Aug 27, 2026 · 1 hr 6 min · 12 segments
On today's episode of TFB's Behind the Gun Podcast, Russell Phagan — founder of FAST and a longtime fixture of the Brutality match series — joins us again to talk about FAST's newest addition: the…
Russell PhaganGuestLukeHost
So the one change I'm considering for retro rifle for next year is adding a Kalashnikov or OpFor division to it, 'cause-
Oh
Yeah.
Um, the only other thing I'm considering changing is, and this is like, it's a constant struggle because- People shooting battle rifle cartridges cause like 95% of the target breakages and slowdowns at the event-
Yeah
I constantly debate if we wanna just, like, make it intermediate cartridges only, because it would-
Mm-hmm
... make running the matches so much more logistically easy with reducing target breakages, reducing target damage, and some of the venues I use have different minimum safe distances.
Right.
Where, like, we can shoot, like, 5.56 at 50 yards on steel, but you have to shoot 308 at 80 yards on steel, which affects stage design in ways that I, I don't really like.
On the other hand, I, I don't really wanna prohibit those guns, but perhaps in the future running dedicated heavy rifle, uh, events might be the way to go.
Yeah, like making heavy irons, uh, like take that concept, expand it, and then, like, add, like, stuff built around that.
So, like, I mean, I think that would be a fun match, 'cause it would basically be a blend of, like, one of those, like, sniper competitions, multi-day sniper competitions or long range competitions with a, like, a multi-gun match, essentially.
You basically...
[chuckles]
If I know I'm only designing around those guns for the stages, like, it makes the stage design process a lot more streamlined.
So the one change I'm considering for retro rifle for next year is adding a Kalashnikov or OpFor division to it, 'cause-
Oh
Yeah.
Um, the only other thing I'm considering changing is, and this is like, it's a constant struggle because- People shooting battle rifle cartridges cause like 95% of the target breakages and slowdowns at the event-
Yeah
I constantly debate if we wanna just, like, make it intermediate cartridges only, because it would-
Mm-hmm
... make running the matches so much more logistically easy with reducing target breakages, reducing target damage, and some of the venues I use have different minimum safe distances.
Right.
Where, like, we can shoot, like, 5.56 at 50 yards on steel, but you have to shoot 308 at 80 yards on steel, which affects stage design in ways that I, I don't really like.
On the other hand, I, I don't really wanna prohibit those guns, but perhaps in the future running dedicated heavy rifle, uh, events might be the way to go.
Yeah, like making heavy irons, uh, like take that concept, expand it, and then, like, add, like, stuff built around that.
So, like, I mean, I think that would be a fun match, 'cause it would basically be a blend of, like, one of those, like, sniper competitions, multi-day sniper competitions or long range competitions with a, like, a multi-gun match, essentially.
You basically...
[chuckles]
If I know I'm only designing around those guns for the stages, like, it makes the stage design process a lot more streamlined.
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