I expect this will be of little interest for most, and without a competition sub-forum, it doesn’t really have a fitting home here, but it might pique curiosity for some. I’m not a jersey’d professional shooter, but I thought I might share a bit about Precision Rifle Competition such as the Precision Rifle Series or National Rifle League. I’ll share first a bit about the different target types and shooting obstacles, but can elaborate a bit about courses of fire, equipment, and techniques if there’s further interest beyond this initial foray.
Precision Rifle Competition in a nutshell:
Precision Rifle competition is focused on diverse field shooting from varied positions, at varied target sizes, and varied ranges. We’ll typically shoot 250-1400 yards at targets 1-3MOA, but occasionally as small as 1/2MOA or as large as 4MOA at longer ranges. Matches will consist of 8-12, sometimes as many as 15 stages per day, with each stage usually 10 rounds, with a handful of stages of 8-12 rounds common for any given match, with a time limit of 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Some stages might only have one target, fired upon from multiple positions (I’ve seen a stage with 11 positions!), or might have 10 targets receiving one shot each from one position, and any imaginable combination there between.
What we shoot from:
Matches are typically broken up into about 40% prone or modified prone shooting, with the 60% balance as positional shooting. Prone’s pretty well understood, so I won’t soak too much bandwidth with those photos here, but I’ll share some of the positional obstacles below – certainly not an exhaustive photographical record.
Elevated platforms are relatively common, often with shooters going prone from the platform for longer shots. In the past, it was very common for multiple shooters in a squad to line up prone and alternate shots down range, but timing for the stages didn’t line up, so we see that stage design less in the current season.
Outside of prone, positional shooting is extremely varied. To remain relevant for field shooting, match directors are encouraged to temper their obstacles to realistic supports, but are also encouraged to offer shooters a varied and challenging course of fire. No silly tricks or gimmicks, but plenty of challenge. The game is designed around shooting and moving – but unlike most action shooting sports, we’re still focused on precision. We might shoot one shot from each of 10 positions during a 90 second stage, but it’s not just a feverish run and gun with huge targets at short ranges, we’re still usually talking about ~2moa targets at 600-800yrds when shooting positional stages.
The PRS Barricade is a standardized obstacle with a corresponding standardized course of fire. Starting behind the barricade, standing at port arms, mag in, bolt back, the shooter advances to the barricade and fires 2 shots at a 10” circle at 400yrds from each of 4 positions. This stage is often used as a tie breaker, based on number of impacts and time to complete. Very fast shooters will finish 8 shots in ~30-35 seconds.
We see a lot of various obstacles, including rooftops, concrete culverts, cattle gates, angled pipes (fencing brace sections), fence posts, telephone poles, wooden fiberline spools, 55gallon drums, coolers, railroad tie walls, truck beds, car hoods, HMMWV turrets, and more. Stacks of heavy equipment tires are also very popular (yet I realize in writing this, I somehow don’t have a photo of one).
Tank Traps are a common obstacle for positional shooting, and match directors get pretty good use of them. We’ll shoot from the tips of the traps, from the middle, and from the legs below the junction, and various height traps can be used to put the shooter in different positions behind them. We’ll often see a couple of them side by side, one smaller than the other.
Boat simulators and swinging obstacles are also relatively common. Hanging ropes and chains offer a frustrating swing as well, but swinging platforms are another flavor entirely. Most boat simulators are flat platforms, 4’x8’, hung by chains at each corner. Such, they remain relatively level as they swing. However, some are a bit different, for example, the swing at the Lone Star Training Center in Texas. They have a swing platform shaped like a Z, but with right angles, producing a lower platform and an upper. Last season, we shot modified prone/kneeling from the ground with the rifle supported fully on the lower platform at 3 targets, 2 shots each, then had to jump up to stand on the lower platform, with the rifle on the upper platform, fully off of the ground, and engage 2 more targets with 2 shots each. Their swing is suspended by close coupled chains at the top center, such it swings like a real swingset, meaning on the upstroke, you’re looking at the sky, and on the downstroke, you’re staring at dirt about 20yrds in front of the firing position. Pictured here is my rifle with the bipod withdrawn on the rail to fit on the upper platform.
What we shoot at:
There are relatively loose guidelines for target sizes and ranges. The National Rifle League posted a new rule for target sizes in 2019, limiting prone targets to 2moa and smaller, and positional targets to 3moa and smaller, but it’s still common to see 1/2moa targets out to 800yrds, and common to see a few bigger targets, at least bigger in one dimension, when we get out there to 1000+, like full size deer, elk, or even buffalo. We tend to see a blend of “regular” target shapes like circles, squares, and diamonds, mixed with various scales of IPSC (torso) targets and realistic silhouettes.
In this stage, we were shooting from 3 positions on an HMMWV, shoot the “terrorist” on the hood from the hood with 2 shots, move to modified prone in the cab and engage the targets in the cab with 2 shots each, then move to the tail an engage the targets in the bed with 2 shots each.
In this classic troop line stage, we shoot each target near to far with 2 shots each.
Here’s an example of a full size buffalo target, hidden on a hillside, all alone at 1200yrds.
In this stage, hit to advance the prairie dog targets at ~300yrds from prone, left to right, then right to left.
Sub-optimal Conditions:
Since this is an “outdoor sport,” we don’t always get to pick the weather. As a rule, only lightning, hail, or tornadoes will delay or cause cancellation of a match. Many of these matches are communicated through social media, and inevitably, if the weather forecast shows high likelihood of rain on match day, some new shooter will ask, “what do we do if it rains?” and the match directors almost unilaterally answer, “we get wet.” I’ve shot a January match where the morning temp was 17 degrees, and we never broke over 32F during the day, and have shot June and July matches where we were baking in 104F sun all day. Because the squads rotate through the stages throughout the day - over TWO days for national level matches - the light, wind, temperature, and precipitation conditions can change drastically. For example, in this picture below, I needed to fire at 3 targets in the clearing on the right side, then a target in the center clearing, and finally, reach 1400yrds out to the horizon on the left side at this match last summer in Texas. Unfortunately, visibility was poor, and I couldn’t even see the 1400yrd target in my scope during my turn to shoot. The shooters who rotated to this stage the following day had bright, clear skies, where the target was easily seen, even with the naked eye.
A few more shots of some other sub-optimal rage conditions we've been stuck in.
At a national level 2-day match last season, we had temps over 100degrees on the first day, followed by wind and rain on the second day. As one might imagine, the squads rotating to the longest range stages were significantly hindered by low visibility and high winds compared to the squads shooting those stages the first day. Below are pictures taken from a similar position both days of a 2 day match – you might imagine the conditions the first day were more amenable to long range shooting than those on the second day.
Night Matches:
I always seem to do a good job of taking my camera along to matches, but rarely remember to actually take photographs. But a few weeks ago, gladly, I remembered to take several photos such I could share a rather unique precision rifle match experience. Although rare, there are a few specialty precision rifle matches around the country which are fired at night. Usually, these involve illuminated targets and require illuminated reticles and are suppressed rifle only matches, and no white lights are allowed. It’s an extremely fun experience, and presents a unique challenge. Being suppressor-only, no hearing protection is used, and the darkness of night means we can’t see wind cues, and can’t see any impact splash from missed shots. Here are a few shots from the 2019 Light’s Out match presented by Burris at Fouled Bore Precision in Oklahoma. The first photo shows our squad, complete with red headlamps and glow sticks, with the white illuminated targets showing in the background across the valley, the rest are phone-skope photos of the target arrays on the hillside as photographed through my 15x56mm Swarovski SLC binoculars.
The stage below was an 8 shot string, 2 shots each, near to far, fired from sitting or kneeling from a tripod.
In this stage below, we alternated between the IPSC's at the car and the square "confirmation target" in the foreground. The IPSC's were something on the order of 800, with the square at 600 and change.
