First episode of this season just played. It makes you wonder about all that training and world championships and stuff like that with the Golf Pro shooting better than all the other guys. It definitely is just about the basics. Looks like a pretty good season coming up, what with the paintball guns, tommy guns, M1 Garands, etc.
It seems like the people who are world champions with certain weapons always seem to fuck up with them. When the two blue team pistol champs miss all their shots, it makes you wonder.
My money is on the red team. Specifically, those two rednecks. Give me a guy who hunts for a living, over a guy who shoots for a job, any day of the week. Holy crap, the "professional" shooters take all the fun out of shooting. Dude, you're blasting a .44 MAGNUM! Dirty Harry. It's a what happens when a revolver rapes an Abrams tank. You grow hair on your balls just looking at it. Don't hold it like's it's gonna bite you, and don't stand like you're auditioning for "There's a Stick Up My Ass on Broadway." Have fucking fun. Don't over-think shit (I'm talking to you, Wannabe-Tiger-Woods). I liked the first season, and I think this season will be even better, but enough with this whole "oh these pistols have a lot of history behind them, let's re-create some shit our target demographic doesn't give two fucks about." I appreciate the fact that they're old weapons, they have a story behind them, and all that cool stuff. But I want to see these "marksmen" do more than just run a few yards and try to hit a moving target. I want to see them have to shoot with their off-hand. Blindfolded. Behind their back. In the dark. Holding the gun upside down. At their waist. Spin around a baseball bat ten times then powder 5 clay pigeons in a dozen shots. I want to see them throw hand grenades. Kill-shot using kentucky windage with a Walmart BB gun. Shoot a slingshot accurately with whatever projectile is on the ground. Most importantly, I want to be on this show.
I've never heard of this show, but am about half-way through the first season. Very interesting premise, and I'm enjoying the crap out of it. Hell, I'd pay money to go to a 1-2 week camp that did something like this. Looks like a blast, and I'd love to give it a shot myself. That being said, I can't get over the BS drama that is being shown in the first season. A couple of those guys need to give their head a shake.
I caught the first season on a marathon and loved it. Whored through the thing in one sunday I think. I'm pissed it took so long for season 2, they made it seem like they were going to start it a week after the first season came out. I'm betting on the Red team also. Those rednecks just have it naturally. I hope the chick stays a little longer and does something interesting. For some reason I don't think the drama will be as high this season and the challenges look great. The personalities are a little more boring though. We'll see.
Watch the second episode. I think this season is headed in a good direction. Spoiler I thought the team challenge in this episode was awesome. I was wishing there'd be a ton more people getting painted up, but it still added to the competition considerably. I also want to shoot a Thompson now. Badly. .
What I think they should have done for the team challenge in episode two was... Spoiler Instead of the whole running thing, which was stupid, have paintball guns with smaller clips. The team doing the challenge would have a bit of cover but if they wanted a clear shot, they'd have to pop and shoot, using the time between the paintball gun reloads. Then they'd be under pressure because they'd have only the time in between reloads to shoot or just keep getting popped in the back of the head. Once they got to the spot, they had all day, which was weak. I can't wait for the LMGs.
This episode was meh except for the elimination challenge. Those 2011's were sick!! The speedshooting version of the 1911, they look nothing like the original and shoot so fantastically.
I thought this past episode kicked ass, with the exception of Jay eliminating Darryl. I'm amazed how the cocky bastard can back up his resistance to professionals trying to help him. Using 10/22's and a Smith and Wesson .22 in the episode was a great idea. Like it was said, .22's show who marksmen are. Of course, I'm not biased at all*, but I think it was good to go back to basics right before the teams are dissolved. I don't know if I should be surprised or not that Brian Zins was as good with a rifle as he is a pistol (as the blue team sat him down often), but then again... Spoiler http://www.nrablog.com/post/2009/01/31/Who-is-Brian-Zins.aspx Looks like they're gonna use some cool guns in the upcoming episode. Big, loud ones. *I've got a dozen 10/22 stocks in the basement in various stages of completion. Yep, I like seeing them being used.
Jay pisses me off. Part of it is because I tend to agree with a lot of what he says with respect to technique (don't change just before you have to compete), but he comes off like a dick with his attitude. Sure, if you were training for a competition in the future, it makes sense to learn the "proper" techniques and practice them so they become second nature. But the day before the competition? That'll fuck you up, I think. In the heat of battle, you're going to revert back to what you're used to doing, as you haven't had time to build up the muscle memory, etc. If you hadn't practised like that, you'd be more screwed than you would have been normally. And he had the gayest rifle stance ever, and went slow as hell with it, and it was the reason they lost the challenge in the first place. They shouldn't have switched up to the handgun in the elimination, I thought. The elimination competition was very cool, though, and I'm tempted to build out one of those target setups at my place. But yeah, .50 action coming up... looking forward to that. Reach out and touch someone indeed. I'm really hoping they push the boundaries and try for some extreme challenges with them.
I'm hoping for 1000 yard shooting with the .50. Jay's goofy stance was made for goofy looking target rifles like this, not a 10/22: Spoiler It's the most precise way to shoot offhand (target shooting, not hunting) but he couldn't even get that grip right (his left hand was a mess). No reason he couldn't shoot faster with it too... it's obvious he's never been shooting with a rifle (or anything, for that matter) outside a range and has been in a real hurry to squeeze the trigger. Bottom line, the show will be much better when his ass is gone.
I hear ya. Here's my first .22 competition target rifle my dad bought for me back in 1980 or so. Fucker weighs almost 30 lbs, and precision target shooting when standing demands you keep your elbow close and braced, just like Jay did. But that's fucked up when it comes to mobility and speed.
I don't like Jay's attitude, but he is definitely a great shooter. He takes criticism worse than anyone I know, which is his downfall and definitely showed during the challenge yesterday. He is worse in his technique than everyone because of it. I said from the start that he should go far because he's not set in his ways, but that got turned around real quick. I was incredibly pissed when he beat Daryll too. The .50 cal should be awesome! 1000 yd shots... that USAF sniper should do really, really well.
Yeah, Daryl beat himself. Stupid little shit, like not seating the mag properly in the rifle, etc, did him in. I think Jay's biggest advantage is he's REALLY cool under pressure... have to give him that. I think that trumps skill every time, unless it's something crazy like shooting that axe blade and splitting the bullet in the previous episode. And I hope they don't do stupid shit with the .50 to try and "level the playing field" to take away some of the sniper's advantages... just let them deal with windage, optical distortions, and Coriolis effect, and have at it.
I noticed a lot of fumbling with mags and I imagined reloading would be fun to watch to. It is, however, one of the downfalls of a 10/22... unless it's fitted well and you've got lots of practice with the mag release, they aren't the easiest to do fast. However, that is stuff that makes or breaks any challenge. I've never shot a .50, nor have I shot at 1000. However, I've read enough about it to make me extremely curious as to how these guys will perform. Reading the wind will ultimately determine the winner, and that is something I have focused on very hard while shooting .22 benchrest rifles. It is difficult and requires discipline and practice to only fire during the right wind and aim at the right spot. Way more difficult than it sounds. Long range shooting can be a devil, but I imagine those big, fast .50 cal bullets are pretty stable at long ranges. Much, much more than the guns I shoot.
The wind will be the deciding factor, no doubt about it. Take a look at any of the competitions so far and the flags are going nuts. Straight sideways. Whoever can do the proper windage adjustments on the fly will win. Period. There will be no waiting for the wind to cooperate at that range, as it will be changing over too great a distance. It might settle down at 100yds but it will be increasing at 600 and then backing at 800. I've shot competitively at 800 yards when I was in the military, and training was some if the hardest I've ever done for any shooting sport. It was mentally exhausting. I also hope they spend more time with the expert as it'll be interesting to hear what he/she's got to say.
I wouldn't be surprised if Jay gets selected for the elimination challenge regardless of the outcome of the competition tonight.
Well that was interesting, I've shot the M-2, but not the SASR. Spoiler That was unforgivable for that Marine to not even hit the damn target the entire time. He couldn't even load it correctly, it was that bad. And the elimination challenge was pretty sweet, it would be bad ass to shoot an M-1 Garand. Pretty difficult challenge too, those targets were only up for a few seconds, and moving in the prone is very hard to do. Goes to show you, the basics are where it's at. Jay hung with the big dogs for the entire time until now. I had no idea the rest of the crew hated that Navy dude either.