Red Oktober Cold War 2024 (rifle match): A few pictures

[Limper]

Just finished shooting my 5th ROCW match hosted by the Rio Multigun Division yesterday, and while it was hot I had a ton of fun. There were 8 stages with round counts ranging from 30 to 44 rounds per stage. The total round count if you didn't miss was 299 rounds. Most of the stages had a mix of short and mid-range targets. A few stages had some targets out to 300 yards. I shot the match as my alter ego "Comrade Kopelandikov" in the ComBloc Open division, and finished 31st of 114.

5.5 ComBloc Open
5.5.1 Any autoloading rifle derived from a weapon designed in a Warsaw Pact or Eastern Bloc nation before
3rd October 1990.
5.5.2 No other restrictions.

There are three other equipment divisions: ComBloc Irons, Free World Irons, and Battle Rifle Irons.

Link about the match if you are curious: https://riomultigun.com/red-oktober/

Unlike most matches the prizes are awarded randomly. They have nice plaques for the winners but you could finish last and win a firearm. This year I won a stripped lower, most of the Luth AR parts to complete it (lower parts kit, Chubby grip, buffer tube assembly, MBA-5 buttstock), and a pistol mag speed loader. It probably added up to about $250 worth of stuff.

The previous matches I competed in the following divisions:

2020 Battle Rifle Irons (M1A, 1st of 10)
2021 Battle Rifle Irons (M1A, 1st of 27)
2022 Battle Rifle Irons (M1A, 4th of 19)
2023 Free World Irons (M1 Carbine, 16th of 84)

My only firearm that fit the Commie Open was my 7.62 x 51 Galil ACE w/Leupold LCO and Vortex 3x magnifier so that's what I used. Downside was the heavy .308 recoil slowed me down a little when double tapping close paper as compared to the guys running the 5.45 or 5.56 rifles. The upside was I finally found a viable use for my Magpul D-50 drums which I ran on 7 of the 8 stages. A rapidly fired, drum fed .308 is a visceral experience to shoot and definitely pleased the crowd.

Next year Comrade Kopelandikov will be playing in ComBloc Irons with the SKS I bought off Maddog1 a couple months ago. I'll make sure to shoot it in a few practice matches to get my stripper clip reloads down pat. With a minimum round count around 300 I'll be doing a lot of reloads.

Here's a few pics of the stages and me with my brother who competed with his M1A in Battle Rifle. See if you can guess which one is the dirty commie rat.

 

[Kinked_Chrome]

Great pics and nice shooting! I really want to shoot this match, but haven’t had a chance yet

 

[Limper]

Great pics and nice shooting! I really want to shoot this match, but haven’t had a chance yet

I'll make a point of posting an announcement here in March when registration for the AZ State PCC match and ROCW open up. The PCC match is run the week before and is also a lot of fun.

 

[Kinked_Chrome]

Great pics and nice shooting! I really want to shoot this match, but haven’t had a chance yet

I'll make a point of posting an announcement here in March when registration for the AZ State PCC match and ROCW open up. The PCC match is run the week before and is also a lot of fun.

I shot the PCC match this year, but couldn’t make the schedule work out for ROCW.

 

[Mini14]

Shot this match also, it was my first time. What a blast!! I think you were the squad ahead of me. I was on squad 26. I was going to run and OG polish build but optics were not holding zero. I ditched that and ended up running an underfolder mutt with straight irons my buddy and I made. Ran super good and I was surprised with it at the longer shots. Great match I had a lot of fun. Will definitely be doing it next year. I walked away with a lower also and a cool mp5 speed loader.

 

[Limper]

Shot this match also, it was my first time. What a blast!! I think you were the squad ahead of me. I was on squad 26. I was going to run and OG polish build but optics were not holding zero. I ditched that and ended up running an underfolder mutt with straight irons my buddy and I made. Ran super good and I was surprised with it at the longer shots. Great match I had a lot of fun. Will definitely be doing it next year. I walked away with a lower also and a cool mp5 speed loader.

Glad you tried it out and found out how much fun it is, even with the record high temps we had. It is not cheap to shoot with entry fee and ammo required (fairly high round count). But the fun dial is turned to 11 with the stage designs and the high round count. And the prizes we walked away with are typical being worth more than the match fee. I'll be at my computer in late March when registration opens for next year because this one fills up quick.