ambluemax

I have an AI m2, had it done last spring and shot the whole season with it. I did send it back a second time because I did have a few malfs but since then its been 100% (mike stands behind his work all the way). I could not be happier with the way it turned out. Recommend his work to anyone. Mike is hard to get ahold of(as are most talented craftsman in my experience) , and as his popularity grows I can imagine how flooded his in box is, especially since most people wont pull the trigger on a build in the end. I spoke a lot with Jesse T on Facebook asking questions and getting advice...usually he helped me poke Mike and get a response. Do you have anything specific you are wondering about? Saying its awesome probably doesn't help much.

I run a 24" with a tube that's flush with an extra choke. 10+1 in the shortest package you can get is ideal. Shorter you can be the better because you can get into some tight spots (anyone who shot the Nordic shotgun match last year knows what im talking about). I find that most of the guys I know persobally who run long shotguns are just justifing saving the money to themselves...just saying.

I run various safariland holsters off my els belt. I just got an als (similar concept to serpa but the button is thumb activated) for my m&p. I'm left handed, for my money safariland is top notch gear, priced well and you don't have to wait forever to get left handed stuff (that's huge!!! Anyone but safariland and blackhawk makes you wait forever)

How about this: if we split the spectrum of chokes into 3 groups- spreader chokes (dif, cyl, skt,) default chokes (ic, lm, m) and tight chokes ( im, f, exf)...has anyone found a pattern or match condition where a choke within a group was an advantage or disadvantage over another? If you have a choke from each group, are your bases covered or has someone found a specific reason to have more?

Lm or ic are common default choices, I would lean lm myself. Most of our stages locally are designed to be possible to do with ic (it might not be easily done with ic though) so I tend to be a little tighter just to make sure I knock stuff down with authority. Guys who try to sneak by with 100% ic seem to pay the price once in awhile. You will want a tighter choke like IM or full for circus targets (like a star or spinner...or even a heavy Popper) at distance. Thus far I haven't found anything in 3gun that a full will do that an IM wont do. Then you will want something open like a cyl, diffusion or skeet that sprays a big pattern when you are trying to pick up doubles. I remain to be convinced if there is a significant difference between them (beacause realistically shot can only spread so fast at short distances) but you'll want at least one of them. I'm in the same boat as you looking to buy ext chokes. In playing around with the OEM benelli chokes in matches and on the patterning board I haven't unlocked the secret as to why you would need more than say a skeet, lm and Im. I think that might be the best balance of keeping it simple and having the diversity you need. I haven't found the condition where a single choke is the obvious choice and one size up or down wont cut the mustard. At the end of the day if you have some variety of chokes and a little knowledge of their actual patterns you will be way ahead of most people.

Is there anything beyond a gut feel? When you actually pattern on paper and study the targets what kind of useful nuggets are people looking for? Maybe this is my mileage but I didn't see enough difference between say a cyl and ic at very short range or between an IM and full inside of 35 yards for example. The difference seemed so slight I can figure a situation where one would be the obvious choice over the other.

For empty chamber starts you are pretty much always allowed to start with one on the lifter. One the clock, pulling the trigger is the way but as stated - that's a big boy rules maneuver.

In following some useful advice I've picked up along the way, I went to the range one day to do some homework on how my gun patterned at different ranges. Once I started looking at patterns I realized I didn't really know what kind of pattern I needed to neutralize the various targets we see in 3 gun. I figured a dense soccerball size pattern was what I needed, made some notes and called it a day. Not satisfied though, I came back on a different day and drug out some mini poppers (the only size available to me for practice). I set one out every 5 yards from 15 to 50 yards and went about testing my chokes like Rob Romero demonstrates in the "3gun Outlaw" DVD. I was suprised to see poppers falling at 40-50 yards (using fed pink-ribbon light target 7.5's) with minimal pellet strikes...maybe 10 very scattered hits. They wouldn't fall with authority, but they fell. This exercise raised more questions than it answered. How much of a pattern does one need was still up in the air, but also how does one judge the combination of distance and set weight when trying to decide on a choke during stage planning? What are some of you more advanced shooters looking for at the patterning board and how do you practically apply that to a stage plan? Is there really anything you can't do with a Skeet, light mod, and IM choke or are there distinct reasons to have every choke size with you? My expirence on the local circut has settled me into shooting a light mod or mod as a default, something like an IC or a skeet when I'm looking for a double and a full doesn't seem to do anything IM won't do...at least that's my limited milage in a couple seasons playing the game. Thoughts?

Benelli's "performance center" gun is a rip off. Buy an M2 and send it to somebody like Accurate Iron. You'll get a lot more gunsmithing for your dollar

I personally don't get along with the supernova very well...but im not a pump guy. As awesome and universal as the 870 is at everything else in the shotgun world, I have never- not once- seen somebody run one well in 3 gun. Lots of people who "brung what they got" shoot them but anybody who is trying to win in divisions with manual scatterguns seem to show up with a benelli. That's just how it is... Nova/supernova are king of the pumps in 3 gun.

I was wondering when someone would try the new A5 (not to be confused with the classic A5) in 3Gun. I'm pretty comitted to team Benelli at this point, but anxious to hear some reviews.

So if you have a SF 60, is there any reason to have a nordic or lancer type 40?

Smallest gun on the market that you can actually fight with. I think the slim size and price point are what stirred the craze. Stock trigger needs a little polishing right out of the box, but otherwise they are quite the little carry pistol. Many find the 9c/g26 type guns to be too thick.

Really?? Because its an external part I guess huh......interesting

I have two buddies with the FSS in their guns. It does work, and I shoot it well but I don't like it enought to put one in my M&P. While they took all the travel out, its not crisp enough to be worth it IMO. Not to be the contrarian, but I like the OEM trigger with Apex internals better. SA triggers are SA triggers, Striker fired triggers are striker fired triggers and I love them for what they are. THen again my biddies haven't tuned theirs like you have.

I have a JP and Arredondo extensions for 3 gun. Don't really have any basis for comparison, but it works well and fit and finish is A+

I recently came across a tip that recomended having 20, 30, 30/30 cinch, 45, and 60 round rifle mags at your disposal for various match situations. Obviously the 20rd mags are for specific prone type situations, but if a 30 won't do it how would you decide between the last 3 options? I've always just run 30's and mag-changed off the belt. At the club level it seems to work, though the high capacity mags seem to be coming into their own as a significant advantage. At the same time, there seems to be something to be said for keeping it simple with standard 30's because they tend to be more reliable than the extended options (which is one reason I haven't invested in a high cap mag yet). What is your go to set up for feeding a rifle and if you do maintain all these options in your bag of tricks, how do you decide which to use between a standard 30, a 30/30, a 45, AND a 60?

My buddy just got a pro CORE model. Nice gun but I'm not really interested. Matt- They come with surpressor style iron sights so you can co witness through the optic. What I want to know is will the stippled back strap be SSP legal in IDPA. Technically illegal, but one could make the arguement that its the same as the glock extended slide release- since its stock on one model, adding it to any model is OK. Splitting hairs I know, but perhapse interesting debate (since I think the stippling rule is stupid anyway)

I had an STI Spartan, ran it hard and in the end it didn't hold up. I had the chance to jump to a S&W 9mm pro series 1911 and it was totally worth the trade. Awesome fit, finish and performance...a lot of pistol for the money. High value if you can find one. I have the adj sight version and my firend has a fixed sight version. He is equally impressed with his. I really like what I've seen in the Trojans, but i've never shot one. DW PM9 is awesome too, if you can find one.

Im working on planning travel and lodging, roughly how does the schedual of events play out on this match? When do things start of Friday (is there shooting that day, or is it just CSO's and early registration) and about when do things wrap up on Sunday?

Follow-up dumb question: I've never paid dues to USPSA as I was more of and IDPA guy until this multigun bug bit me. Do I need to have a current pistol classification in USPSA like you do to shoot sactioned IDPA matches or is current dues paid enough for multi gun?

I hope this isn't a dumb question, but since this is being run as a USPSA 3 gun match, does that mean one needs to be a current USPSA member to shoot?

I have a friend interested in am extra NC tube extension I have. The tube is for an m1/m2/sbe and he is wondering if it will fit on his supernova. Does anyone know if it will fit? I would this.k benellis would be threaded the same but I also seem to remember NC having seperate models for the m1ect and the Nova series

So hypocritical : you run into a stage where you need to shoot slugs and birdshot. There is a birdshot target you want to choke up for....how tight of a choke are you comfortable shooting a slug through without being hard on the gun? Also has anyone ever found a slug accuracy difference between chokes in the same gun? What is even considered a good group in a tac division shotgun?

I've had a Browning gold 3.5 with 26 in barrel for 12 years...and long since lost count of how many rounds it has through it. 5k would be a very conservative guess, very conservative. If you keep it clean and oiled it will run like a champ for years. I only went to the benelli for two reasons. One the tube extension doesn't totally get along with the system because Browning's have the speed feed feature which messes with the spring rates. Two and more importantly...I'm left handed and wanted a true lefty gun to build a 3gun race gun on.