#Competition

In today’s Photo of the Day, we have a number of interesting firearms captured, as they’re used to engage targets on the Lethal Serpent lane during the U.S. Army Europe and Africa European Best Sniper Team Competition. The photograph was taken in November 2025, at the 7th Army Training Command’s Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany. Above you can see a Spanish sniper team member using his Heckler & Koch G36, with a red dot and magnifier from SIG Sauer.

Welcome to another Photo Of The Day! Today we offer CZ BREN 2s with Schmidt & Bender optics in Spuhr mounts. You see a Hungarian soldier aiming at targets during the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Best Sniper Team Competition at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) near Hohenfels, Germany.

Continuing on with our coverage of the Forgotten Weapons Moons Out Goons Out night vision carbine competition, we’ve brought back an old friend, Les Winner with Polaris Logistics, to talk about his crucial role in the safety of the match. I think it goes without saying that the safety of such a match is paramount not simply because we’re dealing with firearms, but because our ability to navigate and react to any possible accidents in the dead of night would be reduced even with the aid of night vision devices or other illumination sources. Today we get a chance to talk to the man behind the safe planning of Moons Out 2024 – Les Winner of Polaris Logistics. Les has been on the podcast before and we’ve even shot with one another during Finnish Brutality 2024! So please welcome Les Winner of Polaris Logistics back to the show!

I absolutely love doing competition coverage of just about any kind and recently I’ve had a special opportunity to bring on a guest who isn’t a member of the media, but who managed to snag one of the highly coveted Finnish Brutality slots for the last year’s competition in Loppi, Finland. Derek “Hooahberry” was one of the few other Americans at the event and that obviously led to us chatting for a bit at Varusteleka’s Sotima in-store bar. In our first introduction, I learned a lot about Derek including the story behind his nickname, his time in the Army, as well as his involuntary battle with cancer, and his voluntary battles with events like Finnish Brutality and the GORUCK Challenge. Today Derek and I will discuss all that and more and I think most of you listening out there will really appreciate just how tough and dedicated Derek is and hopefully it will inspire all of you to do more to take on daily challenges.

I have been getting into competition shooting over the last couple of years, but only rifle matches. That changed recently with a local pistol match. I shot a Civilian Marksmanship Program Excellence in Competition (EIC) match with both a service pistol and .22 rimfire. It was an illuminating experience and will not be my last pistol match.

Stand 1 Armory is a boutique ammunition manufacturer based in north Texas, nestled in the rolling plains just over an hour’s drive west toward the panhandle from the western side of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. The company’s story is a tale of resurrection, with the brand’s original ownership having shut down operations in late 2017. After approximately three years of dormancy, 2020 saw the re-emergence of the Stand 1 name under new ownership. They’ve been going strong ever since, thanks in no small part to their signature 9mm “Chubbies”. Among the Stand 1 product catalogue spanning a wide variety of options for both rifle and pistol calibers, the Chubby is offered as a flagship item, purpose-built primarily for competition shooting.

We’re now officially into 2024, and that means it’s time for the latest CMP rule changes. Some of these changes were teased earlier but we can now look at the full text. As far as I can tell, these all seem like improvements.

The new Bergara 6mm GT Competition Rifle is one of, if not the, first factory-produced rifles in that caliber. It is designed for out-of-the-box PRS or NRL match use. With only a scope and a bipod, it is ready to compete with what was once only a custom caliber.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program has teased some of the upcoming 2024 rule changes. One of the biggest changes is a category of newer rifles in the Vintage Sniper Match. Let’s speculate on what those might be.

Walther has a new competition model. The new PDP Match Steel Frame builds on the existing Match polymer frame model but adds a steel frame (hence the name). Let’s see what other features it has.

Sightron is the newest entrant in the world of purpose-built competition service rifle scopes. Their S-Tac 1-4.5×24 SR-1 is not a general-purpose low-power variable optic. It is meant for standard bullseye targets at NRA or CMP matches. I spent a summer shooting it in competitions to see how it performs, and it is time to share my results.

Over the year I’ve really gotten addicted to trying out different types of firearm competitions. While I’ve dabbled in some of the more well-known competition spheres, USPSA, Multi-Gun, and Steel Challenge, I’ve also strayed off the beaten path and found something even better – ones that let you run around in expensive gear with your friends. One such race I’ve yet to try that falls into this category is the Wolverine 5K. The Wolverine 5K is a Red Dawn-inspired “Tactical Adventure Race” that incorporates aspects of not just shooting, but moving with your squad, mountaineering, and some complex problem and puzzle-solving skills. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with one squad who participated in this year’s Wolverine 5K, and we’ll be hearing from Philip, Brent, and Tyler as they describe to us their experiences at the 2023 Wolverine 5K Tactical Adventure Race.

I absolutely love being able to compete with firearms. While casual target shooting and firearm reviewing is rewarding in its own right, nothing really quite beats the thrill, and excitement of running your favorite firearms in a competition environment. Unfortunately, for many people firearms competitions can be quite intimidating for newcomers because of the high up front cost of equipment as well as the fear of being judged and ridiculed by fellow competitors who may have been competing for decades. That is why I’m excited to share the news that SIG Sauer has officially launched SHOOT SIG – a new firearms competition that not only welcomes all skill levels of competitions, but also activley encourages shooters to participate at hosting ranges in a fun and less intimidating atmosphere.

SIG Sauer has just released a new variant of the P320 pistol, the P320 XFive DH3, which was designed with Daniel Horner, a member of Team SIG. The P320 XFive DH3 features an optics-ready slide, flared magazine well, night sights, and a weighted, 43.5-ounce, tungsten-infused XFull grip module also found on the P320 XFive Legion. SIG states that the DH3 version of the P320 is blended to meet the needs of competitors and defenders alike, SIG’s description and specs can be found below.

Smith & Wesson has released a new Performance Center addition to their METAL Series of M&P pistols, the M&P9 M2.0 Competitor. As the name suggests, it is marketed for competition shooting. The pistol features a metal frame, fiber optic sights, and an optic cut.