EaZeNuTZ33

No clue. Thought I'd find out tomorrow afternoon when I get there to sign in.

And a BAR....../ :cheers: :cheers: BOTH Babe's and Sweeite Pie's Ribeyes are BYOB I think.......I'm bringin a cooler and a case of Oktoberfest!

HAHAHAHAHAA

too early?.....I was kinda expecting you to RO with me!! And Jay. Game on!

is it too early to volunteer to be an RO?

Quite a few. That exact question was asked during the shooters meeting and it seemed like elementary school when a third of the class thought they knew the answer.

mark.... Uploaded with ImageShack.us not sure what changes occurred with the final cut after all scores were in, I snapped a pic real quick before the prize table

Pink holster.... uhhhhh, pink GUN holster! Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I snagged a pic of just the TacOps scores, but it was prior to TK's scores being added, so they weren't final

Let's see if I can get this new fangled YouTube thingy to work on here..... You will see several failures with crappy primers that had good strikes on them when we looked at them later. I could have shaved a lot of time in the house stage if I had gone supported, but had shot a similar stage unsupported and it gave me a big edge.....gambled and lost. not sure how well you can see it on the video, but the shotgun/pistol stage on the little deck in the woods (7) was shot during a TON of rain, and the stage right after it (8) was shot once the rain started to let up a little, but was muddy!

There is a squad photo but you stood in the back! Check the matches FB page Amateur 3-Gun Nationals...David Golladay took photos and has some uploaded with more to come!Ah.....good call!

I have a pic of just the holsters on my gun case if you want it. Otherwise, my teammate Jay took some video and I'll post it after seeing if I can figure out video editing. I think there is a squad photo somewhere, but don't know who took it.

YEAH , you grabbed that gun and ran off SO FAST, I didn't get a chance to give you the pink grips and rail covers, to go with the rest of your gear . . . . . NICE job on the win Hahaha.......I saw you wink at me when I was wearing all the hot pink gear and knew it was time to sneak out! Btw.....I will be easy to spot at the matches for the next month or so. I made HOT pink holsters, a new chest rig with pink strapping, pink ribbons on my long guns, Susan G Komen ribbon on my car, and pink Rocktape for my personal ailments. I finished all the holsters and figured a week early for Breast Cancer month was okay. My grandmother had a double mastectomy a couple years ago, and I've had two aunts to go thru chemo for Breast Cancer, so it's not JUST because I look pretty in pink!

bigbrowndog. THANK YOU for RO'ing our squad and the help you and KurtM had after we finished a stage. I've got a few things I now have to work on that are simple things AFTER someone points out the correct path! The match was a blast. The 1/2 silhouettes over full sized no shoot silhouettes demanded respect from each shooter to avoid a no shoot. My teammate Jay Carillo got some video of my runs and always is a fast shooter that you have to work hard to keep up with. I can't wait to sit down and see how the stages LOOK compared to how they FELT. I somehow lucked out a win in TO and found out on my way back from helping RO for a shooter who had a few stages left, and honestly didn't believe it......of course, I'm not giving the gun back, they said I could have it afterall! Haha

I've never found an exercise or practice that could duplicate the adrenaline dump I experience in a match. I just have to shoot more matches to overcome that. I have my own range, and have tried to induce a high heart rate by sprinting 30-40 yards to my rifle, then running some fast paper slowing my heart rate and tagging a few distant steel. I've found the more I run and the more I work out, the less I notice my heart rate when shooting. Not sure if that makes sense or not, but even if my heart rate goes up, I'm able to focus and put shots on target. I'm one of those big guys btw, coming in at 250lbs right now. Last weekend, we ran the Tough mudder, so all week I've done nothing but the treadmill to kill all the lactic acid (and i'm sure some of it from all the beer afterwards) out of my legs, back, and shoulders. The Tough Mudder being 1 week before the US Amateur match at CMMG, may turn out to be a good thing for me instead of a disadvantage! I think my focus going forward is going to be more cardio based with mild explosive and stamina exercises for my upper body. Like anyone, I would like to correct the issues in my core (beer belly) for obvious reasons, but I think they would help a good amount in this game.

No slugs or buckshot?Thanks, MC I think Ken hates slugs and buck. Never seen them at any of his matches, and don't expect to in the future to be honest with ya. Typically, #6 shot or smaller, nothing that will stick to a magnet. Pay attention to RO instructions about what condition each gun is in at the stage start, WHEN you can load or charge your gun if there are stairs, and so on. Ken puts on well thought out matches and there shouldn't be any DQ's unless someone is being unsafe or doesn't listen.

Couldn't a lot of those issues be resolved with the use of simple props and stages/targets that were faster to set up? A teammate of mine made some metal targets that flip back, have some knarly hinges, and are quickly flipped back up. While paper adds a level of difficulty when scoring hits, keep an paper that needs to be pasted in close. The stage Tyler RO'd took so long to reset because the paper was well paste the shooting position. Props could be as simple as a folding table, bench, plywood with a metal shield around a port that you have to shoot birdshot through.

Couldn't a lot of those issues be resolved with the use of simple props and stages/targets that were faster to set up? A teammate of mine made some metal targets that flip back, have some knarly hinges, and are quickly flipped back up. While paper adds a level of difficulty when scoring hits, keep an paper that needs to be pasted in close. The stage Tyler RO'd took so long to reset because the paper was well paste the shooting position. Props could be as simple as a folding table, bench, plywood with a metal shield around a port that you have to shoot birdshot through.

Gotta admit I like everything this guy is sayin!

You're missing one!! Pic was taken before some guy FINALLY shipped some stickers out. :-) New pic coming soon.

For the Pro side at least, I think you guys had the prize table spot on! Knowing the AM side had random draw prizes and that there would be no 3GN Semi-pro points awarded for the AM match, I decided to go for the Pro route and came in around 77th or so. At matches last year, I felt I was getting "hosed" for shooting Tac-Irons or Heavy optics, so I switched to TacOps (I don't want to consider investing the money for open gear after the amount my current gear costs!). I quickly figured out that it depends on how you finish within your division AND how many people shoot in your division. At matches with more divisions, if you have a massive turnout for TacOps and scoring is very tight, you may take 50th and walk away with less of a prize than if you shot TacIrons with a good turnout of mediocre shooters. You may also shoot TacIrons and take a top ten spot out of a small pool of 15-20 great shooters and end up with a gift bag and some oil, while your same times in TacOps would have put you around 30th out of 150+ and you might have taken a gun or upper home worth 3-5 times your entry fee. If you're a top competitor with a good chance of taking 1st or 2nd place, you can pick about any division and be happy with what you got. If you are someone like me, and you are worried about prizes....going with a division that has 8 shooters and taking 4th, there will be a decent $ difference from the prize for 3rd to the prize for 4th just like there would be for the jump from 37th to 50th in a class with 100 people. If you are a shooter like me, your best bet is to shoot TacOps. If you aren't worried about prizes, shoot any division you like and realize that you will have a big jump from position to position. Give you an idea of prizes and what I learned.... 7th out of 8 in HTO at MW3G in 2012. ....GC for XS sights, hat, oil, shirt <------shot expensive .45 and .308 rounds, learned a pump wasn't required for HTO by mistake ....next to last or last in division 11th out of ?? in TacIron at Ozarks in 2012 ....nice aluminum ammo box, oil, shirt, hat <------shot well at some stages, not a ton of people in my division, but more than HTO ...top half of the division I think 11th out of 21 in HTO at Fallen Brethren in 2012 ...Surefire 60rd mag, GC for XS sights, bag, hats, shirts, oil, stickers,... <----shot well and bad on stages, BIG prize table filled the gap. ....below half of the division 26th out of ??? in TacOps at MW3G in 2013 ...GC for nice Seekins rail plus plenty of other goodies <----made mistakes, a few good stages .......around top 17-18% in division 77th out of a ton in TacOps at Pro-Am in 2013 ...GC for SILENCER, shirt, mags,...... <-----major blunders on 3 stages, one great stage, a few decent stages, a couple no shoots died......best prize yet at around 30% of the division It's the luck of the draw when you enter a division other than TacOps......there are either a bunch of people there to draw more prizes towards it, or there isn't. I wouldn't expect the MD's to automatically throw more prize money towards Open or Heavy divisions because their guns or ammo cost more.

As promised.... Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Great match, I really enjoyed all the stages, the match staff, location, etc.. I shot the Pro match this year and I think we shot 4 stages on Friday, 3 stages on Saturday and 1 stage on Sunday...on Saturday we had plenty of daylight left that we could have shot that last stage. To the above posters point, Thu-Sat would be adding an additional day of travel and all the related expenses. I would suggest that you leave it the way it is and let the Pro shooters finish up on Saturday and, I don't know if this is logistically possible but do the prizes on Sunday for both Pro and Am. Best idea I've heard yet! If it's possible to shoot everything in two days, lets do it. I have no problem putting two hard days in, then having a leisurely and early Sunday to finish things up. As an added bonus, if Linda Chico wanted to work hard Saturday night, little to no work for her Sunday and we could all check and verify stores while taking in cold beverages with complete disregard for a potential make that LIKELY hangover on Sunday!

Not a fan of Thurs-Sat shooting. Costs an additional day off work when Sunday ends relatively early as it is. For myself, I would have to think hard about it and determine if being in my office 2 days instead of 3 was worth it. Depending on the day, it could cost me $1000-3000 difference as a small business owner since my office shuts down when I'm not there.

If we were to make the application date a month earlier (say October 1st for a late-March match), and if we ensured you were emailed a confirmation that you are in the match within (say) 1 week of receipt of your application (say 10 days after you mailed it), would this enable you to make acceptable travel arrangements? I think that would be plenty of time to make arrangements. You usually want at least 90 days to save on expenses.