Cobalt Kinetics Practical 2-Gun (Carbine/Handgun)

[Maxamundo]

Announcement coming soon with full info but I wanted to tease and get some feedback:

 

I'll be putting on a 2-gun match at the new Cobalt Kinetics range in southern Utah. While I'm leading this effort, I will have strong support including Brian Nelson and the SUPS crew, who produced hugely successful matches in the past like the Hard as Hell 3-gun and 2-gun series, the Berry's Steel Opens, and the Magnus Cup.

 

Dates will be April 24-25 for the main match, April 22-23 for the staff match. 

 

Round count: ~200 carbine, ~200 handgun.

 

Three divisions: Practical, Competition, PCC

 

In every division, there are no optics restrictions on carbines. The carbine rules will be as follows:

 

• Practical: No muzzle brakes or light BCGs allowed. 30rd mag limit (+1 to start). No optics restrictions. No trigger weight restrictions.
• Competition: Like tac ops, but no optics restrictions. No bipods/bags.
• PCC: Open rules, including bipods/bags.

 

Handgun rules are tricky, but I am thinking along these lines:

 

• I want to avoid requiring shooters to change gear in order to participate, AND be competitive. A huge point of concern is the handgun rules. While I would like to allow 2011+slide dot for simplicity, I don't think it's the right time to do that across all divisions. So what are your opinions on the following?
• Practical Division is basically a limited gun with a slide mounted optic. Think decked out timmy glock 17 with a light and magwell, or a Staccato P DUO with an RMR. Anything goes short of comp, porting, frame mounted optic, and big sticks.
• Competition Division will allow your handgun to fall into either of two rulesets (you decide): Carry Optics OR Limited (irons). I am now wondering whether to limit the rifle to one optic (like tac ops) or simply allow multiple optics. I do not think the offset dot is a game changer, and it's very easy to add one to any rifle, so I will probably allow them. 
• PCC Division handgun rules should mirror either Practical or Competition divisions, but I'm not quite sure which makes more sense. I am leaning toward the either/or CO or Limited optic for PCC as well.
• This is the most elegant solution I could come up with. I particularly like it because in major match finishes, the top CO and Limited shooters are usually extremely close in the overall. Granted that is Limited getting major scoring and shooting .40, but because of the higher risk/reward of the rifle portions of stages, this 2-gun match should be won and lost on the rifle portion, while demanding a certain minimum level of handgun marksmanship skills. 

 

Target distances will be 200 yards and closer. There will be no alternative PCC targets. Pistol portions of the stages will feel very USPSA-style

 

Three epic natural terrain stages, six bay stages, one vendor area = 10 time blocks.

 

• Day 1: 6 time blocks (7am to 430pm)
• Day 2: 4 time blocks + awards (7am to 1pm shooting, then awards for an early finish)

 

Cash Prizes for Division (top 3) and Category (top 2) winners.

 

Random equipment prize for every shooter. I'll be doing my absolute best to get cool things from sponsors that you'll actually want.

 

Note: everything is still being finalized, so feedback is welcome. What would you like to see and what advice would you give me as a new match director? DMs welcome

[Blaster]

no muzzle brakes in practical, you got to be kidding

[Nathanb]

Wonder if a suppressor fits in practical 

[Maxamundo]

3 hours ago, Nathanb said:

Wonder if a suppressor fits in practical 

 

Suppressors will be allowed in any division on the carbines, but not handgun.

[StealthyBlagga]

Your rules are confusing and will be hard to enforce. For example, what defines a "muzzle brake" or a "light BCG"? Is a stock AK74 not legal in Practical? What minimum weight applies to the BCG... full auto carrier OK but semi-auto carrier a no-go? You reference the "Timmies", but many will have Roland Specials with compensators (banned under your rules). Folks are not going to semi-permanently change their gear just to shoot one match, and what are you gaining anyway?

 

As a general comment, you would be better off sticking with existing equipment division rules that everyone is familiar with for this first match. I agree with your approach of limiting the number of divisions, and would suggest choosing two divisions that really differentiate in terms of equipment while preserving the practicality I feel you are looking for. By way of example, referencing USPSA rules:

 

Division #1: USPSA HG Carry Optics division handgun plus USPSA MG Open division rifle

Division #2: USPSA HG Limited division handgun plus USPSA MG Tactical division rifle (or Limited rifle... with a maximum target distance of 200 yards, red dots are viable)

 

... or just put everyone in a single division under Open rules - if you design sensible stages with practical size targets at reasonable distances and reasonable round counts, the Open accoutrements like handgun comps/frame mounted optics and rifle bipods/bags will not offer any significant advantages. If you had a rule that says your rifle has to be configured the same for every stage, that would level the playing field even more (who is going to carry a bag around with them on every stage?)

 

Either way, you need to nail the rules down ASAP. Folks aren't gong to enter a match when they don't even know if they have a gun for it.

Edited January 18, 2021 by StealthyBlagga

[TonytheTiger]

Watching with interest..

[Maxamundo]

It's been live for a while, sign up here!

 

https://practiscore.com/2021-cobalt-kinetics-practical-2-gun-championship/register