3Gun

3GUN: RIFLE – SHOTGUN – PISTOL

The fastest growing and most exciting shooting sport out there right now is 3-gun competition. If you’re not familiar with 3-gun, it consists of a set of courses in which you shoot three different guns—a rifle, a pistol and a shotgun—at different stages, and engage various short- and long-distance targets from various positions. Scoring is based on time and hits minus penalties, with each stage assigned match points based on degree of difficulty. But, in a nutshell, the shooter who hits the most targets in the least amount of time wins It’s very exciting, requiring a combination of shooting speed and accuracy with different guns, and is the fastest-growing shooting sport today.

Equipment

• Rifles:
  Most serious competitors choose MSRs in .223 caliber with fairly short barrels in the 18- to 20-inch range and 30-round magazines. But any semi-auto that will handle larger magazines are normally permitted.
• Shotguns:
  Any reliable autoloading or pump-action shotgun will work. For serious competition, it should have an extended magazine tube, a good set of sights and interchangeable chokes. Both shotshells and slugs are used in most 3-Gun matches.
• Pistols:
  Most shooters use 9mm semi-autos, but the .38 Super and .40 S&W are also popular in some divisions.
• Accessories:
  Each shooter needs a holster for the pistol and some sort of belt/pouch system to carry extra magazines and ammo.