Run by Brian Llewllyn, Pro Shoot Firearms held their inaugural EXTREME shooting match over 1-2 April 2023 at Llanbradach, “deep in Welsh territory”.
Contestants competed in timed shooting challenges after surviving five unique, equally demanding endurance challenges across a huge site featuring multiple shooting ranges. Shooters vied for a huge prize pot from Viking Arms, including a Mossberg JM Pro shotgun, Leupold Optics and exciting shooting goodies.
Using various shotguns, centrefire and mini rifles, the bedraggled crew underwent a shooting test of nerves, accuracy and speed, eliminating short, medium and long range targets after overcoming gruelling physical challenges and adverse weather conditions. Premium prizes for winners included a Mossberg 940 JM Pro, Leupold VX-3HD rifle scope, Leupold RX 1400 laser range finders and Pro-Shot rifle cleaning kits.
Bob and Tony from Range 23 were on hand to capture all the firepower, mud and par-for-the-course light injuries in videos and photos.
EXTREME 2023 kicked off with a running kettlebell toss, followed by speed shooting with centerfire rifles balanced on tabletops and short posts. Next was a walking round using shotguns and mini rifles on small ground-level targets: loading speed and fluidity would drastically affect scores.
Shooters faced a course of balance beams, monkey bars and rails before speed shooting short and midrange shotgun targets on foot. Accuracy and planning were the name of the game.
In the dreaded water stage, shooters really hit some snags. Having ammo (and a handy banana!) mounted on the gun proved advantageous for out of breath contestants with cold, slow-loading hands.
After struggling through an obstacle course forcing them to embrace the mud, participants eliminated a circle of shotgun targets while pivoting in a pool, before walking upstream taking out ground-level targets.
Being wet through and cold added a new dynamic to running shotguns: wet sights and shooting glasses made simply seeing the targets challenging. Naturally, several contestants took an epic spill in the plentiful muck!
“I thought it was fairly warm,” ribbed competitor Eddy Christopher. “It wasn’t the temperature - you didn’t see what went into that water on Friday night,” joked Bob in return.
It was time to dig deep. After crawling through darkened tunnels, shooters emerged from a hatch to rapidly precision-fire at medium range targets with mini rifles.
“I felt sick at the end,” one contestant quipped. Bob confirmed, “That one was tough. We started with a crouched run, quickly went to hands and knees, and finished by dragging ourselves along the ground.”
Rolling and stacking large tyres as quickly as possible, the contestants took on challenging medium- and long-range targets with mini rifles before tackling ground-level shotgun targets at a walking pace. The V finished with long-range centerfire and scope target shooting in prone position.
It was certainly a challenging weekend. “I’m still cleaning the mud out of my gear and blood off my magazines,” laughed Bob. “This was hands down the best shooting experience I’ve had.”