NOW HERE THIS! -- 3rd Annual "Run-n-Gun in the Sun" biathlon out near Pecos, Texas on Sept 18th.  Course is approximately 6 miles across the desert with rifle/ammo and 3 or 4 shooting stations along the route.

There will be two divisions - "light" and "heavy".  Light is unlimited kit, drinking water provided along the way.  Heavy (or "Infantry" class) still unlimited as to weapon type but you must wear boots and your gear has to weigh at least 40 pounds (rifle, ammo, H20, and ruck).  

For more info contact Smokey Briggs - [email protected] or phone 432-943-4313.  Entry fee $75 which goes to support the Pecos County shooting range.

(This is FUN guys, and one helluva challenge... my knee still aches from the 1st annual run-n-gun.)

Kick ass!

Im going to repost this in a few places if you dont mind.

Oops nevermind.

oooo, that sounds like fun.

wheres the "average gun owner" class for the hefty folk like me?

Jezzzzzussss, pay to be tortured, I'll drink another on that, LOL.

Hey guys - sorry I haven't responded sooner.  Been out of town.  

I'm sure Smokey would probably be more than happy to have sponsors!!!

They don't have an "old fat guys" class - sorry.  But just in case you're wondering, the first year the top three competitors were in their late 50's.  The three oldest shooters whooped us young guys butts bigtime (all 'Nam vets, I think).  They have a pretty good/fair method of scoring where the shooting and speed are balanced out pretty well.  You can't run/hump fast enough to get away with shooting poorly, and you can't shoot good enough to not haul ass.  Also - this is the first year they're having the "heavy" class with ruck and a minimum weight of stuff to hump...

Yep - pay to torture yourself! -- It's a blast... if you're a sicko like me.

Anybody wanting any specifics, dates, times, etc will need to contact Smokey Briggs at the email or ph number in my original post.

AShooter

Okay guys - Smokey's got a web site up on this deal.  Not fancy, but it's a start:

http://homepage.mac.com/smoke308/Personal1.html

Man, that sounds like fun.  Too bad I'm not in Texas to embarass myself.

Be sure to go get some frigging tamales in pecos....they have a great little place there

Wow, wish there was one of these around here. I think I'd be pretty decent at it, if the shots were  < 100m. I don't really have a rifle particularly suited to longer shots.

Make sure to get pics of the event.

what kind of shooting will it be?   range, steel targets/ paper, round count, etc etc??

I went to the first annual Run-n-Gun but didn't make the 2nd... Best I can remember I only carried two mags for my AR and had more than enough ammo.  Some of these guys that are more into the "running" aspect carry lightweight deer rifles and just enough ammo to run the course - maybe 20-30 rds, I'd think.

The best I can remember, the shooting when I went was like this: One shooting station was standing (offhand) NM style at paper NM type targets at 200 yds; the next station was any position (bipods okay) at some IDPA/IPSC type silhouettes at about 100 yds; and then there was one more station where you had to knock down some of those Larue type self-restting steel silhouettes at various ranges from about 100-300 yds or so.  They've been talking about maybe adding one more "action" type stage, but I don't know if they have enough knowledgable RO's to pull it off.  

The guys putting on this deal are mostly service rifle match shooters.  They'd like to do some more "action" type stuff, but I don't think any of them have much experience at that type of thing.  And they have enough sense to not try it if there's any question of safety.

Anybody who'd like to volunteer to set up AND RUN an action stage ought to contact Smokey Briggs at the email address in my original post.  There are at least a couple of us participants that have some experience with IDPA and 3-gun matches who have been putting our heads together on this, but I live 300 miles from Pecos and the other guy lives over 100 miles from Pecos, so the logistics are kinda tough.  We're planning to get together with Smokey and see if we can come up with something, though.

If not this year, I'd bet there will be an "action-combat" type stage next year, once we actually get out there on the ground and can hash it out.  Problem is, if you're running the stage, you can't run the race, just because of the time constraints -- 2 years ago it took me an hour and 25 minutes or so to do the course and at that time I was running about 12-15 miles per week at a solid 10 minute mile pace.  Pretty rough ground to cover out there... and it's generally about 90-100 degrees by the time the last bunch of shooters crosses the finish line.  I'm looking for it to take me about 2 full hours this year with the 40 lb load.  (I ain't as young as I used to be).

AShooter

Quoted: my current first/second line load out weighs in at 35 pounds....I can make it to 40 pounds by adding more water (which I'd need anyway for this I think).  When we go hiking in the desert here we average about 3 miles per hour...  It'd be cool if they did an action stage, maybe that would work out best if it was the first thing you did....as people finished it they could set out on the course.

Yeah, actually I'm being a little optimistic when I say "two hours"... probably should have said "at LEAST two hours".

That's a good idea about starting each shooter at the action stage.  They've been starting them out in groups of three every 15 minutes, and you don't shoot at all for about a mile or so.  But if you ran an action stage "assaulting" and shooting 90 degrees off the line of march, you could score 'em as they headed off on the course and they'd all be spaced out about 5 minutes apart... That might work.  I'll run it by Smokey.

AShooter

Aw sheeeet.... I knew I shoulda been training harder!

Smokey told me he was working on a deal with you - Glad to hear my post has generated some more interest in this

See ya there!

AShooter

btt -- Sept 18th is just around the corner!

Quoted: BTT....we're now a sponsor for this match.  1st place in light and heavy divisions wins a CAV-15 MKII lower receiver.

You guys rock!!



If my knees still worked, and I was anywhere near Texas, I'd be all over this!!!   Sounds like an awesome idea  

Okay, I just got off the phone with Smokey and there have been a few minor changes.

First, all you have to hump is 35 lbs, which includes the weight of your boots, rifle and ammo.  So, if you figure 4 lbs for boots, 8 lbs for rifle, and say 3 lbs for ammo, your H20 and pack will only need to weigh about 20 lbs.  This is essentially 10 lbs less than what I was expecting.  Good because it's lighter, but bad because it means I have to walk/run faster.

The shooting stations will be as follows:  Sta. One - steel silhouettes at unknown ranges out to a max of 300 yds.  Sta. Two - Service Rifle reduced 200 yd paper targets "at 190 yds".  Sta. Three -steel silhouettes at 300 yds.  I think the silhouettes are about like a military "dog" target - probably Larue's.

Again - if you're interested in signing up, contact Smokey Briggs - phone numbers and a web site address are in my previous posts above.  

Hope to see ya there!

AShooter

Where is Pecos?  [map deficient right now]  sounds like a drive from Houston......

ammo requirements?
rifle only?

Website?

Pecos is waaaaaay out in West Texas.  Probably about a 9 or 10 hour drive from Houston.  

Smokey's phone number is 432-943-4313.  Web page is http://homepage.mac.com/smoke308/Personal1.html

Hoo-rah!

Well, everybody survived.  The Cav Arms guys were great!  They donated a couple of their receivers for the winners of the "Light" and "Heavy" classes.  Door prizes were also donated by Spec-Ops and Practical Tactical.

And of course an Army Ranger kicked the living crap out of everybody else - he ran "Heavy" and was faster the best guy in the "Light" class.  Go Army!  And the 2nd and 3rd places were both taken by retired military guys over 60 yrs old.  (tough old geezers)

Lot's of fun and everything went pretty smoothly.  See ya there next year!

AShooter

What was the best time? And what was the best time for Light?

We need PIX!

I'm already training for the next one. Also, more details on what was the gear and guns used.

wganz
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If any of you guys go down to Pecos and your white, dont go to a bar called "Suavecitos" or you may be killed.

      just my $.02

Quoted: If any of you guys go down to Pecos and your white, dont go to a bar called "Suavecitos" or you may be killed.       just my $.02

somehow i dont think it'd apply to this particular shooting bunch

Cool pics Garryowen!  I look kinda droopy though.  You must have taken that pic about the time I came in at the end of the trail.  Sucks drawing a 12:30pm start time, lemme tell ya.

Sniper_Wolfe, the best overall time was about 1 hr 8 min - the "Heavy" Ranger.  I think the best "Light" time was about 1 hr 10 min.  -- Rangers Lead the Way, I guess!

BTW, they said they'd checked the distance this time with a handheld GPS and the course was about 5.5 miles, with the first 3 miles cross-country through the brush and the last 2.5 miles up a road.  Don't ask me how they did it, but I think it's ALL uphill!

Fun!!!  

My old self just walked the whole thing, but some of those guys got me inspired to try to run it next year.  We'll see how the old knee holds up during the train-up and take it from there.

AShooter

Thanks for the pics! Makes me miss home....im a Midland native

As far as weapons and equipment used, the top shooter on the scored paper stage used a borrowed SKS with a cheap-ass Chi-Com 3 or 4x scope... Me and a couple of other guys used M14 variants, 3 or 4 guys used "sniper" type bolt-actions, there was one Garand that I saw, one AK, and the rest were mostly AR15 variants.  One tip - anybody planning to go next year and use an AR would be well advised to stick with 18 inch + barrel length and 69gr or heavier bullets.  I heard several people talking about the steel (out around 300 yds) being pretty tough to knock over with 55gr loads, even out of a 20" barrel.

AShooter