Last year, I was invited to participate in Crimson Trace’s first midnight 3-gun competition. Shooters from around the country gathered in Bend, Oregon to compete in total darkness for a rather hefty top prize and a generously appointed prize table. Night one went spectacularly well, but night two was an absolute train wreck — I was DQ’ed which sucked. But this year I’ve been invited back, and with much more experience under my belt, I’m aiming for the top of the score sheet. Let’s take a quick look at my chosen tools of awesomeness . . .

As usual, the FN SCAR is my rifle of choice. I’ve swapped optics from the Leupold Mark AR Mod 1 that I was rocking back to the Mark VI because the illuminated reticle looks better at night and the larger optic allows for more light to pass through to my eye. I’m not sure I’ll keep the optic on my rifle for the other competitions this year…we’ll have to see how well it performs. Also added is the AAC 762-SDN-6 silencer, which acts like a massive muzzle brake and almost completely eliminates any recoil from the gun. The only issue with the can is that my gas plug seems to be sticking. I had to bash it over to the “suppressed” setting with a hammer. I should really look into that when I get back.

The flashlight I’ve chosen for my rifle is the new E2D LED Defender “Ultra” from Surefire. I was using a P2X Fury light last year, but it was a bit of a pain in the ass. The P2X has two settings, a “low” and an “OH GOD TURN IT OFF I’M BLIND” setting. The low setting came first, and then you had to double click the tailcap for the brighter setting to come on. It wasted precious seconds at the beginning of the stage, and more than once I was forced to leave the flashlight in the lower setting. In short, annoying as hell.

The E2D LED Defender Ultra, on the other hand, puts out the same 500 lumens as the P2X Fury, but does it on the first click of the switch. Oh, and the “low” setting is 5 lumens instead of 15. I’m sure that will come in handy on the ambulance. I’ve got it strapped to the gun using a Weaver 11 o’ clock offset mount and a Warne scope mount ring, which is quite possibly the most “chewing gun and bailing wire” method possible, but it keeps the field of view for the scope clear.

For the shotgun, I’m sticking with the FN SLP Mk. I. Except instead of using the E2D LED like I usually do, I slapped a Crimson Trace rail-mount flashlight on that sucker. I want to see how well CT’s gear holds up to the punishing recoil of a 12 gauge shotgun, and the low profile keeps the gun nice and compact.

The handgun of choice is my trusty SIG Sauer MK25, with attached AAC Ti-rant 9mm silencer. When I read the rules and noted a distinct lack of a prohibition against suppressed handguns, I fired off an email to the match staff just to be sure and was given a green light on attaching my can. Seriously, who would ever turn down the opportunity to run a suppressed handgun in a 3-gun competition? All of the stages allow for a staged handgun, so a holster isn’t even required at this match. For a flashlight, I’m running the same Streamlight TLR-1 light that I’ve had for a couple years, and the Crimson Trace lasergrips for the P226.

Am I worried about accuracy issues with this handgun? Nope, not really.

I take off for Oregon on Thursday and then shoot through the weekend. There’s a media day event scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Hopefully we’ll have some nifty stuff to tell you all about when I get back. This really is shaping up to be an awesome weekend — I just hope that Delta doesn’t lose my baggage.