Jake is (finally) gone, Mike’s a zombie, and there’s only one episode of Top Shot Season 3 left this season. So, who’s going to defeat the other three competitors (and the red mist) and become America’s next Top Shot? Let us know in the comments, and you could win some bitchin’ History Channel/Top Shot stuff:
First person to correctly name the winner tonight gets a spiffy History Channel messenger bag
Second person gets a Top Shot iPod soft case
Third person gets a Large or XL (your choice) History Channel T-shirt
Make sure to enter a valid email address when you submit your answer, and we’ll contact you for your shipping details if you’re one of the lucky three.
Thanks again to the awesome people at History Channel and Top Shot for sending us a nice selection of items to give away to our readers, and for making a pretty darn good show about competitive shooting.
APPLY TODAY!
Email TopShotCasting@gmail.com with your name, city, state, phone number, a recent photo of yourself and a brief explanation of why you are America’s “Top Shot.” For more information, visit pilgrimstudios.com/casting/topshot. Producers will get in touch if they need additional information.
This is an ongoing casting call. Currently there is no deadline for submissions or schedule for the final casting process and production of the next season. Still, we’d like to hear from you!
If you are thinking about answering the casting call, here’s a tip – don’t wait until the last minute. If you do, you might end up having to shoot your introduction video in the basement of a Holiday Inn, then uploading it using the hotel’s computer because you crashed your laptop’s hard drive the night before. On a related note, I do not lose sleep at night wondering why I wasn’t chosen for the next season.
And for those wondering (all three of you) if I’ll be tossing my hat into the reality show ring again, the answer is YES. I figure I’ll just keep answering their casting calls until they either invite me to the in-person auditions or they block my email address.
It’s Tuesday, which means it is time for another episode of Top Shot on the History Channel. We’re making your Top Shot Tuesday even better by running a Twitter contest during tonight’s episode (10/9c). We’re going to be giving away some History Channel merch, so you don’t want to miss it.
We’ll be tweeting out a question about the show during tonight’s episode, so follow us at Twitter.com/GreatSatanInc and tweet us back with your answer (make sure to use @GreatSatanInc and the hashtag #topshot in your tweet). If you win, we will send you a brand-spankin’ new History channel t-shirt.
Good luck and may the red mist stay clear of your favorite contestant tonight!
Note: Merchandise provided by the fine folks at the History Channel. Thanks!
I’ve only been shooting for a couple of years, but I’ve already amassed a decent-sized collection of cheap shooting glasses that don’t work well, and are now collecting dust. I recently upgraded to a pair of $30 outdoor store sunglasses because I just can’t bring myself to drop a few hundred dollars on “professional” glasses, and the options for anything in between big box store $5 cheapies and full paycheck glasses are very few and far between.
Enter the 5.11 Tactical Deflect Shooting glasses. At $99.99 plus shipping, you get the glasses with interchangeable smoke, clear and ballistic orange lenses, a cleaning bag, eyeglass holder and molded carrying case with a strappy thing with a snap that I would guess is for use with other tactical gear (sorry, I’m new at being tacticool).
I’ve had a chance to wear the glasses several times while shooting in both daylight and at night with range lighting, and here’s my breakdown:
Fit and Comfort: I was a little worried that the 5.11 shooting glasses would be too big, as I have an average, girl-sized head. Not only do they fit me well, but on a recent trip to the range, C. Pig borrowed them to wear while driving, and they fit his larger-than-average noggin as well (he needs a bigger head to fit all the extra brains he has up in there). I’m normally not a big fan of wide arms on glasses, as they can interfere with ear protection, but I’ve had no problems with them getting in the way or causing my ear muffs to gap. These glasses have been so comfortable that I’ve been in no hurry to change over to my sunglasses on the drive home after wearing them for 3-4 hours on the range.
Optical Quality and Safety: What was I thinking using el cheapo glasses all this time? These babies are clear (both smoke and clear lenses), with no sign of distortion. The first time I wore them was during a practice that started just before sundown, and it was way past dusk before I felt the need to change over to clear lenses. There have been no signs of fogging, which is awesome, and one of the reasons most of the glasses I’ve purchased have ended up in the closet.
I’ve taken more than a couple shells to the face while wearing these glasses (extractor issues seem to follow me everywhere), and there are no signs of scratches or dings. I’ve been really good about putting them back in their case after each use, but they have taken a couple of tumbles on the ground. Again, no sign of scratching or dings. I have always been clumsy with hard on my sunglasses, so while I know I’m living on borrowed time with the scratching, I’m pleased to see that replacement lenses can be purchased separately. That may seem like a no-brainer, but I’ve got another pair of glasses that I’ve pretty much destroyed the smoke lenses on, and I would have to by the whole set again to get the replacement lenses.
Replacing the Lenses: This is the only thing about the glasses that I don’t like. The glasses come with instructions for changing the lenses, but I couldn’t get the lenses to budge. After about 15 minutes of struggling with them, I finally turned them upside down and flexed them from the middle outward, and got the lenses to release. Popping the new lenses in was a bit of a pain, but I got that figured out in about five minutes. I have noticed that the lenses are coming out and going back in much easier, now that I’ve done it a few times. Last week, I forgot to change the lenses out before heading to the range for an evening of steel shooting, and I was able to replace the lenses at the range in only a couple of minutes.
Overall, I am very pleased with these shooting glasses, and I guarantee they won’t be gathering dust with my other pairs of shooting glasses anytime soon. The 5.11 Tactical Deflects are a great value, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking to purchase a solid pair of shooting glasses. For full specs on the glasses, visit the 5.11 Tactical website.
Yes, these glasses were supplied to me at no charge by folks at 5.11 Tactical in exchange for my unbiased review. I was not compensated for the above review and No, you can’t have them.
Top Shot 3 is right around the corner, premiering on Tuesday, August 9th at 10/9c. Even with the somewhat lopsided ratio of drama llama to actual shooting, I’ll be watching (and hoping the drama llama goes on hiatus for season 3). I’ve already got my favorite shooter picked out for the season – Sara Ahrens. I had the pleasure of co-manning the WOMA booth at SHOT Show this year with her, and she is funny, beautiful and knows how to shoot. I will be looking forward to watching her kick some tail this season.
If you’re not familiar with Top Shot Season 3’s cast of characters, here’s the “exclusive” cast intro video:
In other exciting news, we will be having a Top Shot contest with some great prizes, courtesy of the fine folks at the History Channel. As they say in the TV business, stay tuned for details!
I also wanted to take a minute to give a big thanks to all of you (including the Top Shot producers) who provided me with awesome support over the last couple of months as I made my way through the application process for Top Shot Season 4. Sadly, I did not make the cut, but no worries – I will be back with bells on (and some bigger wins under my belt) when next season’s application comes out.
I’m a bit skeptical about the claim that recreational and sport shooters have surpassed golfers here (golf has been ginormous in Arizona forever), but it’s still great news.
I’d also like to give kudos to KPHO for doing a straight story on the shooting sports in Arizona, and foregoing the liberal slanted, pants-peeing that we see so often in MSM stories about guns and/or the shooting sports. Oh, and KPHO? Here’s a tip – just because someone answers a question you posted on Facebook, doesn’t mean you have to put it on the news.
A few months ago, my awesome competition pistol got a boo-boo, and had to be sent back to the manufacturer for some TLC. I needed a new pistol STAT, and rather than purchase another USPSA production division pistol, I decided it was time to pick up a 1911 so I could start training for the next Western States Single Stack Match, and to avoid becoming a One Gun Princess.
At SHOT Show earlier this year, I had the chance to run a few rounds through a Rock Island Armory 1911 in 9mm, and I remembered being impressed with both the gun and its modest price tag. At under $500, we were willing to take a chance that the RIA would perform acceptably in a competition setting, and we liked the benefit of 9mm being more cost effective than a 45 ACP.
I was able to find an RIA 1911-A1 (tactical version with Novak style sights) at a local shop, brought it home and gave it a light cleaning, then packed it in my range bag for use the next morning. Out of the box, it performed flawlessly – Zero malfunctions, and it shot more accurately than I did.
There was only one issue with the 1911’s performance, and I noticed it about halfway through the match. I felt a slight burning sensation coming from my right arm, and my first thought was that it was time to reapply the sunscreen. I then looked at my arm and noticed that it was dotted up and down with red marks from spent shells repeatedly tagging me.
We took it home and figured out pretty quickly that the extractor probably needed a little adjustment. As soon as I started taking it apart, I was really glad I had picked up a couple of tools for the 1911 – a plastic barrel bushing wrench and an extractor removal tool from Brownells. Both tools are already invaluable to me – I don’t have to call Capitalist Pig out to the garage every 10 minutes to be my extra hand or muscle something for me (which probably makes the tools invaluable to him as well). The extractor tool is especially handy, as one end works perfectly to get the firing pin out, and the other end has a nifty little notch that makes quick work of extracting the extractor, so to speak. After the extractor was out, C. Pig took a look and did just a wee bit of re-profiling to one of the edges, and it’s been extracting casings away from my body parts ever since.
I got my production pistol back from the shop some time ago, but I’ve enjoyed shooting the Rock Island 1911 so much that just within the last couple of weeks I’ve forced myself to go back to the production pistol, since I’ll be shooting my first “big” match with it this fall. I’m sure my RIA in 9mm won’t be collecting any dust though, I am already looking forward to shooting it again.
Disclaimer: I did not get paid to write this, or any other posts on this site. The kind folks at Brownells provided me with the extractor tool with no expectation of anything other than an honest review. When I say I like it, I mean it. If you took mine away from me (don’t even think about it), I would buy another one the same day.
Jake is (finally) gone, Mike’s a zombie, and there’s only one episode of Top Shot Season 3 left this season. So, who’s going to defeat the other three competitors (and the red mist) and become America’s next Top Shot? Let us know in the comments, and you could win some bitchin’ History Channel/Top Shot stuff:
