Sports adventure shooting 11 Jan 2020

[camouflage762]

STAGE TYPE

L1 (3.2km HIKE and 100m shoot 10 hits required within 4 minutes)

	TARGET						TOTAL	Paper plate		100m	Hike
Date	Name	MSR	Cal	Optics	MSR weight	L1 weight	weight	Shots on	Shots fired	MARKSMAN %	Time (m.s)
Jan	STAFFY	AR15	223	Scope	4.45	7.95	12.4	14	20	70	28
Jan	CAMO	AR15	223	Scope	4.85	9.7	14.55	24	24	100	33
Jan	JS4	LM5	223	Open	4.4	7.95	12.35	2	34	5.88	34
Jan	Kwagga	AR15	223	Scope	3.8	7.7	11.5	7	38	18.42	35
Jan	PH	AR15	223	Scope	4.8	6.2	11	11	15	73.33	34
Jan	Grimes	AK	7.62x39	Scope	4.45	12.1	16.55	12	12	100	33

On Saturday the bokes gathered for the annual re-qualification. Weather was perfect: Cloudy with a light breeze. We have had awesome rain at the range since October and the veld was in good condition.

At 07:00 a quick prayer and safety briefing done, the gear check began.

For those not familiar with Sas, each year members have to qualify either doing Level 1, 2 or 3.

Level 1 is essentially a 3.2Km Hike to be done in under 40 minutes with a rifle and a bit of kit. (For the full list please see the Sas Website)

However this is usually easier than said: At this time of the year folks have been feasting and having fun with their families over the Christmas season, add to this it is usually the hottest time of the year.

I had desperately tried to get into a shape other than that a jelly the week prior, and was pleased with the results.

A few years back Sas Exco decided to grade member’s performance, as blokes would plop themselves down and then literally spray the target hoping to get the required 10 hits on target. (This is really not a sign of skill but probably shows a fine disregard for a bank balance)

Essentially one aims for an A+ on shooting score and hiking time.

The grading for the day for the Level1 is:

GRADING STAFFY L1 C/B/FT20 CAMO L1 A+/C/FT20 PH L1 C/C/FT20 Grimes L1 A+/C/FT20

Congrats to Grimes on his time and shooting: For the record he did it with BPV vest and had the heaviest kit and top grade for shooting!

[camouflage762]

Thanks to HoneyBadger for organising the day and collating the scores.

Will post pics and L2/3 results later.

[Mbadger]

My pleasure 💪🏻🎯

[shooty]

Question. Why does the shots fired differ? I noticed its from 12 to 38.

[Stevin]

Question. Why does the shots fired differ? I noticed its from 12 to 38.

You have a set time limit in which to make 10 hits on the target. There is no upper limit on how many shots may be fired, but it does affect your grading to just hose and miss. It also affects your overall time if you shoot extra rounds at the target that are hits. This is more relevant to the Level 2 and Level 3 though, than Level 1.

In level 1 there is a maximum time for the hike, and then a separate maximum time for the shooting portion. In Level 2/3 there is just one overall maximum time, and your shooting is done on the same clock as your hike (which is double the distance of the level 1 if memory serves me correctly).

[shooty]

Thanks. As I saw there was different amount fired.

[camouflage762]

Also: If you fail on the shooting of the L1 i.e: You cannot achieve 10 hits in 4 minutes, you are given the opportunity to make thing right by doing "ThirtySeconds"This entails SPRINTING with all your gear (To get your heart rate up) and as soon as you cross into the firing area you have 30 seconds to make up for any shots you missed.Obviously the rate of fire is a lot higher and results in a higher shots fired count in this case 34 & 38.

[shooty]

I noticed JS4 struggled a bit with 2 hits on 38 shots. That must be then from having to run and push heart rate

[camouflage762]

At about 09:30 the L2 hikers set off. Again for those not familiar with the concept of Sas: L2 is a 6.4Km Hike that has to be completed in under 90min AND get at least 5 hits at 50m and another 5 at 100m minimum. This has to be done with L1 gear (See Sas Website for gear list)

TARGET							TOTAL
Name	MSR		Optics	MSR weight	L1 weight	L2 weight	weight
Q	AR15	223	Scope	4.35	10.7	10	25.05
BB	FN FAL	308	Scope	6.05	9.15	10	25.2
HB	R1	308	Open	5.25	7.3	14	26.55

I was in overwatch position, because at some point the topography interferes with radio signal. (It’s important to keep an eye on the hikers. A few years ago we had a hiker who we lost track of, and sounded incoherent when we found him. Heat exhaustion is a thing and fortunately we were able to cool him down rapidly)

Being able to observe the field I noticed Q who had set out first. BushBoy set out about 8 minutes after Q and HoneyBadger about 5 minutes after that. So Honey Badger was about 13min behind Q.

	TARGET	Paper plate			Hike
Date	Name	Shots on	Shots fired	MARKSMAN %	Time (m.s)
Jan	Q	29	30	96.67	82
Jan	BB	15	20	75	80
Jan	HB	11	20	55	69

Nonetheless there was HoneyBadger running through the veldt with all his gear weigh 26.55Kg!

I was observing them from about 800m and it looked like he was speeding on a hover board, soon overtaking BushBoy and met up with Q at the dam crossing. It really was impressive to watch.

Either way the L2 is a big ask physically and the most difficult part is at the end where you have to cross through a farm dam. Strangely this year, despite the good rain it was quite shallow

All 3 passed the L2 section with Q & Bushboy doing very well on there shooting.

Thereafter these 3 intrepid individuals spent the night under the start to qualify for L3 2020

[Stevin]

Either way the L2 is a big ask physically and the most difficult part is at the end where you have to cross through a farm dam. Strangely this year, despite the good rain it was quite shallow

That dam crossing is a killer. It's so deceptive too!

Wade in to about waist height (at least when I last did it). Ahhh, so nice and cool, this isn't so bad... walk out the other end and the extra water weight hits your legs like a ton of bricks! I literally face planted as I exited the dam.

Will come visit again soon.