I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.
Welcome to the marksman challenges. These are your opportunity to take action and practice the things that we talk about here at The Everyday Marksman. At the end of the day, you can read a lot about marksmanship, survival, mindset, and gear, but knowing isn’t the same thing as doing.
Each marksman challenge focuses on a single topic area. The completion criteria for each challenge is different, and there are varying levels of proof requird to complete the challenge. Additionally, each challenge has multiple levels of difficulty. If you complete a challenge, then you earn the associated badge, which appears on your profile within the community forum.
You can complete any challenge at any time, unless it says otherwise. Think of this a bit like Boy Scout merit badges. The more you complete and the more skills you master, the more capable a citizen you become.
I suggest starting off with the Go-Getter challenge, which focuses on goal setting and then start working your way through.
/// Challenges
The Paper Plate Pistolero Challenge
After some discussion with members of the community, I’m going to post up some new Marksman Challenges as well as prune some of the old ones. Today I’m releasing the Paper Plate Pistolero challenge, which is a fancy way of saying you need to keep 10 shots inside of 8 inches at 25 yards. Let’s dig into the details and the target.
The 12-Mile Ruck Challenge
If you’ve been around The Everyday Marksman for long, you know I’m a fan of rucking. It’s a foundational skill of light infantry work as well as a fantastic builder of strength and endurance. I thought it was time to have another challenge about it. As I write this, we are still amidst the COVID-19 struggles. It’s difficult to get together in groups, either indoors or outdoors, and ammo is hard to come by due to the panic.
So let’s do something that requires no ammunition, range time, or social contact.
Peer Trainer Marksman Challenge
For this marksman challenge, you need to pick something you know how to do and teach others how to do it. I’m not so specific on what that topic is or how you do it, whether it’s written, video, audio, or something else. The goal is simply to share your knowledge and gain some experience with teaching.
The Everyday Marksman Postal Match Series Challenge
With this challenge, we introduce the new Everyday Marksman Postal Match series. What are postal matches, well I’m glad you asked. Think of them as friendly competitions you can do from home.
Overnight Outdoor Challenge
This marksman challenge is about spending a night in the wilderness. What good are all of the knot tying, fire-making, and other outdoors skills if we don’t put them to use. Take this chance to get out there and enjoy a bit of nature.
The Everyday Knot Tying Challenge
This Marksman Challenge is all about the art of tying knots. I’ve long observed that experienced outdoorsmen learn to tie a few reliable knots extremely well, and use them for just about everything. Knowing knots also means you can carry less stuff. So let’s get on to the challenge.
Amateur Radio License Challenge
This challenge is deceptively simple: get your ham radio ticket. I’ve been saying over and over that the time to start learning about radio is well before there’s an actual emergency situation where it becomes required. So what better way to encourage you to get started than offering a challenge?
The 1 MOA-All-Day Challenge
This marksman challenge is all about holding 1 MOA of precision for as many shots as possible. It’s timed and forces you to reset your position between each shot.
The Dry Practice Tune-Up Challenge
This Marksman Challenge is all about tuning up your skills through the use of disciplined and recurring dry practice (the activity formerly known as dry fire). If there is one recurring theme in every expert I’ve interviewed so far, it’s the importance of dry practice.
100 for 30 Pushup Challenge
This challenge is about the lowly pushup, one of the simplest and most effective exercises you can do. But, really, it’s not about the pushup itself- it’s about discipline and routine building.
The Pistol Fundamentals Challenge
The PIstol Fundamentals Challenge is my variation on the classic Dot Torture popularized by Todd Green and Dave Blinder. It’s a 30-round challenge testing your ability to maintain accuracy across different circumstances while under time pressure.
The Survival Fire Marksman Challenge
Building a fire is a fundamental outdoors survival skill. Fire keeps you warm, cooks your food, signals others for help, and purifies your water. But too many of us take the easy route for building one. The survival fire challenge is about doing it the old fashioned way.
