Learning what works for you and what doesn't.

[black22rifle]

I recently took my first rifle level I course and throughout the course there was a few times that my equipment was limiting me in accomplishing what the course was demanding. I am looking for opinions and advice on whether I should change what I have and plan to change about my set up. The course was a 20 hour course with about 600 rounds fired including a night shoot.

My set up was as follows: 16" PSA ULW upper, BCM BCG, H3 buffer, 12" MI SSK, A2 FH, BCM keymod VG, DD fixed front, mbus rear, BCM GF CH, Surefire G2X tactical 300 lumens w/gear sector mount, VTAC sling with dual QDs, Aimpoint R1 w/ ADM 1/3 co witness, Spikes lower w/ Geiselle SSA, Magpul STR, 7075 RE, 10 Pmags, 600 rounds M193. Altogether It comes out to an 8 pound rifle with sling and no mag.

First off I thoroughly enjoyed the course no matter what, two whole days of shooting at steel is great no matter what and I learn several things and had a great time. Here are the things I found limiting. Also, I am not LEO/MIL.

Sling: I found that my two point VTAC sling mounted at the rear of the stock and front of the hand guard tended to get in my way and slow me down during shoulder transition and reloads. In addition, during one handed firing It did not help me support the rifle the way a single point would when mounted at the receiver end plate. Having a single point would also make it easier during transitions and reload since I would not have to take my support arm of the sling. What I also found is that my grip strength and forearm strength is not all that great so I plan on working on it. I plan on replacing it with the Blue Force Gear UDC padded bungee single point and just using the Qds I have on the VTAC.

Hand guard: During a 4 mag drill The MI SSK got so hot I could not even hold on to it and even at the end of the drill I could not hold on to the VG so i had to resort to a mag well hold. I plan on getting some of MI's rail covers since they look to me to be more effective in regards to blocking heat than the the BCM's and noveske's that I see online. They look to be thicker.

BCM VG: During the aforementioned 4 mag drill I found that constantly shouldering the rifle from the low ready put a lot of stress on my support arm bicep. So much that the following day I felt as if I was doing a bicep workout routine. Maybe I was pulling too much with my support arm, My support arm is weak, or both. Input?

Light: We did most of our shooting at 40 meters, I would say 70%. The rest was 20% at 60 meters followed by 5% at 100 meters and the rest at contact and in between. During the night shoot we were shooting at 60 meters and with my 300 lumen G2X tactical I could not see the target at all. The distance coupled with the fact that I was wearing contacts which I cant see as good with when compared to glasses and the darkness I am not sure if I should change this or not. I have been thinking about the Streamlight TLR1 HL 630 light at 12 o' clock or maybe even the surefire fury 500 lumen in the current gear sector mount I have which mounts it at 11 o'clock. Then again do i see myself in a confrontation at that distance? maybe. To be honest 40 meters doesn't seem all that far to me. That's about the distance from the end of my yard to the other end in a residential area.

Rear MBUS: During speed reloads I was racking the CH instead of hitting the bolt release and the left side wing was really wearing down my index finger, after a while it started to be painful. I was thinking about maybe switch to a DD fixed rear which which seems to be really flat on the sides from the pictures i see or maybe even the new MBUS pro rear which is a bit tapered. Since then I have experimented with looking through the red dot from above the rear and the rear does not seem to be in the way when up.

I am open to all advice and suggestions.

[LTMattyL]

Below are my thoughts based on what you have above. Take them for what you will as I am not a HSLD type.

Sling: If you want to get the single point sling to try, by all means do it. It may be worthwhile for you or may not. I made the opposite switch...from single point to two point. Did you conduct any rifle to pistol transitions? If not, the single point sling can become a pain in the ass if you need to move while it is hanging...your rifle just hangs there and flops around. Where as, with a two point, your rifle will be closer to your body and more controllable if you need to move. It is one of those things to try and see what you like best. I'm also not sure how you think the sling will help with one handed shooting....do you intend to push out against the sling to steady the rifle? I personally don't think you would gain anything here. Finally, if you haven't seen it, a video about the VTAC sling by the guy who created it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhojNCdksYw

Handguard: I'm not sure if there really is much you can do about the heat from 120 rounds in a short period of time....wear gloves?

BCM VG: How do you use the VFG? More of a hand stop or actually gripping it like a pistol? It could be a body mechanics thing more than you are weak. At the same time, you might be using muscles in a way that they have never been used before and it will become a non-issue the more you shoot.

Light: You need to conduct a personnel assessment of how you plan to use the light. If you think you might use it inside, test out what you have to see if the reflection off the walls would hinder your night adapted vision. This video is a pretty good one, I haven't watched it in a year or so, but it might give you some ideas about where to go with your light choices. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V78tH6aVpuM If you are trying to ID a target to engage at 60 m, you are probably outside of any reasonable self defense situation. If you really did want something to reach out for searching, maybe you might want to consider a high lumen handheld.

Rear MBUS: Any reason you gravitated to using the CH on bolt lock reloads? Not saying its wrong, just curious. It would seem that you would have better economy of motion using the bolt release. Plenty of people run a fixed rear with out issue so I'm sure you could do the same if that is the route you want to go.

I have found that gear selection is constantly evolving as you learn more and train more. Make sure to keep an open mind and, if you find something that doesn't work for you, don't be afraid to dump it to get something that does.

[Long Range Trigger Monkey]

I love shooting competitions because like classes they reveal a lot about the deficiencies in one's training and equipment in very short order. Sometimes the worst experiences are the ones that we truly learn from.

In your case, if it was my rifle and I was having a fit of a time I would hold back on making any wholesale changes and instead work with what I have and make small adjustments to the set up to tune it to me and my shooting style. Your sling for example, truthfully I despise single point slings so instead of making a change, try connecting the front of the sling at the rear sling swivel on the handguard and on the opposite side of the stock. I've found that with this set up I can easily drop my arm down through the sling so that it just goes around my neck making it quicker to transition from strong to support side. I would also play around with where the VFG is placed on the rail, you might simply just have it out to far but it could be something to experiment with. I'd probably deal with the hot handguard issue in the same manner you are, with MI panels, but I can't really say anything about the MBUS/CH conflict, I haven't run into that myself. On the light, that's a tough one, Travis made some really good points in his video that sometimes more lumens does not equal better...sometimes more is just more so if it was me I'd try the light again at the typical distances that you might encounter around your home and go from there. Try it with glasses on and contacts and if you feel that you still want more lumens then I would probably lean towards the Fury, I've never got the warm and fuzzy with the way the Streamlight lights mount up.

Good luck.

[tacoops]

I will comment on only two of your issues, first off I had a VTAC sling on my rifle, I also had issues with it. I don't know what model you have but mine had a whole bunch of extra material and things on it that just got in the way. I ran it in a carbine class and it was a pain. I switched to a Blue Force Vickers Combat Application Sling. That solved all the problems with the sling. As for the MBUS rubbing your finger on reloads, if your rifle is functioning properly and the bolt is locking back on an empty magazine you should not be using the charging handle to send the bolt forward. That is basic carbine fundamentals, if you were doing this in a class the instructor should have corrected you.

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