SERIOUS SECRET TIPS & TRICKS: Volume One
1. Success at OTC (Olympic Training Center): LIGHTING
First, lighting ranked Best to Worse at four main venues:
a. Camp Perry: Exceptional - best lighting anywhere
b. Fort Benning: Very Good ( Ft. Benning newly renamed "Fort Snowflake")
c. CMP-South: Good - overhead florescent - new targets are "back-light" for lack of better description
d. OTC - A bit of "shadow" - trying to remember if target appears like a regular paper target
2. Don't Get DQ'd at OTC
Safety: At CMP-Anniston - they SPECIFICALLY instruct a "safe" direction for muzzle is "Up!"
However: At OTC - Marc will DQ you for Muzzle-Up. Reason: There are exposed overhead long florescent lights that could take a pellet. Noting: The 10-meter air "range" is actually the width of the 50-meter smallbore rifle range. These long florescents shine downrange for the rifle shooters, but are directly exposed to the air shooters. Thus, see #1 Lighting above.
3. Don't Get DQ'd at OTC - redux
Equipment Control: Make sure your pistol will pass. Mainly: a. trigger weight, b. can you grip it without touching wrist, and c. will it fit in "The Box."
Here, I showed up one year with my patented and world-famous "Golden Grip" - only that my Devcon titanium palm-swell kept the "The Box" from closing. Thusly, I got to scavenge a pocket-knife out of the lost & found, and sit there and scape it to width, while everyone else laughed at me.
(I'm used to this by now - I've accumulated a veritable PANTHEON of KNOWLEDGE of WHAT NOT TO DO!)
4. Don't get DQ'd at OTC - Part III
You'll be shooting off the plywood wooden boxes. Noteworthy: The Height of your table will be 36" - thus, your pistol case may take your height above 1.00 meters - Marc almost DQ'd me my first year there for similar infraction using a bean bag. [ Overall dimension there: 18"x18"x36" ]
Side note: The height of the narrow metal "swing-out" tables at both CMPs is 31 3/8" inches - so Conclusion: If you're used to a certain height, prep yourself for a start position at 36".
(Tip 4A: Some people use a 'guitar foot stool' as a support. Link:
https://www.amazon.com/CAHAYA-Position- ... r=8-2&th=1
5. Don't get DQ'd . . . you get the pattern . . . .
DON'T!!!: Set your pistol down WITH the action closed. Even if you're still standing there. It's a DQ. Obviously, flag the chamber if you walk away. Signal a Range Officer first, if you need to leave the line (there will be RED and Yellow lines there). But if you're not actually holding the pistol; open that action!
6. Don't get SEASICK at OTC !!! I'm serious! The Second Floor range BOUNCES!!!
It's NOT the 6,000 ft altitude; you don't have altitude sickness. Noting above, that the second floor also spans 50 meters for the rifle range - the floor LITERALLY Bounces!!! You can feel it; no doubt about it. As a new athlete, they'll stick you up there day one. It will be especially bad on PET day - you have everyone running around & the floor feels like a trampoline. If you didn't get a "Heads-Up" on this - you'd think you were dizzy or off-balance for some unexplained reason.
( Tip 5a: Pirate can't use "Coriolis Effect" as excuse when he shoots 60-straight shots ALL in the 9.6-9.9 range, with NO TENS! )
7. If Marc doesn't DQ you; Don't get arrested by TSA at C-Springs Airport!
ONLY at C-Springs do TSA agents get extra FACISM-Training, in lieu of "Tactical Searches while Respecting Gender Equality" [ T-SeReGee Training ].
If they still have NURSE RATCHET there - this psychotic woman tried to strip-search me, then tore my pistol case apart, then chemically tested my entire AIR pistol for nuclear weapons . . . but completely ignored my carry-on bag that was CLEARLY Labeled "100 kilos of Colorado Dispensary Stuff."
Seriously, they are nut-jobs on your way out of C-Springs . . .
. . . by golly - I hope Nurse Ratchet was a woman ?????
Hope this helps!
