The 3 Gun, Multi-Gun Report

By James R. Morris

This Report focuses on the New Guy. The person that needs more information. Before jumping into the sport of 3 Gun.
The information in this report will give you the detailed information needed to get into the sport in an informed manor.
The equipment selection criteria given in this report will save you the cost of this report many fold, you will not have to suffer the pitfalls of buying the wrong equipment many times over.
Many people want to participate in 3 Gun/ Multi Gun Competition but before they attend a Match they have questions, they are that person that says I want to stop by a match and give it a look before I attend a 3 Gun match as a shooter. This report answers all of those questions.
For those who want to have their own 3 Gun/ Multi Gun Competition, this Report lays out step by step details on how to Start and run your own Match.
This report covers everything a New 3 Gun Competitor needs to know to get in the game. Answering the Why and how of Selecting Equipment and preparing it/ setting it up. For 3 Gun/ Multi Gun Competition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456757984

James R. Morris

James R Morris, SFC U.S. Army Ret Has an Extensive amount of real World Fire Arms Experience. As a Competitor of many types of shooting sports. in the past 30+ years. An Army Platoon Sergeant, Range officer, Gun Smith and Match Director. 20+ Years U.S. Army Veteran as a Fire Support Specialist. Airborne and Air Assault. one of the First Combat Observation and Lasing Team/ Reconnissance team Leaders. Author Currently works for the U.S. Army at the Fort Hood Mission Command Training Center.

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© 2011 James R. Morris SFC RET. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 5/11/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5797-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5798-4 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-5799-1 (dj)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011907175

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

A special thanks to my Wife for putting with me.

My kids, that have all put in time at the range, and labor on the master caster.

Bob Griffith for his guidance and the use of his BB gun.

To Copperas Cove Pistol Club, Tom, Dan, Frank, Mike for making the move to 3 gun.

Thanks to Team Blackwell.

Bills Gun trader, and to the real Shooters in Lufkin Texas

Odie Wheat, from the range to the many hours gunsmithing in the shop thank you for sharing Your skill talent but mostly for your Friendship you are missed.

Cover Photo of the Author shooting shotgun,

By, Photomotion Photography, LLC

7003 Stonewall Drive

Texarkana, Texas 75503

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

[I would like to thank the following people for their …

Jamie Armstrong for her editorial services.

Disclaimer

This publication is for entertainment purposes only

Handling firearms has inherent risks and dangers.

You are responsible to use firearms properly and safely.

If you shoot yourself or anyone else you are responsible.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction to 3-Gun and MultiGun Competition

Chapter 2 The Game of Competition Shooting

3-Gun/Multigun

Chapter 3 Equipment

Chapter 4 Rifle

Chapter 5 Pistol

Chapter 6 Shotgun

Chapter 7 Gun Handling/Training and Practice

Chapter 8 Attend a Match

Chapter 9 Have a Competition

Introduction

How to Read This Report

You could read this cover-to-cover if you wish, but I must admit some of it is pretty dry in places. If you plan on shooting a 3-Gun match but not holding your own match, you may want to just read the chapters that you feel are important.

The report is redundant in many places, so some of the information you will see more than once. Read what you need.

Onward!

Why I Wrote This Report

You have read about this shooting sport in magazines. You have seen it on television shooting shows such as Shooting USA, Shooting Gallery and American Rifleman Television. You say to yourself, That looks like fun. I want to do that. But where, when, who, and HOW!

I looked for 3-Gun information and found out that there is a serious lack of information regarding the sport of 3-Gun shooting and 3-Gun competitions. Although I did not invent the sport of 3-Gun, it is a focal point of what I do for fun and recreation in my life. I will not say I wrote THE book on 3-Gun. But I have decided to write a book about 3-Gun.

If you want to get into the sport of 3-Gun, or you are already shooting 3-Gun and just want to see what I have to say about it, or want to get a friend set up to participate in this sport, I hope this book will have some bit of information that will help you.

If you are an experienced 3 Gunner, I hope that at least some bit of information makes you think, Hey, that’s a good idea. I’ll give it a try. When it comes to experience and/or tricks of the trade, the cost of this book doesn’t compare to the value of gaining that knowledge.

Many people have the equipment to participate in this sport—they just don’t know where to go, or competitions are just too far away and cost prohibitive.

Need more information? You are in the right place. The main purpose of this book is to report my findings of the sport in the hope of growing the shooting sport of 3-Gun. Whether you want to find a match and give the sport a try, start a match at your local shooting club, or start your own shooting club, this is intended to get you going in the right direction.

It is important to share your hobby with your friends. Times shared with your friends is important and satisfying in countless ways. As children, we played all of the time and enjoyed doing so. As adults, with all the responsibilities and demands on our lives, it is especially important to keep the hobbies and activities we enjoy. An older and wiser man once asked me, Do you live to work or work to live? It is a rhetorical question, which I have asked myself many times throughout my life. The other bit of insight he gave me was that if you want to do something, DO IT! Make it happen! Do not wait! Life, health, and time are in short supply. Life is short. You owe it to yourself to enjoy the company of friends playing the sport that you enjoy. The friends you make and memories you create last a lifetime.

Many people have these guns wasting away in the back of gun cabinets and lockers. You bought the guns. You know you want to shoot them. But shooting them at paper targets and tin cans got old long ago! You have the toys. It is time to get them out and start using them!

3-Gun Competition! It is growing, and it is missing something … YOU!

3-Gun competition—the equipment, tactics, and techniques of 3-Gun/Multigun shooting competition is always developing. And I hope this information will give you what you need to get into the 3-Gun game right now.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction to 3-Gun and MultiGun Competition

What Is Practical Shooting, 3-Gun and Multigun?

How Did It Get Started?

Practical shooting is a sport that challenges an individual’s ability to shoot rapidly and accurately with a handgun, rifle, and/or shotgun. To do this, shooters take on obstacle-laden shooting courses called stages, some requiring many shots to complete and some just a handful. Scoring systems vary among practical shooting organizations, but they do have one thing in common: each will measure the speed with which the stage is completed and the shooter’s accuracy in hitting the targets in the scoring zones.

Kurt Miller, a longtime competitor and Multigunner, has this to say about the origin of 3-Gun.

As far as I know the first of its kind was the S.O.F. World Championship 3-Gun Tactical Match. It started in 1979 and the first couple of matches were held at Freedom Missouri. Later it was transferred to Las Vegas and became the S.O.F. 3-Gun World Championship 3-Gun Match and Expo!

It was ALWAYS multi-gun, although that term was never used until the 2000’s when USPSA decided to give it a try. The competitor had to carry his pistol on each and every stage (no dressing for the party), and if his primary weapon went down and the jam/failure couldn’t be fixed within 30 seconds he was expected to transition to his pistol and continue on! Running out of ammo was NO excuse—it better have been way fubared, or you were done. MANY stages required you to fight your way to a long gun with the pistol; HOT holster was the norm and NO boxes to discard things.

In order to be major a pistol had to make 180pf and rifle 360! Buckshot and slugs ONLY—no birdshot!

Drop a gun … well you better pick it up because you are going to need it later on! Almost all the R.O.s were orange Gunsite instructors and a better group of people couldn’t be found! Men like Mike Horn, Mike Wadalich, Larry Larson, Johnny Wilson! Chris Commer, Lyle Wyatt and many more. The rules were few, and the equipment allowed limited. No finer run and gun match has ever graced 3-gun. I MISS IT SO!!!

I hear the gasps of horror from the USPSA crowd! No one was ever hurt, outside of a few broken bones, sprains, strains and stitches and no one ever got shot! Don’t scare the R.O. and you were still in the fight. This is where I started my match shooting so you can see how I sometimes disagree with the USPSA match mentality.

I have said it before and I will say it again. We started 3-Gunning in 1979 while USPSA didn’t get into it until 1993, so who is the OUTLAW? No, I wasn’t in it at the beginning, but I wish I had been. I only got to enjoy 10 of them and put two of them on!

3-Gun is a sport with many different rules and mind-sets. There are different types of people that participate in the sport. I respectfully agree with Kurt Miller and think all of the differences in the rules from the different organizations that organize and run 3-Gun matches are good for the sport. I think once you participate in a 3-Gun competition you should try all the different flavors of 3-Gun.

Let Me Tell You a Little Bit About Myself

I was active duty in the U.S. Army for 20 years. I have lived in many places. I knew that someday I, too, wanted to compete in the 3-Gun competitions that I had read about before I joined the army. At this point in time I had not been exposed to action shooting competition. One club I belonged to had one combat pistol match shooting .38 Special six gun. They only did that once a year. I wanted 3-Gun. I had read about them in Soldier of Fortune (SOF) magazine.

What I did know is that this form of shooting competition looked challenging. I first read about 3-Gun shooting matches being held in Las Vegas during the Soldier of Fortune Convention. I thought, "Hey now! A shooting match being held in Las Vegas. Great idea! How can you go wrong? You get to shoot and hang out in Vegas." That sounded like a lot of fun to me.

I did not know what to do or how to find a club or a place to participate in the sport in my area. This was all pre-Internet, in the early 80s. I must say that in this day of the Internet, your journey in finding information will be much easier.

In my travels during my army career, I was able to find shooting clubs in some of the places where I was stationed: Ft Bragg, NC; Lufkin, TX; Fort Hood, TX; and Germany. Most of the shooting clubs I found were United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA), (IPSC) clubs, and I also shot some Director of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) rifle matches, but for the most part, I started shooting pistol matches. They didn’t have 3-Gun matches. I still wanted to shoot 3-Gun! I could not find a match that I had the means to attend. As an enlisted man in the army, I could not afford to go to the matches I read about. The army kept me pretty busy during my military career, with the Cold War and time in the Gulf and Bosnia. This took up much of my time.

I kept looking, and have been lucky in finding and making many shooting connections. I have been a competitive shooter for 20+ years now. I have met many great people that I am lucky enough to call friends.

Learning to shoot competitively can take a long time to learn, especially during the 1980s—a time before any TV shows, videos, or books were available on the subject of practical shooting. All I found were people who talked about the Weaver stance, the isosceles triangle, and a special grip. This did not help me in my quest to be a better practical shooter. You tried learning from watching the top shooter in your club and doing the best you could on your own. This was the only way to learn this new style of shooting. In many cases, that top shooter in the club may not have really known what he was doing, making it impossible for him to tell you how to do it. He just knew he was winning.

We have come a long, long way since the early years of competitive shooting. With great shooting shows like Shooting USA, you can now watch Pro Tips. The best shooters in the world are in your living room giving you the tips and tricks of the trade that money can’t buy. These are lessons that have been learned through the pro’s years of practice, many thousands of rounds, and trial and error. The lessons they give are a high value at a low cost. It pays to watch that show.

In this day and age, I hope many competitors truly appreciate the lessons and insight from this information. I, too, had to learn how to shoot—not the old army way, but what I’ll simply call real shooting. I was very lucky to have been able to shoot with a club in East Texas. This is the place where I learned about all types of shooting, guns, and ammunition. I got a full education that opened my eyes to this real world of shooting through friends like Odie Wheat, a gunsmith and competitor; Clyde Horton, a longtime competitor of all types of shooting, and a real long-range aficionado (4-inch group at 1000 yards when we were shooting one day); and Kenneth Hicks, USPSA competitor and (past) the USPSA Area 4 president.

I learned many things and enjoyed the company of the real gun people at Bill’s Gun Trader. I learned more about guns and shooting during the period I lived in Lufkin, Texas, than I had ever known up to that point in my life. I was able to shoot my first 3-Gun competition there with an M1 Garand that I used to shoot DCM matches with, a borrowed shotgun, (thank you Joe Marsh!), and my Glock 21. It was a side match after the USPSA pistol match. I was more than hooked. I needed more 3-Gun matches. But the army moved me again, and after many more deployments, I was back home in the USA looking for another shooting club! I still wanted to shoot 3-Gun!

I never did get to compete in a SOF 3-Gun competition. They stopped having those matches before I could participate. But I was not going to give up that easy. At our local shooting Pistol club I started my own 3-Gun match. I could not find what I was looking for, within my reach, so I made what I was looking for. And have been happily competing ever since.

3-Gun shooting events are quickly becoming more popular among competitive shooters and shooting clubs across the United States and in other countries, such as New Zealand and the Czech Republic. They involve competitions where the stages are shot with a combination of a rifle, handgun, and/or shotgun. Although 3-Gun competitions take place in many local areas, there are large national annual events, such as the USPSA Nationals and the MGM Ironman. Others include the Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun Match, JP Enterprises Rocky Mountain 3-Gun Match, the Tac Pro Semiannual 3-Gun Match, and the Fort Benning 3-Gun Challenge, just to name a few.

The 3-Gun sport is growing, and if you like to shoot and have fun, you can easily understand why.

Rifle, Pistol, and Shotgun—3-Gun

Rifle, pistol, and shotgun are the categories of the most prevalent weapon-type classifications. Some other Multigun matches are held as well. These involve many different mixes of various types of weapons. I don’t want to misrepresent any difference between 3-Gun and Multigun. It is not worth my time. Or yours for that matter. It is a sport where you compete with more than one type of firearm and it is a blast (pun totally intended)!

I have participated in shooting matches that had two types of rifles, a long-range type rifle and a carbine rifle, with other supporting guns, for example. Or mixing in other guns in the match. I have mixed in an automatic Kalashnikov AK in a shooting stage where the competitor had to pick it up, load it, and engage a set of targets with it. I have also shot a match where a submachine gun was worked into a stage—after engaging the appropriate targets with that gun, shooters transitioned to one of their own guns. In the LaRue Tactical 3-Gun Match 2009, they worked in a Dillon Aero .308 Minigun. How much fun is that? It is a lot of fun! Have you ever gotten to shoot a Minigun?

For my thought process, if a competition is shot with practical action shooting rules and two or more weapon types, such as rifle and shotgun, with or without pistol, I label it 3-Gun. For instance, a match could utilize two rifles and a shotgun, or a rifle/shotgun/pistol. The Texas Carbine Championship is shot with action-type 3-Gun rules, and in my mind I consider that to be in the 3-Gun family of shooting sports. I’m very sure other competitors would have other opinions.

There are many shooters who are masters of only one shooting skill. Mastering all of these skill types by using different types of guns opens up a new door. Each type of gun has different strengths and weaknesses, as do the competitor’s skills and background in shooting. The caliber, ammunition type, and ammunition capacities are just a few of the considerations that this sport requires. The shooter’s skills and choice of equipment are just as important, although challenging considering the many different handling and transitioning tasks required to shoot them safely and effectively. The choice of your supporting equipment also comes into play.

Do You Need to Find a 3-Gun Match or Make One?

If you can’t find a match, this book will help you make a 3-Gun match. If you can find a place to shoot a rifle, pistol, and shotgun, then this book will give you all the information needed to have your own match. You can do it.

There are many people who talk about shooting, but talk is cheap. Maybe you have heard the phrase shut up and shoot. This is that time.

Stop waiting! Stop talking! The time is now. Start shooting!

CHAPTER TWO