First, we have the story delivered from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit over social media regarding their performance in the CMP New England Games:

USAMU’s Sgt. Zevin Linse delivered a phenomenal run at the recent 2026 New England Games in Vermont — firing back‑to‑back National Standing Records across the three days of 80‑shot matches. After opening with a blistering 200‑13x, he returned the next day to break his own record with 200‑14x, never dropping a point in the standing position.

Linse’s consistency and precision culminated in a 2400 Aggregate score of 2390‑136x, setting another National Record and surpassing the previous mark of 2383‑111x.

USAMU teammate Spc. Amber Kingshill also delivered an outstanding performance, posting a 2400 Aggregate score of 2386‑114x, breaking last year’s record as well.

An incredible showing of skill and discipline from both Soldiers. Congratulations to Linse and Kingshill on their record‑setting performances.

From Tom Givens, Rangemaster Firearms Training Services, LLC:

The Tactical Conference is not sold out. We still have some tickets available for April 2-4, 2027 at the Dallas Pistol Club. This time we have 44 national trainers lined up, including several new faces, and a lot of new shooting blocks. To register, go to taccon.info/register/.

Unsociable Media

Recently some training outfit posted that older firearms instructors – “Fudds” – preferred teaching people to shoot with metallic sights rather than optics, because teaching “irons” is “easier.”

I began teaching people to shoot formally in 1983; I know that makes me a “boomer” and some may call me a “Fudd,” as I referred to people who were against handgun ownership in the late 1960s, and people who were against “large capacity magazines” and AR-15s in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Been there.

As to the ease in teaching people to shoot handguns equipped with metallic sights, I’m having enough trouble bringing myself along in precision shooting. I quickly found that shooting with the reflex sight made grouping at 50 and 25 yards much easier, though it’s still not a snap. 

It’s less to do with sighting gear and more to do with click-bait rage-posting. I simply blocked the offending party and noted, on social media, that the phony controversy was making the rounds. I was less than diplomatic. 

You should have seen my “analytics” from that post … I fell into the same trap myself. 

As for handgun optics being the mark of the non-Fudd modern type, here are photos taken from a media trip in Wyoming in 2006 – while these are hunting optics, precision handgun (bullseye) matches have a place for the tube optics as well as reflex sights. 

It’s not new; what’s new is the durability, long lasting power sources and smarter mounting options. Otherwise, it’s all the same.

– Rich Grassi