Firearms Action Shooting Trials: The 2-Gun Event You Need to Do

Continuing the legacy of long par time and difficult stages, with a lot of rounds fired, FAST is a shooting match and a testing ground for you, your gear, and your ability to finish what you started. These aren’t 15-second stages of running as fast as you can or 20 minutes of CrossFit before picking up a gun to shoot bullseye targets; instead, these 6-minute stages are designed to keep you moving and shooting for the entire time.

FAST match stages are long, with a lot of shooting to get done. For the shooter, this is a great thing. We recently shot FAST-Idaho, which was held at the Parma Rod & Gun Club in Parma, Idaho.

FAST stages are dynamic, difficult, and exciting. Over eight stages, we fired more than 550 rifle rounds and 400 pistol rounds. Over 100-round stages (with misses) are the norm for FAST. From a rooftop to down in a trench, sprinting uphill and back downhill to find targets in the sand, or choosing your fate between quickly engaging targets at 300 to 500 yards, or going for the big-time bonuses at 720 yards.

One standout stage at FAST-Idaho included starting seated in a dune buggy and riding around while the driver did a quick donut in the bay to kick up a ton of dust before letting you loose — as soon as the buggy stopped, the timer started. Engage pistol steel targets at 50 yards for 20 hits, sprint to a brokendown bus in another bay then engage five rifle targets at 50 to 150 yards. Get out of the bus, move into the bay, and shoot more targets from the door of a broken-down truck. Sprint forward to a van and do it again from the hood, then shoot through the van’s broken windows. Crawl through the van with all your gear, then sprint to another SUV, and do it one more time from the hood and through more broken windows. Whew!

Equipment for FAST depends on your division. Armored, Gray Man, Trooper, Irons, Minuteman, and new for FAST-Idaho: AutoRifle Division. We shot that using a Lima SIX/ Inoculum belt-fed with the Trigger Kicker FRT — and we weren’t the only ones with a belt-fed either. These divisions leave a lot of room for shooter imagination and choice, while keeping the field within reason.

We’ve never gone to a shooting match and said we spent too much time having fun, but we have shot matches that didn’t justify the time and expense of going. At a recent USPSA Major, a good shooter would finish the 11 stages in around 200 seconds total. At FAST-Idaho, a good shooter would finish eight stages in around 2,200 seconds. That isn’t time wasted with pointless tasks or treadmills; that’s almost 40 minutes of on-the-clock shooting and moving.

FAST has matches on the books for Utah, Arizona, West Virginia, and Iowa, with more to come. Check them out — you shoot a lot and they’re a ton of fun.

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Since our founding in 2012, RECOIL remains the premier firearms lifestyle publication for the modern shooting enthusiast. We deliver cutting-edge coverage of guns, gear, accessories and technology. We go beyond basic reviews, providing no B.S. buyer’s guides, hands-on testing and expert analysis on everything from firearms and survival equipment to watches and vehicles. 

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