Rimfire + 20 gauge 3-gun interest?

[bigalexe]

Ok so I was having a thought (I've been sick lately and had too much thinking time). I would love to shoot 3-gun competition but man those guns are expensive for someone with my income. For reference I've been getting 1 gun a year at a cost of 300 max.

So anyway it seems like alot of 3-gun matches are shot at rather close ranges (less than 100 yards) with the exception being maybe some long pistol shots. So why hasn't someone started the Budget 3-gun course? I'm thinking you could just leave many of the courses as-is and just maybe adjust the scoring or round count to account for a few more misses.

-Rimfire Pistol
-Rimfire Rifle
-.410 or 20 gauge shotgun

The reason I was thinking about this was that when I price it out:
Pistol $200-$300 tons of rimfire semi-auto's in this range
Rifle $250-$300 for a 30-rd Ruger 10/22 or the new Mossberg AR-Type
Shotgun $150 if you find a cheap used Pump gun
Total: $750

Whereas if I want to kit up for a full-power match
Pistol $350 easily
Rifle $500 at least, probably want to budget more like $700
Shotgun $150 ok so you can probably get away with a cheap shotgun
Total: $1000

 

[Justin]

Generally speaking, 20 GA ammo costs more than 12 GA ammo.

I've heard of some places doing two-gun rimfire matches; basically bring a pistol and a rimfire rifle.

Awhile back, we ran a couple of rimfire side matches at our monthly tactical rifle match. It's good fun and good training.

Outside of local matches, though, probably the closest thing you'll find to what you're looking for are Steel Challenge matches.

 

[bigalexe]

I wasn't looking for a national thing... just that this board will get more views than a post on the bulletin board at my local club.

Good point on the ammo cost... I always forget that 12ga really is the cheapest shotgun ammo.

 

[1KPerDay]

My local club allows you to shoot rimfire in pretty much any match... you just don't get an official score against guys running centerfire. And there's a dedicated rimfire-only match once a year.

Around here bulk 12 and 20 gauge wal-mart stuff is about the same price.

 

[jmorris]

I shot the TX state multi gun with a 20 but not for cost. .410 costs a lot more than 12ga. As far as .22 goes there will be only a few guns you will wind up competing with (some version of a 10/22 to maintain round count or it will never take off. IDPA's DMG is a good example of 3 gun that no body wants to play mainly due to round count. 3 gun takes forever, loading and unloading. If you are only shooting 20 rounds or so an hour it is going to get old your first time out.

 

[FatPants]

For the $250 price difference, I'd rather shoot centerfire. When it comes down to it, if you cant afford $250 extra, you cant afford to shoot 3-gun.

 

[Justin]

There's a certain amount of inherent logic to running a rimfire two-gun match. The price of the guns doesn't matter. Anyone who shoots enough 3 Gun will end up spending a lot more on ammo than guns in as little as a year or so, anyway.

A regular rimfire-only match would significantly reduce the cost of ammo, which is one of the biggest expenses of shooting this game.

 

[helotaxi]

When you factor in the price of ammo, the difference is much greater than the estimated $250.

Also if you're talking about being other than frustrated in normal 3-gun you're going to spend WAY more than $750 on a rifle and closer to $400 for a shotgun. I'd also not consider competing with a $350 pistol either. $500 is probably a better estimate.

I'd just as soon leave out the shotgun and go straight rimfire...which is where the "Rimfire Action" competition comes in. Tactical, run-and-gun style competition using .22LR firearms. The Ruger MkIII 22/45, Browning Buckmark, SIG Mosquito, Walther P22 and the various .22lr conversions for the full power handguns out there are perfect for the task and there are a wealth of "tactical" semi-auto .22LR rifles out there with detachable mags and enough rail space to mount every "go-fast" goodie out there but a standard 10/22 or any other box-mag fed semi would work. $500-600 for good guns bought new. Another $200 for additional mags (using the 10/22 and MkIII as a reference at $25 per mag and 4 extras each). Figure $8-10 per 100rds for pistol ammo (most all of them only like the pretty good stuff for reliable function) and $15 per 500 for the rifles (much less picky) will get you going. You can use the cheap stuff to practice with the pistol but you will probably find yourself clearing a lot of jams.

 

[kingcheese]

poor-mans 3-gun
nagant rifle
nagant revolver
500 pump gun

three very cheap guns, and they might not be allowed in most competition, well the 500 probabally be ok

 

[Justin]

All sports are going to have an equipment barrier, in other words, if you want to get the most out of the game (as well as yourself) certain pieces of gear are going to pretty much be a requirement.

While you'll be more than welcome to run a surplus bolt gun or revolver at a local match, it would likely hinder your ability to shoot up to your potential. For example, most matches require two hits on paper targets for rifle and pistol. It's going to be hard to run a course of fire double-tapping paper targets with a Mosin Nagant.

Similarly, it will be difficult to run a Nagant revolver. The limited capacity means you'll need to be constantly reloading, and I'm not even sure that they make speed loaders for those guns, so you'll have to load your rounds one at a time.

Some matches enforce a time limit on each stage. At local matches these limits might be pretty lenient, upwards of four or five minutes, but if your equipment requires to constantly be reloading or operating the gun, that's going to make it harder to beat the par time.

For 3 Gun you'll want, at the very least, a semi-auto rifle, semi-auto double-stack handgun, and a pump-action 12 gauge shotgun, with a semi-auto being the preferred setup.

Now, this doesn't mean you have to run out and buy a JP-CTR02. I've seen plenty of people competing with box-stock AR15s and even Mini14s do just fine.

For the first couple of years, I ran a nearly stock 16 inch Rock River for my rifle, and it was perfectly adequate until my skill level caught up.

Ultimately, if you end up falling in love with the sport, the cost of the gun will end up being a fairly minor part of the overall cost to play the game. You'll end up spending more in ammo, gas, and match fees than you would on buying even a top-of-the-line gun.