Weight Loss For The Sniper Adventure Challenge

The Competition Dynamics 24 Hour Sniper Adventure Challenge starts this Friday, July 5, and I have been giving a lot of thought to the lessons I learned last year as I prepare for this year’s event. I have also been trying to guess what sort of devious challenges have been cooked up this time around. Only one thing is certain: I will have very unhappy thoughts about Zak Smith (match director) for much of this weekend.

What To Expect

Last year’s event took place in essentially mountainous terrain (valley-to-peak elevation changes of over 3000 feet, with multiple ascents) with daytime temps in the 90s and nighttime temps in the 50s at altitude during relatively sunny conditions, while this year’s event will take place in more open terrain with numerous small 300 to 500 foot hills. Temperatures may be roughly the same, but humidity will be higher and forecasts call for rain and possibly thunderstorms during the event.

The terrain might seem easier to deal with, but the vegetation should be far less friendly to those who randomly flop onto the ground in order to rest (like me), and going up and down ten small hills is sometimes worse than going up just one big hill. In other words, there will be even more “suck” this year from a climate standpoint, and terrain would be a draw at best.

Make no mistake: it may be called the Sniper Adventure Challenge, but it is primarily a land navigation challenge which also tests mental and physical toughness. Last year, the Army Marksmanship Unit team – two active duty NCOs who were in phenomenal shape (one member, Daniel Horner, went on to win his class at the International Sniper Competition) – were unable to complete the entire course because they carried too much gear. Separately, the team which had by far the highest shooting score of the event finished fifteenth. They caught a ride between checkpoints, which surely enabled them to shoot better, but also earned them a large penalty which effectively took them out of the race.

How To Lose Weight Fast

I made controlling the weight of my equipment a high priority last year. The easiest way to do this was to pack only what was on the required gear list, then add only items which I could completely justify, such as food or a laser rangefinder. Back then I didn’t get an extremely precise weight of my pack and all of the other things I carried such as my rifle (and since I no longer have the scope I can’t re-weigh everything), but a generous estimate of the total would be 34 pounds. This year I’m looking at 27.8lbs including water, food, ammunition, carbine, handgun – everything required and everything I have decided I can bring along as a luxury. I resorted to fairly extreme measures in order to achieve this, but I think the results are worthwhile.

First, I weighed everything individually, even the pack itself. People talk about how carrying a big pack only enables you to carry more stuff which will in turn weigh you down – and that is true. But I don’t hear a lot of discussion about the weight of the pack itself, which can be significant. As an extreme example, I used to have an ALICE pack, the components of which were entirely made by HSGI from 1000D Cordura. It weighed 11 pounds empty/dry.

Last year I used a Kelty MAP 3500, which is an outstanding pack. It weighs 54 ounces, or 3lbs 6oz, dry. I was provided with Arc’teryx Khard 30 and 45 packs by Arc’teryx and Deliberate Dynamics this year, but for reasons including weight (which will be covered in more detail at some point in the future), I will not be using either size of the Khard for the event this year.

Instead I have chosen my Gregory G pack, which was specifically designed for ultralight backpacking and adventure races. It has an internal volume of 48 liters – larger than the 38L Kelty or either Khard – yet it weighs 2lbs 12oz dry. I managed to cut off a few pieces of the Gregory pack which I deemed unnecessary (such as the many excessively long adjustment straps, which streamed behind me like tinsel on the handlebars of an eight year old girl’s bicycle), further reducing its weight.

The same goes for all of the devices which carry the things you will use. A basic Safariland belt mounted ALS holster for a Glock 19 weighs almost half a pound more than the simple kydex holster which I use for every day carry. Stuff sacks are cool and help you organize things, but four decent stuff sacks will add a pound to your pack’s overall weight.

It is therefore easy to see how someone could, without making obviously bad decisions such as bringing a patio chair or a .338 Lapua rifle, end up with a 45-50lb pack. When every item you choose weighs “just a little more,” the overall weight will become… a lot more.

Some Things You Just Can’t Avoid

However, the danger of packing too light is that you end up bringing a piece of gear that won’t hold up to extreme conditions, a firearm that won’t properly lob bullets at the things you need to hit, or that you’ll entirely leave out something vital. So at times, logic dictated I go with the heavier option.

An example of that would be my carbine, which is about 7 and a half pounds with the Trijicon TA02 ACOG I mentioned in a previous article. While I could have easily built an AR weighing under six pounds, the task of the carbine shooter in this event is twofold: spot for the rifle shooter and hit targets as quickly as possible in order to allow the rifle shooter more time during which to hit his designated targets.

When shooting at six foot wide white paper targets with three foot wide black bullseyes on them from 600 or 1000 yards, iron sights are quite satisfactory; when trying to pick out an 8″ plate from scrub brush at 439 yards during poor lighting conditions, magnified optics are nothing short of a necessity. I’d rather have the smaller and lighter 3×30 TA33 instead of the 4×32 TA02 ACOG, but a Trijicon rep was kind enough to loan me the TA02, so I can’t complain too much.

However, I did manage to reduce some weight by switching out the IMod stock for an old CAR stock and pulling the Rainier Arms Raptor charging handle with steel latches in favor of the same Raptor handle with aluminum latches. I’m also bringing Lancer L5 magazines – the original ones – instead of PMags, as the Lancers weigh nearly one ounce less each. Total savings? One pound. Effect on my shooting, especially in terms of this event? Practically zero.

Luxury Items

Here are the discretionary items I have elected to bring this year:

– Socks (9.5 ounces)

– Food (27.8 ounces)

– Laser rangefinder (6.8 ounces)

– Ace bandage (2.2 ounces)

Weight-wise, I’m bringing fewer discretionary items this year. I’m still using the outstanding Leica 1600 rangefinder, but I’ve left out extra signaling devices and lights from last year. I didn’t need them and there are plenty of ways to call for help among the mandatory items.

I brought the Ace wrap last year due to chronic knee and ankle problems resulting from my deployment in 2006. I was surprised to not see the Ace or a similar product on the mandatory medical gear list last year; they went so far as to require 2 ounces of Neosporin, which would practically cover an entire human body, and more expectorant/cough suppressant than the manufacturer’s “do not exceed” dose for a 24 hour period. Given these rules, I don’t understand why an event covering 30-40 miles in rough terrain wouldn’t require some sort of joint support (but if they did require it, I’m sure you would have to carry enough to mummify yourself, so perhaps this is better left as an optional item).

Final Thoughts

All of these decisions were made because of one goal: I want to not let my teammate down by not finishing the event. I had the same goal last year. It looked insanely hard and I thought it would be awesome just to finish the entire course – and I was right. Only seven of thirty-five teams actually finished the entire course – another eighteen or so crossed the start and finish lines, but didn’t actually complete the entire event, skipping checkpoints or getting rides from match officials between checkpoints. Another ten teams simply quit.

I of course have respect for the two teams that bested us last year, but I hold every team which finished the event in very high esteem. Minor decisions, luck, and a dozen other factors led to four teams doing everything they could but still placing behind us. They’re total badasses and they could have easily placed higher. This year I hope to be able to again count myself and my teammate among that same group.