New season of Top Shot

[A-R]

George is a typical young, cocky, talented guy who hasn't learned the meaning of tact. I'm glad he's on our side. But disappointed that we learned more about his immature personality and less about his obviously high level of skill as a shooter. From first episode I figured it would be George, Ashley, and the DHS guy (name?) at the end. Had it not been for DHS guy's brain fart running up the hill with his rifle in hand and the stupid "gang of 4" junk, I think those three would've proven to be the best and most well-rounded shooters, with Gunny and possibly the sheriff from the blue team in the mix as well.

[The Annoyed Man]

Something I noticed about the intro to the show when they are showing each competitor was that the end of barrel of the Asian gal's AK was crimped. As in no way that weapon could fire at the very least without a total barrel replacement. I took a still of it, hopefully I can get it to show up. We'll see.

Wow, good eye. I didn't notice that.

Actually, on further review, it isn't crimped. It's just a funny angle of an AK compensator.

Here is a view of the compensator by itself:


Here is another:


Now here is the isolated muzzle break from the picture you took:


So it's a normal AK muzzle brake, not crimped.

[mbw]

but NO WAY is Chris Reed the best shooter on that show.

Boy do I have a different opinion about Chris Reed. In the final, he pretty well wiped out the guy that I considered the top competitor, Gunny.

You may not agree, but a guy from the country who grew up hunting and shooting would always be my choice in a competition that showcased different weapons. Most of the other guys and girls were specialist's in one firearm or weapon, especially the military people. There are major differences between hunters and structured competion type of guys. Hunters can do many things well or they are not successful, single weapon specialists, not so much.

[Chrispy]

I'm touched by George's generosity; I've seen similar things happen in competition.

I'm with you man. At the beginning I really didn't like him because of his cockiness but as the show went on I started to see that it was more for humor and image. I thought it took a lot of guts to do what he did during the horse match.

[Keith B]

but NO WAY is Chris Reed the best shooter on that show.

Boy do I have a different opinion about Chris Reed. In the final, he pretty well wiped out the guy that I considered the top competitor, Gunny.

You may not agree, but a guy from the country who grew up hunting and shooting would always be my choice in a competition that showcased different weapons. Most of the other guys and girls were specialist's in one firearm or weapon, especially the military people. There are major differences between hunters and structured competion type of guys. Hunters can do many things well or they are not successful, single weapon specialists, not so much.

As Hank Jr. says 'A country boy can survive'

[Dave2]

I'm touched by George's generosity; I've seen similar things happen in competition.

Me too, that's why I was wondering about the editing. Seems strange that someone so hateful towards one stranger* would be so kind to another. I try real hard to be a nice, generous guy, but I don't think I would've done that. I might've given him a sizable check afterwards if I'd won, but getting myself disqualified like that? George went above and beyond...

*Yeah, I know they weren't really strangers anymore when that happened, but still, how well can you really get to know someone in a couple weeks?

[Jasonw560]

I'm touched by George's generosity; I've seen similar things happen in competition.

Me too, that's why I was wondering about the editing. Seems strange that someone so hateful towards one stranger* would be so kind to another. I try real hard to be a nice, generous guy, but I don't think I would've done that. I might've given him a sizable check afterwards if I'd won, but getting myself disqualified like that? George went above and beyond...

*Yeah, I know they weren't really strangers anymore when that happened, but still, how well can you really get to know someone in a couple weeks?

They portrayed Jamie as this " aw, shucks" kind of guy, and George as this type A arrogant kid, as well as the rest beating down on Jamie, but who knows the truth?

Somegimes, personalities clash.

Also, they were there 39 days or something like that.

When I was 10, I met this kid at summer camp. We got along great, and became fast friends. After camp, when we got older, he would come down here to visit, and I would go to Waco. I still consider him one of my best friends.

[Rugerboy50]

George was very generous in doing what he did.

Give it a few more season's on top shot and they will have a all star version or such that he will clean up on.

[G26ster]

I didn't think much of George from near the beginning, and still don't. I don't think he missed the rifle shot on purpose. He did miss the pistol shot to give Chris a second chance, but did that as a way for him to stay in the game for one more shot, feeling confident he could beat him then and feel OK about it. He did comment on how "out of it" Chris seemed after the first round.

From the beginning they made a pact and ganged up on Jamie because he was a "swimmer" in the Navy, not a shooter. Jamie held is own in every competition, survived multiple elimination rounds, as was in the top 5. They simply didn't like the guy. Even when he outperformed other members of the team, they still nominated him for elimination. George is a blowhard, and all season long he judged who should be there and who shouldn't. And each time one of his "shouldn't be here" picks succeeded, he just go more determined for them to be eliminated.

There was nothing ever indicated during the season that Chris "needed" the money. He said he'd use it for college for his daughter. That's not a dire need for friends to give up their shot at the money. Mostly, I really got a kick out of the "professionals" blaming the "amateurs" for moving on, when they got beat by them. I believe strongly that everyone on the show should "put up, or shut up." But then, we wouldn't have the soap opera aspect that makes the show hard to watch at times.

[texanron]

Watched the final episode last night via the DVR so I'm a day late. I believe George threw the "horse" type competition. Judging by the way Chris responded he knew George threw that competition as well. George turned out to not be such a bad guy after all. I was glad to see that Chris won the money since he was the one that put the red team together that dominated the show. The "soap opera" stuff is the only reason my wife enjoys the show. So without that aspect she would not have started to gain her interest in firearms.

[Skiprr]

but NO WAY is Chris Reed the best shooter on that show.

You may not agree, but a guy from the country who grew up hunting and shooting would always be my choice in a competition that showcased different weapons. Most of the other guys and girls were specialist's in one firearm or weapon, especially the military people. There are major differences between hunters and structured competition type of guys. Hunters can do many things well or they are not successful, single weapon specialists, not so much.

There's an interesting article in the May issue of NRA's American Rifleman titled, "Marksmanship Matters," by Barrett Tillman. The article also mentions a 2009, 72-page monograph by Maj. Thomas Ehrhart written for the School of Advanced Military Studies, U.S. Army Command, titled "Increasing Small Arms Lethality in Afghanistan: Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer."

The lead-in to the American Rifleman article reads: "The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have turned into 'rifle fights,' tactical situations for which many of America's troops have been ill-prepared." Some of the points pertinent here are:

• The Army dropped long-range riflery as a primary skill in 1958. [Not in the article, but coincidentally that was one year after the semi-auto M1 was officially replaced by the select-fire M14.]
• In WWII, the American infantry did not lose many rifle fights.
• In 1940, 43% of Americans lived in rural areas, and many grew up shooting and hunting.
• By 2010 census estimates, 80% of Americans now live in urban or suburban areas [mentioned in the article, but the specific percentage was not given].
• Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, as well as the Joint Chiefs, thanked the NRA following WWII for its role in helping train young people to handle firearms before they ever enlisted in the Army.
• Tillman writes, "Until recently the infantryman's primary weapon was a radio connected to an artillery battery, a helicopter gunship or an A-10 Warthog."
• In Afghanistan, 52% of small-arms engagements begin at a range of 500 meters.

Sort of a thread hijack, but the article was a bit of an "ah-hah" moment for me, especially with the information about rural vs. urban populations. In front of WWII, almost half the population lived in rural areas, and you can bet in that environment it was rare that a boy grew up who hadn't handled firearms and, more than once, gone hunting for his supper. So when a new recruit was rushed through basic training in 1942 and handed a brand new Garand, he already was skilled in the fundamentals of putting an accurate round at distance.

We know that many moth-balled M14s have been brought back out to serve in Afghanistan--as the article says, we have more than a few 20-year-old soldiers carrying 50-year-old rifles--but it's more about the preparedness and training.

On the show, George was a specialist, a trained Marine sniper, and he proved it using somebody else's Barrett and optics at 1,000 yards in high wind. You wonder how many rounds he's sent downrange developing the skill to do that on the first shot. [BTW, I think that stage should have been fewest rounds, not fastest to hit. The timer could have been used as a tiebreaker. But at distance there's not much of a premium on a 20-second shot vs. a 30-second shot: once you miss with a .50, your target ain't gonna be standing there stock-still waiting to see if you can make a small adjustment to your windage...]

But it was surprising to me to learn that an Army light infantryman today who participates in everything rifle-related--"...basic marksmanship, day and night qualification, unit live-fire exercises, shooting in NBC gear, thermal and infrared (IR) sights, etc..."--is expected to fire only 1,200 rounds per year. For the baseline infantryman who doesn't get into thermal and IR stuff, the annual round count is 490; 294 for the National Guard and Reserves. That round count is just too low to effectively maintain a skill, especially a skill that's an integral part of your job description.

My takeaways are: 1) Don't underestimate the country boy who's been shooting since he was seven years old; and 2) teach your children well.

[A-R]

RE: George, I do give him credit for stepping aside to let Chris win - very Christian/unselfish thing to do, without a doubt. I just don't like "rigged" competitions, so my criticism is that it worsened the competition. Also, George was very hostile toward many others on the show, most notably Jamie, who really proved he was good enough to hang with the better shooters and only got knocked out after FOUR elimination challenges - only maybe one of which he actually deserved to be sent to. Looking back on it now, even the last elimination that he lost to Chris almost seemed set up to give Chris the best chance of winning .... not until THAT challenge after almost two full seasons did the show FINALLY utilize a shotgun, and Chris obviously has more experience shooting clays than Jamie does.

As for Chris, I'm not knocking the guy and I do agree that "country boys can survive" and all that. He did perform well in most of the show, but he also had more truly bad performances than any of other final 5 contestants (George, Gunny, Jaimie, and Joe). More than once Chris was spared an elimination challenge as his "clan" ganged up on Jamie and sent him to elimination after elimination. The Homeland Security agent (Jermaine?) had ONE brain fart and that sent him to elimination and he was gone. Jamie went to four eliminations and won 3 of them. Golfer Jay went to at least 2 or 3 eliminations and won all but his last. But until the final shotgun elimination challenge against Jaimie, Chris never went to one despite some bad performances that warranted his going.

[A-R]

great post, skiprr, really interesting reading.

[stroo]

I just read something that said the Jaime came back from Afganistan in March. For you exmilitary guy, what does a rescue swimmer in the Navy do in Afganistan?

I personally thought that Gunny and Chris should have been in the elimination challenge that featured Jaime and Ashley. If so, I doubt Chris would have even been in the final four given that it was a pistol competition and given Gunny's proficiency with the pistol.

Clearly the gang of four rigged a number of the elimination competitions. Given that, I am not sure even the best four shots were in the final much less that Chris was the top shot.

Having said that, they all could shoot far better than I can and I have to say I am a little in all of all of their abilities.