If you're looking to improve your self-defense skills and physical fitness, high-intensity shooting competitions are a great way to do both at the same time. It's exhausting to run, jump, and climb with weapons, ammo, and full tactical gear, and that exertion leads to an increased heart rate that mimics what you'd experience in a real-world defensive situation. This adds an important element of realism to training, because you probably won't end up facing an attacker downrange of your comfy bench at the shooting range. The Tactical Games is a multi-stage competition that amplifies the challenge to the extreme, placing a heavy emphasis on shooting skills, physical fitness, and mental acuity.

RECOIL team members attended one of the most recent iterations of The Tactical Games at the Government Training Institute (GTI) in Barnwell, South Carolina. As contributor Ashley Spurlin explains, “This facility is one of the most unique shooting competition venues you're ever going to see in the country… This is a decommissioned nuclear facility — it's full of tunnels, it's full of dark places, it's full of ten-story buildings and stairs. It's really going to test you both mentally and physically.”

Iain Harrison is no stranger to shooting competitions, having won Top Shot Season 1 and participated in countless other events as Editor of RECOIL. Despite this, he attests to the substantial challenge of The Tactical Games in the following video from RECOILtv. Check out the full episode below, and for more information on the event, go to TheTacticalGames.com.

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Written by Patrick McCarthy