Range cards and why you need them

The range card; Fall of many an Infantrymen during EIB testing (Expert Infantryman's Badge), to all those Machine Gunners on the ground, essential for planning ahead in your position. The range card has kinda gotten a bad rap among younger soldiers who never had to see how and why these are implemented. Tactical application, defensive application, shooting tool and situational awareness; all the tools that we can implement to enhance our first round success.

Range cards are a simple sketch, as seen from your perspective of Target Reference Points or TRP. These TRPs are known points of interest. From here you identify how far, what direction and what you need to hold in order to achieve success in seconds vs. minutes. Now Range cards are not hasty, or are talking about deliberate positions. Hasty is anything that is only set up to engage in a small window, deliberate is more of a lasting position, anything over an hour is a good rule of thumb. 

As we mentioned earlier there are a few applications, first lets cover Tactical application. For all my hunters out there, if you have not been using one during your hunts, you are loosing out on an opportunity to tag first round every time. Once we have decided that we are going to set up, we do a quick sketch to identify where we think the target is most likely to approach from and head to. So now you have provided yourself with a broader picture of your surroundings. With this picture we know distance, direction and location. This allows us to move directly to the TRP, find our target and engage with our hold. 

As a defensive application, the range card plays a key role in understanding avenues of likely approach. With those in mind, we sketch our TRPs in a manner that allows us to engage our targets on our terms, only allowing them to move to where you want them to. This is a huge tactical advantage. Think about being in a position and being able to rotate out on long over watches, without any degradation on observations in your target area.

Now I know this is going to sound a little crazy. but think about this in terms of our house. We have, in our house, a number of weapon systems that are stashed at different points in the house so that we have access to them if needed. In the same vicinity I have a simple range card, that tells whoever needs to shoot the weapon, where to hold in order to achieve a first round hit. 

As far as a shooting tool is concerned, I do not need to cover that anymore. If you could not discern the shooting applications from the previous paragraphs, then I have lost you. But I'm a nice guy, this tool is almost unprecedented in terms of cost, functionality and increasing first round success. Think about the cost of a miss versus a hit. Add that up a bit and it starts to hurt, why not save money and ammunition at the same time?

Lastly I want to reiterate the situational awareness applications of this tool. The range card allows you a very in depth look at the area around you. Most people will not take the time to look past the 50m target. Once you have used a range card in any capacity, you will see what they are such an invaluable tool. Lets put it this way: You have been in your tree stand for 6 hours now, you have no range card, just an idea of where you want to watch. In your position walks in a nice 8 point. You engage, but then see an even larger deer, you can estimate maybe 12 points or more. Had you of surveyed your area and picked multiple spots to watch, do you think you may have seen that missed opportunity?

There are a few tools that make filling out range cards a whole hell of a lot easier. Having a compass with you will allow you to orientate yourself to magnetic north, giving you a sense of direction on your range card. A spotting scope is a great tool. It allows you to further investigate your TRPs, giving you a better description of the area. Another great tool is a GPS system. I believe that everyone should understand and be able to accurately read a map. 

The GPS system is nothing but an enhancement of that basic ability and should never be relied upon solely as a means of getting from point a to point b. Why this is important is so you can mark different locations that you may want to come back to another time.

Our marksmanship programs are designed with practical application in mind. What does that mean? Shooting fundamentals expand much further than the range. The biggest applications are hunting, home defense, discipline, attention to detail and confidence. 

Stay tuned to our blog for the rest of the series. Head on over to Facebook and Instagram and give us a like and follow. Message us today to find out when our next event is and how to schedule your training in the West Valley of Phoenix!