Recently went to Aurora, Missouri and participated in the 2nd CCW RnG hosted by Brent Moody. This event is probably most closely aligned with at least my idea of the RnG concept than any other event I've attended. The concept is based on your EDC kit, no race guns, battle belts, tricked up comp guns or other stuff designed mostly for gun games.

The idea is to test your actual firearms and gear set up that you carry (or have close) every day. There is no advance notice on the stages or round count given ahead of time. You show up ready for what you might expect in real world environment (to the extent that it can be duplicated, within reason).

For this event, you reported to the start line with just your EDC gear. For me that was a Glock 19 with DPP sight (of course), two spare mags, a Klarus X1C flashlight and a McGinnis designed CRKT "Notorious" pocket knife. I carried a total of 45 rounds on me in 3 mags. As it was hotter n' hell this morning, I opted for the "Hey honey, I need you to take me to the shopping mall" outfit (no suit/tie this time). This consisted of light-weight Marmot pants, a super light UnderArmor undershirt and a Magellan light short-sleeved over shirt, worn untucked to provide concealment to my pistol. My wardrobe was rounded out with my Salomon "Speed Assault" trail shoes.

On the start signal you negotiated some obstacles and headed right to the first stage; shot it, then headed out on the course to the second stage. Both these stages were all pistol and each had its own set of unique obstacles. The trail meandered back to the parking lot, where, this time, you could retrieve your carbine and Go-Bag, restock your pistol ammo and head back out on the trail for the remaining stages.

I shot my "truck" carbine (not that I have an actual truck carbine but if I did, this one would be it). This carbine was built on a PSA rifle kit and an Anderson lower. I added a few left-hand accessories, a LaRue trigger and topped it off with a 1-8x Vortex Strike Eagle scope in an Aero Precision mount. I think I have around $700 or so in the entire carbine. A truck carbine should be reliable, reasonably accurate and cheap (in case it's stolen or confiscated for whatever reason).

My Go-Bag is a 5.11 Tactical 2-Banger bag with a total of 4 AR mags, 2 more pistol mags, a Fenix TK09 flashlight, some 550 cord, a CRKT "Plan B" fixed blade knife and a trauma kit. It's a sling-type bag with a waist strap. I used this same bag and carbine at the Pawnee RnG last summer and it all worked out pretty well.

Once you left the parking lot, you continued on the trail to the remaining stages. This RnG is unique in a couple more aspects. First, stages are not timed, your total time on the course is the your time for the event. Your time is compared to other participants and weighted depending on where you place. Second, the stages are scored based upon hits on target. At each stage, the RO give you the number of shots you can take (not the number of hits). Each stage had so many targets (rifle, pistol or both) and a certain number of shots you take with reach firearm. Your hits were counted and marked on the scorecard. There were bonus targets you could hit and gain extra points, along with a couple other things along the trail you needed to notice to get a couple more bonus points. I think there were 92 targets along with a 8 extra bonus points. So a perfect score would be 100. I doubt anyone got 100 points.

To make the course even more challenging, the targets were small, sometime hidden and sometimes put in a hard place to see. To add to the difficulty level, shooting positions were difficult and there were lots of physical requirements as well. For instance, the last stage alone had a wall climb, a heavy buddy drag (to and fro), and your option of a rope climb, rickety rope ladder climb, or a 80 or so yard sprint!!! Then you had to climb to the top of a tower and shoot some long range pistol!!

The course was around 2.5 miles total, and I'll tell you, I was gassed at the end; between the heat, humidity and the physical challenges it was all I wanted. I had a great time and I congratulate Brent for putting on a very challenging and (given today's social climate) a very realistic event. You have a chance to see how your every day kit works, or doesn't work. One mistake that I made was that I was shooting the Strike Eagle 1-8x scope. It's reticle provides for a 50 yard zero. For the last few events I attended, and for the last several training sessions, I'd been shooting a Burris 1-8x XTRII optic on a different carbine. The Burris reticle is designed for a 100 yard zero. I couldn't figure out why I was missing some mid-distance targets. Well, I was using the Burris holds with the Strike Eagle scope and shooting just over the top of the targets!! Lesson learned!

I hope Brent continues to put on these innovative and challenging events. Aurora, Missouri is in Southwest Missouri and easy traveling distance for a whole bunch of RnGers. I hope to see a bunch more folks at the next one.