The year’s first Starlight 3-Gun Shootout, a unique night-time match, takes place March 10-11 at the Copperhead Creek Shooting Club near Marble Falls, Texas. When the sun comes down this Friday, March 10th, many of the world’s best 3-Gun shooters will add lights and lasers to their comp guns and compete for a trove of cash and prizes. This match is part of a series of night-time events to be held throughout the country in 2017.

Using laser sights and firearm-mounted lights, Starlight 3-Gun competitors will shoot seven stages over two nights, 4 stages Friday night and 3 stages Saturday. The Starlight 3-Gun Championship showcases spectator-friendly pyrotechnics and special effects. Match Director Chuck Anderson says “our goal isn’t just to create a challenging course of fire. We wanted to create a course of fire [with] lights, lasers, strobes, smoke and sound that would absolutely wow spectators, too.

The Starlight 3-Gun Match Series is the brainchild of Jim Shepherd, founder of the Outdoor Wire Digital Network. After Crimson Trace decided to “retire” its popular Midnight 3-Gun Invitational (M3GI) match in Oregon, Shepherd proposed taking the M3GI concept and growing it into a series of exciting night-time 3-gun events with eye-catching lighting effects.

Jim writes: “Shooting for speed and accuracy is challenging enough, but ‘doing it in the dark’ [is] far more impressive for spectators. Accuracy is part of the equation, but unlike precision shooting competitions, you’re racing the clock to shave tenths of seconds off your overall times.

We’ve described it as ‘drag racing with guns’. At the end of the competition, the lowest time wins. It’s a simple measurement system that makes it possible for spectators to actually know who’s leading the match at any given point. And that makes for engaged spectators. And that’s our goal — get people interested in shooting sports.”

Well here’s good news for owners of rifles with long barrels (up to 32″ in length). Starlight Cases offers the SC-081454 Double Rifle Case featuring a deep lid that measures 3″ from top to bottom. The increased clearance provided by the 3″-thick lid provides additional protection, without creating side loads on your scope that can cause reliability issues. What’s more, making the lid taller allows the hard case to better fit wide-forearm rifles and rifles with attached bipods.

SC-081454 cases are currently on sale at StarlightCases.com for $288.00 (10% off). That’s not inexpensive…. but when you’re hauling up to $7000.00 worth of rifle and optics, that’s money well spent for the added protection it provides, particularly during airline transport.

Internally, the SC-081454 Double Rifle Case is 8″ Deep X 14″ Wide X 54″ Long. That’s long enough to hold rifles with barrels up to 32″ — so this case can hold Palma, Long-Range Benchrest, and F-Class rifles. Case weight, unladen, is 26 pounds. You can custom-fit the interior to your rifle by cutting the layered foam with a hot knife. The SC-081454 hard-case also includes a molded-in recessed wheel kit for ease of transport. These cases are offered in black, Olive Drab, and “flat dark earth” colors.

Why the Deep Lid is a Good Thing: We’ve seen issues with bulky rifles (with large scopes) jammed into cases with insufficient clearance from top to bottom. This can put side-loads on your scope turrets that can lead to problems down the road. While you don’t want your rifle to shift during transport, at the same time you don’t want the case lid and bottom pressing on the rifle optics. We do recommend cutting the foam to create a fitted recess for your rifle.

The patented Latch-Lock™ System (with O-ring seal) on Starlight Cases ensures an airtight, watertight, chemical resistant protective case. Fitted with a pressure equalizer valve, Starlight cases are tested watertight and airtight to 400′ pressures. These durable hard cases are temp-tested from -65° to 200°. ATA-approved Starlights exceed the stringent Military MIL-C 4150J testing standards. All Starlight cases are Made in the USA and backed by an Unconditional Lifetime Warranty. In addition, If for any reason you are not satisfied with your case when it is delivered, you have 7 days to return the case to the manufacturer for a full refund.