Dueck, Kelley Lead 3GN Standings

With four of the five qualifying events completed on the FNH USA 3-Gun Nation Tour, Presented by SureFire, only one match remains to qualify for the 3GN Championship, where one winner will take home $25,000, courtesy of Luepold.

The top spot on the leader board is shared by a couple of “Heavy” hitters, SureFire’s Barry Dueck, Heavy Metal Optics, and Patrick Kelley, Heavy Metal Iron (Limited). With their top two scores, Dueck and Kelley each have a perfect 800 points. Taran Butler ( 762.65), winner of one shoot-off, sits in third place, followed by FNH USA’s Tommy Thacker (712.05) and Jeff Cramblit (683.05). The top 10 overall scores are rounded out with James Darst (676.15), Keith Garcia, winner of the inaugural shoot-off at SMM3G (664.88), Henrik Blixt (655.83), Ben Fortin (652.67) and Bruce Piatt (643.17).

Currently, 41 competitors qualify for the 3GN Championship, meaning nine slots are still up for grabs going into the final qualifying event of the year, JP Enterprises Rocky Mountain 3-Gun, at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, N.M, Aug. 5-7. To qualify, a competitor must record two scores within the same division and shoot a total of three matches overall, regardless of division. The top two scores from within the same division will be tabulated, and the top 50 competitors will be invited to the 3GN Championship, which is set to follow the USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals on Sept. 13.

While complete, the current standings are nevertheless misleading, as there are numerous competitors poised to crash into the top 50 upon completion of JP RM3G. For example, Benny Hill, competing out of the Heavy Optics division, has posted a 373.56 and 331.07, for a total of 704.63, good enough for fifth place overall in the current standings. That means Hill merely has to participate in the final qualifier in order to meet the minimum requirement of three matches participated in overall.

Other notables that could potentially earn a birth into the 3GN Championship following JP Rocky Mountain are:  Jerry Miculek (400),  Kelly Neal (299.64), Adam Popplewell (328.79), Robert Romero (400), Scott Carnahan (531.43) and Glenn Shelby (697.12). Miculek, Neal, Popplewell and Romero each have only one recorded score, however, they each competed at Sabre Defence Blue Ridge Mountain. That event was cancelled due to weather, but it does count toward the three-match minimum. So each competitor needs one additional score. For Carnahan and Shelby, like Benny Hill, they each have enough points to currently qualify for the 3GN Championship, but need one more match to meet the minimum requirements. The question is: did they get in at Rocky Mountain?

Already one of the most popular 3-gun events in the country, the addition of 3-Gun Nation to the JP Rocky Mountain 3-Gun has made a tough event even more difficult to gain entry. The match has been filled for months, and the wait list is extremely deep, with several top professional shooters angling to gain entry into the event. Ultimately, for some competitors, the entire series is literally hanging in the balance going into the final qualifier of the season.

The complete overall standings are currently being readied to post on this website. Competitors are responsible for checking each score from each match. Also, competitors have from now until JP Rocky Mountain in which they can challenge scores posted from the first four events. Once this period has passed, arbitration will be closed for the first four qualifiers.  

Overall Standings:

The following 41 competitors currently have completed the minimum requirements and are eligible for the 3GN Championship. (The top two scores within the listed division combine for the Series total.)

Posted on 6/21/2010