3GN Midyear Report
By Chad Adams
With MGM Ironman in the books, we’ve reached the midpoint of our second season on the FNH USA 3-Gun Nation Tour, presented by SureFire. And if the second half of the year is anything like the first, you can bet sparks will fly from Raton all the way to West Virginia as we crown another 3GN Champion.
The first half of the 2011 campaign has seen tremendous breakout performances, unbelievable Shoot-Off runs and some interesting division jumping by a few notable top pros who are all angling for a shot at the Inaugural 3GN Divisional Championships and a check for $5,000 from Hornady.
So it’s time to recognize some of the folks that have caught my eye this season and set-up the wild ride that’s sure to come on the way to the 2011 3GN Championship.
3-Gunner of the Year
An unofficial title, but if we were handing one out right now, it would undoubtedly go to Clint Upchurch. Through the first four events, he absolutely dominated the field, winning the Open division at Ozark, Fort Benning, Superstition and Blue Ridge, consecutively.
Formally a high-level pistol shooter, Upchurch has used his R&R Saiga to run away from most traditional speed loader competitors, and his rifle game is getting on point as well. The first chink in the armor finally showed up at MGM Ironman, where SureFire’s Michael Voigt used experience and a solid long-range rifle game to win the division.
Upchurch has since pulled out of Rocky Mountain due to work schedule, leaving a big door open for Voigt and S&W’s Jerry Miculek heading down the stretch.
Nevertheless, no one has put up the numbers of Upchurch thus far, which means he’s the 3GN Shooter of the Year midway through the 2011 season.
Breakout Performance
All last season, whenever anyone watched Katie Harris, the consensus was that she was going to be the next star among the Lady division shooters in 3-gun. Note, at just 15 years old, they weren’t saying the next big Junior, but Lady.
What no one knew is that the learning curve would be so fast. Harris has exploded into the collective consciousness this season by winning Junior, Lady or both in every event in which she has competed. And the Lady shooters in Tactical Optics have taken notice, as they all check young Harris’ scorecards along with Miculek, Reese, Liedorff and Hanish.
Harris seemingly has a lock on the Junior division. She also has an excellent chance of being in the top four for the Lady Shoot-Off at the 3GN Championship as well. That means Harris could be shooting for $10,000 from Cheaper Than Dirt! this November.
Faces To Watch
These competitors have the potential to be the next breakout performers.
1. Tyler Payne: When the AMU takes them in, you know they can shoot. Plus, Payne has the example of one Staff Sgt. Daniel Horner to follow. Payne has a physical frame, and he’s in shape, and his scores have reflected that edge at Ironman and Blue Ridge. If he continues to improve at the rate he’s shown since joining the AMU, the protégé may soon be challenging the mentor for major championships.
2. Ben Fortin: This guy has all the tools. He’s fit, he’s got game with all three guns, and he has the desire. He just took second in Trooper at Ironman using Tactical Optics gear (as opposed to Open). Fortin’s day job in the Army has him training soldiers for the real deal. But when he’s not on post, he’s competing in long-range matches with Jeremy Parker, training action shooters at Rockcastle, or competing in 3-gun matches himself. If Army demands don’t send him back into a combat zone, his 3-gun game has very little ceiling. The scary part: I don’t think he realizes yet how good he really is.
3. Rustin Bernskoetter: An impressive shooter. After a 12thplace at Fort Benning, he took 16that Superstition this year in Tactical Optics, in what was an extremely loaded field. Bernskoetter followed that up with a fourth place finish at Blue Ridge. In what I’ve seen, Bernskoetter seems to have all the ability in the world and the potential to challenge the top rung of Tactical Optics.
Rustin Bernskoetter
Top Shoot-Off Moment
Hey, I have the best seat in the house, right? So I’m lucky enough to hear ‘em curse and cheer, see the nerves, and watch it all go down. Keith Garcia’s come-from-behind win over Daniel Horner at Superstition gets my nod for top Shoot-Off run of the season thus far. In fact, it was so dramatic, in my mind, only Horner’s winning run over Dave Neth in last year’s 3GN Championship can top it, and that one was an all-timer as far as I’m concerned. Read the Superstition wrap-up story under the 3GN Tour section for a full account of Garcia’s amazing showdown with Horner.
Best Shoot-Off Performance
Take just an ounce, maybe half an ounce, of gut-wrenching drama from Garcia’s come-from-behind win, and you’ll have James Darst’s entire Shoot-Off experience at Fort Benning.
The veteran 3-gunner came from behind to take down Rob Romero, Greg Jordan and Taran Butler to win his first 3GN Shoot-Off—three nail-biting runs that arguably provided as much drama as you can get out of the shooting sports. See the full story under 3GN Tour.
Money Moment
You want to know how money Keith Garcia was at Superstition? Wearing a microphone all weekend, and with 3GN cameras following his every move, not only does he qualify for the Shoot-Off out of an absolutely stacked Tactical Optics field, but he wins it. Going through Kelly Neal, Daniel Horner and Taran Butler is a major accomplishment—maybe the toughest draw yet. Doing it with cameras in your face asking you repeatedly how much you want to defend your Shoot-Off title—well, that’s just money.
Division Jumping
A lot was made of this early on, when it was clear 3GN’s qualification process wouldn’t force anyone to stick with any one division all season long. Then along came the 3GN Divisional Championships, presented by Hornady. In every respect, this was a great deal, as Hornady is putting up $25,000, $5K to each division winner based on a full season of results. The problem, if you want to call it that, we got this program sold the week of Superstition. So essentially, three of the 10 matches were in the books. Uh-oh.
Most folks have stayed put, but notable top competitors are making runs at divisions in which they don’t normally compete. Travis Gibson won Tactical Iron at MGM Ironman, then repeated that performance against a smaller field at the Northwest 3-Gun Championship. That’s back-to-back wins of confidence heading into the second half of the season. As such, he’s planning on jumping to Irons to make a run at Kurt Miller, James Casanova and Kelly Neal for a shot at $5,000.
Since this program was sold, I’ve had the sneaky suspicion that Patrick Kelley would jump out of Tactical Optics and go back to Heavy Metal. I mean, he owns that division, right? Well, I was half right. The former He-Man king is jumping, but to Heavy Metal Optics, a division in which he has never competed. Were he headed to his old stomping ground, I would give him the edge over Bryan Ray and Trapr Swonson. Nothing against Bryan and Trapr, but that division in my mind belongs to Patrick until somebody beats him heads-up. But chasing down Barry Dueck and Adam Popplewell, to me, seems like a tougher proposition. Kelley has his work cut out for him, and it should be fun to watch.
But that doesn’t mean Ray, Swonson or JJ Johnson are off the hook either. In what I find the most surprising jump yet, Noveske’s Rob Romero, who regularly competes in the top five of Tactical Optics, and who has one 3GN Shoot-Off win already, is jumping to Heavy Metal. He is currently #4 in Tactical Optics on the 3GN leader board, and he’s jumping divisions. Wow!
His first match will be the long ranges of Rocky Mountain. If he can win there, the rest of the division is officially on notice. I just watched Romero shoot through some stages during a Noveske 3-Gun class this weekend, and he looked good with Heavy gear on all the short-range set-ups there. Ray saw it as well, which leads me to believe he’ll be closely following the scores coming out of Raton. I have a feeling this is going to get really good by November.
New Blood
Finally, the coolest development so far on the 3GN Tour has been the debut of much new blood by way of new team sponsorships. Hornady, Stag Arms, Spike’s Tactical and Benelli are just a few of several companies that stepped up big time this year in support of 3-gun. Welcome to the party!
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