2011 Superstition Mountain Mystery 3 Gun

The first major match of the 3 gun season is in the books. The Superstition Mountain Mystery 3 Gun has been the match which kicks off the season for years. The match is held at the Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club in Mesa, AZ on the last weekend of March. The event draws competitors from all over the country looking for a little warmth and sunshine. This year didn’t disappoint, the weather was awesome.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club, think of it as the Mecca of competitive shooting. Many shooters make the pilgrimage to shoot matches there. The club has more Grand Master shooters per capita than any other club in the country. Many of the biggest names in shooting live in Phoenix just to be around the best shooters. Names like Leatham, Hobdell, Neal and a bunch of others call Rio Salado their home range. The Tuesday night steel matches routinely get between 125 and 140 shooters.

The 3 gun match was aweseme!  The stages were challenging and yet allowed a shooter to drop the hammer if they felt up to it. The staff at Rio knows how to set up a match and it went very smoothly.

As for my performance, I’m glad to report I had many positives in this match. I shot the entire match clean with no penalties. I had competitive times in the majority of the stages. All of my gear ran well, which is one of the most important aspects of shooting 3 gun, simply because there are 3 times the things which can go wrong. My shotgun loading went well, most of the time. Now, for the things which need improvement. I had one shotgun stage where the bolt did no go into battery and I heard a “click” when I should have heard a “BANG!”. It took me close to 20 seconds extra to figure the problem out and then load the shotgun. That’s tough on a 30 second stage. I also took 10 shots at a set of 3 LaRue rifle targets at 300 yards. I should have gone 1 for 1 on those targets, but I didn’t have a very good shooting position and I couldn’t keep the crosshairs on the target after running around the stage.

We had some great folks in our squad, all of whom could balance having a good time and taking their shooting seriously. That’s got to be one of my favorite aspects of 3 gun, the people.

Overall, this was one of my most consistent matches, I just wish I could take back the extra 20 seconds on the shotgun stage. I may have finished in the top 20 in the tactical scope division. As it stands, I finished 26th in the tac scope division, it sounds better when I also mention there were 188 shooters in the division. There were a ton of great shooters, I was pleased.

Next is the Texas State Multi-Gun Championship sponsored by LaRue Tactical in Liberty Hill, TX , April 15-17. I’ve also got stops planned to see Chip McCormick and STI, it should be a great trip. I’ve got to sell some ads between now and then!

Shoot fast, don’t miss!

Scott