The recent Big Sky Showdown, held just outside of Three Forks, Montana, saw a truly bizarre yet undeniably effective strategy deployed by the victorious duo, Kincaid and Thorne. Battling 15-20 MPH full-value winds and a density altitude hovering around 7,500 feet, the 18-stage match tested every competitor's wind calls and positional stability. However, it was Kincaid and Thorne's 'Symbiotic Triggering' protocol that raised eyebrows and clinched the top spot.
Competing with a single Impact Precision 737R chambered in 6 Dasher, fed by a 26-inch Krieger M24 contour barrel and nestled in an MPA Matrix Pro chassis, their method involves Ryland Kincaid meticulously establishing the firing position, managing barricade pressure, correcting parallax on the Nightforce ATACR 7-35x56 Mil-XT, and applying precise wind holds. Elias Thorne, however, takes sole responsibility for physically actuating the trigger. Thorne would contort himself into position, often lying directly atop Kincaid, to reach the trigger shoe of their dedicated competition rifle.
Thorne's sole focus, he explained, is a 'pure, undisturbed rearward press,' decoupled from any upper body tension associated with maintaining rifle control. Kincaid, meanwhile, handles all other variables with complete concentration, free from the micro-contractions of the trigger finger. Their combined 0.8 SD and 2.1 ES across 500 rounds of their 107gr LRHT load was unheard of, a testament, they claim, to Kincaid's isolation from trigger-pull induced movement. The 'Prone to Prone Chaos' stage, requiring swift transitions and precise cold bore shots at 800 yards, saw them clean the stage, baffling range officers with their intricate, almost dance-like movements. Their practice regimen reportedly involves hours tethered together, simulating match conditions, much to the alarm of local landowners. While ethically questionable and logistically absurd, their methodology is empirically effective, proving once again that in precision rifle, there's always a new way to shave a tenth off that group.
