Lessons From Fallen Brethren 3-Gun

Lessons From Fallen Brethren 3-Gun


I honestly had some modest expectations for the match, I don't have a ton of shotgun or rifle experience, and if I had known in advance that there were going to be 170 people in my division, and you'd asked me, I'd have said that I'd like to finish in the 120-130 area, and still manage to beat 40-50 people. Possible? Maybe. That could have been an inflated notion of myself, in hindsight, had absolutely everything broken my way, maybe it would have been  possible, but I know that with any type of match, not everything breaks your way, the idea is to limit your mistakes. Shooting challenges I can handle, that's the newness, the mental errors, those were the ones that I have some control over, and those were the ones I wanted to not have, and I sure made an epic one here. On to the lessons...


3-Gunners Can Really Shoot

In the USPSA community, I know that 3-Gunners don't command a ton of respect. I don't see ton's of 3-Gunners come to, and win matches, they shoot differently, they are not as fast, and they do silly things like shoot 9mm minor in a division (Limited) that has a massive benefit to shoot a major caliber bullet (40mm). The reality is that 3-Gunners can absolutely shoot the hell out three different guns, and while they are all guns, they all call for different skill sets. Long range rifle means you need to understand hold overs, positioning, and the right choice in magazines, don't even mention breathing, and perfect trigger control. Short range rifle seems to translate more to USPSA because speed, and transitions are hugely important, but you also need to understand how to aim, because close range targets mean something entirely different. Shotgun can largely be about loading, but how to aim when you have a single no-shoot on a plate rack, how to operate the gun properly when you have a malfunction. Pistol isn't always USPSA style pistol, it's long range shots, 30-50 yards that most USPSA shooters don't practice very much, or long shots on very small steel. Finally, stage planning requires so much more work, it's not just how and where to shoot certain targets, or where to reload, it's which targets must be engaged with which guns, where do you have choices, and it seems that the devilish plan of stage designers, at least at this match, is to get you running and moving, and get your heart rate up before you do some long range shooting, make your own body essentially work against you, or at the very least make you worry about it.

3-Gunners can shoot, and there are some great 3-Gunners who are GM shooters in USPSA, they definitely exist. Not that I ever thought 3-Gunners were awful, but I certainly have a healthy appreciation now for everything that they have to do in order to be successful.

Gear Matters

While I hate talking about forgetting my pistol, and there is no real excuse for it, the reality is that you have to keep track of a ton of things. Multiple pistol mags, AR mags and what bullets are in them, as well as shotgun. In USPSA I can check my belt and I've got everything, done, in 3-Gun I'm off staging a rifle or shotgun, and I have checking to do. I can see where it would be overwhelming, it really is a lot to keep track of. Forgetting my gun was a rookie competition shooter mistake, not someone who's spent a few years shooting any kind of competition, so that's embarrassing.

I had shotgun issues because I did not fully break the gun in. First thought was that it was dry, and it was, so I did not lube it up before the match, lesson learned. The lighter 1145 fps birdshot was not cycling, and truth is I did not follow the booklet and break the gun in for 500-1000 rounds of heavier birdshot and slugs. I had the light target loads from other matches, I just ran them. Once Aaron gave me the 1200 fps heavier shot, the gun cycled beautifully, so the gun issues? Those were my fault, I did not properly take care of my gear. So I have to hold myself responsible for costing myself two other stages at the match.

I had massive eye relief issues with the scope on the AR. It may have a little to do with the scope itself, but it definitely has more to do with my head positioning on the AR. Linda does not have the same issue, so it really is set-up perfectly for her, she gets her cheek welded to the stock in a natural position, and she is fine. For me, its uncomfortable and it turned into a struggle. When we eventually build an AR for me, I'm going to mount the scope a little higher and a little further forward, or use an adjustable rear stock so I can have a natural cheek weld. I fought the gear a little bit.

Taking Linda's old CZ was a bad choice. I took the gun because I wanted to shoot 9mm, and that's what the holster and mag pouches are for, but my point of aim with the Edge is to cover up the target with the front sight and pull the trigger. With the Edge, I put the top of the front sight just under what I want to hit, and I blew an early pistol stage because I could not hit steel plates standing on a 10' podium. If I had run thru a few hundred rounds at varying distance, and of varying size in advance, I'd have been fine, but a couple of mags was not enough. I knew the aim point was lower, but it was not seared into my head. On my next to last stage of the day, I rocked out an excellent pistol run on some mid-range pepper poppers, but that should have been a given for the match, again on me.


Long Range Rifle Is Hard

I may have had a false sense of security after doing fairly well on my first stage of the match between 320 and 411 yards. I had a run of 3-4 one shot, one hit before I ran into a run of misses, but I did not time out, and it was a massive improvement from last Saturday for me. Once I did that, I figured there was no long range rifle that I could not handle. I'm not saying excel at, I did not think I was going to kill it, I just thought I could handle it and get hits, and boy, did I learn a lot.

At 6 power, in addition to the eye relief issues, I found how much that reticle bounces around. You have to be damn near perfectly still to keep it from bouncing, it means breathing properly, it means good trigger control, pulling the trigger straight back and pinning it for a second. Making small adjustments.

All match long I struggled with shooting position, I tried rifle magazine on top of an overturned car, which had a unique set of issues for me, and the targets were only 180 yards down range. I got some hits, but trying to make finite adjustments caused me to skip over several targets. I tried to go back, but had eye relief issues, and then had no idea what I'd skipped and what I'd shot. I tried prone a couple of times, the first time the 30 round magazine with extended basepad was a great platform at the angle I was at. On Stage 9, I should have used the 40 round magazine with extended basepad, because of the angle, it would have helped with the eye relief issue I had, and been the right choice for me.

Stage 9 was the "signature"  long range stage for the match, all steel plates, from 180 yards to 627 yards, a ton of hold overs to know, memorization on where all the plates are located, and I made two poor choices, but I did not know they were wrong until I was shooting. I mentioned basepad, but I would have been better off in front of the rock we had to be touching instead of off to the side, less overall movement, and better ability to stay on track of targets. I could have again tried to go behind the rock and rest the handguard up on the rock. The short version is that practice is key, shooting in strange positions is big. Sure, you need to know your holds, but you also need to know you gear, the way you are shooting, there is a lot there.

Absolutely Love Shotgun

I don't know what is so satisfying about it, but I absolutely love to shoot shotgun. I'd go shoot a shotgun only match in a heartbeat. With the rear sight I went from hating slugs to loving them, and I honestly feel comfortable with the shotgun. Okay, I need to practice and experience clays, I've only seen them once, and it'll be new and a challenge, but shotgun is tremendously fun. On the now infamous "I forgot my pistol" stage, I ran the shotgun slowly I think, I got hits, but when I was done, I wished that I'd pushed it to the limit. On stage 6, I screwed up shooting rifle from the car (and that was not long range, that was just a funky position) but I went into the stage wanting to rock shotgun and pistol. I knew I wanted to push my splits, and that's exactly what I did. I needed 2 make-up (which ran the gun dry, so I made sure of the last shot.) but I did push it, and I think I can do that, and faster in the future. I just need to practice it.

Loading is a whole 'nother animal, but I think I can do that too. That'll be a lot of dry fire practice, but I think I want to start working on quad loading. Understand that the grip has to be lower than I'd been trying in the past will help me control the shells, and I think with a week or so of practice, I'll at least feel comfortable. I know it won't be fast, that will take more time and more practice, but I think it's time to start that process.

Finally, I believe I can shoot on the move with the shotgun, but it's not something that I've tried in a match yet, and to me practice is validation of dry fire, and a club match is where you put that into effect. I wasn't quite ready to do try it out at a major match for the first time. Maybe I can do it, and maybe I can't, but that just tells me that I need to go out and practice it and find out. It's funny, shooting pistol on the move is something I struggled with, and I know I lose time there, I avoid it, but I'm shooting shotgun a month and I'm wanting to try it? I like that.


3-Gun Is Fun

Despite it all, and despite underwhelming my modest expectations, I had a great time. I think I could or would have hit my expectations if I did not make the mental mistakes. The shooting challenges I expected, and lets just say that I was not disappointed, I had a lot of 'em, and while I can gripe about 'em, I loved 'em, and those are things that I can work on. My goal before the match was to improve on each stage I shot, and I missed that mark too, especially with the bomb I dropped on Stage 9, but my pistol got better, and I really did run the pistol on Stage 8 very solidly, my shotgun was not perfect on Stage 6 (last stage I shot it) but it was better and faster. My rifle was inconsistent, but with each stage I tried to focus on splits and transitions on closer rifle, and on Stage 8, at least then I thought I understood the reticle and my holds. Stage 9 ate my lunch, and it was supposed to. I may have wanted to do better, but that will come with practice.

I'll be back for Fallen Brethren next  year, and I will do better. I'm a competitor, so it was easy to see an awful lot of flaws I have, and how really inexperienced I am at this sport. While I had a ton of fun, I don't like the feeling that I performed poorly, and I know that being new, I was going to struggle. I love shooting, words can't describe it, and I won't be this "bad" again. I'll work to get better, I'll learn from practice and club matches, and I'll improve. No idea where it will go, but this is too much fun to not invest some time, effort, and energy into.