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MGM Ironman: I Didn't Die!


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I was lucky enough to get to shoot the MGM Ironman this year. After hearing some awesome stories at Shot Show I bought some gear and made the plunge. This was my first year at Ironman, and my second officiated 3 Gun shoot.


The short of it:

I've never run my guns so hard, experienced so much shooting stress, or had so much fun.


Driving from Calgary, Canada to Parma, Idaho took me nearly 18 hours with the border hassle of travelling with guns. Arriving at camp at 9pm and getting up to shoot at 6am the next morning was a poor choice. I had a pretty miserable first day, and learned my lessons about sunscreen, being first shooter, and planning a stage properly.


Planning was a big component of the game that I didn’t understand going in. American’s shoot more, shoot farther, and shoot faster than the Canadian matches I’ve seen. Previously, my idea of planning was to look at the stage description and make sure I knew my zero at the furthest target. But the Ironman requires so much more. You need to have a mental map of what order you’ll shoot each target in, and know where in the stage you will be reloading. Will you go left to right, or right to left? Shoot the spinner first, or save it for the last? I learned the hard way that these things make a difference. While Canadian stage descriptions are essentially a walkthrough of every target, stage briefing at the Ironman went like this:

"This is your rifle dump box, this is your shotgun dump box. Start here, and engage targets as they become visible."


Things got better after that first day. I owe a ton of thanks to my squad preparing me before the start signal and coaching me after the timer started rolling.


The Ironman was exactly what I’d hoped for, with ridiculous challenges like towers, slides, carts, and the zipline. Probably the hardest part for my bullpup rifle and me was a forced weak-hand stage that involved shooting underneath a vehicle. I had to deal with the unusual malfunction of hot brass bouncing off my face and back into the chamber!


My favourite stage by far was the trench, which involved ditching the rifle after close quarters engagements and sprinting across the entire parking lot to get to the shotgun portion. That stage also involved a pair of the deadly MGM Spinners that must be rotated completely to score. These ones were shielded behind hard cover, and I had a lot of fun working the angles to get into a shooting position.


I even enjoyed the "spool-stage" that required shooters to position themselves in a small enclosed space before engaging. Many of the heavier guys cursed up and down about wedging themselves under a chunk of wood.


All the side-stages were a blast. I of course enjoyed the zipline, but also had fun using a suppressed .22 with no hearing protection to pop shots at a moving thermal target using FLIR’s infrared sight.


I'll be doing lots of things different next year, but overall I’m pleased with my performance. Two shooters who I know and respect got disqualified this year, and I heard DQ horror stories from several veterans who didn’t make it through their first Ironman. My "coach" finished 34th out of 48 in the Open Division, and I took the 39th position not far behind him. I feel extremely fortunate.


My question to other beginners (and veterans) is this:

Should I expect similar intensity from other US 3 gun shoots?

I'm concerned that I'll drive 6 hours to a Canadian match, put 30 rounds onto targets at 20 yards and go home disappointed. My ATF paperwork is good for the year, so I figure I may as well try to attend a few more stateside competitions before the snow sets in.


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Waiting for the load-and-make-ready command on the golf cart stage.


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Halfway down the zipline, you start pistol in hand with a mag in, then rack it once you pass a flag and hear the "load!" command. Then its all nuts from there.

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I don't think there is anything that comes close to Iron man for better or worse. Most of the matches I have shot are still fun and well organized. Round counts are closer to 100 Rifle 100 Piston 50 birdshot, and a handful of slugs across 6 stages. Obviously some matches are more intense than others. Shooting out to 300 yards for a few targets is fairly normal but many matches run rifle targets in much closer. They can still be punishing, just not IronMan punishing. At the club where I shoot they feel bad and just stop you after the timer reaches 180 seconds. I don't think that would work well for IronMan. So many clubs have their own rules and feel for 3 gun that it's hard to say exactly what to expect so it might be best to locate some of the nearest matches and try to find some match videos to see what the stages look like. Here are a couple of videos from the last match I shot at Peacemaker NAtional Training Center in West Virginia https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh6vnp0V06CfO1Jgyx5gZqw

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There are no other matches even in the same league as Ironman. The Hard As Hell match in St George, Ut, is pretty fun but doesn't have the round counts or the long range. The NW Multigun in Bend, Or, is also a fun 3 gun but no other match will compare after having shot Ironman. You will be disappointed for the rest of your life. You should probably go find a shrink that can prescribe you some kind of anti depression pills until you can shoot Ironman again next year. Good luck!

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There are all kinds of matches with all kinds of flavors. The round count of Iron-Man, and the dust, certainly tax the equipment. There are some other matches that might have equally hard physical demands. Problem is, most of the matches are sold out. Rocky Mountain 3Gun still has openings, and is one of the top matches. Crimson Trace is sold out. FNH is another top of the line match you might see if there are slots..

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There are all kinds of matches with all kinds of flavors. The round count of Iron-Man, and the dust, certainly tax the equipment. There are some other matches that might have equally hard physical demands. Problem is, most of the matches are sold out. Rocky Mountain 3Gun still has openings, and is one of the top matches. Crimson Trace is sold out. FNH is another top of the line match you might see if there are slots..

FNH is sold out with a long waiting list .

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Montana multi gun is a 1 day ironman, but unfortunately it is sold out well in advance as well. Just shoot a normal 3 gun match wearing a 50 pound backpack with a revolver, a garland, and a pump shotgun. That will make every stage feel like an ironman stage.

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Montana multi gun is a 1 day ironman, but unfortunately it is sold out well in advance as well. Just shoot a normal 3 gun match wearing a 50 pound backpack with a revolver, a garland, and a pump shotgun. That will make every stage feel like an ironman stage.

The regular monthly matches in Boulder Montanna can get pretty intense. There is one this coming Saturday. http://www.lastchancehandgunners.com/

Don't trust your GPS to get you to the range.

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