Does This Look Like a 3-Gun Match to You?

Didn't think so.

Probably explains the light turnout more than people confusing the 4th Sunday of the month with the last Sunday of the month (when there's a 5th Sunday).


I've been the "bug" in the league's ear to get a 3-Gun program going, but there is still much to be done, including actually advertising the match as a multi-gun format. I'm also railing to the powers-that-be for equal fee pricing for 3-Gunners who shoot four stages; we take it in the shorts compared to pistol-shooters who run the same four stages. Heck...we should get the discount! Rifle holes in cardboard require smaller pieces of tape to cover...and #6 shot is easier on steel targets than .38 Super from a race-gun. It can't be the extra litter from the larger brass and shotgun hulls, because I know we picked up more than our share at the match Sunday. But am I bitter? No, I'm just whipping up multi-gun stages for the amusement of the half-dozen of us who know of the match by word-of-mouth.

Another hurdle I face is getting the Stats folks to use a 3-Gun program with 3-Gun classifications. As it is, pistoleros are scored within their USPSA ranking, and carbine and shotgunners are ranked separately, even though we've been using pistols for part of each 2-Gun stage. Ideally, 3-gunners shooting four stages (two pistol/rifle and two pistol/shotgun) should pay the same flat fee the handgunners pay and be classified by the totality of 3-Gun equipment used:

Open (an Open feature on any one gun puts you in this category)
Tactical-Iron (all Tactical features, including iron rifle sights)
Tactical-Scope (all tactical features, but rifle may have one glass optic)
Heavy Metal (minimum 10-round .44-or-larger cal. iron-sight pistol, 20-round iron-sight .308 rifle, 8+1-round 12 guage shotgun)

I won't hold my breath waiting for this to happen...I'd be happy with just Open and Tactical divisions. I've given some thought to trying something more local on that same weekend, but I'd rather shoot with my friends, even if it costs a whole tank of gas (an issue becoming more relevant with gas prices climbing so high). I've still got 5th Sundays at Pima to keep my 3-Gun fix--I know from the Superstition match that there are plenty of 3-Gunners in the Golden Corridor (PHX - TUC) area...maybe a more formal format will attract some of that crowd to Ben Avery on 4th Sundays.