Brian Payne

I don't like the extended charging handle or bolt release. I added the Nordic tube/spring/follower and had C-Rum do the lifter weld. I also had Grundhauser Gun Works add a flip up 10-22 sight that has come in handy on some of the long range slug steel. Everything else I did myself with the help of a set of files, polishing bit on a dremel, a soldering iron, and copious amounts of liquid patience enhancer. And voila', a workable 3-gun shotgun that has not slowed me down too much. If I don't place very high in shotgun stages, I would like to blame my shotgun, but the honest truth would place the blame squarely on my shoulders.

Room reserved, entry will be enroute shortly.

Fun looking stages, I can't wait. Your rules mimic Blue Ridge Mountain 3-gun rules correct? For shotgun, the tube can only hold a maximum of 8 rds.?

Here in MN we have the "problem" of lots of new shooters coming to our sport, and a lot of that has to do with 3GunNation. The problem it poses is that we just had our first match of the year, and the starting temperature for the match was 8 degrees. I was thinking that with the low temps we might have a light showing of shooters. We had 68 shooters show up to shoot. With most of our bays being in the 100 yrd or under range, and very difficult to find bays of 200+ yrds, it gets challenging to think up stages that challenge shooters, but don't take a long time to shoot or reset. The 3GunNation Classifiers are nice short courses of fire that fit in pretty much any bay in my area ranges. They do challenge different "shooting" skills and use targets that we are all familiar with. Their rules are slightly different, but not so much so that it would really cause any problems. If anything, for new shooters, it makes things easier. At our last match the few DQ's we had took place when new shooters were attempting to quickly unload their weapon prior to abandoning it, as compared to no DQ's on the one stage that I set up to be similar to a classifier where all weapons were abandoned right in front of the shooter "on safe". We plan on running our matches the exact same way that we always have, same types of courses of fire, with the only difference that one stage now and then will be a "Classifier". All shooters will shoot the same courses, but no shooter will be forced to become a member of 3GunNation Club Series unless they want to. We also plan on putting on a Classifier Match with five classifier stages layed out for all of the shooters to run through. I have to be honest and say that one of the reasons I have jumped on board the Club Series is for selfish reasons. I am running out of new ideas for stages and these classifiers were an easy out in that regard. As for obtaining any sort of special classification I could really care less, but I am lucky enough to be able to attend several Major matches across the country, most of our local shooters never get that chance. Or their own fear keeps them away, maybe once they see how their skills stack up you will see more newer shooters coming to bigger matches. I guess what I am saying is that I am keeping an open mind to this whole thing and I will give it my best shot to ensure its success in our area. Our shooters are hungry for it so we will see how it goes. I am hoping it will be just like when I switched from a Glock to an STI. They both do the same thing, just in a little different way, I tried both while keeping an open mind and found one was better "for me" than the other. Hopefully this Classifier Series will just be another tool to make 3-gunning better.

I have decided to sign up for the series and so has the MN3GunGroup. As a group, we are excited to see what the future holds.

Chris, If you weren't the direct competition I would give a few suggestions. Oh well. Joking of course. You can look at my shotgun this weekend. I will say that I opened up Nathan's port less than I did mine and his seems just like yours. He is getting faster reloads than me so I am guessing I just did a better job on his. It would be hard for me to admit that he is just faster than I am . I forgot to add that I have a photo of my loading port in the thread on "Taccom Quadload" somewhere on this forum.

Hey Benny, damn kids are too fast though.

Yep, a little anticipation of the beep. It is fun to burn these types of reloads and they are becoming for frequent with practice. He very seldom "flubs" a reload anymore. We will see how the "real time" reloads look at our next match. This is my son's second season of 3-gun and is picking up things fast.

Here is a smoking 2.6 second reload of 8 rounds by my oldest son. Kind of fun to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwRqw9sCtoA

Cold, Giving a free slot and a spot on the Noveske Shooting Team for the match is a great gesture. Good job by you guys!!!

I am not much of a "classifier" lover. In handgun matches I do far worse on classifiers than on field courses. Not sure why. Up here in MN we have the MN3GunGroup that puts on smaller 3-gun matches and we try to cater our matches to the newer 3-gun shooter. Several of the people that have gotten involved in the sport in the last year have commented about how nice these classifiers would be so that they could see how they compare against other shooters across the country. It does seem that there is a lot of shooter interest in this. As a side note I remember that classifier or skill type stage at the BRM3G and thinking back, I found that stage to be one of the more memorable stages I have ever shot. I liked it! I guess I am on the fence about this topic and will keep an open mind on the idea.

ambluemax, No I haven't tried them on the chest rig. I have one of the original Mark Otto chest rigs with four Otto carriers set for weak hand reloads and this is what I normally run all of the time. I got the Quadloads just to have another way to load if needed. I didn't expect to like it so much. I leave the Quadloads set as they are from the factory as to how tight they hold the shells. I have to yank them off of the holder and I don't think they would work with my chest rig set like that, plus going prone in a stage could be even more of a problem.

CJW I hope this comes through.

No expert here by any means, but when I started I had to do the same thing. I am running an M2 and when I opened up the loading port (with files and polishing wheel) just a bit more, it started going better. The handguard on the M2 does not get in the way at all, I don't know about any of the other shotguns and how they would work. It seemed that once you hit a good one, they start coming much faster after that. I must be pushing my shells in with just the ourside edge of my thumb, there is a nice blister at about the 10:00 position on my thumb as you hold your thumb up in front of you with the thumb nail facing you. I started with PAR at 5.0 seconds and within a couple of practice session I was hitting 3.3 second PAR times. It will get better.

I just got four in yesterday with the new backer systems. I was able to put them on ELS clips with no problem.

Not to make the choice harder for you, but another vote for RC. I had the standard and like it but I like the RC better.

Way to go Mark!!! Good product from a good man. Lablover, I warn you now, get your son started but don't be surprised when he is soon kicking your butt at the shoots. The pride you will feel is hard to contain.

Jesse I take it you did not enjoy the tunnel? As much as I hate to say it, it looked better in concept. It was definately set up to benefit those that are young and flexible. Regretably, I found I was not in that group.

rpd That video was from some of my first trys at loading this way. I have been a weak hand loader since I started 3-gun in 2006. I never thought I would find anything that would push me to switch to something else unless I switched to open. Last night I had the PAR time set at 3.7 seconds for loading eight rounds and had no trouble beating that time using this new method. Keeping in mind I was just standing in my living room and working on nothing but speed reloads, but up here in MN with the weather at -20 degrees there isn't a whole lot else I can do with the shotgun. As a reference I set the PAR time at 4.7 seconds for my weak hand reloads for eight rounds. I leave the shotgun up on the shoulder like that because I can move and load easier. I don't know if it is faster or slower than dropping the gun down or not, it just seems more natural for me this way. I also never take my grip off of the forearm, I just turn the shotgun over as far as I can, and that leaves the loading port in a nice location for me to watch the reloads take place. I have also seen people spin the shotgun completely upside down onto the shoulder but that left me holding the barrel in my weak hand palm and I didn't think I would enjoy that so much during a long shotgun course of fire. The way I do it was the only way I could think of that kept at least one hand in constant contact with the weapon. As with anything you read on the internet - Your Mileage May Very. Good luck.

Close up of carriers IMG_0047.MOV

On the move. IMG_0053.MOV

I had the chance to work with some of Tim Ubls Quad Load carriers and thought I would post a little review. I have not seen much written about this product. Tim sent me two of these shell holders at my request because I wanted to see if I could handle the "quad load". When I got the product I stuck them on some ELS clips angled so that I could make the grasp easier, then started to play. I am hoping this short video of loading 8 shells comes through here. This was my third time trying this reload so I did not try any sort of timing of the reload. Shortly after this video was taken I did do some timed reloads that put it at the 4.10 second mark for 8 rounds reloaded and I think with more practice getting under the 4.0 second mark should be no problem. And for those that question, I do use live ammo for reload practice. I do recommend that you remove the firing pin from the bolt, but more importantly I never run a live round into the chamber. Even unloading the shotgun is done through the loading port. The reason I use live ammo is because due to long Minnesota winters, I tend to practice shotgun reloads a lot. Even dummy shells get to the point they can no longer be used because they get beat up. With live ammo, when they start to get beat up I just take them to the range and shoot them up. I hope this gets through. IMG_0055.MOV

I just sent in my entry as well. I was hoping I wasn't too late.

What I meant by my comment is that some aftermarket units are both the larger release button and a carrier latch replacement as well. I could not tell if this was an entire replacement unit. If it is an Arrendondo unit I think that is just a larger addition to the stock carrier latch and should have nothing to do with your problem.

Stippling worked on my shotgun. It is by far the ugliest shotgun in the rack and it only took me two beers time and a soldering iron to accomplish.