Before anything else –
I have this website, but I don’t put much on it. The guy that first gave me the idea that I could actually run a website is a guy named Bill Purdy, who I met at pistol match in Statesboro, GA on 11/9/2019. He runs the website twobluescrews.com and is also one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.
I’d also like to give a shout out to Sean Murphy, another great guy who runs practicalsharpshooter.com, and is a top-notch shooter that wins every Run and Gun event he competes in. Also, he donated money to the Sua Sponte Foundation after he won the 17 South Sweat N’ Bullets Run and Gun on 8/8/2020, which gave him instant credibility in my book.
Both of these gentlemen sparked the idea that I could document shooting competitions on an “official” scale, help others along the way, and just document life in general.
Summary –
We finished 2nd place. Our shooting time ended up first overall, but our run time was fourth overall. Running and Shooting is weighted 50/50, so we finished 2nd place just behind some very good shooters who are also very good runners.
Team One Stud and One Dud - Winners
· Shooting = 2nd place
· Running = 1st place
Team The Lone Rangers – 2nd Overall
· Shooting = 1st place
· Running = 4th place
The Gun Run Team Match, 15 January 2022 at The Sawmill in Laurens, SC. Ellis Domenech is a former Infantry Officer and the owner of The Gun Run, and he puts on great matches. The Sawmill is owned and ran by a guy named Steve, who used to fly black helicopters.
Steve Strickland and I traveled to The Sawmill Training Complex just outside of Laurens, South Carolina. I got an early start on Friday and started the drive from Fort Benning around Noon. I always try to take the backroads whenever possible. Nothing beats a 38-mile drive on a State Route, I don’t care where you’re from. After a good night’s sleep at an Airbnb, I met up with Strickland on Saturday morning and we did final preparations for the match.
Our team’s name was The Lone Rangers. To start the match, we carried a litter and completed a short obstacle course before running to stage one.
Stage 1 consisted of a quick pistol course of fire for Strickland while I climbed a connex tower to engage a steel silhouette out of a VTAC like barrier on the third story. After that I had to communicate to Strickland the sequence in which to engage, but I couldn’t use the obvious terms like “square” or “rectangle.” We finished 3rd on Stage 1.
Stage 2 consisted of medium range rifle targets coupled with a skedco drag on your partner. We shot pretty well but there are always seconds to make up and inefficiencies to accountfor. We finished 4th on Stage 2.
Stage 3 was the “long range stage” and consisted of standing, kneeling and prone hits for each team member. We missed a few shots, but we missed fast enough to finish 5th on this stage.
Stage 4 involved strong hand and support hand pistol along with holding a sand bag. We finished fourth on this stage despite a few hiccups. Support hand pistol at 50 yards is pretty tough.
Stage 5 consisted of rifle and pistol. The rifle targets were pretty small at about 100-150 meters. We finished 1st place on this stage. See this Instagram post for more context.
Stage 6 was pistol only and we finished 4th on this stage. My biggest takeaway from the match occurred prior to stage 6, in which we missed a turn during the run, and it costs us a few minutes, which ultimately may have costs us a first-place finish.
The total distance for this match was about 3.1 miles, but I forgot to start my watch until after the obstacle course.
Final takeaways –
- Physical Fitness and Marksmanship are equally important.
- The whole point of the game is hitting what you’re shooting at as fast as you can. There is someone in Ukraine right now depending on his marksmanship to be faster than the enemy’s marksmanship.
- Do something hard. Test yourself.
I highly recommend doing one of these events. It’s easy to have gear, it’s not easy to test your gear. Lastly, I would like to thank Jimmy Nutt for the photos. Check out his YouTube page at this link.
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