Let's talk about: good competition gear -non-firearm

[mettle]

I hope to at least see and participate in 1 USPSA multi-gun shoot this year. I also want to purchase long lasting, quality gear recommended from guys who have 'been there and done that'.

Please tell me about,
belts,
holsters --is my factory XD stuff good to go for a USPSA shoot?
mag holders for rifle and pistol
side saddle stuff and shotgun shell placement

etc. etc.

Is there an outlet of info on this BESIDES having to spend $200 on participating in events only find what you bought was wrong?

I obviously won't be spending $700 on new gear for a newbie to shooting competitive sports; but, I think some of you pros and trainers could/should get a sticky going on quality stuff that is legal for the sports.

Please...pretty please? lol.

 

[Lars]

I intend to shoot a three gun event. I plan on bringing my Glock 19, Magazines, Holster, and Mag carriers......

and then a box of .223, and a box of 12 gauge shells.

I'll borrow a rifle and shotgun, with accessories for my first time to make sure I have what I need.

 

[m_deaner]

You can find a lot of info on the various USPSA accessories at the Brian Enos Forums (Brian Enos - Competition Shooting Books, Slide-Glide, DVDs & Reloading).

Belts: CR speed is probably the most popular, and is what I use. Some like double-alpha belts.

Holsters: This choice depends, on part, which division you're shooting in. I have no experience with the factory XD holster. For production, the Blade-tech DOH (Drop, offset holster) is probably the most popular, followed by Comp-tac.

Mag carriers (pistol): CR speed carriers are popular but there are lots of good choices here.

You will need a range bag of some sort. I use a 5-gallon bucket with a Bucket Boss, and like it better than my Bob Allen range bag.

 

[rhino]

m_deaner's pointer to Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo! (Powered by Invision Power Board) is a good one. Lots of good information there, especially if you have the time and patience to use the search function extensively. Not everything you read there will be valuable or correct, but it's probably the best source of information for practical shooting online.

Belts ... do you want a belt you wear through your belt loops, or do you want a belt that you can put your holster and mag carriers on it, then just strap it on when you get ready to shoot?

For the former, your best bet is an instructor's belt of some kind. The industry standard comes from Wilderness Tactical Products, LLC | Home of the Titanium Instructor Belt, and I'd get the version with the polymer liner to add stiffness. A less expensive and entirely serviceable alternative is the Uncle Mike's instructor's belt. It has the polymer liner and you should be able to find one for $25 or so.

If you want a dedicated belt, again m_deaner is on the money. The CR Speed belt is probably the most popular, and for good reason. You will need both the outer belt and the inner belt (which goes through your belt loops like a regular belt). The two velcro together when you wear them.

The holster that comes with your XD is actually pretty good. What kind of holster you want for an "upgrade" will depend on the division in which you want to shoot. A good (and very popular) option is the dropped/offset holster from Blade Tech holsters, knives and tactical gear for military, law enforcement, shooting competition and hunting.. You can use it in Production, Limited, Limited 10, and Open with your XD.

Mag holders are going to be a personal preferance thing. You'll want at least four mags on your belt if you shoot Production or Limited 10. I would get a couple of Uncle Mike's Kydex double mag holders and use them until I knew exactly what I wanted. You might find they meet your needs nicely and won't want to change.

For rifle mag holders, I'd go with the injection molded mag carriers from Blade Tech holsters, knives and tactical gear for military, law enforcement, shooting competition and hunting. with TekLoks. They're inexpensive, work really well, and are ambidextrous. The latter may not seem important, but you can wear your rifle mags with either bullets toward your belt buckle, or bullets away from your belt buckle, depending on how you choose to reload. Ambidextrous pouches allow you to experiment and switch if you choose.

For shotgun shells ... that's going to depend on how you choose to reload. You're going to want to either wear "trays" on your belt or mount shells on the gun or your arm. The trays are made by Choate, California Competition Works, and a few others. Sidesaddles and such to mount on the gun are not created equal ... by far the best bet is gear from 3 GunGear Competition and Tactical Gear.

If you choose to reload with your support hand, especially if you can grab and load four at a time, the belt trays will work best for you. If you load with your firing hand, those will work, or you may want to load directly from the gun from sidesaddles. Shells in individual belt loops are the slowest regardless of how you choose to load. If you shoot in open division, you can use speedloaders, which you'll carry in a pouch on your belt.

I hope to at least see and participate in 1 USPSA multi-gun shoot this year. I also want to purchase long lasting, quality gear recommended from guys who have 'been there and done that'.

Please tell me about,
belts,
holsters --is my factory XD stuff good to go for a USPSA shoot?
mag holders for rifle and pistol
side saddle stuff and shotgun shell placement

etc. etc.

Is there an outlet of info on this BESIDES having to spend $200 on participating in events only find what you bought was wrong?

I obviously won't be spending $700 on new gear for a newbie to shooting competitive sports; but, I think some of you pros and trainers could/should get a sticky going on quality stuff that is legal for the sports.

Please...pretty please? lol.

 

[bwframe]

Lotsa good info here, if you haven't read it;
https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/shooting_sports/11995-let_s_talk_3-gun_multi-gun.html
A thought from a wise man;

...my youngest son dearly wants to shoot 3gun, but we have a deal that he shoots a full season of pistol in order to learn the game.

Just my rookie 2 cents, but I'll be using my carry gear for USPSA pistol, with the addition of a 4 mag holder. Not saying there won't be some more race stuff added down the road, but my main objective is gun handling followed by familiarization of the sport.

 

[slow1911s]

Please tell me about,
belts - Safariland & CR Speed will be fine (inner/outer systems)
holsters --is my factory XD stuff good to go for a USPSA shoot? - yes
mag holders for rifle and pistol - Blade-Tech for both, or California Comp Works or 3-GunGear.com for the rifle
side saddle stuff and shotgun shell placement - 3-GunGear.com side saddles are great, but also consider belt strippers/trays from California Comp Works or Choate Machine and Tool

All of this can be had from either Brownells or ShootersConnection.com.

For most any 3-gun around here, for rifle, if you start with a 30 rd mag, the most you should need to reload to is another 30, so one mag holder will be enough. Treat pistol like you would a normal pistol match, so 3-4 magazine holders (depending on your blaster's capacity.)

Shotgun - different animal altogether. Shotgun success is due to two things - shooting it like a rifle and reloading. You really need to pick one reloading method and practice the hell out of it. I am primarily a stripper/belt tray reloader because...well...Taran Butler is a stud and that how he does it and kicks ass and it seems to work better than the side saddle for me. Your mileage my vary. However, I have had to, on long courses do both, so I practice both.

Getting to my point, I'd suggest an 8-rd side saddle (3gungear.com) and then two belt trays (4 or 6 rounds). That would give you 9 in the gun, 8 on, and another 8-12 on your belt for a total of 25-29 rounds which should be plenty for the matches around here (if you shoot your gun like a rifle )

Good luck and feel free to PM me with any questions.

DP

 

[mettle]

Can I ask about sling use? Is a single point a good choice, for the portion where you must drop the rifle and go to the pistol?

I am trying to get a bearing on what gear will be used 'in play' as well as just needed to participate.

 

[obijohn]

typical 3gun matches don't require slings and in fact a sling would be a hindrance. the one time i was required to use a sling (TN state championship) no one ended up using one. you will typically holster your pistol and pickup a staged long gun, or drop your long gun at a designated spot and retrieve the next.
as far as gear goes, if your holster covers the trigger guard and you can reholster onehanded, you are able to carry 4 mags on your belt (or loops on your pants, right lars?), you can stick a rifle mag in your back pocket and have a rolypoly or similar to carry shot shells, you are geared up to try 3gun/multigun. maybe not what you want to hear and definitely not the optimum, but i would hate to see you drop a bunch of money on gear to try something you don't care to do.
come try the sport with what you have right now and see if you like it enough to invest in the trick gear. see what other shooters are using and judge accordingly.
one other thing, i've yet to be at a match (in over two decades) where there wasn't enough spare gear, and the willingness to loan it, that a new shooter couldn't play.

 

[rhino]

Can I ask about sling use? Is a single point a good choice, for the portion where you must drop the rifle and go to the pistol?

Slings play no role in USPSA 3-gun or multi-gun. I think you'd give a whole crowd of people simultaneous heat attacks and strokes if you dropped your rifle to the sling and transitioned to your pistol. There are specific rules concerning "abandoning" guns during a course of fire, and use of a sling is not among the acceptable choices. Slings are allowed for transporting your long gun around the range. You may also use/wear a sling during a course of fire if you choose, with some rules about how it must be configured at the start of a course of fire.

I typically do wear my sling when I'm shooting a rifle stage, but not during a stage when I have to abandon the rifle and switch to another gun. It wastes too much time getting out of the sling, even if you have a quick disconnect.

Are there non-USPSA matches that allow transitions using a sling? Yes. The question is, do you know how to do it safely? You'll need to know how and be able to do it safely for those matches. Trying for the first time during a match isn't a great idea.

 

[Fenway]

Great posts Rhino! Thank you!

 

[FieldShunt]

One more thought, just to add: gear is fun, and I have it. I like it.
But in a choice between spending an extra two or three hundred bucks on more competitive gear and more ammunition to practice with, the ammunition choice will do far more for your scores.
At the USPSA multi-gun end of the action pistol spectrum, it's true gear makes a bit more of a difference, but at the other end, it means actually very little.
IDPA or USPSA Single Stack and Production is as gear-irrelevant as can be. Practice, and training if you can get it, will get you higher in the standings.
That said, if the money's not an issue, more gear is fun.

 

[pinhead56]

I just ordered a new leather belt for shooting IDPA and steel. I have it on order from Gun Belts by The Belt Man It was not an arm & leg and can be worn with a pair of jeans by itself. I ordered the 1-1/2 variety and I can't wait to get it. He makes each one custom as they're ordered. No mass production here. It's made for carrying and supposed to be quite stiff. Anyone else around here have one? My paddle holster and mag carriers outght to be happy!

 

[iujeffcpa]

m_deaner's pointer to Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo! (Powered by Invision Power Board) is a good one. Lots of good information there, especially if you have the time and patience to use the search function extensively. Not everything you read there will be valuable or correct, but it's probably the best source of information for practical shooting online.

The above is a good site to start with but you may want to go out to www.uspsa and click onthe "Match Rules" link. This link will allow you to download the rules, in pdf form, for handguns/rifles/shotguns.

I just started competition shooting and it would be fun to compete in a 3 gun match.

Good luck!

 

[muncie21]

I would spend some money on a dedicated gun belt. They are likely more rigid than the one holding up your pants, and much easier to arm/disarm during a match.

After that, spend your money and time learning the basics and becoming comfortable with your gun. A cheap holster and mag carriers will do the trick at this point. Shaving .5 seconds from your draw is much less important than being able to call your shots and hit consistently.

 

[Barry in IN]

Maybe this was mentioned, but I didn't see it. This is for the just-starting-out competitor, or the average (cheap) guy who likes to find gear that that wll do several jobs. A hard-core competitor wouldn't consider it, nor should they. It's always best to buy the best for the job rather than a fit-all. But with all that in mind...

One of the most useful pieces of gear I own (and not just for competition) is a medium size Maxpedition Rolly Poly. ROLLYPOLY® (MM Folding Dump Pouch) - ROLLYPOLY® SERIES - MAXPEDITION HARD-USE GEAR® (Primary innovator and premier manufacturer of outdoor, hunting and tactical nylon gear)

I got mine for use as a dump pouch in carbine classes, but it's been pretty decent as mag pouch, shotgun shell pouch, Garand clip pouch, etc.
It is NOT as slick as a row of Kydex mag pouches or shotgun shell holders, but it can do both jobs OK, takes up a lot less room on the belt, and rolls up out of the way when not needed. I put mine on at the start of the match and leave it on.
And it's fairly cheap. Most places have them for $25-30.

While it isn't the best possible thing, it isn't bad. If it's a choice between using your pants pockets until you can afford a few Kydex mag pouches and shell holders- buy the Rolly Poly to get you by.

One plus the Rolly Poly has for me is something most wouldn't need. And that is the fact it's nearly universal and works with most guns' mags. I don't use the same guns every match. I tend to use 3-gun/Multigun as a place to experiment with different guns (I'll use an AR one match, an AK the next, then an M1 Carbine, etc) and it works for whatever I bring. Most hard-core shooters have settled on one rifle and one shotgun, but those just starting out may try a couple of different rifles at first so it would suck to buy gear for one then switch.

Of course, it works bettter with some mags than others- AR and AK mags stand up and stack in there pretty well so they hold position, but M1 Carbine mags or Garand clips get swallowed up so they twist and turn, and may be pointing any direction when you pull one out. Shotgun shells can be facing any direction when plucked out, but it still beats the other "just to get me by" shotgun ammo carrier: an elastic shell belt that won't retain the shells and leaves a shell trail behind you.

Again, it's not the best, but it's one of the better "temporary" setups. It beats using pants pockets, or in my case: buying a set of pouches for each gun I own.

 

[rhino]

That is good advice, Barry.

And I think even experienced competitors can get good use for them. Using them as a dump pouch to hold the shells you're going to use to initially load your shotgun, barney mags, etc. They are especially useful for NRA Action Pistol, where you don't do reloads on the clock, but you need eight magazines or speed loaders on each event.

 

[Barry in IN]

The Roly Poly also works great for holding water bottles. I know that isn't something most spend much time thinking about, but maybe we should. You are more prone to drink water if you always have it hanging on your belt.

As I found when assembling a wooden playhouse for the kids last summer, they also work OK for holding nails or screws...after you tape over the drain hole in the bottom. My wife thought that was the slickest thing when I ripped the velcro off, popped the Poly open, and dumped a box of screws in there.