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BamBam

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  1. EXACTLY! So the people favored to win by a landslide are surprised when a target lands on their back. Even if no one actually takes the shot?? Amazing. You would take a month of your life away from family and career to compete in an all-or-nothing event... and not even "consider" every strategy to win? Really?? Seriously ?!?!?!? Then that is funny, because they just announced Season 2 of Top Shot. Time to put up or shut up. Who is IN ???!
  2. Should be very interesting. Three days real-time goes into each 1 hour episode. Not sure what they can or will air in the end. But it should make for some compelling TV!! Do they even have time for shooting amidst all the drama this Sunday!?!?
  3. Really Howard?? Seriously??? As you've known me for 10 years you know that ABOVE ALL I can in fact really shoot, even though I never take my shooting seriously enough. Kelly shoots a smiley face... Blake shoots a bull while looking away... but suddenly its so unbelievable that I would deliberately shoot off target to dot the "i" in Iain !?!??! Of course that was a deliberate shot off target! NOTE - they don't SCORE us for those nomination targets, and you can shoot anywhere you please, so why not shoot the guy's actual name. I still think it was a funny bit!! But lest there be any doubt in the age of TiVO and DVR -- Just compare my hit near where the "i" dot should have been, to where I hit high/right from centere bull. Same variance. And you might also note that three of us put our shots high/right into the same hole when shooting for real at the bullseye. Coincidence?? C'mon now....
  4. Flex - yeah I guess then I missed my exact target... but only by a LITTLE instead of A LOT. Still thought it was funny, and Colby tried to hang me out there. But I do appreciate the editing allowing me to have my say. They could have cut that part out and REALLY tried to do a hollywood number on me. I saw this coming, and aluded to it on a previous thread. But the nomination process plays a role in the story in that Blue really did have fun at the nomination range. We got all our voting choices and drama out at the house, and had nothing but a few shots to do at the nomination range to make it offical. And this drove Red crazy !! Red Team always left the house never knowing for sure who was voting for who. Iain had several good reasons for his choice. First, in episode #1 he missed with the springfield probably 15 times and felt bad about it. And he did poorly in AR practice. So he really wanted to stand up and deliver, and he asked that we vote him to allow redemption. Remember, it would be pretty easy for someone to demand a shot at elimination to prove something, and we ARE competitive shooters!! As for strategy, if you vote the two worst you don't know which comes back. Better to decide on the 1 worst and have a better shooter take them out. That is controlling the game and its outcome. Not a bad strategy, though the elimination challenge does have its risks. That said, Iain taking on Jim is probably the LEAST risky combination he could have asked for, and it gives Iain another practice session and shooting event to sharpen skills for future events. Remember - we hardly ever shot on the television show. A couple shots in the main practice and a couple in the challenge. The eliminations gave you twice that in one day!! But Jim did awesome and damn near bit Iain. Jim sent out like a STUD!! There is always risk and skill (and strategy) and that is what makes this show so darn great in my opinion!! We never know what the next episode will bring, so its hard to guess what skill set you need in the future. Jim's expertise was historic rifles, but I think he means more like WW1 and WW2 rifle stuff (garands, mosins, etc). He is a slow fire Camp Perry champion. And we covered that ground in Episode #1. Tara is a national bullseye champ and there was some thought we might see more speed/pistols down the road. At least.. that was the logic.
  5. In my dictionary, its not a "miss" if you hit what you are aiming at. And YES, I was deliberately aiming hard to dot the second "i" in Iain's name. It wasn't the perfect shot having landed about an inch high/inch right. You might see that when I reshot aiming hard at the center of bull I also shot about an inch high/inch right on the target, about the same ratio off the "i" in Iain's name. And you will see that Big Chris stepped up and put his bullet right into the same exact hole I made. (*note the nomination pistol is a different actual gun than was used in the team challenge, so they had at least 3 floating around). I was the big prankster in the house, though you are not seeing any of it. Heck, I even brought fighing line and waterballoons in my luggage! So YES, I think if you ask anyone who knows me, they will attest that (1) I can shoot pistols and would not have 'missed' that target unless intentionally... and (2) I am the kind of guy that would deliberately aim off target for comedic affect. My AR stage ?! That was just shooter error. I got a little flubbed in my mag load, felt the timer ticking, and pulled my first shot. My fault. Still got 6 bad guys, and 1 guy who claimed to be innocent and just hanging around with bad company
  6. The "Wipeout" set was on the property just down the hill from the "Top Shot" house. But it was not set up at the time. Just a man-made water feature in a fence along with a bunch or props and stuff. A much smaller setup than it appears on TV. Movie magic, huh!?!?! Love that show, fun to watch. But they really clown people out, and beat on them hard...
  7. To clafify... when the bit time exec producer had words with Red Team (specifically Andre) he honestly felt bad afterwards. This producer guy was really a stand up fella, and as a peace offering let us all have a movie night. We DID NOT get to keep the TV. It was just one movie (which after a couple weeks of sensory deprivation, was still a fantastic treat!) I don't know if these reality show guys ever ran across a bunch like us before. Maybe they are used to pushing some high school kids around. But when they pushed us too hard, we push back. It was at times bordering on outright rebellion. However, we all had the same goal, to create a great product, and once we aired our griefs (both theirs and ours) we got things back on track.
  8. Frank could not have been a greater guy to get along with. Retired New York cop with the long hair, we sometimes called him Serpico. You may hear the cast talking in interviews, and saying "Ya know" every so often. We got that from Frank (and can't seem to stop!!) Bad photos, but for the most part a great bunch of guys *(and one girl)
  9. In all seriousness, they video record everything on everyone all day long. And when its all said and done, they only have so much time in the total program... therefore final episode after edit features the more important clips to tell the back story. So its not that Red Team had extra drama to feature... its that given the challenge's turn of events, they USE the red drama to tell the back story. Chicken/egg vs Egg/chicken.
  10. I think we can talk about episodes and content after they air it... so for now I can say I didn't see as much tension in the house as I am seeing on the show, but probably because I can't be in as many places as the cameras. Everything you see is real if we are there saying it. Right? The power of editing is simply to focus more on one person than another, even though both may be doing the same thing. Watching the show, I didn't realize Andre was that fired up. He seemed pretty quiet to me and a guy who kept his feelings to himself. But I am Blue Team and he may not have wanted to share Red discontent. But any time we actually talked, Andre and I got along just fine... when Blake did his Colby immitation skit, Andre was front and center in the role of the Seal Expert. There were times through it all that we all shot together and laughed together. Other times it was game on!! And yes Bill really did get furious with Kelly. Not sure if he was just looking for a reason, or if he really stayed emotionally close to his "ex"... but Bill had a position on that issue (and ALL issues) and wasn't shy about saying it. If he and Kelly were going "Hatfield and McCoy" then that is fine, too. Its a competition show and we are competing for a single #1 slot. As Pete famously said in the first episode, "if you want to make omelettes you've got to break a few eggs" !!! [... and I think that brings us into the Episode #3 thread]
  11. Duramaxtech - They literally took dozens and dozens of pictures, and there are several different ones out there for each of us. It was the beginning of a big televised competition so I think for many pics we brought out our most serious game faces! Ha! But I have seen other photos for each of us smiling (except for maybe Iain!) I used the best pic they took for my Facebook "Adam Benson Top Shot" page... but I think because I am not holding a gun in that picture it didn't get much play on the show. Either way, can't begin to tell you how cool it felt as they took professional "hero" shots and mega-zoom footage holding the various weapons. You stand there in your best aimed stance, while cameras on booms swing up and around... or slide from muzzle to eyeball ~!!
  12. I heard about the casting call in an email distributed to USPSA members (and all over the internet forums including here!) and sent in a short bio and photos. They called me back and asked for a 5 minute audition video, and pages of shooting experience background, etc. The show IS 'America's greatest marksmen' (who applied, were willing to sign the onerous contract, and pass background test, shooting skills test, etc.) The show does attempt to acknowledge history in that we use great weapons throughout history in our competitions. But for actual duplication of famous historical shots, they already have the show "Extreme Marksman" and "Impossible shots". The goal here is to take 16 top [all-around] marksmen and challenge them in both teams and individually using important weapons of history. And its only the first season, and a very BOLD adventure for "History" with limited first-run budget, so give them a bit of slack. Be happy its a major network, and that these guys are big supporters of what we all love to do. Why wasn't Rob Leatham (et al] on the show? The application form said it was going to be physical, and the Seal guy wanted it to be faaaar more physically demanging than what you saw so far. And I think Rob has bad knees. And maybe some of the other big names were not able/willing to sign off on the television contract with big restrictions. And maybe there were some big names who applied and did not make the cut for various reasons. In the end, this train has left that station and we (for better or worse) are the passengers. Pick a favorite, cross your fingers, and hold on for a wild ride ~!!
  13. The cast shooters can't discuss ANYTHING until it first airs on TV. So in regards to all of the questions about what might happen or what could possibly happen down the road... just hold on until after you see it. If it looks unbelievable, perhaps it is. Stay tuned....
  14. Backpacks?? C'mon. You know shooting people and their gear!! We really don't know what the challenge might bring so we try to prepare for every possibility. The show provides guns and ammo and squishy earplugs. We pack sunscreen, cleats, gloves, hat, fleece (yes, it was cold in the morning), plus several pairs of shooting glasses, water, snacks, a notebook/pen, etc. That kind of stuff.
  15. And just think... the producers had no idea who was going to shoot through which tube, so the height issue was a real concern. And if you actually VOICED that concern, and they got it on tape, and they strung it together with a bunch of your other concerns... you too might be feeling like Brad right about now. He's really not a bad guy at all. A super smart guy who just said what he was thinking, before thinking what he was saying. Ha!
  16. The "Tube" shots are definately harder than they look. Its not just HITTING a quarter, its shooting THROUGH a tube !! One shot... with a million people watching, and perhaps a $100,000 hanging in the balance. And as fellow shooters I hope you all try it, but please make it a fair comparison. FIRST - Don't just shoot at a quarter or paster. Hang a paper towel (or T.P.) tube at 25 feet and block the back with a piece of paper. Then BORROW a buddies gun instead of using your own. A box stock gun. No fancy trigger jobs allowed !!! Finally, have all your friends stand behind you and watch. And then take JUST ONE shot. PS - if you knock the tube off the stand, that does NOT count at a HIT.
  17. Another funny thing to watch is Colby with his hands ALWAYS on his hips. Watch carefully as the teams walk up to the first Beretta practice. On a predetermined signal, ALL of Blue Team go 'Hands-On-Hips" in our best Colby immitation. We were cracking up so much, he had to ask a producer later what the heck was wrong with us. We all got a long pretty darn well, and Frank was the favorite of both teams. We were all really say to see him go. But he took it like a man, with a great sense of humor to the very end. As he got on the zip line for his final run, Colby asked if he was ready. Frank answered, "Yeah I'm ready pretty boy, how 'bout you??" Hysterical !!!!
  18. Who said there are no IPSC "3-gunners" on the show ?? I used to shoot the area 3-gun events, and won the Mason-Dixon match (open division), and Iain is just coming back from competing at the MGM Ironman right now. Chris is a professional weapons training expert and though he might not "formally compete" in 3-guns, he is a multi-discipline expert by any measure. And Denny used to shoot IPSC 3-gun before he started with all that horse riding/roping stuff. I really liked the episode last night. Much higher difficulty level, and I think we all stepped up our shooting game. A better show all around! Still big strategy decisions and team dynamics. At one point I was second-guessing why I chose to shoot a tougher target than JJ-Friggin-Racaza!! And I don't care what Colby says, that smallest tube looking under 1-1/2" to me. A quarter is just 1". But we didn't walk up and measure. The smallest two tubes were really difficult !!
  19. When Blake gives that look to Ben, and fires the perfect "walk-off shot" it is laugh out loud funny!! Especially for those of us in the house-cast !!!!!! One of the ONLY things we had for entertainment was a set of darts. And you would be AMAZED at the number of twisted games and crazy shots a bunch of IPSC guys and shooters in general can come up with !! The rise of the "ADL", the invention of "Battleship Darts", and of course... Blake's infamous "walk-off shot" !! The first set of darts was gone/destroyed/stuck-in-ceilings within a day or two. And they had to keep bringing us more or worry about what trouble we would get into next.
  20. OK ... now I am second guessing my second guess. ha! Watched the show again tonight (and not just because I am on it! ) and there DOES appear to be a scene in the challenge where the camera pans from Blue Team Iain's muzzle to his hands, and there does not appear to be a front sight cover on his Springfield. And in the practice footage it looked like the Blue Team springfield did maybe have its front sight cover. But I am just not sure !! I never shot the '03. So get the freeze frame TiVO's out and look some more at the Blue Team practice gun versus challenge gun. I am really curious now. Not that it matters to the outcome, because the show is about challenging the shooters however the show producers decide to do it. But its just like the grassy knoll footage and you just keep wondering...
  21. Guys, please don't think its us shooting a particular gun, unless you see us actually SHOOTING that gun. If you see us aiming and then just the front of the rifle firing, then they might have switched to stock footage of that muzzle blast with a high speed camera from some other day/other gun. In practice (if you can call less than 10 rounds practice) they had two sets of rifles. One of each for the blue team, and one of each for the red team. Each rifle had a colored piece of tape on the stock to identify it. On the blue team practice, we each shot two rifles before time ran out (call it roughly 5 rounds each). Back at the house that night we compared our notes, and both people had nearly the same results. We wrote this info down and brought it to the challenge. No rifle was properly zero'ed. We just got on paper at both 50 and 100 yards, and wrote the proper hold-over info onto our notes. The greatest error was the mosin nagant, shooting about 11-12" high and a bit right at 100 yards. I think our Springfield was off maybe 6" vertical and 4" horizontal, give or take (did not check my notes, but I am sure the Mosin was off the most). I'd prefer more time and ammo to properly zero the weapons, but this is what we had to deal with as part of the "challenge". Iain on Blue team and Mike for Red (BOTH very capable shooters) had trouble with their Springfields, which I think is a bit strange. Maybe a deliberate extra "stress/difficulty challenge" applied to both teams? We will never know. But neither rifle problem was insurmountable and we were expected to deal with what we were faced with as Top Shots and perservere. Just don't go off on a wild goose chase based on snippets of images unless you are absolutely SURE they are correct for the exact moment and the shooter. Some shots were not shown. Some hits were edited for better footage. I know Chris' target at 50 did not explode when hit (so they called the shot a hit, and dubbed in an exploding scene) and I noticed Kelly's 600 yard target has a black background and his close-up exploding scene was with a white background. The story and details are basically correct, but not rock solid gun-enthusiast micrometer degree of accurate. Ya know?
  22. To be clear, no one knew what the challenge would be when voting for people to go to elimination. That is true. BUT - it was our first ever challenge/elimination and we all THOUGHT it was still going to be rifles (why wouldn't we??). Mike really was thinking he would go up against Kelly in a rifle contest of some sort. We all did. I was thinking the elimination would be with one of the 4 rifles we used in the challenge. From a reality show stance, that made the most sense to me. We were in the dark and taking our best guesses (by design). But it was a very reasonable assumption that rifles would be the elimination event. NOW - we know that they can change to a new weapon for elimination, and it makes the nomination of people for a head-to-head challenge very risky, both for the individuals and for the team. It is kind of cool ! Mike picking Kelly was something Mike really wanted to do, but you can also see from the footage that Kelly didn't want this situation at all. Kelly thought it was a bad/risky thing to go to elimination for any reason, and yeah he was very upset by it. But he had lots of friends in the house, especially Frank. No real hard feelings, and Kelly is great with Mike to this day.
  23. Its physical, its mental, its strategic, and it even has a social element with all of us having to live together under the same roof. And you have to deliver precision shooting skills with unfamiliar weapons (and VERY little practice) on demand with a bunch of people watching... your friends/peers, a 50 person camera/sound crew, and about a million people at home. Its tougher than it looks!! I would have liked to have seen more of the 'practice' session (which could hardly be called that) to help explain the mess at the first big challenge. Blue team practiced after Red, and it was way late in the day firing into a low setting sun. Sights were not blackened and there was terrible glare. Targets were not changed between shooters. There was no time or ammo to adjust sights. At best we can get on paper and determine offset hold-over for challenge day. In the first practice position, Chris and I each shot 5 rounds from the Nagant (note gun was shooting 12" high at 100yrds, and maybe 1-2" right) then we both moved over to the M14. We had just a few minutes left to shoot 4 rounds each at a target that was already riddled with holes from the previous shooting pair. We got a few shots on paper and determined that the M14 was dead-on for windage, and shooting 6" high at 100yds. Did anyone mention spotting scopes were the cheapest Barska-quality units available?? I don't know about sights suddenly coming loose... these guns were a hundred years old. The 03 Springfield had both a ladder sight and a battle sight. And remember Andre did hit the 50 yard target just seconds earlier and how much different impact could there be from 50 yds to 100 yds? It was windy, but at 100 yds wind is not a sizeable factor. The exploding bullseyes were 12" diameter at both distances, as I recall. I can tell you that Iain for team Blue also had a bunch of trouble with the Springfield at 100 yds taking 15+ shots. And his spotter (Tara) had trouble too. When Iain didn't hit in the first few shots, and had nothing to use from the spotter, he stayed calm and shot a quadrant pattern around the target until Tara got scope on target. Iain is a serious dude (ex British military, some kind of recon guy, possible MI-6 and/or 007 ! Ha!!). One important thing to note - this was the first episode and we did not know exactly how it was going to play out. Who knew the elimination challenge would break out an entirely new weapon!? I thought for sure it would be an elimination using one of those 4 historical rifles. Once they start breaking out brand new weapons for the elimination, the game opens a new chapter. What if the surprise elimination challenge weapon turned out to be pistols?? We just didn't know!! But I still think Mike should have picked Andre. They were the only two that actually shot for team Red, and it would have put some closure on the whole shooter/spotter responsibility debate during the challenge. If Mike had won, then Red team would still have Mike going into the Episode #2 Beretta pistol event... which would seem like a solid move if you ask me. The TEAM needs to win or you face possible elimination again. NOTE - in the last meeting with the production company right before the show started, we were given real good advice. This isn't going to be like any other competition we ever shot, and it WOULD test our skills. But they (production) designed the rules and the challenges, they know what they are doing, and they are what they are. THIS is the game.
  24. I wouldn't get too worked up about the Survivor type format, because on this show they maintain the skill element as the final determination as to whether you stay or go. Politics might send you to elimination challenge, but SKILL can always bring you back. Mike did a great job explaining his story on that web posting. Nice job in manning-up, and we never expected any less. Terrible strategy decision though. I understand the basic idea behind challenging the best to prove yourself after the disaster at the Challenge, but if Mike had gone against someone else and perhaps STAYED, he would also have had other opportunities to prove himself the better shooter down the road. Pride cometh before the fall. Ya know ?? Blue team had a similar problem that might not have come across clearly on TV. The blue team shooter on the springfield (Iain) also fired 15+ rounds at 100 yards. That is why I was on TV saying they were laying down fire like it was downtown Fallujah! And Iain also had trouble getting good input from the spotter (Tara). Rifle, spotter, shooter... I dunno. But I do believe that RED team is going to be in worse shape heading into a pistol challenge without the skills of Mike Seeklander. And I think the show was great, and is only going to get better !!!
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