3-Gun North Texas Lead Farmers

3-Gun North Texas Lead Farmers


Got up early to drive a couple of hours to shoot some 3-Gun, again borrowing gear from Hayes Custom. Both Linda and I were looking forward to the match, and getting our first chance to shoot a "real" 3-Gun match.  We had some struggles, but we're new to 3-Gun, so that's okay. Post match I have one serious gripe though, and I doubt that I'll come back for the match. Match fee was $50 per shooter, and for that, they set-up ahead of time so shooters don't have to build stages, and they pay people to come tear down, which is awesome. That said, the admin for the match was less than impressive, and the scoring was down right atrocious. Linda shot a stage with a single Mike, (5 second penalty) but was charged 75 seconds in penalties, no idea where that came from or how it happened. I miss 2 slug shots (10 seconds each in penalties) I was charged 40 seconds in penalties. Aaron had a mike on a stage (5 second penalty) and was charged 10 seconds, which cost him 1st overall in the match. Either it was a really shoddy job of writing scores down, or someone screwed up entering them online, neither is acceptable for that admission fee. In addition, a stage had to be thrown out because the other squad shot it differently....no idea how that was even possible, but short version is that it was written poorly enough that they could not figure it out.

Onward to the video:



Stage 1:







From the get-go, I took a mike/no-shoot on one of the first targets, and that's a rough way to start a stage, and a match. I was running Aaron's rifle, and I turned up the magnification for the plate rack, and ran into an eye relief issue. I flat out missed on some of the plates, and once I figured out what I was doing, had lost some time. I did come out of that position pretty well, and was ready to start shooting as I moved into the 2nd position, in the future I'd like to take targets on the move though.

Once I dumped the rifle I ran the plate rack pretty well, and the paper, the last plate rack was something new to me, and each plate was getting smaller and smaller, I just did not get a good enough sight picture on the final piece of steel and paid the price. The overall gripe here was that the steel was set so heavily (not calibrated properly) that it was almost too hard to knock over. This was the stage where Linda got screwed in the scoring.





Stage 2:






Yes that really is a Texas Star about 70 yards down range that I'm about to shoot with a rifle. I started off with the barrel, not the key way on the barricade and that caused a problem, once they told me to fix that I got better, but that was not easy for me. I ran the shotgun passably, but my reloads were pretty slow, and I only hit one of the two 70 yard steels with slugs meaning a 10 second penalty.





Stage 3:






This is the stage that got tossed, no, really, stop giggling. How the hell would someone shoot this differently? Well, apparently the other squad used pistol for everything, no idea why they did not use the dump bin and staging bin downrange for the pistol and shotgun. I won't say complete idiots, but wow, just wow......I ran the pistol here again pretty damn well, I'm transitioning and splitting a lot better. After the first reload it seemed like I slowed down, but there was a no-shoot on a diagonal that would have counted, had I taken it with a shoot thru, and that was inevitable unless you were at the right angle.

My shotgun and reloads were not great, I was shooting over the targets, and that's a killer. I ran out of ammo and had to take a penalty for leaving the last piece of steel plate rack standing.



Stage 4:








My first ever long range stage. I took the shotgun phase walking, and I could have ran, or shot on the move, but 2nd time ever running a shotgun, I think I need some practice before doing that. I got all my hits on the shotgun, my reloads left me time to walk before I reached my positions, so that's a good thing. My pace could have gone quicker though. Upon climbing the trailer, I missed the slug shots, and I took 40 seconds in penalties, it should have been 20 seconds, so I got screwed here. The pistol targets were all Alpha's (all you need is 2 on paper, and yet I hit the A zone with all shots, and yes I know, because Linda and Niki taped them.) so the extra penalty could not have come from here. Rifle went from 100 yards, to 200 yards, to 300 yards, then over to 250 and 225 respectively. I was on a roll with the long shots, but I skipped over the 4th target, shot the 5th target 4 times before the spotters realized what I did (notice I had to tell them) and then came back. That part was my fault, but it cost me time, and I was actually getting hits. Bummer.




Full Match:






Okay, I had fun shooting, there was a degree of challenge here that I don't get in USPSA, Every stage is an adrenaline rush. I'll be honest, I thought my pistol work was as good as, or better than just about everyone in the squad. Shooting a minor power factor 9mm load thru a sweet CZ is easy as can be. That gun just melts into my hand (I shot Linda's old gun, not my old gun) and I can only imagine shooting thru a 2011. I was better off with Steve's rifle, his optic set-up (higher) suited me better, and I hit the long targets pretty well, and never suffered from eye relief. The truth is, I need to learn to shoot rifle, and practice if I want to get better. With the shotgun, same deal, I need more practice, and I need to learn to shot on the move if I really want to excel.

There are a few gear questions, because I'm trying all sorts of shot shell caddies to find what works best for me. (Tac-com did not work well for me today) but like anything else, if I want to improve, I need to get out and work on them. I really love shotgun, and today the long range felt great, I love the sport, and I've about decided that any shooting is good shooting.