Everyone wants a Ruger 10/22, has the 10/22, or wants another! This is one of the greatest all around rifles in the world. A great trainer, a good small game rifle and even a survival gun, the Ruger is quite a rifle.
Dry fire is essential. Practice handling, speed loads, dry fire, and trigger press. These drills will improve your gunhandling. Gunhandling is more important than marksmanship in some competitions. The marksmanship problem isn’t as severe as the speed problem. The following are good training sessions for any shooter, but combined will help propel you to the top of 3 Gun.
While there are floorplates and such that add up to a 19-round magazine, in the Glock 9mm the 33-round magazine is the grand-daddy of them all. Unlike most competitors and cheap imitations, the Glock magazine features a steel insert that promotes both strength and feeding, and that merely scratches the surface of why the Glock magazine excels above the rest.
The difference between a factory MIL-SPEC two-stage trigger breaking at seven pounds and a custom-grade trigger is immense. The Elftmann, however, is a different beast among many triggers. However, the question becomes what makes a good trigger and which trigger is best suited for tactical or personal defense shooting.
The automatic shotgun demands different drills for speed loading than a pump-action shotgun. Proper practice with automatic shotgun and you may just find that the shotgun is more efficient than you thought. If there is any real problem beginning students have, it is a lack of familiarity with the firearm. These drills will build familiarity with the shotgun and may be a lifesaver.
The history of the piece is interesting. Colt’s double action revolvers began production about the turn of the previous century. The Army Special, and later the Official Police revolver, were robust handguns with a smooth action. The Colt Official Police is slightly larger than the Smith and Wesson Military and Police and was sometimes chambered in .41 Colt. We often call the Colt a .41 frame revolver. The Army Special/Official Police is the primogenitor of the Colt Python.
A few months ago, Federal Ammunition announced American Eagle Syntech—a new concept for range use. While there are many highly-developed loads for personal defense, seldom has much effort been expended in developing range ammunition. American Eagle Syntech is the first range-specific ammunition designed to reduce fouling and extend barrel life with a high-tech polymer bullet coating.
Getting started in 3 Gun is about as easy as it gets. You do not have to have any special equipment or skill. Any 9mm, shotgun, and long gun will generally get the job done. Best of all, while having fun and learning the ropes, you will develop and hone a multitude of skills that can be applied to other shooting sports or, more important, self-defense and home defense applications.
The Shooter’s Log is often asked about the ‘best’ handgun load. Unfortunately, many correspondents fail to share the intended mission of the load. The mission has a strong influence as to the desired bullet weight, velocity, and penetration. As an example, you may be perfectly happy to run the .44 Special or .45 Colt with a 255-grain SWC at 700 fps for cowboy action or target practice. If hiking in country in which the big cats or bears may be more than a nuisance, the same bullet up to 1,000 fps would be a better choice.
As far as handling and ergonomics, the AR-15 and AR-10 are brilliantly designed and function the same. Some new shooters may not realize that the AR-10 7.62x51mm rifle actually came first. In fact the AR-10 .308 rifle competed with the FN FAL and M14. In the end, the rifle was downsized into the .223 caliber AR-15, which was a response to the AK-47, but that is history and we are dealing with differences in application today.