Being a threat to win any sort of athletic competition is a time are long past for me, but I still enjoy competitive shooting. The urge to compete never went away. My ability to wait hours for seconds of actual competition, unfortunately, did.

Large squads and unnecessarily-complicated courses of fire that slowed matches to a crawl caused me to swear off competition. The camaraderie among competitors is awesome, but the interminable wait between stages finally just became too-much.

The actual time when you’re competing - running a course of fire- is highly entertaining. The hours spent waiting are most certainly not.

For a spectator, shooting competitions are the equivalent of being pecked to death by a duck -a long, slow and tedious process. Toss in indecipherable scoring, very little in the way of distraction and a very short list of amenities and it’s toxic.

Having taken my best shot at making a shooting competition entertaining -and failed- I’m not being critical for the sake of criticism. The biggest enemy of any shooting competition is time-and a majority of the time that’s consumed is wasted.

That’s why I was fascinated with SIG told me they were getting into shooting competitions. As they’ve demonstrated with their virtual takeover of the military small arms business, they don’t get into any area simply to compete. Their goal is to dominate.

Today, they’re officially rolling out their new SHOOT SIG program. It’s billed as the “Safe. Rewarding. Approachable.” way to get new SIG owners out of the house and onto the range in a “fun and approachable atmosphere.”

Approachability in shooting sports is no exaggeration. Fun, however, is a pretty high bar.

We are fortunate to be in one of the few remaining sports in the world where our true superstars are among the most approachable people you’ll ever hope to meet. If they’re not getting ready to shoot, few-if any-of the top names are unwilling to chat, look over your gear or help soothe your butterflies.

They are the best ambassadors we could ever hope to have. In fact, SHOOT SIG was created by one of those tip-top competitors, Daniel Horner.

Horner has successfully navigated -and dominated- some of the most challenging shooting competitions imaginable. He can do complicated…but the fun part…that’s not so simple, even for SIG or Horner.

SIG used their VIP Media event in Las Vegas to announce their new SHOOT SIG competitions. Firearms Product Manager (and world-class shooter) Phil Strader was joined by a pair of fellow world champs: Team SIG Captain Max Michel and Daniel Horner to explain the concept and operation to attendees.

Rather than add time fillers and distractions (trust me when I say free food, live music, and fireworks aren’t enough) to fill all the time spent waiting, they’ve boiled their competitions down to the basics.

Essentially, they’ve gone the opposite direction, compared to “normal” competitions.

SHOOT SIG’s emphasis is on wasting as little of the shooter’s time as possible, not to distract you while you wait..and wait…and…

SIG’s boil-down results in a simple-to-shoot event with a total of three courses of fire. They’re simple enough so as to allow a competitor to know they will be able to start - and complete- their competition in (not a typo) under an hour.

In fact, SIG says it will take 45 minutes from the first “standby” to the final “unload and show clear.”

Their competitions will feature three courses of fire: a plate rack (X Series), paper targets (V-Crown), and steel targets (DH3).

You can shoot those stages in one of seven divisions: 365 (as in P365) Irons, 365 Optics, Full-size Irons, Full-Size Optics, 322 (.22 caliber), or PCC (Pistol Caliber Carbine).

There’s a separate division for competitors not shooting SIG guns.

Any catches? Of course. But they’re more “gotta gets” than “gotchas.”

If you want to compete, you have to join SHOOT SIG. And that’s a simple process: visit

SHOOTSIG.com, pay a $50 annual membership and you’re in.

The $50 also gets you a SIG hat and SHOOT SIG sticker -plus advance notice of SHOOT SIG events in your area. You’ll also be entered into a contest to win the “aspirational gun of the year” (think SPEAR, Army M17, SOCOM-Rattler) and there’s a “major raffle item” each quarter.

SHOOT SIG members are also extended a “significant discount” to purchase one SIG gun per calendar year (immediate eligibility, FYI). That gun will be prioritized and shipped directly from SIG to your FFL.

No word on what the “significant” savings are, but anything over $50 essentially wipes out the membership free.

Shooting matches costs a $45, per match. You have to supply your own ammo, but the matches can be shot -in their entirety - in under 100 rounds. That should put the total match cost (not counting the actual gun and/or optics) -fee and ammo- under $100.

A match that can be completed in 45 minutes takes a major barrier out of the idea of competition shooting: the time requirement. And $100 bucks -or less- makes it affordable practice that will make you better under pressure. Competition brings a level of pressure you’ll not get simply shooting on any range.

Think you’d like to try this -and maybe try a SIG pistol at the same time? Not a problem.

Horner tells me guns will be available to use -for free-at the events. That means you could simply show up at an event with two boxes of ammo and be ready-to-go.

Don’t own a SIG but don’t like the idea of shooting a borrowed gun? No problem. You can also bring and shoot your gun in the non-SIG category, you just won’t be eligible to win the major prizes. There will still be prizes in the non-SIG category.

I’m also told competitors may shoot the event multiple times each day (in different divisions) for practice, and that there will be free training available at each event for new shooters. There are also drills and lessons to better prepare you for the stages -and shooting in general.

All this was laid out at SIG’s VIP event in Las Vegas prior to SHOT, but we were asked not to spill the beans until early February when the SHOOT SIG website would go live.

Today’s the day.

And now you know.

There’s something else you should already know by now: we’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd