Intro to 3 Gun

After nosing around the competitive shooting arena a lot the last few years, I finally had the opportunity to take “the plunge”.  One of the facilities in the region runs a 3 gun action shooting intro event on a monthly basis.  But, they require you to come prove that you are safe to shoot with on the Saturday before the event (for first timers).  Having a Saturday with no Kyuki-do classes scheduled, that actually aligned to the first weekend in the month when these events take place had never happened prior to this weekend.

I packed all my gear, grabbed a pistol, a shotgun, and a carbine (this match requires a pistol caliber carbine as opposed to a centerfire rifle caliber) and ventured forth.  Here is what I found with this sport:

1. It is A LOT of fun.
2. It is challenging (need to be fast, and accurate, and know your weapons)
3. You need to remember that it is a speed event, going fast AND getting all your hits is important. I forgot about the fast part.
4. If I am going to really do this, I need some additional equipment to haul gear around.
5. 3-Gun (on short stages) is so very different than precision rifle.
6. 3-Gun is different than USPSA or Steel Challenge.
7. Transitions between weapons is more mentally demanding than I expected.
8. Loading a pump action 12 gauge quickly by hand is a skill that I don’t have right now.
9. Saiga 12 shotgun mmmm.  I think I might want one.  Changing mags is a whole lot easier than loading a tube.
10. I really like my CX-4 Storm for this event.

The match was fairly short, no targets beyond 50 yards.  5 Stages with limited movement and only one unusual position, shooting from sitting (and that was optional). The weather was perfect, the squad was fun, I learned a lot so I think it was a good day.  I suspect that when the final scores are tallied, I will be at the bottom.  For the first time through, I can live with that.

At the beginning of the year I set myself 3 goals.  Shooting 3 gun was one of them. 2 more to go, one should be attainable the other is going to be pretty tough.

Just in case you do not know, 3 Gun (done right) can look like this:

Or this: