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- Location
- Mountains, Alberta
Yes, this shoot involves everything you never thought you were allowed to do in Canada. You start the zipline pistol in hand with a magazine in, then rack it halfway down once you pass a flag and hear the "load!" command. Then everything goes nuts.
I had a cool moment at Shot Show this year and was invited to shoot the MGM Ironman in Parma Idaho. MGM Targets manufactures the steel, runs the match, and describes it:
With creative and challenging stage designs, high round counts, and a great RO crew the IRONMAN is truly a unique match. The match includes 10 or more stages, an 900+ round count (if the shooter doesn't miss), and EVERY stage requires the use of all 3 guns. The Ironman is an intense test of both shooter and equipment, not to mention it is a blast!
I'm pleased to say I made it back!
This was my first year at Ironman, and my second officiated 3 Gun shoot.
Why Compete? Because I love to shoot, and testing myself alongside professionals scares the piss out of me. I want a challenge, and had no doubt that this would do it. From what I understand I was the first shooter there to compete using a Tavor, and I’m excited to see that gun grow beyond an exotic bullpup into a widely accepted rifle platform.
Why Blog About It? I know too many other shooters who want to try competitive events, and don’t. I’m hoping that my coverage can give them a better idea of what’s involved, and encourage you to get out there and try it! That, plus I love discussing gear & techniques of any kind. This is something new for me! I chronicled as much of the process as I could on my personal blog.
The short of it:
I've never run my guns so hard, experienced so much shooting stress, or had so much fun.
I find first person clips of entire stages are pretty boring if you’re not the guy who shot them, so here's a highlight reel of some of the best moments from MGM Ironman 2014!
Driving from Calgary to Parma took me nearly 18 hours with the border hassle of travelling with guns. Arriving at camp at 9pm and getting up to shoot at 6am the next morning was a poor choice. I had a pretty miserable first day, and learned my lessons about sunscreen, shooting first, choking, and planning a stage properly.
Planning was a big component of the game that I didn’t understand going in. American’s shoot more, shoot farther, and shoot faster than the Canadian matches I’ve seen. Previously, my idea of planning was to look at the stage description and make sure I knew my zero at the furthest target. But the Ironman requires so much more. You need to have a mental map of what order you’ll shoot each target in, and know where in the stage you will be reloading. Will you go left to right, or right to left? Shoot the spinner first, or save it for the last? I learned the hard way that these things make a difference. The ROs and your squad can coach, but they're not there to plan for you. Stage briefing at the Ironman goes like this:
"This is your rifle dump box, this is your shotgun dump box. Start here, and engage targets as they become visible."
Things got better after that first day. I owe a ton of thanks to my squad preparing me before the start signal and coaching me after the timer started rolling.
The Ironman was exactly what I’d hoped for, with ridiculous challenges like towers, slides, carts, and the zipline. Probably the hardest part for my bullpup rifle and me was a forced weak-hand stage that involved shooting underneath a vehicle. I had to deal with the unusual malfunction of hot brass bouncing off my face and back into the chamber!
My favourite stage by far was the trench, which involved ditching the rifle after close quarters engagements and sprinting across the entire parking lot to get to the shotgun portion. That stage also involved a pair of the deadly MGM Spinners that must be rotated completely to score. These ones were shielded behind hard cover, and I had a lot of fun working the angles to get into a shooting position.
Here’s an example of one of the stage layouts. You shoot all your 80 yard and over targets from the top of a 30ft tower (A), slide down to ground level, and do it all again from inside a massive tire (B) then move down the centre line to wrap up your pistol and rifle targets. That solid triangle is a cluster of 14 steel targets. Lots of guys timed out on this stage, and I was lucky to be able to watch and learn from their mistakes.
I even enjoyed the "spool-stage" that required shooters to position themselves in a small enclosed space before engaging. Many of the heavier guys cursed up and down about wedging themselves under a chunk of wood.
All the side-stages were a blast. I of course enjoyed the zipline, but also had fun using a suppressed .22 with no hearing protection to pop shots at a moving thermal target using FLIR’s infrared sight.
I'll be doing lots of things different next year, but overall I’m pleased with my performance. Two shooters who I know and respect got disqualified this year, and I heard DQ horror stories from several veterans who didn’t make it through their first Ironman. My coach finished 34th out of 48 in the Open Division, and I took the 39th position not far behind him.
Who'd thought 3 Gun could be so much fun? It was way more work than my average range session or camping trip, and I'm damn glad I went. Maybe if I'm feeling brave and put on some weight I'll try trooper class next year: where you can carry as many guns as you want, but you have to carry everything you use for the match on your person between stations. No stashing ammo and cleaning supplies in the truck!
I’ll definitely be shooting more local matches at the Peace River and Edmonton Area clubs, and am hoping to go back to the States in August for another very cool match.
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