3 Gun Competition?

[MCASgt New River 10,036]

OK, I'm new to the 3 Gun competition field and have a few questions for those that can help please provide reasoning rather then "IMHO." From my choices which would you choose and why...weapons listed are all that I currently have to compete with. My first competition is comming up on Oct 11, 2008 at the B&R Shooting Range in Havelock, NC if anyone else is interested, show time is 0800 and fee is $15 dollars.

 

They also told me that this is not really a FULL 3 gun competition as most people don't have 3 competition worthy guns. So this is really a pistol/rifle with a shotgun side match, if that makes any sense.

 

Pistol:

#1 Glock 33 (.357sig) with (2) 10 round mags

#2 Glock 33 (converted to 9mm) with (4) 30 round mags.

#3 Baby Eagle .45acp with (2) 10 round mags.

 

Rifle: (Eotechs are mounted & sighted in on all currently...iron BUIS are available if needed?)

#1 AR15 16" barrel in .223...plenty of mags.

#2 AR15 10.5" barrel in .223...plenty of mags.

#3 AR15 16" barrel in 9mm with (2) 30 round mags.

 

Shotgun: (Kinda a dumb question but....)

#1 Saiga 12ga, converted, (5) AGP 10 round mags, 18" barrel.

#2 Beretta 1201FP, with pistol grip, tube holds (7) 2-3/4" shells, 18" barrel.

#3 Winchester 12/12, pump action, tube holds (6) 2-3/4" shells, poly choke welded to an OA barrel length of 18.5"

 

Thanks to all that help,

Mike

[SinistralRifleman 0]

#2 Glock 33 (converted to 9mm) with (4) 30 round mags.

#1 AR15 16" barrel in .223...plenty of mags.

#2 Beretta 1201FP, with pistol grip, tube holds (7) 2-3/4" shells, 18" barrel.

 

If you want to be competitive, shoot in tactical scope with these guns. The pistol I selected both because of the number of mags and 9mm is cheaper to shoot. There is generally no advantage to shooting a larger caliber in your pistol in 3 gun. The 9mm AR and short .223 would both be at a disadvantage if shooting at distance is involved. The Saiga-12 will put you in open division with all the people with fully tricked out guns, the 1201 is the more suitable gun for tactical scope division in your armory.

 

If you don't care about being competitive, shoot whatever you want and have a good time. I always shoot my Saiga-12 even if I am not competitive against other open shooters (but I usually am) because it is more fun than stuffing shells in a tube.

[philg80 1]

DITTO above if this is a 3 gun match. If you can see the stages ahead of time and it is just a shotgun side match. Then shoot TAC Optics and then OPEN for the shotgun portion. I have a local club that does a side match alternating between rifle and shotgun each month. Also if you know someone shooting the match then make sure that your 30 round mags are legal. In most pistol matches they limit the length or capacity of your mag. No longer than 140mm or 10 in a mag depending on class. If they say your mags are OPEN class then shoot OPEN and have fun.

[ajackb 0]

MCASgt New River............time for a download. What did you choose and how was the match? I've been shooting 3G competitions for a while in different areas and as mentioned previously it really depends on the stages and what the club is capable of setting up. One club I used to shoot at used the heavy poppers and didn't adjust them to go down with a 9mm and always had shots out to 200yds with the rifle. At that club I always ran a 45acp and a 223 with a good optic of at least 3x. The current club cannot handle anything more than 50yds and does take the time to adjust the poppers so it's most often a 9mm in both pistol and SBR. I have several options on the shotgun but have been running my Saiga almost exclusively for about a year. Some stages would be better shot with my 1100 but just haven't gotten tired of the Saiga yet!

 

It's a great time and hope you enjoyed it. I actually started my 3G in NC but have since moved to FL.

[MCASgt New River 10,036]

sorry for the late update.....match was rained out....still have not done a 3 gun!!

[philg80 1]

"Rained Out" what the hell does that mean? Rain, sun, snow.....if they set the match up then someone is going to shoot it. I personally make a choice of how cold or wet I want to get, but some guys don't care to get guns worth thousands of dollars wet/dirty. The worst match like this I shot was back during the summer. Our squad was the fastest and as we finished the next to last stage, the heavans let loose, and dumped 3 inches in an hour with 40 mph straight line winds. Our squad being the sensible group we are stayed under the canopy. After about 5-10 minutes of the down pour the other 3 squads started up again. Hell with that! At least it was summer time though.

[topmaul 42]

Rained out is because it's a safety issue not because people are afraid to get that Benelli wet, it's because the lawyers will have a field day, with suits if some one got shot by accident. I would shoot in the rain, snow, ice, or heat of the summer but ranges are becoming fewer and fewer local matchs don't bring in much money and the owners have to do a cost benefit anylisis and manage risk. Frankly it's too risky to run a 3 gun match in muddy conditions. I wish it was not but that's why.

[philg80 1]

I have just never heard or seen a USPSA competition get called for weather. Big matches get shot in the rain and mud all the time. Local matches do the same so that if you are at a big competition then you've had experience with adverse conditions, but can still place well.

[Wakal 10]

The USPSA pistol nationals were shot this past September in pouring rain and ankle deep mud. Most stages had buckets of water to clean our magazines

 

 

 

 

Alex

[stiletto raggio 20]

For the sake of your magazine release, I hope the "30 round magazines" for your G33 are factory G18 magazines, which actually hold 31 or 33 rounds dpending on configuration. Using steel mags instead of polymer can really screw up the mag release, which will, in turn, start to cause feeding problems.

 

I agree with the rest of the advice, though. Capacity is your friend. How do you like your Baby Eagle? I've always thought they were gorgeous.