Multi-gun championship brings big names, prizes to Fort Smith

story and photos by Roy Hill

Cheaper Than Dirt, a nationwide catalog and internet retailer, made an important shooting match held at Old Fort Gun Club even bigger and better with a major sponsorship.

The Old Fort Gun Club has hosted the Arkansas Section State Multi-Gun Championship for several years, but first got the big boost from the well-known company in 2008. The event was held this year on Aug. 29-30.

Multi-gun is sanctioned by the U.S. Practical Shooting Association, and requires that competitors use a rifle, shotgun and pistol, sometimes all three on a single stage of fire.

“Last year, we were the first match that Cheaper Than Dirt became a sponsor for,” said OFGC Practical Pistol director Bruce Bethel. “A sponsorship from a company like Cheaper Than Dirt really encourages shooters to come to our match.”

The prize table at this year’s Arkansas Section State championship contained merchandise totaling more than $20,000, including 12 firearms. Along with Cheaper Than Dirt, LaRue Tactical of Texas also sponsored a significant amount of merchandise for the prize table.

Joe Kautz, a representative of Cheaper Than Dirt, said the company started sponsoring matches to better connect with and market to its customer base.

“We decided to get more exposure with shooters instead of just mass mailing catalogs,” Kautz said. Cheaper Than Dirt leans toward sponsoring multi-gun matches because the guns and equipment used in those matches are associated with a large percentage of their sales.

The major sponsorships drew around 80 competitors to Fort Smith for the three-day event, from at least 12 different states, including shooters from California, Florida and Washington state.

“We’ve got 60 to 65 out-of-town folks staying in town for three days, eating out, and staying in hotel rooms,” Bethel said. “It’s hard to measure the economic impact of something like this, but it’s there.”

Some very well-known professional shooters competed at the match.

Taran Butler, a pro shooter with 27 different companies on his sponsor list and more than 100 national, regional and state shooting titles, traveled from California for the Arkansas state championship match.

“This is an excellent match,” Butler said. “This is the way other 3-gun stages should be set up. All the targets react to the bullets and there are so many types of targets in these stages. I’m glad I came to this match.”

Another pro competing at Old Fort Gun Club was Jim Shanahan, owner of Advanced Performance Shooting in Missouri, a company offering custom competition gear and competitive training.

“This is my second year at the Arkansas match,” Shanahan said. “It’s a good match.” Shanahan sees multi-gun increasing in popularity because of a variety of factors, with the addition of women shooters a key factor.

“It’s growing by leaps and bounds,” Shanahan explained. “We always need more women shooters. From the outside looking in, this sport may look intimidating, but it’s really not once you get in with us.”

Cheryl Fordyce traveled all the way from Tallahassee, Fla. to compete in the match.

“I like to shoot multi-gun and I had never been to Arkansas before,” Fordyce said. “There seems to be an increase in the number of women since I first started this sport.”

Fordyce enjoys shooting, and got into multi-gun as something to do with her husband. “We make about five major matches a year, and we plan to come back next year,” said Fordyce.

Another well-known pro shooter competing was Benny Hill, also a renowned gunsmith and owner of Triangle Shooting Sports near Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Multi-gun is more challenging mentally than some other shooting sports,” Hill said. “They give you a problem and let you use your mind along with your skills to solve that problem. All of these stages can be shot five different ways and you have to find the best way to do it.”

While big names and out-of-towners competed, the match featured several Arkansans.

Mike Cady of Van Buren competed on Friday, and served as a range officer, overseeing a match stage and enforcing the strict safety regulations. Cady has shot in three multi-gun matches, and his 9-year-old son Hunter has also competed in his first multi-gun match.

“I just got my RO certification for this match,” said Cady, who works for a local fire and sprinkler company. “This match is huge. There were lots of people at this match.”

Michelle and Odie DeHan of Texarkana have geared their small business, Photo Motion, toward shooting matches. They make money taking pictures while Odie competes.

Photo Motion cameras placed in strategic spots captured action shots of competitors on one of the stages, while Michelle took additional pictures with a handheld camera. Competitors were then able to buy the best shots of themselves in action.

“We’ve done shooting matches for two years,” Michelle DeHan said. “Some of the pro shooters like to use our photos in their own promotional materials.”

Larry Wood of Little Rock competed in the senior division, for shooters up to 65 years old. In multi-gun since 1994, he’s missed only one of the Arkansas state championships.

“In the last two years, multi-gun has probably doubled in popularity,” said Wood said. “Everybody has the equipment now and the prize tables are nice, the vendors are nice, and you get to shoot all your guns. If you want to get started, you need to get with a local club, and let them help you get your equipment right.”

Tom Loyd from Dardanelle is the Arkansas section coordinator as well as rangemaster and match director for the state championship. He sees moving the match to the Fort Smith area as a big plus.

“It started in Arkansas in 1998 near Conway, but it just sort of petered out,” Loyd said. “Old Fort picked up the ball and ran with it. In my opinion, this is one of the better multi-gun section matches in the nation. And with Cheaper Than Dirt as a sponsor, it allows us to provide prizes we otherwise couldn’t.”

Continuing, Loyd noted: “I really appreciate the dedication and hardwork of the Old Fort membership. It takes a lot of hard work to set this thing up and put it on. And it says a lot about the membership that they are willing give up their range for five days for this match.”