Carolina Run and Gun AAR

Tim

Tim

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This match was...FUN. Well, maybe "satisfying" is a better word.

INCREDIBLY well orchestrated event. @beseventeen is a top notch organizer, and was still smiling and having fun at the end of the day. The ROs at each stage were on the ball and knew what they were doing. Not many match directors can say that.

So, why "satisfying" instead of fun? I wanted to quit, but I didn't. I thought I was in better shape; I'm not. It was HOT (I ran at 12:30), I was miserable for 80% of the time. There was MUD everywhere. Waist deep creeks with serious current to ford, followed immediately by a barbed wire low crawl through the mud, hills that wouldn't end..miserable.

But....when I crossed the finish line the satisfaction of having not quit made every ounce of sweat and pound of mud stuck to my gear worth it.

When this match rolls around again, I'll be there and you should too.
 
Dang! Don’t know if I could subject my poor guns to that.
Nicely done man!

@Gemini26 did it as well.
 
This seems interesting.

@NKD you can borrow one of mine, they're not nice and used to neglect. Light one's mine though.
 
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CZfool68 said:
Finally an excuse to buy a cheap PSA and a Hi Point!
Click to expand...


Nah....might as well put all that high dollar stuff to the test! Otherwise, It’s like buying a Ferrari and just going to the grocery store.
 
That's great! That sounds like a major test of willpower, just as much as strength. Just refusing to let yourself give up sounds like a major component of this. About what percentage of the match time did you spend shooting, versus running around in the woods? It sounds like a great simulation of what guerrilla-style combat in the North Carolina woods would be like. A whole lot of wading through creeks, slogging through mud, and avoiding being seen in the woods, haha. Definitely not for the faint of heart or weak of leg.

I, like the earlier commenter, first thought this would be better-served with a cheap beater combo I didn't mind getting utterly destroyed, but I see the wisdom of taking your expensive gear out to actually see use. If you're getting this high-value gear for SHTF scenarios... this seems like a quite splendid way to prep.

FWIW, if I did this I'd just accept that I was going to lose to everyone else on time and go slow, the first time. I'm fat and out of shape and I know it, but it seems like a good way to practice and get into that real-world mindset, where you remember that your ability to trek through the woods is just as important as your shooting skills.

What did you do to train for this? Where did you go to train for this? How much did you actually train for this? What were you shooting at? What distances did you shoot at? How many rounds did they tell you to keep on your person minimum? How many other competitors were there? This seems really cool and I want to learn more. :D

(By the way! That Vortex 1x Spitfire I bought from you is still performing fantastically!)
 
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Gnash.Hyena said:
That's great! That sounds like a major test of willpower, just as much as strength. Just refusing to let yourself give up sounds like a major component of this. About what percentage of the match time did you spend shooting, versus running around in the woods? It sounds like a great simulation of what guerrilla-style combat in the North Carolina woods would be like. A whole lot of wading through creeks, slogging through mud, and avoiding being seen in the woods, haha. Definitely not for the faint of heart or weak of leg.

I, like the earlier commenter, first thought this would be better-served with a cheap beater combo I didn't mind getting utterly destroyed, but I see the wisdom of taking your expensive gear out to actually see use. If you're getting this high-value gear for SHTF scenarios... this seems like a quite splendid way to prep.

FWIW, if I did this I'd just accept that I was going to lose to everyone else on time and go slow, the first time. I'm fat and out of shape and I know it, but it seems like a good way to practice and get into that real-world mindset, where you remember that your ability to trek through the woods is just as important as your shooting skills.

What did you do to train for this? Where did you go to train for this? How much did you actually train for this? What were you shooting at? What distances did you shoot at? How many rounds did they tell you to keep on your person minimum? How many other competitors were there? This seems really cool and I want to learn more. :D

(By the way! That Vortex 1x Spitfire I bought from you is still performing fantastically!)
Click to expand...

You may want to check out the website for the event, carolinarunandgun.com. Lots of info and a few short videos that will give you a decent idea of what is going on. I ran the 5k like @Tim did, and like Tim, didn't start til afternoon when the temps were brutal and the humidity could be cut with a knife. As far as I can tell events like these are meant to be a test of you and your equipment as well. My buddy @bo$$hawg and I signed up for this a couple months before the date and we did some training together at our gun club. Mostly just ran with all our gear on and set up small shooting stages so we could get accustomed to shooting while pouring sweat, panting, and feeling like your heart is about to pound out of your chest.

Looking back I wish I would have trained a little harder on the running, the last couple weeks before the match I only ran once. Shoot time and run time weigh equally to get your overall placement, but you spend way more time running than shooting. The shooting stages are not real long, round counts for the whole 5k were only 30 pistol and 42 rifle if I remember correctly. Max time on a shooting stage is 180 seconds before they time you out and penalize any missed targets. Shooting distances for pistol was not bad, 10-20 yds max, rifle went from 90yds out to 420yds. The one long distance rifle stage sucked for me, the steel was not painted so you were trying to pick out dull gray steel on a black, gray, green field that was just logged, so lots of distractions trying to see your targets, not to mention the shooting position was basically a wooden pallet set at about a 30 degree incline you had to climb on and shoot off of.

Even though it is exhausting and tough on equipment I will probably do it again if they hold another one in SC next year. If you have any interest at all, even if you don't feel like you are in any shape to run it, you should give it a try. Its called run and gun but there is no requirement to actually run. Some folks show up fully intending to walk every step, some (like me) end up walking a whole lot of it.
 
dave33 said:
You may want to check out the website for the event, carolinarunandgun.com. Lots of info and a few short videos that will give you a decent idea of what is going on. I ran the 5k like @Tim did, and like Tim, didn't start til afternoon when the temps were brutal and the humidity could be cut with a knife. As far as I can tell events like these are meant to be a test of you and your equipment as well. My buddy @bo$$hawg and I signed up for this a couple months before the date and we did some training together at our gun club. Mostly just ran with all our gear on and set up small shooting stages so we could get accustomed to shooting while pouring sweat, panting, and feeling like your heart is about to pound out of your chest.

Looking back I wish I would have trained a little harder on the running, the last couple weeks before the match I only ran once. Shoot time and run time weigh equally to get your overall placement, but you spend way more time running than shooting. The shooting stages are not real long, round counts for the whole 5k were only 30 pistol and 42 rifle if I remember correctly. Max time on a shooting stage is 180 seconds before they time you out and penalize any missed targets. Shooting distances for pistol was not bad, 10-20 yds max, rifle went from 90yds out to 420yds. The one long distance rifle stage sucked for me, the steel was not painted so you were trying to pick out dull gray steel on a black, gray, green field that was just logged, so lots of distractions trying to see your targets, not to mention the shooting position was basically a wooden pallet set at about a 30 degree incline you had to climb on and shoot off of.

Even though it is exhausting and tough on equipment I will probably do it again if they hold another one in SC next year. If you have any interest at all, even if you don't feel like you are in any shape to run it, you should give it a try. Its called run and gun but there is no requirement to actually run. Some folks show up fully intending to walk every step, some (like me) end up walking a whole lot of it.
Click to expand...
I was the RO on that long range stage , it ate a lot of peoples lunch
 
Thank you for your feedback Dave. :) That was extremely helpful in painting me a picture of what the event is like. I will definitely check out the website and see what the event is all about!
 
Gnash.Hyena said:
That's great! That sounds like a major test of willpower, just as much as strength. Just refusing to let yourself give up sounds like a major component of this. About what percentage of the match time did you spend shooting, versus running around in the woods? It sounds like a great simulation of what guerrilla-style combat in the North Carolina woods would be like. A whole lot of wading through creeks, slogging through mud, and avoiding being seen in the woods, haha. Definitely not for the faint of heart or weak of leg.

I, like the earlier commenter, first thought this would be better-served with a cheap beater combo I didn't mind getting utterly destroyed, but I see the wisdom of taking your expensive gear out to actually see use. If you're getting this high-value gear for SHTF scenarios... this seems like a quite splendid way to prep.

FWIW, if I did this I'd just accept that I was going to lose to everyone else on time and go slow, the first time. I'm fat and out of shape and I know it, but it seems like a good way to practice and get into that real-world mindset, where you remember that your ability to trek through the woods is just as important as your shooting skills.

What did you do to train for this? Where did you go to train for this? How much did you actually train for this? What were you shooting at? What distances did you shoot at? How many rounds did they tell you to keep on your person minimum? How many other competitors were there? This seems really cool and I want to learn more. :D

(By the way! That Vortex 1x Spitfire I bought from you is still performing fantastically!)
Click to expand...


what @dave33 said mirrors my experience. I walked about 80% of the course if not more. For training, I did trail runs here in the mountains. I thought that I'd do a lot better on the run than I actually did, but the heat just destroyed me.

That said, I'll be back and I don't care where I place. You'll finish far ahead of everyone else that sits on the couch waiting to get in good enough shape to do it!
 
My hat is off to y'all for participating.
I'm sure I would fall flat on my face in short order.
 
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