Part 4 will cover shooting your first match, stages 1 through 4. It also covers how to deal with wind conditions at the 600 yard stage.

Keep all your gear organized and know your relay and target number! Keep your ears peeled for range commands so you know what's going on, where you're supposed to be, what you're supposed to be doing and how much time you have to do it.

Before each stage: Slow deep breathing, clear your mind of clutter and your body of tension, think about the things you are about to do. Not everything, just the first thing. When that's clear, think about the second thing, then the third. Getting going smoothly prevents confusion-induced jitters. At least that's what they tell me; I haven't yet progressed beyond confusion.

First: breathe and relax. If you use a SLED clip (single-load clip for the Garand) pop it in your rifle. Place your ammo so it’s accessible without moving your feet from your natural position. Breathe and relax some more.

Find your natural position during the three-minute prep period and your sighter shots. Once found, don’t disturb it. See where the rifle points naturally. If you are off to one side, shift your rear foot (furthest away from target) to rotate your whole body slightly. Align your whole body to change the natural direction of your stance. Elevation adjustments should be made by varying where you hold your support hand on the rifle, by how much you lean back (away from the target), and by moving the rear foot towards or away from the target. Moving it further to the rear will bring your muzzle up, and vice versa. Try to keep your supporting forearm as vertical as possible. This prevents using the bicep muscle to hold up the rifle, which will lead to muscle fatigue and the shakes. Try to rest your elbow on your side above your hip. Better yet is to bring your support elbow across the front of your body slightly. This provides a nice contact of the back of your arm against your ribs, and makes for a more natural position of the rifle and a better support angle for the forearm. It actually may lean back slightly towards your shoulder, putting your arm and shoulder joint at their maximum limit of travel and providing a very stable and steady position which can be held with total relaxation. This allows your rib cage to bear the total weight of your rifle and support arm. The idea is to use your skeleton, not your muscles, to hold up the rifle. If your support arm rests relaxed and folded against your body, while holding the rifle on target, with the weight of the rifle being transferred to your torso, you are pretty much doing it right.

Test this by settling into what feels like a natural relaxed position, closing your eyes and letting your body do what it wants to do. Open your eyes and see where your sight is pointed. If it's not pointed at your target, adjust your stance to achieve a correct natural position.

Check your rear sight settings for the proper stage value.

More deep breathing as you load a round (remember to ease the bolt about one-third of the way closed before releasing it), again as you raise the rifle, again as you settle into your position, then a fourth time – this is your shooting breath. Your breath count may vary but four works for me. Let out about half your air as the rifle settles, then either hold it or let it out at a tiny rate as you complete your hold.

Check your target number before every shot! This may sound silly, but I've seen master-class shooters cross-fire in offhand.

Keep a totally clear, empty mind during shooting even if the shot is bad. Your next one could be an X, but not if you're upset over your last shot. Think "I'm on Valium."

Be patient. VERY Patient. Don't rush or jerk the shot, wait for the rifle to settle. If it keeps settling in the wrong place, see if the wrong place is the same place every time and adjust your position accordingly. If you are in a good natural position, the front sight will wobble evenly around the bull with the wobbles getting smaller and zeroing in until the front sight seems to settle on whatever hold you are using ... for about one and a half seconds. If you have about half the pull weight already on the trigger, you can get the shot off without a jerk.

If you find yourself running out of breath (or patience) stop the process and start over! You will find yourself tempted to yank the trigger when the sight wobbles anywhere near the target at this point. Don't do it! You always can try again, but once you put a hole way out there in the 6 ring (or worse), you're stuck with it. Know when not to shoot.

Remember to be just a little aware of outside things like sudden wind changes, the range officer calling cease fire, people throwing rocks at you, etc. Don't tune too far out. And keep that relaxing breathing going.

When you are finished, unload and make the rifle safe. Then immediately record your final sight setting in the appropriate spot in your score book, notebook, or index card. This will be your starting zero for the next time you shoot offhand (assuming you're confident that it was correct). Start preparing for your next stage. Set your sling for the sitting position and set your zero for sitting, if necessary. If you’ve taken my instructions on zeroing to heart you’ll have your proper sight settings written down and taped to the rifle stock.

If you finish offhand before the last shooter, use this time to steal a march on your prep for the next stage. You'll be very glad you did. Check to see if your rapid-fire clips or magazines are loaded. Load three in case you launch one into orbit while reloading and can't reach it from your sitting position. Check for "long" rounds if you’re an M1 shooter. If one round protrudes as little as one-sixteenth inch more than the others, the clip will not go into the magazine (for .30-06).

 [Photograph 4 shows a Garand clip with a "long" round.]

 If you use a sled clip, you can leave it in for sighters on the next stage. Pick up all your brass before someone else does and get your equipment off the line before the next relay runs you over. Wipe the sweat off. Breath some more. Congratulations, you just survived your first offhand stage!

Breathe deep and slow again and clear any jitters. Think about the first couple of steps. This will be a recurring nightmare (I mean, theme).

Check if the SLED clip is still in place. If you left it in from offhand, go ahead and use it for sighters. Don't forget to take it out when you're done, because you can't insert a full clip while it's in there!

When you are in three-minute prep, you should be organized well-enough to have taken care of all the little stuff ahead of time and be able to try your position with emphasis on sitting down into it without falling over backwards and showing the range master how many lands and grooves you have in that nice shiny DCM bore (see rock throwing above, they hate that). Make sure your clips or magazines are properly loaded and within easy reach.

When you are shooting your sighters, pay attention to the "feel" of the position of your arms, elbows, knees, butt, the buttstock in your shoulder, cheek weld, etc. Your zero will reflect this exact position; not necessarily the one you will get into when you do it for real! I have shot some very nice tight groups in rapid sitting and prone that were two minutes higher than my beautifully centered sighter shots. The butt being placed exactly the same place in your shoulder in your rapid string as in your sighters helps prevent ten or fifteen points being flushed down the tube this way. If you make any sight adjustments, write them down in your score book under "setting used."

After the sighters, remove the SLED clip if it isn’t already. Wipe away the sweat while doing the breathing thing. Clips or magazines should be set where you want them. Have an extra loaded clip handy for each string in case you fumble one out of reach during reloading. When the "load" command is given, there are two ways to safely load the M1 Garand with two rounds. The M1 cannot be loaded and still have the bolt locked back, so there are two ways allowed to load with a closed bolt: you may chamber a round as long as the safety is on, or you may leave the chamber empty with the safety off. You just have to remember to either pop off the safety or rack the handle after you get into position. You can purchase a special two-round clip, or you can slide an empty clip partway into the magazine, shoe-horn two rounds into it, then push it all the way in and close the bolt. Make sure you know for sure that your round was chambered if so intended! For M14/M1A guys, it’s two rounds in the magazine and the bolt locked back.

When the ready command is given and the targets come up, keep the breathing slow and deep to keep the heart rate down during this time.

Get into position carefully and thoughtfully and it will be faster than flopping and squirming (or so I've been told, I only flop and squirm). Do the breathing thing at the same time. You should take two or three slow, deep ones to get settled in. This translates to 12 to 15 seconds between targets-up and your first shot. Don't forget to do the "close eyes-relax-open eyes" drill to check the naturalness of your position (again, at your target, not the next guy's). This only takes two seconds. Work this into your dry-fire training.

Check your target number before each shot! It is possible to become so focused on your front sight that you recover from recoil pointed at the next guy's target and cut loose without realizing it. This is called a cross-fire and counts as a miss. This is real easy to do when your natural position is off a bit to the side from your own target. After shooting, follow through. Watch where the front sight settles after recoil to judge the correctness of your position. Make a mental note of any change necessary and make it after you’ve reloaded.

When reloading, try not to disturb the left elbow/ knee relationship. Don't sprain your thumb getting that clip in, but try to push it clean through the bottom of the rifle. Keep your elbow high while pushing so your forearm is in line with the direction of the shove; it gets your upper arm, chest and shoulder muscles involved, rather than trying to push the clip in with a droopy elbow, which uses only wrist and thumb strength.

More breathing as you reload and settle back into position. If you think you need to adjust your position, do it now. Make sure the butt goes into your shoulder, and your face goes onto the stock, exactly the same way as before you lowered the rifle to reload. If you change this position, you will have a different point-of-impact for subsequent rounds than you did with the rounds fired before you broke position. And you won't be able to detect any difference in your sight picture. If you have "made haste slowly" in acquiring position, firing your first two shots and reloading, you should have between 25 and 35 seconds to get off your next eight shots, so don't go to "rock ‘n’ roll" mode. Remember to check your target number, control your breathing, and don't yank the trigger. Here is where a good surprise break comes in handy. Use the above timing parameters in dry and live fire practice sessions to learn how to pace yourself. 12 to 15 seconds to the first shot, four more for the second, five seconds to reload and get the butt back into your shoulder, and a couple of seconds to adjust your NPA if necessary. That should leave you with at least four seconds per shot for your final eight. Plenty of time if your position is solid with a tight sling and a correct NPA.

Remember: every rapid-fire shot is the exact same thing as a slow-fire shot. Don't leave anything out or add anything, just do it in less time.

Whisper a prayer of thanks that you got off all ten and didn't have to eat any, wipe away sweat, breathe and, if at an 80-shot match, get ready to do it again. Observe your target. If your group was off center, you need to decide if a zero adjustment is warranted (one of the lovely immediate decisions you will face). You will have to decide whether your rapid-fire position changed from the position used in sighters or whether your zero really is off. Good luck. My guess is that if you are going to do a second string, it will be very much like your first string, so you might want to adjust sights if your first string group was off-center. But you never know ... If you stick with it long enough, you’ll eventually recognize just what it was that put your zero off, and deal with it. Usually it’s a change in your position.

When finished: Raise the sight three clicks for the 300 stage, if applicable, and set your sling for the prone position. Keep track of where that SLED clip went. Make a firm mental note of whether or not you raised your sight so you won't be wondering if you did it when you are at 300 yards. Also, remember what you did to the sight during sighters. Record the final elevation and windage settings in your score book or cheat-sheet, if you had a nice centered group.

This is very similar to stage 2. Make sure your support elbow is as far under the rifle as your body allows. A good way to ensure this is to hit the ground on your support side (roll yourself slightly that way) and then stick your left elbow over to the right (if you're right-handed) as far as it will go. Then, roll to the right onto your chest and the rifle ought to be directly over your left elbow.

Keep your head consistently placed on the stock (cheek or stock weld) the same as it was during sighters. When you reload, make sure the butt goes back to the exact same position in your shoulder.

The commonly accepted position is with the strongside knee drawn up a little to raise your torso, with your body straighter behind the rifle than the older, more angled position.

Adjust for NPA by pulling your trigger-side elbow in to lower your front sight, or out to the side to raise your sight. For windage, you either can rotate your whole body around the point of your support (sling-side) elbow, or move that elbow slightly to the side. I prefer the former for slow-fire and the latter for rapid, because it takes less time to accomplish. Remember you have 70 seconds for prone, 10 more than for sitting.

At 300 yards, wind becomes a definite factor, even with the .30-06. So, realize that you may have to compensate for it with your sighters and that you should pay attention to any wind condition changes that occur between sighters and your first string, and between the first and second strings.

Don't forget to check your target number before each shot and follow through afterwards!

When you are done, pop in the SLED clip and, if your slow-fire stage is at 600, raise the sight 11 to 12 clicks.

Keep track of your sight changes during sighters. You will want to think about where the rifle shot during slow-fire sighters (not necessarily the rapid strings) and figure that that probably will work (windage-wise) for 600 unless there is a serious breeze, in which case you have to factor in extra compensation for the increased distance.

If you are shooting at 600 (and not a reduced range), recheck your sight setting to make sure you brought it up from the 300 yard setting. Keep one eye on the range flags at 300 (if any) and one eye through the spotting scope for mirage. The big challenge of 600 yard shooting is doping the wind.

Learning to read mirage for wind correction is an art. You might as well start learning now. Basically, the air distortions that rise up from heat (the "wiggles") will not rise straight up if there's a breeze, but rather will move up at an angle. The stronger the wind, the sharper the angle and the faster it appears to be flowing. With a 5 to10 mile per hour wind, the mirage will be flowing sideways like a river, moving, of course, downwind. With no wind, or a wind that is going straight up or down range, the mirage appears to "boil." Set your scope for a focus of 300 yards and you'll be looking at the mirage in the middle of the range, right along the bullet’s path. This makes mirage a more reliable indicator of your wind challenge than the range flags. I have seen the four flags at 300 and 600 blowing in four separate directions at the same time. I'm not kidding. This is where a good quality spotting scope helps. High magnification is unnecessary; in fact it will hurt you by so reducing the field of view that it makes it difficult to spot a good background against which to see mirage moving. 20-power is about perfect. Remember you only have to see a white 3-inch spotter disk against a black background, not the bullet hole itself (if you're having a bad day, you'll be looking at a black disk against a white background). Mirage is only visible in sunlight; in deep shadow it disappears completely, leaving you to play a noisy, long-distance game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. One other thing to realize is that a wind moving at a 45 degree angle to the bullet’s path has virtually the same effect as a wind perpendicular to that path. Get your hands on some wind drift tables for the bullet you’re using. Almost all reloading manuals have this information in them.

Try to develop the concentration necessary to clearly identify the wind conditions for a given shot, then remember them after the shot is fired and scored. When you are studying the placement of this shot, you will see whether or not you made the right adjustment for that particular wind condition. If you did, study the current wind condition for the next shot and compare it to the remembered condition of your last shot.

If the wind didn't change and you shot a 10, shoot again with the same sight setting. If you didn't make the right wind call for your last shot and the conditions haven't changed, apply the correction and fire your next shot.

If you didn't make the right wind adjustment for your last shot and conditions have changed, you have to do a bit of thinking about what to do next because you now are out-of-synch with the wind. If you over-corrected for the wind on your last shot and it has picked up speed for your next shot, you might be able to fire it without any correction, as the wind has changed towards where your sight was set. If you under-corrected and the wind picked up, you have to make up your under-correction plus the amount the wind has increased. If you don't make up the under-correction, you'll still be behind the curve. You have to figure out how much you were wrong in which direction, and factor that into any new change in direction or speed of the wind. Fun, eh? You will be amazed at just how far out your bullet will veer when you fail to note a complete reversal of the wind.

Keep your position and face placement absolutely identical from shot to shot. A good trick is to see what part of the rifle barrel or front sight shows through the rear peep at its 6-o’clock edge when you are "on." Use that for consistent alignment. I have experienced hitting center, then suddenly shot 7's and 8's at 12 o’clock, so I adjusted and got on center again, then next thing I knew I was shooting 7's and 8's at 6 o’clock. So I'd adjust again and be back on center like I was in the first place, only 10 to 12 points poorer, because my face and eye had drifted up and down a miniscule amount without my being able to detect it. This trick helps to prevent this.

If you lower the butt from your shoulder to reload, make sure it goes right back into the same spot when you reshoulder the rifle. Tiny changes in butt placement will result in a misalignment you can't see in the sights but which will create a one or even two MOA displacement of the shot, usually high or low.

Remember to keep your focus firmly on the front sight when starting your trigger pull. If you had a good string of hits going and suddenly you’re all over the place in both elevation and windage, chances are you are bull-gazing. Remember that even the most miniscule alignment error in your sights at 600 yards can put you from the 10 into the 7 ring without you being able to detect it. Proper habits performed consistently will help prevent this. Or, you might have hit some eye fatigue. If you have time, close your eyes for a moment.

Keep a canteen and a cloth to wipe perspiration within easy reach. And try not to groan in pain too loudly; it upsets the other shooters. Seriously consider taking a couple of painkillers while back on the 300 line next time. Remember, the sling is your friend, and pain is only weakness leaving the body.

Try to maintain a good rhythm. After you squeeze off the shot, you'll see the target get pulled as you settle down from recoil. Think about where you called it, and exactly what the wind condition seemed to be at the instant of the shot, and how many clicks windage you had on the sight to compensate.

While doing this, wipe sweat, roll another round into the magazine and hold your pen poised over your scorebook. While waiting for the target to reappear, check the flags and the mirage. How has the wind changed since you fired? When the target comes up, look through the spotting scope and record the shot placement in your scorebook. Think about placement versus your call versus wind condition. Did you put it where you called it? If it's off, was it a wind-induced error? Go through the wind/shot analysis described above, ease the bolt shut (remember to avoid slam-fires), make any necessary correction (it's easier to turn the windage knob with the bolt closed), sight carefully and light 'er off.

From the time you decide upon your wind adjustment, try to get the shot off within eight seconds or less. The faster you can shoot after your decision, the less are the chances of being caught by a condition change you won't notice because you are focusing only on your front sight. I once saw a superb high master take so long on his sight picture that he failed to note a complete reversal of the wind that blew him out into the white 6-ring. Boy was he thrilled with that. This holds true in the larger sense too; the faster you finish all 22 shots, the less total wind changes you will experience.

If you are really speedy, record each windage click in your scorebook in the appropriate slot for that shot. Afterwards read down the columns and see if you are adding and subtracting windage clicks all over the place. If this is caused by falling behind the curve in wind changes, it’s called "chasing the spotter." It is very frustrating, and you may need work on your wind reading! A good way to prevent this is to pay close enough attention to the wind conditions that you can tell what the predominant wind speed and direction are. Do your shooting only when the wind matches this condition. Once you are zeroed for it, you will hardly ever have to change if you are sharp. I know this works because I have had matches where I chased the spotter all over the target and had my windage knob glowing red hot from the heavy cranking, while hitting all the wrong rings and practically cutting the target in half from 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock. Meanwhile, another guy with a master ticket had only a couple of clicks of windage in his scorebook and put a smiley face in the X ring. Chasing the spotter is not always bad – sometimes wind changes are violent and rapid enough that you can't always guess right the first time, or are forced to make constant corrections – but you want to avoid it if at all possible, either by waiting for the wind to return to a condition at which your sight setting will produce a ten, or by being on top of each change in condition before you fire.

Do all the above 22 times in 22 minutes. I figure I use about seven to eight seconds to actually settle in and fire, once I make my wind check. This is all I really need for the shot. But, I use up more time than the average shooter just remembering which way is right and which way is left.

One more thing to spice up the recipe – shifting light. The saying is "light low, sights low," meaning that if a cloud shadow rolls over the target, it makes it appear smaller and harder to see, which causes you – if you are using a 6-o'clock hold – to hold closer, which makes you hold and hit high. Thus, when the light drops, you need to knock a click or two off the elevation. Ideally, you are in the cloud shadow all the time and the target is in the sun all the time, keeping you nice and cool. Be advised this never happens in reality, unless the cloud above you happens to be raining. What generally happens is you get settled in and zeroed on a sunny target and then a shadow goes over the target while you roast in the sun for the whole time. The worst is constant changing of shadow and sun on and off your sight and target in random combination. You can adjust to any condition, but it's missing a change that gets you. I know I’ve had some high and low hits in the 8 ring because I forgot to apply the above rule of thumb. Get some sight black spray and hit your front blade before the match to reduce any shine or glare from it.

Essentially, sight alignment, holding (sight picture), consistent buttstock position and cheek weld, and wind-reading will make you or break you (well, okay, just break you) at 600. Most of this you won't see at 200 reduced or even 300 reduced; it takes the full distance to make things exciting.

The above descriptions should supply enough detail for you to be able to go to your range, zero your rifle, figure out how to adjust your sling, concoct a workable set of positions, and practice the various stages of the match with some ability to assess your performance, before actually attending your first match. I hope this will encourage some of you M1 Garand owners to attend your local matches. You will learn more about rifle position shooting from a season of these matches than you can possibly imagine. You will acquire skills and knowledge directly transferable to the hunting fields. And you will gain a healthy new respect for the capability of the wonderful M1 rifle at ranges you may have thought impossible! Go out and try it!

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