Breaking from Top Shot tradition, the final four contestants did not return to the house for a celebration meal. Instead, the group settled for an Army tent, cots, MREs and s’mores in preparation of the final three challenges.

The point of the night in the high desert was to provide the shooters with a small taste of military life, as the first of the three final challenges consisted of plowing through four obstacles with an AK-47. Each contestant had to run through a tunnel, a water trench, mud pit and a barbed-wire sand pit, firing at targets after each obstacle.

Speed was a major factor, and Phil showed he was fast through the obstacles, but it was Brian Zins’ accuracy on the targets that forced him out. There might have been an issue with the sights, as Gary had no problems hitting the targets until he accidentally filled the front sight with mud. Each shooter after him had to adjust to find the sweet spot, and Brian just took the longest to determine the proper sight picture.

From there, producers continued the quest for speed by bringing back the hill run from Season One. Once again Phil showed that he had speed and endurance as he raced up the hill to fire a Glock 19, HK93, Mosin-Nagant and SVT-40 at four different stations for the fastest time of 1 minute seven seconds. Unfortunately for Gary, he had some issues loading the SVT-40, and lost his chance to compete in the final challenge.

After the final pair—Chris Cerino and Phil Morden—returned to the house, they were visited by all four former winners, who stuck around to cheer the contestants through the final challenge that consisted of multitude of obstacles with a variety of items ranging from the diminutive .22 rimfire up to the Hotchkiss Mountain gun.

From the start it looked like youth would seize the day until Phil had issues making a clean run with the Schofield, where Chris overtook him. However, Chris just couldn’t get the hang of loading the crossbow, and was still trying to hit the three-prong rotating target when Phil ended the race with the cannon, forcing Chris to come in second for the second time.

With the conclusion of the season, I can’t help but think that this has been the best season yet. There was no politics and no conniving, and the only drama was on the firing range. The all-skill format is the way to go, and I hope the producers continue letting shot placement alone determine History’s Top Shot.