Running Stealthy at Superstition Mountain

By Kelly Neal

Stealth: Shotgun

A Stealth shotgun is a direct descendant of the SOF rules. SOF mandated a shotgun with no more than a 22" barrel with a magazine tube no more than one inch past the muzzle. Speedloaders and optics were prohibited.

SMM3G modernized and simplified those rules. The shotgun must have a tubular magazine no more than 23.5" from the receiver. Barrel length would not be restricted.

The biggest change is that now optical sights are allowed, recognizing the trend of duty-ready RDSs (Red Dot Sights) on service weapons. I elected to go with my old SOF shotgun—a Benelli M1 built by Triangle Shooting Sports.

I am a fan of the Stealth shotgun rules as they result in a more "practical" shotgun than Tactical Division. In modern 3-Gun, a competitive Tac Div shotgun requires an elongated magazine holding 11-12+ rounds. This results in a decidedly less practical shotgun that resembles a Swiss pike.

At the match, the shotgun component of Stage 10 was another point of controversy. This stage resurrected the dreaded Standards.

SOF always had a challenging Standards stage, but this has certainly gone by the wayside in modern 3-Gunning. The only other match presenting Standards is Andrew Horner's excellent Blue Ridge 3-Gun.

The shotgun component of Stage 10 presented the shooter with three ports and three target arrays of four paper targets at 35 yards. Only slugs or 00 buck could be used.

The first array consisted of wide-open IPSC targets. The second had No Shoots covering about 40% the IPSC targets. The third had No Shoots covering about 50-60% of the IPSC targets.

Shooters had to engage one array through each port and do a reload in between. Scoring was the standard two hits anywhere or one A/B, even with slugs.

This was no doubt a challenging stage.

I elected to shoot slugs at the upper A/B zone on the third array and 00 buck at the first and second arrays. This was a good plan as I ended up with only one No Shoot penalty on the second array from an errant buckshot pellet.

This was the one stage where I definitely wished I had an RDS on my shotgun given the technical nature of the shots. Slug shots at an upper A/B zone are much easier with an RDS than iron sights.

Stage 10 was definitely unpopular and penalties abounded. I am in the minority of people who thought it was a good stage. It was hard but not unfair.

Having shot a true IPSC shotgun match in Europe has given me a different perspective. Americans have no idea the level of precision that a shotgun can have. This stage bore that out.

Stealth: Handgun

Stealth handgun revives the old IPSC Modified division as well as the SOF rules. The handgun with a magazine inserted and any accessories must fit into a box measuring 8.938"X 6.938" X 1.938". RDSs are allowed, but having an RDS on your slide will likely reduce the magazine capacity that you can use.

I opted for greater magazine capacity and shot an iron-sighted CZ SP01 with 23-round magazines. Given the lack of difficult shots, this proved a good decision but other matches could easily have different shooting problems.

Stage 8 was a pistol only free-for-all. It presented the shooter with a host of close-range target arrays in a hallway format.

The SOF twist? Tripwires!

The stage had a series of moveable tripwires that would activate a blank shotshell. Trip one? Now you shoot strong hand only. Trip two? Unload and show clear. Plus, trip wires would be moved between shooters. This was a fun run-n-gun stage.

Overall, the SMM3G did not present the shooter with any difficult pistol shots. A RDS presented no real advantage and maybe a slight disadvantage, given the reduced magazine capacity.

Wrap-Up

Without a doubt, this year's SMM3G was popular with some and not popular with others. Five-minute walkthroughs and moveable target arrays are not to everyone's taste.

Was SOF better than modern 3-Gun? Was the SMM3G living in a better remembered than relieved past? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Count me as one who liked the change of pace.

As for Stealth, does 3-Gun need yet another division? Should we have it? Creating 3-Gun divisions will never be easy and will never satisfy everybody. Just look at the difficulty in creating pistol divisions.

The issue with Tactical Division is that it's frozen in amber. It doesn't keep up with technological changes as they become real-world "tactical." Plus, it requires a decidedly un-tactical shotgun that's absurdly long.

I, for one, like Stealth, but I also like five-minute walkthroughs, semi-surprise stages and technical shots. No pleasing everyone.

Finally, congratulations to Bruce Piatt, winner of an original SOF 3-Gun and winner of Heavy division at 2016 SMM3G. In between that, he shoots cleans at Bianchi.