Junior Shooters

Posted by Junior Shooters

By: Sarah Bowers (16 years old)
(Junior Writer  For Kids By Kids)

Last June, I had the opportunity to shoot the MGM Ironman 3-Gun Match in Parma, Idaho. Begun in 1999, the Ironman quickly became one of the toughest and most competitive matches in the nation. Eleven stages, each requiring the use of all three guns (pistol, rifle, and shotgun,) and an ammo count of a minimum of 1,100 rounds (if the shooter never misses), the Ironman is a test of not only the endurance and shooting skills of the competitor, but also the equipment and function of all three guns at all times.

When Andy Fink (editor-in-chief Junior Shooters (JS)) first came to me about shooting this match, I have to say, I thought he was crazy to think I could do it. I had helped with one stage almost three years before, and even that daunted and intimidated me. But, despite my qualms about my ability, I was determined to at least try. Andy, Ray Walters (JS staff), and my Dad, Terry, were also all going to shoot with me, so that also helped a lot. I had heard the match was a ton of fun from many, many people, the match creator and director included, so, as the months progressed and the match came nearer, my uneasiness turned to excitement and anticipation.

And so the planning began. (My dad Terry and me just before getting ready at one of the stages with a gun cart borrowed from Andy.)

We began by researching and then acquiring the correct equipment. We found this to be a bigger task than we had first thought. In early May, we were able to attend a two day class put on by one of the top three-gun shooters in the U.S., David Neth. During the class, it became evident that some of the equipment we had originally purchased for the match was not going to work at all. First of all, the shotgun we acquired had way too much recoil for me to handle so it was slowing me down quite a bit. Mr. Neth suggested a semi auto Remington 1100 tactical. Travis Gibson, the match director of the MGM Ironman, was helping out with the class and happened to have his three-gun shotgun with him which was a tricked out Competition Remington Model 1100, and offered to let me borrow it for the match.

(Loading the shotgun as the pickup drives through the driving stage.)

Having the shotgun taken care of, we moved on to pistol. Just a few weeks before the match, Andy gave me a Glock 9mm model 17 for my birthday – just in time for the match! That was a perfect three-gun pistol for me. Not too much recoil, but powerful enough to knock down the metal silhouette targets. But it didn’t arrive until three days before the match! I decided to shoot it anyway, so I shot it pretty much right out of the box, and had absolutely no problems with it. Glock makes a great pistol!

(I even had to shoot the pistol one-handed with my weak hand on one of the stages!)

Now on to the rifle: I used the same Bushmaster AR-15 that I reviewed in Junior Shooters Volume 2 Spring issue (available on-line at www.juniorshooters.net.) We had the rifle modified for the match by Junior Shooter’s gunsmith Robert Krone of RK Gunsmithing. We added an IOR Valdada 4 X 24 M2 tactical scope with an illuminated range finding reticule provided by Brownells, a must was a Harris bipod also provided by Brownells, as well as modified the trigger to be single-stage.We also added an ATI adjustable gunstock so the length of pull was just right. The AR-15 worked great. I don’t believe we had one problem with the gun the whole match. I also used a 100-round C-Mag from The Beta Company on some stages which eliminated the need to spend time reloading.

Finally, the first day of the match arrived. On June 12^th, at 6:00 A.M., we arrived at the Parma Rod and Gun Club Range. After sign in and the match briefing, we loaded our cowboy action style gun cart (a gun cart is essential in a three gun match) and set off for our first stage. I have to admit, I was nervous and not entirely sure of myself. But after that first stage, I became more and more comfortable.

(Driving the golf cart through course and shooting the shotgun targets – I had never driven before!)

I learned how to read stages and decide how to approach them, as well as simply how to stay calm and breath during a stage. Yes, remembering to breath is often the hardest thing to keep in mind during a stage. For one thing, each stage is timed so you’re usually running from one point to another while trying to reload and such but also keeping to the safety rules and watching for targets around you.

On one of the stages, you had to climb a 35-foot tower, and slide down a zip line and shoot your pistol on the way down. Now, I?m terribly afraid of heights, so this was one stage that had been daunting me from the beginning. Looking back now, I have to admit; it was one of my favorite stages. I wasn’t necessarily able to over come my fear of heights before, or even after, it was over. But even so, I was at least able to have fun despite it, and learned from it.

(Offhand rifle shots with the AR15 were required as well, this time I was using two 30-round magazines connected via Shellback Tactical Mag Grip.)

One stage I remember to be particularly fun and challenging, was appropriately named "Nearer to de Light" stage. The shooter begins at the top of a 25 – foot steel tower with their rifle loaded and on safe. Your pistol is unloaded and holstered, and your shotgun is staged, meaning set unloaded, down range of the starting point anywhere the shooter wishes. Once again, I was faced with my fear of heights. After climbing the tower and spending a little time calming my racing heart and getting my equipment ready, I signaled to the range officer that I was ready. The range officer yells, "Going hot!" and everyone puts on their hearing protection.

(The tower was really scary!)

Then I hear "Shooter ready? Standby!" The timer beeps, and my time began. My first shots were 10 rifle targets at three and four hundred yards. I felt fairly confident about those targets before I began, but once I started shooting and on the clock, everything seems twice as hard as before. Finally, after completing those, I quickly unloaded, made my rifle safe, slung it over my shoulder and slid down the slide to reach the bottom. I then ran to a shooting bench under the slide, reloaded the rifle, and shot two targets with five shots each at 500 and 630 yards. After completing these, I unloaded and showed the range officer that the rifle was clear, and then ran to a swinging platform to shoot 25 rounds of pistol. This was almost the hardest part of the stage, because the platform was so unstable.

(I was very nervous sliding down the tower but I had a lot of coaching and at least I was coming down.)

Even the recoil from the pistol moved you so much you had to wait for it to settle down again before you could continue shooting. When I finally got all my shots off, I abandoned my pistol in the platform, and ran to where I had staged my shotgun previously.

(Shooting a pistol right below the tower on a shaking platform was tough!)

I then began shooting the eight popper targets, and some other small targets. Popper targets are steel targets in a human silhouette form, which fall when shot, and then throw one, and some times two clay pigeon into the air, which you then shoot before they fall to the ground. Finally, after what seemed like only a few seconds, it was over. I unloaded my shotgun, and tried to catch my breath. This is only a small taste of the excitement that goes on in even just one of these stages. By the time it’s over, you’re out of breath, out of energy, and probably out of ammo too! This one stage had a round count of 105 rounds max, and that’s if you never miss.  VIDEO – Click PHOTO But, despite all my uncertainties and the nervousness that preceded every stage, I had a ton of fun and learned more than I’d ever anticipated.

(Shooting the Texas Star was tough as it started swinging as soon as you knocked off the first plate.)

In the end, I came in 128^th in the over-all match out of 148 participants, 68^th in the Scoped Tactical class, and first in the junior class. I was the only junior to shoot it this year, and the first junior girl ever to shoot it at all. It was an honor to finish and receive the award.

Before I close, I want to take time to thank some people. First and foremost, thanks go to Andy Fink and Ray Walters and everyone at Junior Shooters magazine for sponsoring me to shoot the match. I wouldn’t have ever shot it without your encouragement and support! Thanks to my Dad, for shooting the match with me, and for teaching me everything about shooting from the beginning, and Mom, for being so encouraging through all my crazy adventures. Travis Gibson, for the use of his pistol during practice and shotgun and for all the great advice and help! Mike Gibson and MGM Targets – Thanks for running an amazing match! Mike Worth, for the use of your shotgun the last day and all your help during the golf cart stage! Matt Burkette, for all the tips and instructional DVDs. David Neth, you put on an amazing three-gun class. And thanks everyone else who offered encouragement and help the whole three days of the match. I saw so many excellent examples of good sportsmanship with so many people willing to go out of their way to give a first-time junior three-gunner a hand up. Thanks to you all. If I could name you all by name, I would!

Brownells also provided Junior Shooters magazine and me a number of other products which were extremely useful; each worked very well and they made a huge difference in my performance and increasing my confidence. Brownells is a great place to go for all of your shooting accessories. The items they provided included:

• A Viking Tactics combat sling which let me carry the Bushmaster AR15 comfortably and safely during the match.
• AR15 and GLOCK magazine pouches from Bladetech.
• A competition CRspeed Hi Torque double belt with a Velcro closure that fit my small waist and held my holster and pouches tightly in place so the GLOCK 17 9mm and AR15 .223 magazines were exactly where they needed to be. Withdrawing the magazines was fast and smooth.
• A competition CRspeed holster for the GLOCK 17 that Andy used.
• AR15 30-round Magazines which are a Brownells brand.
• 30 round magazine connectors Mag Grip Shellback Tactical, Tactical Assualt Gear
• 30-round .223 magazines for the Ruger Mini-14 used by Ray Walters made by Promag Industries
• A Harris Bipod that made a huge difference on those long range shots.
• 9mm GLOCK 17-round magazines from GLOCK
• 8-round .45 Colt magazines from WOLFF Springs and 10-round magazines ?bureaucrat? from Wilson Combat which were used by Ray Walters.
• 100-round double C-MAG drum for the AR-15 from The Beta Company which reduces reloads significantly can also. This also provides a great resting platform.
• Silencio ear muffs from Silencio
• 12-gauge speed striper shotgun shell belt holders by California Comp Works
• Safety glasses from Crews Incorporated with a Winchester logo

Andy, Ray, my dad, Terry, and I shot 1,000s of rounds of .223 ammunition and 9mm as well as a huge amount of 12-gauge shotgun shells which included #4, buckshot, slugs, and light loads during practice and the match.

(Shooting the clay birds – it seemed like it would never end – 80 clay pigeons!)

I want to give special thanks to all of the ammunition companies that supported this effort which included Black Hills Ammunition (.223, 9mm, .45ACP), Winchester, and B&P. Black Hills Ammunition provided was of various bullets weights and types including: .223 55-grain soft point, 68-grain, 77-grain and 75-grain match ammunition; 9mm remanufactured 125-grain round nose lead and 115 FMJ ammunition; and .45 ACP 250-grain semi-wadcutter, 230-grain round nose lead, .185-grain hollow point, 230-grain hollow-point and 230-grain +P hollow point. Winchester provided a huge amount of 12-gauge including AAA low recoil, buckshot, and slugs. All of the ammunition provided by each company worked very well and without their support we would not have been prepared for the match nor been able to shoot in the MGM Ironman. When we started to run out of Black Hills .223 one day, Travis Fisher from Sheep Dog Ammo was nice enough to come by and give us 500 rounds.

Additional firearms used by my dad Terry, Andy and Ray, all of which, they said, worked very well, included: Charles Daly Defense D-M4 Carbine and the Charles Daly Defense DV-24 Match Target & Varmint Rifle, S&W M&P15 and M&P15T with a SIGHTRON S33-4R electronic scope, a Ruger Mini-14 with a Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24X 40mm (which got a five shot 8? group at 500 meters with Black Hills 68-grain ammo), a Ruger min-14 with a Bushnell Elite 3200 with tactical reticule scope, a Winchester 1897 shotgun, and a Mossberg Model 500 Defender 12-gauge shotgun with an ATI gun stock, a S&W model SW1911 pro .45 ACP, and a Para-ordnance double-stack 1911 .45 ACP.

Contacts:

• ATI Gunstocks: www.atigunstocks.com
• B&P: www.bandpusa.com
• Black Hills Ammunition: www.black-hills.com
• Bladetech: www.blade-tech.com
• Brownells: www.brownells.com
• Bushmaster: www.bushmaster.com
• Bushnell: www.bushnell.com
• California Competition Works: www.demooner.com
• Charles Daly: www.charlesdaly.com
• Crews Incorporated: Crews Incorporated
• CRspeed – Rescomp Handgun technologies: www.rescomp.co.za
• David Neth: Three-gun, defensive- pistol rifle and shotgun, and concealed carry classes. (208) 401-8970 dntc@clearwire.net.
• GLOCK: www.glock.com
• Harris Bipods: www.harrisbipods.com
• Hodgdon: www.hodgdon.com
• Kaltron Outdoors: www.kaltronoutdoors.com
• MGM Ironman and MGM Targets: www.mgmtargets.com
• O.F. Mossberg & Sons.Inc. www.mossberg.com
• Para-ordnance: www.paraord.com
• Past recoil pad – Roc-Import: www.roc-import.com
• Promag Industries: www.promagindustries.com
• RK Gunsmithing: www.rkgunsmithing.com
• Remington: www.remington.com
• Ruger: www.ruger-firearms.com
• Shell Back Tactical Mag Grip – Tactical Assault Gear www.theoperatorschoice.com
• Sheep Dog Ammo: www.sheepdogammo.com
• Sightron: www.sightron.com
• Silencio: www.silencio.com
• The Beta Company: www.betaco.com
• Valdada: www.valdada.com
• Viking Tactics: www.vikingtactics.com
• Wilson Combat: www.wilsoncombat.com
• Winchester Ammunition: www.winchester.com
• Wolff Springs: www.gunsprings.com

Copyright and Published By Junior Shooters and Junior Sports Magazines Inc. December 2008

Categories: Action Pistol, Associations, Events, Merchant Links, Modern 3 Gun, Pistol / Revolver, Rifle, Shotgun Sports, Sponsers
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