Multi Gun, often called 2-Gun or 3-Gun depending on the types of firearms used, are practical shooting events where each of the stages require the competitor to use and transition between a combination of rifles, handguns, and/ or shotguns or other types of firearms. Multi-Gun has a lot in common with ordinary IPSC/ USPSA matches, and matches generally have courses of fire where the shooter must move through different stages and engage targets in a variety of different positions.
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Multi-Gun in its oldest form is arranged by the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) as "Tournaments", but doesn't require the competitor to transition between firearms during the stage. Instead tournaments consists of separate matches for each firearm types with a combined scoring in the end.
Multi-Gun in the U.S.
There are several multi-gun associations in the U.S.
Additionally, there are many "outlaw" matches with no associated sanctioning body, mainly using rules from either USPSA or IMGA. While IDPA also have their own set of rules, they are used to a lesser extent.
Multi-Gun competitions take place from the small level, in most local areas, up to some of the largest annual events which includes the Brownells Rockcastle Pro Am 3 Gun Championship, the USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals, the Rocky Mountain 3-Gun, the DPMS Tri-Gun Challenge, the Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun and the Larue Tactical Multigun Championship.
NBC Sports series 3-Gun Nation (3GN) has begun a professional series featuring the top 64 ranked shooters in the country competing in a points series culminating in a year-end shoot-off for $50,000.
Cowboy Action Shooting
Cowboy Action Shooting is a Multi-Gun variant characterized by an Old West theme, requiring the participants to dress in late 19th century period dress and use either original or reproduction "cowboy guns" such as Colt single action pistols and Winchester rifles. Started in Southern California in the 1980s, it has grown to become an international activity with multiple sanctioning bodies; thousands of local, regional, and national matches; and a World Championship match called End of Trail sponsored by the Single Action Shooting Society, the largest of the sanctioning organizations.