Basic Gear

[Nemo]

OK here we go... I have all the pistol gear that I need and then some. I'll be shooting my first 3gun the weekend of Thanksgiving. This is what I have:

- AR with three 20-round mags: CHECK

- Remy 1100 with ext mag tube and all the goodies of a Comp Master: CHECK

What else do I need and where do I get it?

If I can bypass the process of getting a whole bunch of sh1t that I'm not going to use or will want to change (like when I got my first couple of guns... didn't everybody?) I'd be a happy camper.

How many AR mags do I have to have one me? Do I get another belt? Where do you carry your shotgun ammo, sidesaddle, forearm, waist, bandoleer, pockets...?

I have no clue how to go about this. Help, please.

[jhgtyre]

Well Dillon Precision has a lot of the stuff you might need if you are into 1 stop shopping.

They have:

• CCW shotshell holders (I think they are called tactical strippers)
  
• 3Gun Gear Bandoliers and Forearm carriers for you shotgun (if you don't like the CCW carriers)
  
• 3Gun Gear T-Rigs and Mag Pouches for your AR
  
• Arredondo Magazine Yoke (an optional item but very cool)
  
• 30 Round Surplus AR Mags
  
• Magpull followers for the mags
  

I have and continue to use all of the items in the list except for the surplus mags and have been happy with all of them. I would think that you will want the larger mags and the magpull followers but if you like the 20 rounders you might want to get a few more of those.

Just my 2 cents,

-Larry

[Dan Sierpina]

Definately 30 round mags. Go for larger ones later, if you like the game, and can get them in the state you reside. I went with Blade Tech AR mag pouches. It seems 3 gun gear products are difficult to get. I like the MagPull followers, and Ranger bases for the mags. The ranger bases, allow monopodding, or with two mags clamped together it's even more stable.

For shotgun, I went with Choate 6 round shell strippers, with some velcro strips stuck in to stabilize the shells. I carry 4 of those, and Blackhawk forearm shell holder for the Oh S... situations. The side saddle I passed on, but might add later.

What you have will get you started. Adding some of what's mentioned will make it easier in the match. Main thing, practice shotgun reloads!

[jhgtyre]

Yeah sometimes Mark at 3Gun Gear gets a little behind but Dillon has started listing some of his products in their catalog so you might try giving them a call. I checked the Dillon website and did not find the 3gun Gear products all listed but they are in the current catalog.

-ld

[jbullgpd]

You need to decide which kind of shotgun reloads you are going to do. Then buy accordingly. I load strong hand so I use a side saddle and forearm carrier with a couple of belt shell holders as back up for the long shotgun stages. If you are going to load weak hand then go with the CCW or Progressive machine and tool stippers. I would personally go for the Progressive ones, top notch quality. Sidesaddle I would go with 3gungear, speaking from a guy that has tried about three others.

As for rifle I would get some 30 rd'ers and I like the mag cinch for two of them and then I carry a single on the belt if needed. I like the Arrendondo base pads to help with the monopod.

[Nemo]

Thank you very much guys! I like the idea of the T-rig very much. Get some weight off the waist.

Shotgun reload? Still don't know which I'm going to adopt (need to play more) but I'm inclined to the strong hand way. Speaking of shotgun... that thing gets really hot! What kind of glove do you guys use in your weak hand so as not to cook it?

[D.Hayden]

Gloves..

On long stages, I wear a tight fitting work glove on my left hand only. They're like $10 at Home Depot, in the tool department

[Nemo]

This is what I have:

- AR with three 20-round mags: CHECK

Correction: The three mags I have are 30-round mil-specs and I added the magpul baseplate with the loop/hole and green followers, as per ysued's advise.

This comes to show how much I know about this when I don't even know the capacity of my mags.

[jhgtyre]

Oh, I almost forgot, knee and elbow pads. You may not need them everytime you go out to the range but the first time you show up without them you will wish you had them. I just bought a set of those at Dillon as well. My old ones were too little. The package at the sporting goods store said XL. It turns out they were for little skater kids and little skater kid XL is a LOT smaller than Middle Aged Guy XL!

-ld

[shooting for M]

Definately 30 round mags. Go for larger ones later, if you like the game, and can get them in the state you reside. I went with Blade Tech AR mag pouches. It seems 3 gun gear products are difficult to get. I like the MagPull followers, and Ranger bases for the mags. The ranger bases, allow monopodding, or with two mags clamped together it's even more stable.

For shotgun, I went with Choate 6 round shell strippers, with some velcro strips stuck in to stabilize the shells. I carry 4 of those, and Blackhawk forearm shell holder for the Oh S... situations. The side saddle I passed on, but might add later.

What you have will get you started. Adding some of what's mentioned will make it easier in the match. Main thing, practice shotgun reloads!

4 6 round shell strippers!? Holy cow! I've got a big waist, but how do you wear all that stuff with room for a pistol and pistol mags? oh yeah, and you need a rifle mag or two right? ar people doing thigh mounted stuff, a second belt or a tacticool vest or what, I want to get into 3 gun a little bit, even though there isn't much around here, but how is everyone carrying all that stuff? Do you set up your gear for each stage i.e. moving stuff around, taking stuff on and off or what? Just wondering, pics would help 'cause I'm not very familiar.

Thanks,

Jason

[maineshootah]

[*]3Gun Gear Bandoliers and Forearm carriers for you shotgun (if you don't like the CCW carriers)

[*]3Gun Gear T-Rigs and Mag Pouches for your AR

[*]Arredondo Magazine Yoke (an optional item but very cool)

[*]30 Round Surplus AR Mags

+1 on all the above

I would also add the 3 gun gear side saddle for shot shells on the shotgun

I used a thigh mag pouch for an extra SHTF 30 round mag if I need it.

Burkett's AR video(s) has a bunch of rifle mag "storage" options as well, well worth a viewing.

Edited December 3, 2007 by maineshootah

[Nik Habicht]

Depends a little on what we're shooting:

For tactical three gun, starting at the belt buckle: 3-4 Wilson Combat two round shot shell holders, pistol holster, lots of empty space, pistol mag pouch, rifle mag pouch, T-adapter to 2 Rifle mags on the thigh, 2 pistol mag pouches. I also use a bandoleer of shot shells, if the stage has a ton of shotgun hits required -- if SG roundcount is low, I might just go with the 23 rounds on/in the gun and the Wilson Combat holders. Pistol mags are high-caps, rifle mags are 30 rounders on the thigh, a 20 on the belt.

For USPSA three-gun -- not multigun: Normal pistol set-up on pistol stages, if I'm shooting limited I might place two rifle mag pouches on this belt as well, to eliminate the number of gear changes. For shotgun: A separate belt with 5 6-round strippers, and if the stage is large the bandoleer.

[Carlos]

No one has addressed ammo (maybe you did not ask? - though thats not stopped me in the past ).

In any event, My gas gun (a Winchester) just HATES winchester ammo. Not certain, but I think it's base is aluminum like Blazer. I usually use Federal shot (#8) in value packs. But anything with a brass base should work.

For slugs, I like the Federal low recoil slugs.

2 low cost (though slightly higher recoil) options are the excellent quality German manufactured Schoenebeck (sp?) slugs marketed by wolf; the German quality is outstanding. And S&B brand slugs - but measure the OAL and the number you can get in the gun as it may make a difference.

Edited December 3, 2007 by Carlos

[No.343]

My 11-87 was a little finicky about ammo. Find out what your 1100 likes and buy a few cases of it.

I forgot. I bought hard AR-15 mag holders and later wished I had bought soft ones. It's a lot more confortable to lay prone on something soft than on a piece of hard kydex.

Edited December 3, 2007 by No.343

[smokshwn]

Nemo,

I will make it simple for you.....Just send me a blank check, your firstborn, and a contract for a draft choice to be named later (maybe a nice local latina ) and I will happily send to you several rubber maid action packers full of all the three gun gear you will eventually need (be advised, this process may need to be repeated after each match as your needs/wants change)

[uscbigdawg]

Mi amigo got bit by the 3-Gun bug and I didn't know. Well...as long as you stick with 3GunGear and good mags, you'll do just fine. It's a process that there is no one recipe for gear for.

Shoot & adapt. Good luck and maybe see you at the A63G next year!

Rich

ETA: I'm not a big fan of coupling mags. I prefer the Redi-Mag for weapon mounted magazines. Only downside is that it's kinda heavy. Mostly though, I reload mags off the belt. We do it with the pistol. No point in re-inventing the wheel.

Rich

Edited December 4, 2007 by uscbigdawg

[shooting for M]

Depends a little on what we're shooting:

For tactical three gun, starting at the belt buckle: 3-4 Wilson Combat two round shot shell holders, pistol holster, lots of empty space, pistol mag pouch, rifle mag pouch, T-adapter to 2 Rifle mags on the thigh, 2 pistol mag pouches. I also use a bandoleer of shot shells, if the stage has a ton of shotgun hits required -- if SG roundcount is low, I might just go with the 23 rounds on/in the gun and the Wilson Combat holders. Pistol mags are high-caps, rifle mags are 30 rounders on the thigh, a 20 on the belt.

For USPSA three-gun -- not multigun: Normal pistol set-up on pistol stages, if I'm shooting limited I might place two rifle mag pouches on this belt as well, to eliminate the number of gear changes. For shotgun: A separate belt with 5 6-round strippers, and if the stage is large the bandoleer.

Thank You very much for you input, X-mas is right around the corner and I think I'm gonna cut and paste to my list.

Jason

[blkbrd]

Nemo; Get hold of me and until you beat me, I will let you try out anything your heart my desire.

Pistol: Normal IPSC gear with a secure holster. I like the DOS--3-gun is not revolver territory

Rifle: I carry spare mags on the belt. For reload standard stages like at Malibar I use 2 30's clamped together, and one on the belt in a kydex carrier. Otherwise I use a mag I can complete the stage without a reload with. From a 30 round Magpul, to a 45 round DPMS and finally if the designer is evil I will pull out the Beta.

Shotgun: Unlike your paws I have small hands and so reload one at a time strong hand. First off the gun in an 8-10 round 3-gun gear sidesaddle, then to a 3gg 8 round armband, and ugh sht shells in strong side waist shell carriers. Starting to practice week hand 4 at a time as it is faster when it works but I still keep throwing lots of shells on the ground.

[J-Ho]

Well Dillon Precision has a lot of the stuff you might need if you are into 1 stop shopping.

They have:

(I think they are called tactical strippers)

-Larry

tactical strippers?!?!? Now that's something I've got to see.

[jhgtyre]

Well Dillon Precision has a lot of the stuff you might need if you are into 1 stop shopping.

They have:

(I think they are called tactical strippers)

-Larry

tactical strippers?!?!? Now that's something I've got to see.

lol. That would be fun!

-ld