consistent first round hits at all distances. I’ve been testing my new Long Range Hunting rifle in 7mm WSM using 160 gr hunting bullets. It has been giving me first round hits out to 700 meters, which is the furthest distance that I have shot with it.
We were all out and on our way home by 1600. A quick stop off for some Chinese food and the day was complete.
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OSA Website ©2011 OSA and MilCun Training Center (MilCun Marksmanship Complex) The Operational Shooting Association Inc. (OSA) is incorporated as a not-for-profit under the laws of Ontario Canada and is affiliated with the Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA). MilCun (MilCun Training Center and MilCun Marksmanship Complex) is a licensed firearms business, offering range services, training, publications, consulting and gunsmithing to recreational and professional marksmen.
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- This type of match came to mind during the Hunter
Marksman’s course. The rifle used here would be one that is legal, logical
and practical for hunting deer, bear and moose (any ammo could be used).
The target would be an IPSC classic target turned 90 degrees and include
sudden engagements, follow up shots, deliberate shots and moving targets
at ranges of 50 to 300 meters. Let me know if you would like to attend such a
match.
