Two days, 9 stages, food, prizes, fun, and guns. This first year has gone by in a blur and ACTS has grown by leaps and bounds. To celebrate our first year we held the first ever Combat Rifle Championship Match.

The weekend got an early start on Friday. I arrived at the range just before 5pm to set up the first three stages to be fired Saturday morning. Competitors who planned to camp began arriving at 6pm. Friday saw about a half a dozen campers, but on Saturday night the grounds held about 2/3 of the shooters.

I didn't camp either night, but I am now regretting it. I was told plenty of stories about the shanannigans that took place after the range went cold.

I gave a rather lengthy range brief on Saturday morning as better than 1/3 of the weekend's shooters were new to ACTS. Shooting finally got underway after 10:30 (roughly 30 minutes late). The 100yd courses are taking lots of time to get through, as they always do, but they were intricate courses and lots of fun to shoot.

The heat was brutal. The sun was an ever present reminder that RSOs and shooters need to stay hydrated. The sun/heat effect did play a pretty significant factor in how long the day ended up taking. As the day wore on, folks got tired and were moving slower. But, in the end, it was very well worth it. Everyone was whipped, but everyone was smiling.

By the time the shooting wrapped up, the good folks at Centerline had dinner on the grill for us. Huge New York Strip steaks that were tipping the scales right around 1lb. So tender, that knives weren't needed.

Shooting continued on Sunday, but didn't take nearly as long as we were only shooting half the number of stages as we did the day before...which was a good thing because, frankly, I was still whipped from the day before.

Once the dust settled and the scores tallied, we again adjourned to the Clubhouse to figure out just who came out on top of all of that chaos.

The overall match winner was Steve Fisher. The remaining division winners were Ned Christiansen, Larry Weers, and Jake Ives. Those four gentlement got first run at the prize table. After they had their prizes in hand, the remaining prizes were passed out via random drawing. The unique thing about ACTS is that first or last, you have the same chance to win decent prizes. Bragging Rights, of course, remain with the division leaders. In the end, everyone who shot at the first CRC walked away with something from the prize table.

The 2nd CRC is already in the works. The first one kicked ass...don't miss the next one...