multigunner

Drive from stage to stage or walk at this one? In other words, renting a car, do I need an SUV?

As I mention in my "introduction" thread, I am a VERY new 3-gun shooter with a lot (a LOT!) of theories, so please forgive my ignorance when it comes to the stuff that you guys are absolute experts on. My background is shotgunning, in particular skeet and sporting clays. I started when I was about 8 or 9 years old. The way I shoot a shotgun is pure prioperception. Here's a wikipedia article on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception When I shoot, I don't see any sights, beads, or ribs. I "feel" where the shotgun is pointed and it happens. I easily outshoot most hunters and other casual shooters. I hold my own with competitive shotgunners. The more I think about a shot, the less likely I am to break a bird. International skeet is almost easier than birds that present all slow-like and give me lots of time to overthink the shot. Likewise, hand me an unfamiliar shotgun and it's going to take a half-a-case of shells before I can break birds like anything approaching my "old reliable". I want, oh how I want, for my pistol shooting to be the same. So my question is, do top pistol shooters actually shoot 'textbook' with pure sight alignment, or do they just know where it's pointed the same way I know where that shotgun is going to hit? I've been tempted to set up a pistol with no sights besides maybe a shotgunesque 'bead' and put 5 or 10 thousand rounds through it to get the same feel I have with a shotgun. Am I crazy? I've practiced with a rifle the same way and for targets out to 75-100 yards (both eyes open!) I'm pretty good, better than trying to legitimately "aim". That prioperception thing is pretty powerful. It seems to me like pistol should be super-suited to the same technique, assuming that I groove-in with the same pistol and a lot of rounds. Maybe what I'm describing is how everyone does it, and I've been watching too many beginner training videos. Or maybe I'm crazy. Either way, I would love to hear from those with way more experience than myself, to learn how it's done. Better I figure it out now than create bad habits(?) that could cause me to plateau down the road. Thanks!

Fair warning, I'm new, started competitive shooting this past summer. I've been working with a trainer since January, and this summer really started training with an eye toward 3-gun. We do a lot of football-style agility drills, which are pretty legit. I was thrilled to see one of the stages at the Fort Benning match start with a sled drag just like what we've practiced in the gym. That's a nice coincidence, and I've no delusions that such training will be so spot-on for other matches. That said, anything that consists of burst-ey cardio is amazing in my book. Some folks have mentioned tennis, and I couldn't agree more. Fast bursts of 30 to 60 seconds are good conditioning for what you'll see in match conditions. 3-gun match directors in particular love to make you run, run, run then settle down into a long-range rifle shot. Some others have mentioned basketball as well, that's got to be good too. Again from the 3-gun perspective, it's all about run run run then *whew* relax and make the shot. Remember to breathe! From a fitness perspective, anything that gets your heart rate up then forces you to perform a skill-based challenge is the order of the day. Tennis and basketball both meet that criteria. If you don't want to do the Sport thing, just work on drills that force you into that scenario. My favorite drill: Do some quick sprints, 10 to 20 yards, then a burpee (google it), come up into a kneeling position. Elbow on the knee, three points of contact, pointing a PVC pipe (guns aren't allowed at the gym!) at your trainer (or the wall). Make the shot. With a trainer, I point the PVC pipe at his outstretched palm (he selects at random) and I have to call out how many fingers he's holding up. That's about as good as it gets in a gym, not on the range. If you're on the range, even better. Run down to that popper and back, burpee up to the knee, and make the shot. Those drills are as much about the mental focus as they are the physical. Being able to settle down with your heart pounding is worth practicing. BREATHE!

Well, maybe my disdain is misplaced when I say "STI". Stock base pads and internals I might have an occasional issue. The TTI ones that I'm running though, FTF last round almost every time plus a lot of double feeds. This is with all the recommended internals that TTI sells. Oh, and it pretty much happens regardless of which of the 9 mags I have them on is in the gun at the time. I was on the verge of trying other base pads, or sending them off to a mag tuner, but then I happened to shoot a hopped up G34, and that was that. There are so many things I like about the Glock, such as the grip angle and overall feel, the aforementioned lack of manual safety to forget when dumping, and the utter reliability of the thing. The Glock mags have ZEV-branded TTI pads on them and they run flawlessly. I'm not selling the STI, as I do think there might be a day when it would make the difference for me. In the meantime, I just really like that Glock. P.S. Fellow Hi-Power fan here! How I wish the high-cap mec-gars fit in the USPSA gauge, before my mentor (probably wisely) talked me out of it I was *this close* to taking one to my first match!

Very excited about the coming year, already signed up for every date that's currently open for me. Disappointed that I won't be able to make Range Day but hope everyone has a great time!

Thanks all for the warm welcome. For equipment, I'm using the following: 1. Shotshell carriers: Taccom Duelin Dueces. Not terribly excited about these since they are flat and don't really contour around the belt, and they have not proven to be the most durable when getting thrown in and out of the truck on the belt. That second part you could say is on me, but I also hate gear you have to baby. 2. Holster: Blade Tech WRS Level II. Being that I started at the Blue Ridge match, the extra retention sounded like a good idea when it was recommended to me. Can confirm, good idea. 3. Mag holders: Started with Blade Tech Pro Series with the adjustable cant, but quickly decided that these suck due to them not holding angle despite ample use of loctite and elbow grease. Now using the plain straight-up-and-down CR Speed. 4. Belt: Not exciting, CR Speed but using the Arredondo belt keeper which is really well designed and works great. 5. Pistol: Started out with an STI Edge 5.0 in 9mm. For a variety of reasons, I am pretty disappointed with this pistol. Don't get me wrong, it's accurate and the trigger is amazing, but the magazines are absolutely terrible and I didn't feel like dumping money down the hole to get the thing to be as reliable as it should be out of the box. At my stage in the game, it's my skills and not the hardware that's holding me back. So the frustratingly-unreliable STI hangs out in the safe while I roll with a Glock 34. I really like that pistol. A lot. It's got the adjustable ZEV trigger, Dawson sights and mag well, and a ZEV barrel. It will shoot better than I can, and I also don't have to worry about dumping it with the safety off. 6. Rifle: It's a franken-AR. CMMG lower, Geissele SD-3G trigger, JP upper, JP LMOS, Noveske barrel, MI handguard, and a Swarovski z6i up on top. Had an issue with it at the Benning match, but that was because I believed the internet hype about the stupid rubber extractor donut device. Made the extractor too stiff for the colder temps. New JP bolt and it was back running flawlessly. 7. Shotgun: If I could only choose one of the 3 to keep, this would be it. Probably my favorite gun that I own (other than those I got as a kid), and that's saying something. It's a Winchester SX3 Compact, the one with the shorter-than-normal walnut stock that comes with shims to get it to length. I'm short statured, so the stock shims let me get the thing right where I wanted it, now it fits like my Citori. It's running the FN SLP barrel (not the one with the weaver mount, the one with the flip-up rear sight and fiber up front), and I had everything welded, dremeled, and tweaked by C-Rums. Epoxied some pushbutton sling swivel mounts right into the side of the forearm and stock so the thing lays flat on my back like the AR does, and I can swap slings back and forth between them. I get a lot of comments on this one too, as it seems to be fairly rare to show up rocking walnut instead of synthetic. So that's the equipment rundown. Not reloading as of now, might consider doing so for performance reasons but calculated the payback on a good loader and it wasn't fast enough to make me want to take time away from other things. Thanks again, looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Only my 2nd match, but had an amazing time here. Where else can you sit on an Abrams, sit in a Bradley, and rail away with a SAW? The AMU is beyond professional and did a great job with both experienced shooters as well as newer shooters such as myself. No resetting was pretty legit as well, thanks to all that helped out! Would love to see the props count for something (even as a side thing) next year, but I have nothing further to comment besides great job AMU and looking forward to 2016's match!

Hi! Joining the forums as both a new user and a new(ish) competitor. I've jumped right into 3 gun, with two major matches and a couple locals under my belt. Not setting the world on fire but making solid progress. First major (Blue Ridge) most stages were top-of-the-bottom-third, while the second (Fort Benning) was more like the 50th percentile when I wasn't experiencing rifle issues Anyway, lots of time and money committed to the sport since I started this summer, and like lots of beginners I have a lot of theories and ideas. We'll see how many play out! Glad to be here!