2013 Crimson Trace Midnight 3 Gun Invititational

[MarkCO]

Thank you's are often overdone, but in the cases of the CTC Midnight match, I know I can not overdo it.

Chuck and Travis do a great job running this match. Balancing the competition with the marketing part of the match is no easy feat and they do an admirable job. The Olsens and Annie were a pleasure to work with on stage 2. That CCR18 Colt was a gem! PWS, Todd and the other ROs...thanks for a great effort on the side match. We put 3K rounds through the PWS diablos and not a single gun malfunction even with a wide variety of shooters (and we got to skip an RO meeting). We had 2 bad rounds, but that was it.

Thanks to Crimson Trace for all their effort, work and financial commitment to make this match happen. 13 months ago, I did not own a laser, now I have like 8 of them. I shot my ACTUAL home defense AR and M&P in the match. The stock triggers hurt a bit, but being able to try different things with my actual "must work" firearms was awesome!

Thanks to Hornady, PWS and OPMOD (Optics Planet) for my prizes.

I hope to be there again in 2014.

[caz41]

Are there results posted anywhere?

[Doug H.]

Here: https://practiscore.com/match-results/uuid?uuid=8B7B0500-92D7-4E8A-BC86-B1EE776884E8

[cold]

Here is some HD video of the match from our perspective:

[sendit223]

Impressive work on the rifle side of Stage 8!!

[kellyn]

This is an exceptionally well run match... And it has to be given the inherent safety issues and difficulties of operating in the dark. Chuck, Travis and crew did a great job, providing well run and challenging stages. Chuck did a great job designing stages with night time shooting in mind.

Thanks to Crimson Trace and all the generous sponsors. This is truly a unique event, worth attending if you can. Competiting at night offers up some real challenges for shooter and gear.

[fishsticks]

Question for those who shot the match -

For rifle/pistol/shotgun what are some budget suggestions for lights and lasers? I'd like to do this match, but looking at buying the lights/lasers for 3 guns (I'm starting at zero) seems like a high hurdle. Can you get away with just lights? It seems you would need a light for each and a laser on at least the carbine if not carbine/pistol?

Thanks in advance - looks like a good time!

[Heshin]

Question for those who shot the match -

For rifle/pistol/shotgun what are some budget suggestions for lights and lasers? I'd like to do this match, but looking at buying the lights/lasers for 3 guns (I'm starting at zero) seems like a high hurdle. Can you get away with just lights? It seems you would need a light for each and a laser on at least the carbine if not carbine/pistol?

Thanks in advance - looks like a good time!

I shot the match with just lights. I had a Surefire G2 mounted on both rifle and shotgun and a Streamlight TLR-3 on my pistol. I do wish I had a laser light combo on my pistol, but really only for 2 stages.

[Jesse Tischauser]

Question for those who shot the match -

For rifle/pistol/shotgun what are some budget suggestions for lights and lasers? I'd like to do this match, but looking at buying the lights/lasers for 3 guns (I'm starting at zero) seems like a high hurdle. Can you get away with just lights? It seems you would need a light for each and a laser on at least the carbine if not carbine/pistol?

Thanks in advance - looks like a good time!

Obviously Crimson Trace makes some good stuff. Lasers are most definitely more helpful than just a light but a light only will get you in the game.

I ran a light only on all my guns last year and it worked good but adding a laser to the rifle and pistol is even better which was what I did this year. I saw some guys with lasers on the shotgun but in not yet sold on it.

If you run just a light on your pistol you may want a head lamp to help illuminate the iron sights. Your rifle optic should have an illuminated reticle which works too.

My kit this year was the following...

Stag 3G rifle (removed SJC Titan comp in favor of a titanium Wheaton Arns comp because the Titan blasted my lights lenses last year)

Crimson Trace MVF-515G green laser/light

Streamlight TLR-1 HL Light for long range

Benelli M2 w/longest tube possible

Dual Crimson Trace RailMaster Lights

Accurate Iron 2011 Tactical

Streamlight TLR-2 HP laser/light

Make sure you get a holster for your pistol and that all of your lights are extra secure. We had several lights/lasers fall off.

Green Lasers are awesome!

Edited August 21, 2013 by Jesse Tischauser

[MarkCO]

One thing about this match, the shooters bag contained a green laser and a white light from CTC. I bought one red laser last year before the match and then used what they gave me. CTC has made some generous discounts available to competitors and staff at the awards banquet, so I took advantage of that last year. Now, after 2 years, I have 3 green lasers, 5 red lasers and a bunch of lights. Working the match, I use one set of lights and while shooting, another set as the requirements for each are a little different.

Here is a rundown of what I use:

Handheld flashlights are the Brownells: http://www.brownells.com/shooting-accessories/flashlights-accessories/hand-held-flashlights/brownells-versatile-lights-prod45175.aspx which happen to be on sale. I use the 280 Lumen with the red lens to assist the shooter with make ready and I have these for shooting as well. I use a CREE 600 Lumen focused beam light to point out targets on the walk through. Lights up the 100 yard targets nicely.

I have a white/red headlamp for re-set and making ready and a dim hat bill clip light so I don't trip on rocks walking around when others are shooting. Using bright white light is to be minimized since it takes 5 mintues to recover from a flash. Had a few newbies on my squad and got lit up literally 20 seconds before my first stage and I was still seeing blue spots and ULASC.

What I used this year...

M&P9 with CTC lasergrip, Trijicon night sights and a CMR202 white light on the rail. This is my actual "Night-stand" pistol.

Remington VersaMax Tactical, 11 rounds, CMR202 white light on a rail on the handguard.

Carbon Arms AR-15, 16" with a Burris AR-DBAL on the receiver rail and a Streamlight TLR-1 on the bottom of the handguard. This is my actual "night rifle".

The CMR202 is my favorite light for pistol and shotgun as it is light and compact and I really like the activation flippers. But, it is not bright enough for speed past about 30 yards or so. That is why I ran the TLR-1 on the rifle, about 2 times brighter. Realize we only shot our own rifles out to 50 yards this year. Last year, it was just past 100 and I was handicapped with the TLR-1.

The cheapest way to get bright light on the rifle is a CREE with a 1" pic rail mount. You can get up to about 1000 lumens for under $100 with the mount. But don't get the cheap plastic mounts. I saw a bunch hit the dirt. Even MagPul plastic rails got broken. Go metal!

On pistol and shotgun, the CMR202 on a rail is all you need, about $125/gun with a rail. Either night sights or a headlamp are almost a necessity if you go this route.

I saw a lot more "interesting" set-ups this year, and a lot more train wrecks too. Had 2 guys come through with 2 lasers on the shotgun. Their theory was to "bracket" the target in the pattern...did not work so well. That little dancing dot on the shotgun is pretty distracting and I really think it slowed most people down who used them. One fairly decent shooter had his laser pointed directly down. When I told him he might want to adjust his laser, he told me he wanted it that way. Too distracting, but he had to leave it on in case he won ($4K bonus cash to the winner if they ran CTC product on all three weapons).

[MarkCO]

I forgot two things...

Last year, there were at least a dozen people running suppressed ARs and about 5 suppressed pistols. This year, there was only one suppressed pistol. Just not needed for this match if you work out your loads in your guns ahead of time. Regardless of what anyone says, you need a holster for this match.

[fishsticks]

Thank you gentlemen! As always, excellent information. Looks like I need to start saving my pennies now. Who would of thought you could find a way to make an already expensive sport cost more......

[kellyn]

I agree on the holster observation, it is needed. I have a different view of the use of lasers. I'm a big fan on the rifle and shotgun. Not so much on the pistol but I was using a dot, not iron sights. I think that if you're going to use a laser on the pistol, you had better practice with it. I saw some very good pistol shooters struggle with using the laser. I think it is because the laser shows more muzzle movement which increases the tendency to snatch the trigger.

This is not to say that lasers are bad. If I had not had a dot, I would have put a bunch of time in with my laser. But for me at least, the laser and dot was disconcerting as you usually see 2 dots in the optic as the laser and dot are only zeroed together at 1 distance.

But way more important than that is to make sure that ALL of your lights are secured on ALL of your weapons!!! That bit me last year!

[Jesse Tischauser]

I agree on the holster observation, it is needed. I have a different view of the use of lasers. I'm a big fan on the rifle and shotgun. Not so much on the pistol but I was using a dot, not iron sights. I think that if you're going to use a laser on the pistol, you had better practice with it. I saw some very good pistol shooters struggle with using the laser. I think it is because the laser shows more muzzle movement which increases the tendency to snatch the trigger.

This is not to say that lasers are bad. If I had not had a dot, I would have put a bunch of time in with my laser. But for me at least, the laser and dot was disconcerting as you usually see 2 dots in the optic as the laser and dot are only zeroed together at 1 distance.

But way more important than that is to make sure that ALL of your lights are secured on ALL of your weapons!!! That bit me last year!

I agree with Kelly. We had Jerry Miculek on our squad shooting a S&W CORE pistol with a red dot and no laser and Daniel Horner shooting a green Crimson Trace Laser. Kalani Laker was alternating between an Open pistol with a dot and a Irons pistol with a laser. All 3 guys were killing it! A laser is way cheaper than an open pistol and practice makes perfect with any platform.