The Batteries

Just in time for this weekend's "300" Cactus League 3-Gun Fun Match, Ed Cameron finished the installation of BoG2's (top) muzzle brake. Now our 3-Gun batteries are complete; we'll probably stick with these for all 3-Gun venues up to and including next year's Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun Match.

Rifles:
At top is my BoG2, a Patriot Ordnance Factory gas piston upper atop a home-built DPMS lower. The EOTech Holo-sight takes AA batteries. The brake is a JP Enterprises Cooley tactical compensator. Though I had Ed Cameron cut off the top half of the POF removable front sight ring, I removed the sight altogether for today's match. The rear BUIS and vertical foregrip are by Tucson's GG&G.

Jon's carbine is POF-USA top and bottom, with a more up-scale Holo-sight (takes up-scale batteries too!) and Dillon's Miculek muzzle brake (retails for about half of JP's brake...yeah, I had to experiment). Jon also removed his front sight for the match.

Shotguns:
Jon's Benelli M1 Super 90 (third from top) taught me what every practical riotgun should be. Jon installed a Buchanan Bagworks sidesaddle shell-holder and had the innards smithed to permit an extra shell to be loaded on the lifter.

My Birthday Benelli is an M2 Tactical; I'll probably follow Jon's lead with a sidesaddle since the stock shell-holder is a bit hard for me to access (the pistol grip almost forces me to load left-handed). The jury's still out on whether I'm going to get the lifter smithing done.

Pistols:
Jon is scary-fast with his Glock 34 (upper right). I've benched my .40 S&W G-22 this year in favor of the cheaper-to-shoot 9-mm G-19; it's got a lighter-than-stock trigger. Neither the 4th Sunday Fun Match, Pima Tactical, nor ACTS matches reward power factor, so I don't miss the G-22 too much. When the weather cools off and our schedules permit, we might dig out out Major gats for the 1st Sunday USPSA matches.

The Match:
Scores and videos pending, Jon crushed me and probably everybody else. BoG2 was way off-zero (might have to resort to my other EOTech with the quick-latch base). I came within six-some-odd seconds of Jon on "Dine in Helena;" other than that, I ate dust. Turnout was light (natch...it's July in PHX!) and only a few other guys even brought long guns.

The Comparison:
We both tried each others' newly-braked rifles, and I certainly can't endorse the extra bucks I paid for my brake. Still, Jon's rifle is quite a bit more front-heavy than mine, and his has had a Cameron trigger job (boy, it needed one...POF's lowers are primarily designed for police/military Class III users; they lose something in the semi-auto translation methinx). I couldn't tell the diff myself but we made a video of Jon's comparison test. He prefers the Miculek.

From Comments: 3-Gun NZ Style