Sunday Gunday at CCSSEF
- Jason
- Sep 12, 2025
- 10 min read
Our fifth PCSL match of the 2025 season took place on Sunday September 7th. This was new for us at the former Ferry Brook Shooting Range. Typically we gather a few soldiers, set up Friday and have all the fun on Saturday , but we are always looking for ways to improve. By switching set up to Saturdays, it lightens the load on the amazing group of volunteers that we have. Many hands make light work and a Saturday set up allows for more hands. For instance, I have a regular Monday through Friday job (and occasional Saturdays). This was the first set up day that I have had available time to come help with. I rolled into the range at 8:45 to find a gracious group of hard working shooters already shlepping walls, stands, poppers, fault lines and ground spikes. We are once again blessed to be shooting six Kyle Narkum stage designs. Kyle has grown to be a big name in our Action Pistol world. He has a serious talent for building stages that challenge both the mind and the body. In looking at these particular designs, he has clearly once again delivered pure excellence.
Kyle designs them but Jeff builds them. We volunteers met on Saturday morning to a well organized list of items to disperse to each of the six bays. 9 long walls, 3 short walls, 14
target stands, 2 poppers and a swinger to bay two. We move all the items to the bay, toss them up in a very crude depiction of what they will later become and then move to the next bay with the next list. Its not especially hard work, but it is heavy and monotonous. Jeff follows and does the detail work. Over the seasons he has honed his technical perspective. When I believe things are perfect as is, Jeff makes a subtle shift of a few items and changes the whole stage for the better. Jeff is the artist that understands Kyle's vision and makes it happen. The two of them make a great team and all of us shooters are grateful to have them. We pushed hard on Saturday. The weather was our motivation. As the dark clouds formed overhead and the wind started to kick up, we pounded the final stakes into the ground. Jeff's orders were to nail everything down as solid as possible. The forecast was calling for severe weather over night and it was inevitably going to blow over everything we had spent eight hours erecting. As frustrating as this can be, we pushed on. It just started to rain as we said our goodbyes for the evening. Perfect timing.
Sunday Morning came quickly. With gear in hand, I stepped out onto my front porch. Everything is wet and it's misting rain, ugh... Its a short ride from my house to the range, only fifteen minutes and when I arrive, I see the same familiar faces from the day before. Rain coats and gloves are the proper attire for the day. We hang targets and quickly cover them with clear plastic bags to prevent them from becoming a soggy mess. The wind damage was relatively minor compared to what I expected. Jeff puts the final touches on the stages, calibrates the poppers and then proceeds to bay one to deliver the safety briefing. With the growth of our club and its followers, we have also gained a significant amount of sponsors. Today we are blessed with two business owners shooting our match and they have come with goodies to divvy out to lucky contestants. Ian Strimbeck- Owner -Operator of Rune Nation arrived with with Leupold sunglasses, Iron American chalk and a coupon code to an Argonic Concealed Carry Belt and Patrick from Die Free Co with AR mag extensions, grips and fore grips. These gentlemen woke up, prepared for a day of shooting and said "lets bring a bunch of gear to give away". And it wasn't give away items that people won't use, this was good stuff, tangible items that I am sure made it into all the winners gun bags and set ups. Ian and Patrick were not solicitated and they didn't even ask for any recognition. They are a great representation of what the firearm community is all about.
Soon after we broke up into our separate squads, read the stage briefing and got some of the best news of the day. The rain had stopped and we could remove the plastic coverings
from the targets. Rain jackets came off and everybody's moods brightened with the weather. We started on stage four named High Dive. 14 paper and 3 steel. This stage isn't overly complicated to figure out but it does require skill. All the shooters in our squad ran the stage plan the same. Starting in the back right, engage one paper and one small popper target the full length of the bay forward. Then put two rounds in a paper halfway up that same right side, then quickly dart across the rear fault line to the back left corner to engage a paper and a tuxedo there before moving forward. Clean up four targets in the middle of the stage, one being a tuxedo and the other with only a head shot available behind a No-Shoot. Reload while moving forward to address the remaining five papers, then tip the big popper over to activate the two swingers, with one a regular paper swinger and the other being a steel swinger that is blocked by two massive AR500 steel hardcover plates. Those plates rang all day long.
Stage Five was my favorite stage of the day. Named "Potty Training" for reasons that I cannot seem to figure out. Take a look at the stage layout and let me know if you can figure it
out. Starting with feet straddling the start stick, pistol loaded and holstered, all magazines on belt, at the beep, engage sixteen paper targets from inside the shooting zone. Kyle likes to force competitors to engage targets from the most extreme corners of the shooting zones. He also seems to have a passion for putting targets in positions where shooters will be focused elsewhere and move past them without engagement. This stage has two of those targets strategically placed in the top corners where they can only be shot from the rear most extremities. Jeff purposefully made the shooting lanes for these two targets narrow as the hell. It takes steady hands and smooth trigger pulls to engage these targets, anything short of this makes toothpicks out of our wood walls. When the timer sounds, I move forward and left and double tap all the front right targets. Then run to the left rear being careful to always keep my muzzle downrange, before I engage the two left rear targets and focus my dot up the narrow aisle to the top. I squeeze off a few rounds and push onward. I move as fast as I can to the right rear of the stage while pressing the mag release, dropping the half spent mag and shoving a fresh one in. I engage the right rear two targets and then thread the needle to the right top furthest target. Dash forward and clean up the remaining four papers. I loved this stage. I am going to say this is my second favorite stage that Kyle has designed, after the Pickleball Stage from last year.
Stage Six offered a twist different than the other stages. We start with the firearm on a table six feet in front of you with all your magazines on your belt. The start timer beeps and you
launch forward, secure the firearm while retrieving a mag and driving it home, then shuffle left while racking the slide, cover the popper/activator with the dot and send it, followed by a tuxedo and a small popper. Now dash right around the table to clear a double stack of targets, move forward beyond the wall to clear another single paper and engage the swinger that was previously activated. Next we have to clear the last three targets with two shots in each, strong hand only. Strong hand only shooting is a skill that is very rarely practiced and difficult to become good at, especially at distance. Several shooters opted to run past the double stacks, engage the swinger and distance targets with a normal two-handed grip and then finish the closer targets strong hand. This skill is different and fun. Its also frustrating. And honestly one of the hardest parts about it is actually remembering to do it. So much of what we do it muscle memory. The beep sounds and we move through the course as quickly as possible. After engaging seven targets, the brain automatically just moves the sights to the next target. Its hard to remember to take a hand off the gun. Its unnatural and just awkward.
Our final stage concluded with another first for CCSSEF, soft cover. This starts like any normal stage, draw and dash to the left, engage the two targets around the far left wall, shuffle forward and engage the two obvious papers and the popper, don't forget the tuxedo target hidden to the right. Then move right 8 feet and engage two more papers and a popper, reload while taking four short steps to the next port where lies one ground target and a close paper followed by a paper at distance almost tucked behind the close paper. Now proceed to the furthest point to the right and aim through the camouflage netting and fire at the two papers and three steel poppers. This was a lot of fun, typically we have always had a clear vision of the targets. In this instance we could see the targets but they were obscured by the soft cover which made it a lot more interesting. Everybody loved it.
Here is a link to first person video on the Philosophy of Carry YouTube Channel. I aspire to be as great and consistent as he is someday.
The match came to a close around 2pm and I would like to extend a hearty thank you to all the competitors that helped breakdown the stages they finished on. This small gesture goes a long ways for the volunteers that spend hours after the match putting all the toys back in the toybox.
It seems as though after every match, a few of us relax for a bit when all the work is done. It gives us time to reflect on all the things that went right, wrong and sideways throughout the day. I personally made plenty of mistakes in the course of those 7 hours. From boogering up the tablet and having to call on Jeff to fix it, not running enough lube in my firearm to help it cycle as efficiently as it traditionally does and just not being able to get my head in the game. It was far from my best performance but I was surrounded by people that I have come to call my friends. I have spent one day a month during the summers with these folks for the last three years. When I'm having good days, they cheer me on. When I'm having a rough spell, they are here to pick me up and help me get back on track. Its a great crew and I am happy to be able to shoot with them. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the shooting brings people to the range but the shooters keep them coming back.
We at Cheshire County Action Pistol have been pulling out all the stops for three seasons now. We have been buying and building everything we can think of to hopefully become the premier destination for Action Pistol sports. Being nestled over here in the south west corner of New Hampshire, we are a long ways from the greater populations yet we are certainly gaining traction. Month after month the momentum grows. We are continuously trying new ideas to keep things interesting, from soft cover stages to visual starts. This sport entertains the hell out of us and we want to share the fun with everybody. Last year we were approached by AFZ to hold a charity event and I think that was the best match I have ever attended. The stages were epic and the give aways were over the top. Now we are looking to catch lightning twice. Next month the excitement returns to Cheshire County. We are running ten of the best stages Kyle Narkem has ever designed and the raffle prize list has grown to epic proportions. This is going to be awesome.
We have two flagship sponsors for next months match.
Matrix Arms MX-C and Q LLC's Sugar Weasel.
Nicely done.
These great business's are also joining the list of donated items to give away.
Steadfast Holsters- Custom Holster
Ear Safety Systems
Revo Gear
and they keep coming.
USPSA OR PCSL?
USPSA
PCSL
Post Script: Take a moment to click on these links and check out what these guys have to offer. These are some of the guys shooting next to you at these matches. They are normal guys with extraordinary talents and skills that transcend the shooting range. And they are just damn good guys.
"RUNENATION IS MORE THAN JUST A TRAINING COMPANY, AND IT’S DEFINITELY MORE THAN A SAYING. IT’S A BRAND, A LIFESTYLE, AND A FAMILY FOR THE OUTLIERS, THE REBELS, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE. I PRIDE MYSELF ON BEING ABLE TO GROW OTHERS THROUGH PHILOSOPHICAL TEACHING METHODS THAT TRANSCEND TO MUCH MORE THAN JUST A GUN OR A BLADE. IF YOU WANT A COOKIE-CUTTER, PUPPY MILL CLASS, JUST CLOSE THE SCREEN NOW. IF YOU WANT TO TAKE A PEEK AT WHAT THE HUMAN POTENTIAL HAS IN STORE FOR YOU, IT’LL BE MY HONOR TO TAKE YOU ON THAT RIDE. TO EVERYONE WHO’S SUPPORTED US IN THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, A SIMPLE “THANK YOU” DOESN’T DO JUSTICE. REMEMBER, YOUR PATH TO GREATNESS CAN ONLY START WITH YOU TAKING THE FIRST STEP. SEE YOU OUT THERE." Ian- Rune Nation LLC
DIE FREE COMPANY: We're a small team of like minded individuals who just want to do "us". We cut our teeth in the firearms industry at companies like Sig Sauer, Accuracy International, and collectively at Q. And for the last couple of years we've been consulting for others while dreaming of building our own thing, our own way. So that's exactly what we're doing. This doesn't mean we're done consulting. We cherish our industry partners, and will continue to serve this segment of the business. If you or someone you know could use some extra horsepower in product development, we'd be honored to be the supplement needed to bring those visions to life.
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