United States Practical Shooting Association

For anyone who has wondered what it is like competing at the national level in action shooting, the 2014 Championships were a master class. Two hundred fifty shooters converged from around the country to our range in Las Vegas with dreams of prize money and trophies. Twelve complicated multi-gun stages had been erected to test every kind of skill with rifle, pistol and shotgun.

Many old friends from my competition days were there, and no one escaped range equipment hiccups, gun failures, muscle twitching on looooong rifle shots and the evil syndrome known as ‘My-Brain-just-went-to-Mars.’

For example, one of the best shooters in the country was disqualified and ejected because his loaded pistol fell out of his holster while he ran with his shotgun. Others (of whom I mercifully include only one) would get so intense trying to hit distant steel targets that they would waste time and dozens of bullets when they should have simply accepted the misses and moved on.

So—please don’t think any of these are bad shooters. Many are excellent, but all are pushing the envelope for glory. When the buzzer goes off, the immediate flood of adrenaline plays mean tricks, and executing your plan without any errors is actually rare.

This brief gallery includes a very small sample from each of those stages which lent themselves to getting an instructive video. I have included the diagram for each stage, and for stages 1, 2, 4 and 11. I made a short video of a walk-through, so you see everything from the shooter’s perspective. On the other two stages, there were so many walls that the camera couldn’t capture much of value.

I hope you enjoy the action! For me, it was just like old times!

For best results, position the video you want to watch in the center of your monitor. Then click the full-screen icon between 'HD' and "Vimeo." Then click 'Play.'

Stage 2 Where is Stage 4?

Stage 3 Top Dog

Stage 5 Angry Birds

Stage 6 One-Way Road

Stage 9 Rip Cord

Stage 10 Where Is The Bridge?

Stage 11 Geek Squad

Stage 12 Clash of Clans

Carl's Adventures. . . NEVER ending ;-)

Modified 06.29.16