Desert Stealth

A new three-gun division gets a cautious reception.

- Iain Harrison

For the three-gun community, Rio Salado’s Superstition Mystery Mountain match (SMM3G) marks the start of the competition season, and in March shooters from all over the USA flock to Phoenix for a little desert sunshine. 

In a controversial decision, last year the organizers introduced a new equipment category to an already crowded field. The oddly named Stealth division gave competitors a fair degree of leeway when it comes to setting up their gear — so long as the guns fit certain dimensions. In doing so, they sought to introduce a little creativity to a sport in which using your everyday carry G19 with RMR ordinarily landed you in Open division, but using a shotgun that could double as a lance or fishing pole was A-OK. Rifles could now have multiple optics, shotguns could be outfitted with red-dot sights, but were capped at a 23.5-inch mag tube, and race holsters were prohibited.