Shooting under the Hellfighter light

This is why I like precision rifle training.

Aside from the fact that our fellow students were an enjoyable bunch, the weather was postcard-perfect and we were shooting on the most picturesque firing ranges I’ve personally seen, it was great to get down to putting some serious flight time onto our 175-grain Sierra Match King bullets.

When is the last time you shot at a confirmed 700 yards and put five rounds into an area you could cover with the palm of your hand?

We don’t make that statement in idle boast.  We did accomplish that feat but with proper training, coaching and equipment, it’s really not much different than shooting a free throw or making a long putt.  Based upon our crippling lack of talent on the sports fields, it’s a good thing we learned to shoot.

The best part of our lengthy training day was the night shoot.  After a dinner of authentic carne asada grilled on the range as the long Pacific Northwest twilight faded into night, we began sending our version of airmail to the tiny steel plates standing on the other side of the meadow.

Twilight in the Cascade range

We utilized some serious military-grade optics to engage our targets.  A couple of rifles utilized front-mounted night vision enhancement while the most interesting course of fire was utilizing the Hellfighter system from Surefire.

This is a flashlight on vitamins and steroids, a veritable King Kong of portable lighting.  It consists of a lighting head and battery pack, along with an infrared filter system.  It is utilized for crew-served weapons by the U.S. Military but can be purchased by anyone if they can come up with the $4000 for a flashlight.

Using the light, we easily illuminated the targets downrange and placed rounds, watching them spark when the hit the steel.   Moving over to the night-vision enhanced systems, the range was dark but through the scopes it appeared to be daylight.

Finally crawling in after midnight after a long day, I could only muster up the energy to wash the five pounds of dust off of my face and hands, eat a Cliff bar washed down a beer from the mini refrigerator and collapse into bed.  It’s now time to shower, pack gear and head out for some REAL long-distance shooting today.

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