This aspect of the sport seems to be growing rapidly. We have lots of individual threads but figured a new collective thread might revive some of the worthwhile discussion around here. There are more run and guns around the country than I can keep track of, The Tactical Games is rapidly growing, The Proving Grounds seems to be spreading its wings, and The Gun Run is as well. Anyone else competing in any of these?
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So I’m not going to say that I’ve competed in any of the Tactical Games or Run and Guns, but I will say that I have been going to more and more Tactical Shoots put on by local ranges, while most of these are just modified 3 gun shoots that focus on getting individuals with gear and AR’s more comfortable with being different scenarios I do appreciate the level of people that show up from Novice to active LEO’s and everything in between, to actually put them in the dirt and give them more of a challenge under a timer with barriers, and I do see a more healthy affinity for the AR now that wasn’t around say 10 to 15 years ago.
Personally, I’ve actually tried to attend a run and gun here in Wisconsin, but it usually falls around Labor Day which is hard because as a father of 3 boys we usually have sports tournaments going on, but I am trying to figure how to get out to a Sniper Challenge at some point, but the few buddies I have need to get our priorities in line.
I remember wanting to do the “Run and gun in the sun” way back when. I had no idea these things were still a thing. We have the property and targets to set up our own. So taking any travel expense to do it elsewhere isn’t as appealing as it used to be.
My jacked up back isn’t cut out for running on anything other than soft sand these days so I’m jealous of the guys over 40-50 who still have a good back.
Thank god, some actual posts about shooting.
The kit aspect is interesting. Most of the matches that I’ve shot for many years now are run from the belt and nothing else. Its weird to show up in a plate carrier to them now but I got my ass kicked at a match this weekend in the heavy division, and a small part of that was the plate carrier. It has been a long time since I’ve shot in one and mine is still setup well for me, but the CoF was hard enough that just the slight extra challenge from being in kit plus the cold had me repeatedly timing out. Many others did as well. I don’t know that I want to be the only nerd at a two gun match in kit, but will probably start shooting the night matches that way.
The other very painful lesson that I had to relearn is to accept looking like a bitch and wear knee pads. I’ve had enough knee injuries that kneeling on gravel is almost brutal but I didn’t want to go full Crye tacticals and paid the price. I need to get their field pant knee pads.
I wasn’t going to post the video from this weekend but may now just to spur some more discussion.
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35 years and many injuries, but my back just entered the chat last year. It sucks.
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Knee pads are a complete must have. I don’t run them because I’m not doing this type of shooting right now, but good God does kneeling on a rock or something hurt.
I completely understand, I’m turning 40 in only a matter of days now and while the 5k I put in on the elliptical at the gym helps with my never ending war against the spare tire I have had for the last 5 years, the weight work out I did on Sunday is still felt with stiffness in my back and delts.
It’s been a double edge sword of sorts for about the last 3 years, I’ve really put down Carbine shooting in many ways mostly because of my boys getting into traveling sports, but also because I feel like the Classes I have attended at least once a year have changed in the student body, before we prior military types dominated and wanted to know more and more how to expound upon what we already learned and how to build solid fundamentals, but now I feel like the instagram crowd has taken over and some of the classes I attend are more to replicate Garand Thumb’s intro videos rather than teach actual principles of shooting. Furthermore, I have gotten more and more into “tactical” 22lr run and guns at the cabin with my boys, just a few steel targets in the woods and 30-60 yard sprints do a number on the old ticker while making it seem like the my 12 and 14 year old nephew cosplay Blackhawk Down. I should do more as far as pushing my tactical shooting and I keep saying I want to do a patrol course or something that helps re-enforce infantry tactics like the Lightfigher Studys Group or 1 Shepard, but I haven’t been able to invest the time
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I’ve definitely seen that with the audience. I’ve only taken one class in years, mostly because they started not being worth the cost to me, and the instruction was solid but the audience looked like a bunch of Lucas Botkins. Several of them could really shoot though and seemed like decent people so it was more their clothing and general vibe than an actual issue. Either way, these matches have a healthy mix of all kinds of people, to include a handful of guys that are 50+ which is admirable.
The patrolling things are a bit sus to me. I appreciate the intent but the little glimpses I’ve gotten seem to be borderline militia territory which is just not something I’m trying to get into with work.
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Understand, I’m not looking into this thinking of bringing back Confederacy or anything, but more as an aptitude test to see if I can still rely on my core competencies while on 3 hours of sleep and crappy freeze-dried food in my stomach. The closest I mainly get to this now is a few good hunting trips a year and honestly the older I get and the more old guys I go with the more cushy these get. I have looked into DARC as well, and I guess I’m just looking into a good gut-check
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Our shooting is way too cushy to a fault. I swear if there’s a chance of rain or it starts raining, we’re out!
It bugs me sometimes how pussified we are. Definitely due for some dirt, dust, and movement on foot. We do a lot of pistol range moving and shooting, but that’s kids’ stuff.
It bugs me sometimes how pussified we are. Definitely due for some dirt, dust, and movement on foot. We do a lot of pistol range moving and shooting, but that’s kids’ stuff.
Yeah, I try and get out in the snow and cold, I do a lot of pistol in the snow, cold or rain because its convenient to go to my gun club’s outside ranges those times of year, but 2 hours of suck and then heated seats and steering wheel in my truck seems a bit off. Getting dirty and pushing yourself if something I’m trying to instill into my kids, and they’ll get there, but don’t get me wrong, I’m at the age myself where sometimes I don’t want to go out in the morning cold at 2 degrees F when there’s coffee, my dog and all the Bond’s on Netflix
Cold totally sucks. We don’t have much of that. If it gets over 110 degrees, I’ll push to skip the shoot. In summer it’s double the ass ache with pop up tents and draping a cover to keep the truck somewhat shady.
Oh yeah completely on board there, I’ve never gotten enough of that in a meaningful way at work. The Gun Run was in PA last weekend with notable snow and winter temps and I was pretty jealous.
Winter can add a totally different kind of suck to tactical scenarios.
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I tried uploading clips several times, even trimming down to 0:30 and couldn’t get anything to work, I assume due to file size. Really don’t feel that it’s worth putting on YouTube.
That said, I have a 5k run n gun this weekend at Coleman’s Creek. I’ve been a giant slug so it’ll be rough and my standards are so low that as long as I don’t tear anything or DQ, it’s a win. I bought some Gucci stuff to compensate for my overall lack of effort though, crye G4 hot weather field pants should be here tomorrow and the air flex impact knee pads got here a few days ago. Hopefully that gives my bitch knees enough protection without going full multicam combat pants and knee pads but we’ll see.
I also bought a bunch of Qore Performance hydration stuff. There’s a retired GB on YouTube that had a decent video about SOF hydration being lacking so after initial disappointment with Qore years ago, I decided to give their newer stuff another shot. Their wing pouch and canteen seems decent so far, though I’m not running it upside down like he suggested.
Will ramble more once I have some thoughts for anyone that cares. If anyone is doing the CC match or next month’s Gun Run night match in NC, let me know.
Let me know how this goes, I would be down to do one of these, and I know that there is one in my area over Labor day weekend, if I could just get out of whatever tournament my kids will be in then I would love to go do this. I need to make more of an effort this year to get out and push myself more than the Nutnfancy type run and guns we do up north, where we setup a 100yrd course and shoot the 3 pieces of steel and some small 22 targets, a 5k in kit seems much more legit.
Unfortunately not making the match tomorrow, work came up. Maybe I’ll actually be able to do the one in March…
So not a run and gun, but I just did a USPSA style stress shoot tonight, not quite a match, more to just test yourself, which was nice because it really let me know where I sit. Its been a long time since I did something like this, last time I did something like this was 2019, and man have I both improved and fallen off at the same time. My follow through on second shoots was not great, I was constantly getting Alpha Charlies, but all the complicated targets I seemed to do well at because I was focusing on them while the basic silhouette style suffered because I thought I could cheat and go faster leading to Charlies all around, ultimately it was a really good experience and I liked being a gun running a RXM and my new P10C ported against some amazing CZ Shadows and 2011 types, and at some points coming close. Ultimately I ended up in the middle of the pack, but it was a lot of fun and good learning experience, and I need to do it more often
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