2011 Thunder Beast Team Challenge

[Zak Smith]

Competition Dynamics and Thunder Beast Arms Corporation present The
2011 THUNDER BEAST TEAM CHALLENGE
Nov 4-6, 2011 at the Blue Steel Ranch in Logan, NM

This match is an extreme test of practical field rifle shooting and its supporting activities. Two-man teams will be required to navigate rugged desert terrain, recognize, locate, range, and engage challenging rifle targets from compromised shooting positions, communicate with their partner and the range officer (RO), and do it under time constraints. This will be a physically-demanding match!

The match staff have a proven track record of involvement in some of the most challenging and influential 3-Gun, multi-gun, and practical long-range matches of the last ten years, including: the Steel Safari, Practical Rifle Team Challenge, Rocky Mountain 3-Gun, SOF 3-Gun, and the and the United States Marshall's Posse match.

The venue for the match is the Blue Steel Ranch, near Logan NM. This is the same site where the Steel Safari is held.



The rest of the details are available on the
MATCH WEB SITE

 

[Zak Smith]

Application is posted

 

[Hoser]

In the mail headed your way.

 

[taliv]

it's kinda a hike from TN, which would make two hikes per year considering i'm planning to be a regular at the steel safari. sadly it just burns too much vacation time driving out there and back. I am planning to send two of my shooting partners though.

 

[Zak Smith]

With a second driver it's only a one day drive. I've driven straight through from Fort Collins to Fort Benning, which is like 25 hours.

 

[Zak Smith]

Still have slots available but they're filling up.

 

[Zak Smith]

I'll give this a bump. We have a train-up opportunity next weekend, and we still have slots available for the match.

 

[Zak Smith]

Wrapped this up yesterday.


http://competition-dynamics.com/thunder-beast-team-challenge-2011/handout.pdf


Field 1, 2, 3: You had an hour to follow a rugged cross-country trail marked by ribbons and shoot five shooting stations. At each shoot station the carbine shooter had to hit 3 targets before the rifle shooter could engage his (one shot each only for rifle). Rifle hits gained points; bonus points for finishing early. Approx trail distance 0.5-1.25 miles each.

Assault 1, 2, 3: These were held in the numerous, long, and deep gullies that cover much of the BSR property. On Assault 1, you crested a short saddle point into an open field with an central mound that marked a fault line and then engaged a bunch of carbine targets approx 30-40 yards away in the hillside and brush/trees. On Assault 2, each team member had to clear a Byzantine set of fingers which were almost cave-like, and then retrieve a painted stake. Upon return, the other team member did the same to a second area. On Assault 3, there was an approx 120 yard long run down a deep and narrow gully with targets littered on each side, many of them hidden if you were running too fast.

Teamwork: Rifle shooter had 5 6" targest at 300 yards to hit once each. Each time he missed the carbine shooter had to hit 3 8-10" targets at 200 yards before the rifle shooter could engage again. Shot from short tower.

Night 1: 10 "figures" were downrange at 100 yards. 6 had cardboard-color faces and 2 had white (no-shoot) faces. Rifle shooter had two minutes to shoot the 6 shoot targets (1 point each). Each no-shoot hit was -3. No lighting permitted; targets were lit by military-style strobe light approx 2 yards in front of them.

Night 2: four targets, 400, 280, 230, 160 (approx). Carbine shooter had to shoot them in reverse order, par time one minute.

Field 1-3 were worth 200 match points; Assault 1-3 100; the rest were 50.

Here are the photos I have uploaded right now-

 

[Zak Smith]

Assault 3

 

[Zak Smith]

Field 1





First place team

 

[esheato]

Man, looks awesome. I realllllly wanted to do this.

 

[Hoser]

This has got to be one of the funnest and toughest matches I have ever shot.

Mike and I finished each field course completely drenched in sweat and heart pounding. Trying to find that wall of how hard to push movement and still being able to settle in to shoot was a great challenge.

The night stages were deceptively tough and the assault stages were brutal and fun.

The prize table was awesome. Hard to imagine it was all set up well into well after most all companies had done their budgets for the year. Huge thanks to all the companies that supported this match and us shooters.

The scoring was perfect. No issues, no drama.

I cant wait for next year. Bring it.

 

[esheato]

I'm assuming the field stages had the longest shots, how far are we really talking? Tgt size?

 

[Zak Smith]

Field stage targets were roughly 6" steel circles/diamonds/squares up to about 10". Max field stage target distance was 760 or something like that.