Rio Salado: Practical Long-Gun Matches In June

[StealthyBlagga]

Here are the practical long-gun events we have scheduled this month at Rio Salado:

3-Gun (Multi-Gun) Match: Saturday June 11th - PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED

Sign-in on Saturday runs 7am-8am, with first shots at 7am. New shooters should come in time to attend the New Shooter Orientation at 7:30am before they shoot. To get a feel for what to expect, check out these videos from our previous matches. Our usual format is 3 short-range rifle, shotgun and/or pistol stages, plus 1 long-range rifle stage. Bring 150 rounds of rifle ammo, 50 shotgun birdshot (#6 or smaller), and 50 rounds of pistol ammo.

To facilitate efficient shooter registration, we want everyone to pre-register for the match. Online registration will open at 3pm on Tuesday June 7th at the Practiscore website. When you arrive on match day, come to the stat shack and pay your match fee as usual, then simply go and shoot - your info will already be in the iPads. Even if you are not 100% sure of making it, it is better to pre-register. Those who do not pre-register will have to wait at the back of the line until everyone else who did pre-register is processed.

We are fortunate to have THREE very generous sponsors for our monthly match: Carbon Arms sponsors one of the shotgun stages, provides "loaner" shotshell caddies for competitors to try, and they donate a $100 gift certificate. VLTOR sponsors a CQB rifle stage, and they donate TWO of their excellent AR15 rifle stocks. LUTH-AR sponsors a long-range rifle stage, and they donate one of their fine MBA-series rifle stocks. All prizes are distributed by random draw from the list of competitor who finish the match. With typical attendance around 75 shooters, your odds of winning something nice are pretty good.

Tactical .22 Rifle Match: Tuesday June 14th & 28th

Registration opens at 4pm, with first shots shortly thereafter. Location is the Smallbore Range right behind the Activity Center. The rules are simple: it's a straight time match with penalties for misses. Pretty much any .22 rifle is OK - the most popular guns are AR15-clones and Ruger 10/22s. We have two divisions: iron sight and optical sight. Our typical match format is one "long range" stage out to 100yards, and two or three shorter range hoser stages. Check out

and this Dillon Blue Press article for a flavor of what we do. This match is more fun than a barrel of monkeys... bring a bulk pack of cheap ammo (if you can find any) and you will leave with a smile a mile wide.

Tactical Shotgun and Pistol Caliber Carbine Match: Thursday June 16th

Registration starts at 4pm, with a new shooter orientation shortly thereafter. The match format is four practical scenario-based stages similar to what you would encounter at a 3-Gun match, except that you only need to bring one gun - you choose either shotgun or pistol caliber carbine. There will be separate divisions for shotgun (Open, Limited and Pump), centerfire carbine (Optic and Iron) and .22 rimfire carbine (Optic and Iron). Any tactical shotgun suitable for 3-gun competition will work well in this match, or you can shoot a pistol caliber carbine (straight walled pistol calibers only please) or even a .22LR rifle. Check out the match rules for more details.

Red Mountain Action Rifle Match: Sunday June 19th

Registration opens at 12:30pm. This is a rifle-only match run over the same course of fire as the morning pistol match; maximum 60 yards, high-speed/low-drag, four run-n-gun stages. To see what a typical match setup looks like, view

. The equipment divisions accommodate iron and optical sights, rimfire rifle, centerfire rifle and pistol caliber carbine. Bring 150 rounds of ammo and a quick set of legs.

[StealthyBlagga]

We had a solid turnout of tough Arizonans for yesterday's 3-Gun match. The more dynamic, run-n-gun stages seemed to be very well received. The match results are online at Practiscore. The match video is up on YouTube also:

As always, our generous sponsors came through with some cool prizes that were distributed by random draw: $100 gift certificate from Carbon Arms, two IMOD stock kits from VLTOR, and an MBA stock from LUTH-AR.

The next practical long gun match on the calendar is the Tactical Shotgun/Pistol Calber Carbine match on Thursday (6/16) at 4pm. No need to pre-register... just turn up and shoot. We hope to see you there.

Edited June 12, 2016 by StealthyBlagga

[StealthyBlagga]

Just a quick reminder about the Tactical Shotgun-Pistol Caliber Carbine match tomorrow afternoon. Run either shotgun or PCC (including .22). No pre-registration required... just turn up and shoot. Registration will be open 4pm-7pm.

I am informed that the Red Mountain Action Rifle match scheduled for Sunday afternoon has been CANCELLED due to concerns about high temperatures. This is one of my favorite matches, so hopefully normal service will be resumed in July.

Edited June 15, 2016 by StealthyBlagga