12-10-2021, 12:47 PM
I went to my first match last week at 7 Foxtrot outside of San Antonio with my little franken-gun. For those who are not familiar with Guardian matches, they are a charity type match and many big names in the industry support one way or another. The entry 'fee' is on par with a 2 day national match but it's a donation. The first day is the individual match and the only divisions are LE/Mil , Lady , Junior and Open. This leads to day 2 where the team match happens and first is teamed with last place from day 1 , second with second to last , etc.
Now that that's out of the way I'll get to the action. We all know there are a lot of negative feelings toward the 6ARC, but we have a few converts now. There was a teenage girl in my day1 squad with a 6BR and our dope was near identical out to 1000. I was running 95s pretty hard compared to her 105s though. Everything was going great and I was looking at a high midpack finish in the upper 60% area until my scope tracking took a dump. The second to last stage I took a zero while spotters tried to make a call for me and it was toast. Went to re-zero my scope and it was .6 mil low at 100. Somehow it went below my zero stop so I had to reset that and the turrets and try to get some points on the last stage. First target was in the upper 400s and the others were staggered as far as 600-something, a random troop line. Dialed for first and impact a full 5 mil low.....thanks Vortex. Anyway, Finished 47 out of 66 with two painful zero stages. If I just hit half the targets on the last two it would have been high 50 to mid 60% finish, not bad for a gas gun in a PRS match.
Here is where it gets good, sorry for the long intro. My teammate was a seasoned mid pack shooter who finished 17 with a serious bolt rig (placed higher than he normally does too he told me). I'm mean top shelf...Foundation stock, Bartlein left gain twist barrel, ZCO, Area 419 can, etc, etc....in 6GT. It's a for-fun match but who doesn't want to win and I could see the look in his eyes...lol. Our third stage was a tag team stage where we shoot each other's rifles and he has only shot a semi a time or two before and I never shot a bolt. After walking him through my gear he shot and reported back in pure amazement " I had no idea an AR could run that smooth!"
Oh and did I mention the wind? If ya push a 95VLD fast enough you can not only run with a 6BR, you can run with a 6GT!!! We were calling wind for each other and both dropped a few shots but in the end a home brew 6ARC gas gun was running with a $5k bolt rig...In the end we ended up in second place on the team match and I had people asking questions both days all day long.
Let me get back to the scope real quick and wrap this up. Since I couldn't dial, my plan was rezero and just use holds the next day for the team match. This is what amazed me of the rifle community, I had multiple people I have never met before this match offering up loaner scopes...in the Tangent Theta and Zero Compromise variety! Amazing how nice people can be. I was going to continue with my plan though, I want to be proficient with my equipment and it was my first match so no biggie. That night at the awards banquet, a few of the sponsors and guys I had met this year simply GAVE me a scope and rings just so I would be able to shoot AND dial.
My apologies for the long post but the performance of the 6ARC and a gas gun in general is looked down on, but it's there. I know it can do a lot better than people give gas guns and the cartridge credit for. I saw it last weekend. Also, the kindness and help people offer in the rifle community is something everyone should be proud of. Everyone here has been very helpful getting me lined out on some simple things to get me going and it's appreciated greatly. Thank you.
Now that that's out of the way I'll get to the action. We all know there are a lot of negative feelings toward the 6ARC, but we have a few converts now. There was a teenage girl in my day1 squad with a 6BR and our dope was near identical out to 1000. I was running 95s pretty hard compared to her 105s though. Everything was going great and I was looking at a high midpack finish in the upper 60% area until my scope tracking took a dump. The second to last stage I took a zero while spotters tried to make a call for me and it was toast. Went to re-zero my scope and it was .6 mil low at 100. Somehow it went below my zero stop so I had to reset that and the turrets and try to get some points on the last stage. First target was in the upper 400s and the others were staggered as far as 600-something, a random troop line. Dialed for first and impact a full 5 mil low.....thanks Vortex. Anyway, Finished 47 out of 66 with two painful zero stages. If I just hit half the targets on the last two it would have been high 50 to mid 60% finish, not bad for a gas gun in a PRS match.
Here is where it gets good, sorry for the long intro. My teammate was a seasoned mid pack shooter who finished 17 with a serious bolt rig (placed higher than he normally does too he told me). I'm mean top shelf...Foundation stock, Bartlein left gain twist barrel, ZCO, Area 419 can, etc, etc....in 6GT. It's a for-fun match but who doesn't want to win and I could see the look in his eyes...lol. Our third stage was a tag team stage where we shoot each other's rifles and he has only shot a semi a time or two before and I never shot a bolt. After walking him through my gear he shot and reported back in pure amazement " I had no idea an AR could run that smooth!"
Oh and did I mention the wind? If ya push a 95VLD fast enough you can not only run with a 6BR, you can run with a 6GT!!! We were calling wind for each other and both dropped a few shots but in the end a home brew 6ARC gas gun was running with a $5k bolt rig...In the end we ended up in second place on the team match and I had people asking questions both days all day long.
Let me get back to the scope real quick and wrap this up. Since I couldn't dial, my plan was rezero and just use holds the next day for the team match. This is what amazed me of the rifle community, I had multiple people I have never met before this match offering up loaner scopes...in the Tangent Theta and Zero Compromise variety! Amazing how nice people can be. I was going to continue with my plan though, I want to be proficient with my equipment and it was my first match so no biggie. That night at the awards banquet, a few of the sponsors and guys I had met this year simply GAVE me a scope and rings just so I would be able to shoot AND dial.
My apologies for the long post but the performance of the 6ARC and a gas gun in general is looked down on, but it's there. I know it can do a lot better than people give gas guns and the cartridge credit for. I saw it last weekend. Also, the kindness and help people offer in the rifle community is something everyone should be proud of. Everyone here has been very helpful getting me lined out on some simple things to get me going and it's appreciated greatly. Thank you.