utf59

To be completely honest, she's not exactly saying "we should have one," but she's agreeing "that's cool and if we have the money (haha) I won't object to you buying it." But that's progress, and I'm working on the money thing. I also think their business model is backwards: I'd pay some good money to go to TopShotLand, or whatever the theme park would be named, and pick my favorite ten challenges that they've ever done and run them. I'd pay even more money if Taran and some of the other coaches would work with me for 30 minutes first! -- John. A former Top Shot contestant has something that might interest you: Marksnan's Challenge.

This! How many other people think that, instead of making a TV show with the funding they have, they should just make Top Shot Theme Park? Hell, I'd pay a goodly sum of money to go shoot all of those stages (and yes, I'd take the rock throwing events too, if that was the only way I could shoot the firearm stages), even without the coaching. Who's with me? It was Daryl Parker. Here's the website.

I'm pretty sure that spreading the challenge over the entire team is exactly what the producers were avoiding. That makes it harder for team members to select others for elimination based solely on performance — they have to rely more on personality, which is the fuel of "reality TV." On the other hand, it introduces an element of strategy that benefits the audience. By putting the strongest shooters on the most (or toughest) stages, we shooting enthusiasts get to see an overall higher level of shooting skill. And the rest of the audience gets to see a more gripping contest, along with the aftermath, selecting people for elimination.

You'd maybe prefer a dart and atlatl? I'm sure having the manufacturers' names mentioned and the high visibility of their products is the driving force there. Have you noticed the close-up shots of the ammo boxes this year? Maybe Cold Steel or Gerber will sponsor the primitive weapons next season, though I don't think either makes an atlatl.

Daryl Parker from season 2 is way ahead of you.

WOW!! That was awesome shooting and an awesome challenge!

Mike, I'm glad to see you being so concerned for Alex's personal growth.

I had the same problem. For me, the issue was that as I placed my finger on the trigger, I was focusing more on placing the finger on the trigger safety than on the whole trigger. That caused me to angle my trigger finger just a little and apply more pressure to the juncture of the trigger safety and the trigger on the right side (I'm a righty also). I had to insert just a little more trigger finger and make sure I felt the same pressure on both sides of the trigger regardless of the trigger safety. My 2¢, YMMV.

Very nice! What were you shooting?

I actually thought they showed more good sportsmanship on this episode, at least at the range for the team challenge. Jake has been made out to be (probably through the editing process) an overbearing jerk, but in his challenge with Chris, you can see that he's a good sport. There were lots of handshakes, etc., throughout the challenge, possibly because it couldn't be well edited any other way.

I loved the elimination challenge. It was the kind of thing that a good shooter from any discipline could have won. It was fast, but not so fast that only a speed shooter could have won. And it was accurate, but not so difficult that only a bullseye shooter could have won. As Cliff said, you had to hit 5 plates in 8 seconds. Most people who shoot regularly could do that. But they had to hit all 5 plates every 8 seconds. And keep an eye on the apparatus to keep up with where the cannonballs were to know which plate to shoot next, but don't let that distract you from making the shot you have to make now... The balance between speed, accuracy, awareness and focus was brilliant. It reminded me a bit of watching a stage at the Bianchi Cup, except this thing kept the tension up longer.

I disagree. I'd been shooting for years before I ever shot a match, but I learned muzzle control and trigger safety long before then. (Thanks, Dad!)

All in all, I liked the show. It looks like they have addressed some of the concerns from last year. They got right to the shooting. They made sure all 16 original contestants pulled the trigger on two firearms. We got to see three iconic guns. And we got to see reactive targets. I hope that some of the contestants are members here. Last year, it was nice to have posts from contestants on the show (not to take anything away from rokmel) as the show went on. The insights were great. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

I was watching for it, and I didn't see it happen, either. But they kept cutting to the contestants just before they shot, so I don't know if they set the trigger and we just weren't able to see it.

Even if you pay attention to where the others were hitting, you don't know where they were aiming. You could guess that the first person aimed at the center, and if you were second, you could aim high. But if you were third, you wouldn't know how much of an adjustment the second person made, and so on down the line. And since it's a competition, I doubt anybody said, "I held 12 inches high and hit 6 inches low and 8 inches right."