The Midnight Hour

On Sunday I fired again in the JCG course of fire. I did not meet my goal of putting all standing shots into a scored ring (no misses). Consequently, I scored one point worse than the day before, a 238. Since only your best score of the two days is recorded, you will find a 239-3x by my name on the CMP Results Page and see that I finished 86/162 competitors. I am happy with that for my first match, as most people participating in the match are seasoned shooters, and I consider the median of the group to still be good performance.

Today I fired an EIC match with the same Garand from the previous two days. I can’t remember what EIC stands for, but the crux of the biscuit is that the top 10% of shooters in the match win points that accumulate towards the “distingushed rifleman” badge. The distinguished rifleman badge is no joke. I expect many people spend many years shooting well and still do not attain it. The course of fire featured the JCG course of fire plus a rapid-fire sitting stage. When I looked at my scorecard and saw the addition of rapid-fire sitting it certainly made me anxious, as I had not practiced a sitting position with the M1. I continued with the course of fire utilizing all me lessons learned from the previous two days. I didn’t do well on the sitting stage, but I met the goals I had set for the normal JCG stages, and didn’t drop any shot on the standing stage. My EIC score was a 305-2x (out of 400). The competition is even stiffer on EIC matches, and that score didn’t rank well with the others of the day. However, when I counted my points for only the JCG events (that I had practiced) my JCG score would have been a 248, a nine point improvement over my first day.

The following is a set of lessons learned from my three days of shooting:

1. There’s no replacement for shooting as a means of improvement. I’ve fired a lot of rifles from many different eras and from many different countries. Every single one is different. The M1 was no exception. No matter how proficient you may be with another rifle, it takes putting rounds downrange to improve your familiarity and proficiency with a new rifle.

2. The M1 is an excellent weapon in all respects. Never in 115 rounds did my M1 malfunction. 115 rounds is not a true test of a weapon, but 115 malfunction-free rounds after being completely stripped and reassembled after having sat idle for 50 years is quite an accomplishment. The M1’s sights are excellent. The rear sights are extremely sturdy and the adjustments are firm and repeatable. Adjusting the sights two minutes of angle (MOA) yields a true two MOA on paper. The only other service rifle I have seen accomplish this feat is the M16, and it was designed 30 years after the M1. I have no experience with the M14, so M14 fanboys can leave your flames at the door. The peep sight is top notch. The front sight blade is crisp with a practical thickness. Below is a picture of me adjusting the sights on my M1. Yes, I always make that face when I concentrate. Yes, I know it’s sad.

Many complain of the M1’s recoil, but I barely noticed. That is not braggadocios, as heavy recoiling weapons thump my shoulder just as badly as anyone else, but I have found the M1’s recoil overstated on the web.
3. The internet forum armchair quarterbacks who claim to be able to hold 2 MOA without a problem are lying. The X-ring is 1.5 MOA at 200 yards. The 10-ring is 3 MOA at 200 yards. You only need to check the match results to see how few people can hold most of their shots in the 10-ring.

4. Confidence is a large part of shooting. During my standing phase today I had just put a shot into the 8-ring and I said to my scorer, “I’ll take that. I’d like to have all of them in the 8-ring.” He replied, “You can do better than that. Put them in the 10-ring. Have some confidence, man.” I then took a hard look at the way I was shooting the standing phase and realized I was playing not to loose instead of playing to win. I was scared to death to drop a shot, and I was shooting every shot thinking “Don’t drop it. Don’t drop it. Don’t…” After that I told myself each time I raised my rifle “You’re going to hold the front sight on the bull, squeeze the trigger, and put a shot in the 10-ring.” It actually helped. My next shot wasn’t a 10, but a 10 did come, and I stopped mentally settling for the 6’s and 7’s I had been shooting. My score for the second half of the standing round was quantifiably higher than the first half.

5. M1 thumb (the bolt catching your right thumb as you reload and fail to quickly remove it from the action) is real. I cussed. Loudly.

6. My personal M1 is very accurate. I can consistently (9/10 times) call where my shot lands. If the trigger broke while I was high center, the shot will go high-center. The rifle is doing exactly what I tell it to do. After the match I used a muzzle wear and throat erosion gauge on my rifle. It measures a 0.5 on MW and a 2 on TE. This is within specs for a new barrel, and I believe my barrel is new, sans test firing at Springfield Armory in 1955.

7. New leather slings are a pain in the butt. After three days and some leather lotion my sling is finally able to be adjusted with minimal swearing. I do, however, love the 54″ Turner Saddlery sling I am using.
Overall, I had a great time. I now have some areas of my shooting to work on, and I’ll be better prepared for the next CMP Games. I also met some great local shooters and will hopefully get involved with the Santa Margarita Gun Club on a regular basis. GG.