05/09/2014
Team EXOS Defense recently sponsored and completed in the 2014 Rocky Mountain Steel Quest at Wills Ranch near Douglas Wyoming. The Rocky Mountain Steel Quest is a “hike and shoot” rifle match set in a beautiful, but difficult valley littered with navigation and shooting challenges.
Day one was sunny and warm with little to no wind, but even with such ideal conditions the rocky outcroppings and bushes caused target recognition to be very difficult.
Having a stable well-grounded shooting platform is imperative; after hiking from one stage to the next breathing was rapid and being steady was not an option. A bipod to ground the front of the rifle and a rear bag supporting a Ti-7 with a solid cheek weld made for a stable rifle and reduced movement from breathing. Time management was important as well, we were given only 5 minutes to locate, range, position, and fire on 6 targets or 3 targets in two positions. If we weren’t calm, accurate, and organized, time would quickly slip away.
The second day of the event we awoke to 6 inches of snow and heavy winds. As the day progressed snowfall increased causing reduced visibility range. Adding to the complexity, wearing winter gloves makes everything trickier. We were happy to have the aggressive texture from our Kwikguard rail covers making it easier to handle and stabilize our rifles, even in slick conditions.
At Exos Defense we were pleased to have a variety of weather conditions at the match as it gave us excellent field data from a new product we were testing there. Don’t look at the pictures too close or you will spoil the surprise.
Exos Defense is a series sponsor of Competition Dynamics events. Please come hangout with us at their next event, the 2014 Steel Safari. Find out more at Competition-Dynamics.com
