How much does 3 Gun Cost?

[00:00:35.08] It’s March 15, 2017, we’re
sort of at the beginning

[00:00:40.03] of what’s gonna be a huge
season here in Minnesota

[00:00:43.01] with more shooting than
we’ve ever had before.

[00:00:46.00] And I wanted to address
something that never really

[00:00:48.05] hit head on, which is, the true cost

[00:00:52.01] of getting started in 3-gun.

[00:00:54.01] Now, I think were gonna have
to lay some ground rules

[00:00:57.00] cause there’s gonna be a
whole lot of very valid points

[00:01:00.07] about costs and, you know,
you can build your own rifle,

[00:01:04.00] you can go with a
Stoeger, you can do this,

[00:01:06.06] you can do that, and those are all

[00:01:07.07] absolutely valid points
so I want to set the,

[00:01:11.02] sort of the guard rails
around this as being,

[00:01:13.08] this is a video for the guy

[00:01:16.07] who doesn’t build his own guns,

[00:01:19.02] doesn’t load his ammunition,

[00:01:21.07] has no interest in those things,

[00:01:23.01] he wants to shoot, right?

[00:01:24.07] And so, (clears throat,

[00:01:27.09] if you’re one of those
guys who’s super handy

[00:01:29.05] in your shop build your
rifle man, save some money,

[00:01:31.05] that’s awesome.

[00:01:32.03] If you wanna cut in your own shotgun,

[00:01:34.00] do that work, that’s
awesome, save that money.

[00:01:35.09] If you’ve got a super deal on a Glock 34.

[00:01:39.05] That’s awesome but
we’re not really talking

[00:01:41.01] to you so much, because
frankly, you’ve already got

[00:01:45.03] your plan figured out, right?

[00:01:46.09] So, this is about getting into the game

[00:01:49.08] from the ground up, so, before we jump in,

[00:01:53.03] it’s absolutely key you
hear me, cause I filmed

[00:01:56.00] this video last night
and you’re gonna start

[00:01:57.06] seeing some of that
information from some video

[00:02:00.09] we did at Arms last night
to show off the guns.

[00:02:04.05] (clears throat)
Excuse me.

[00:02:05.09] And when I got done with it,

[00:02:07.06] I watched the video, it’s 10 minutes long.

[00:02:09.00] I’m totally happy with it except that

[00:02:12.03] despite how upbeat the information was,

[00:02:14.04] I found it was really discouraging because

[00:02:15.08] the overall cost was sort of overwhelming.

[00:02:20.07] So, if you have, you know,

[00:02:24.06] your dad’s 45 and a pump
Wingmaster shotgun that you’ve got

[00:02:29.02] in the basement and an AR-15 or heck,

[00:02:32.09] a mini 14 or something like that,

[00:02:35.03] don’t spend a dollar.

[00:02:36.09] Come out and play, try out all the gear,

[00:02:40.06] find out what you like and then start

[00:02:42.09] this process that we’re
gonna go through now.

[00:02:47.00] It would be silly for you
to jump right into the game

[00:02:51.01] with what we’re gonna
talk about in total cost

[00:02:53.03] which is darn near five
grand, so, all right.

[00:02:57.00] So, all right, so having said that,

[00:02:59.00] let’s pop over to Arms
and Arms and take a look

[00:03:00.04] at pistols.

[00:03:01.02] You see a lot of our videos.

[00:03:02.03] We made an awful lot of, you know,

[00:03:03.09] talk claims about the
2011 and it still is,

[00:03:06.05] frankly, what I would
recommend if you were really

[00:03:08.05] just going all in.

[00:03:09.08] But the truth is is that most of us

[00:03:11.05] can’t afford to start with a $2500 pistol

[00:03:13.07] so the venerable Glock 34.

[00:03:15.09] So this guy with three
magazines is gonna run you

[00:03:18.07] around $675 as far as prices go,

[00:03:21.07] this is 2017, it’s a standard retail.

[00:03:24.06] I’m sure you got a deal
somewhere and you’re

[00:03:27.03] gonna find a Glock 34 for 640 and you’re

[00:03:28.08] gonna tell me all about
it and that’s awesome.

[00:03:31.03] Anyway you can save some money, you should

[00:03:32.07] but for the sake of
this video, we’re using

[00:03:34.07] retail prices.

[00:03:35.08] So, Glock 34 with three magazines.

[00:03:38.08] The nice thing about the Glock is that

[00:03:41.01] you know, for a few hundred bucks you can

[00:03:43.01] really go all the way with the trigger

[00:03:44.05] or you can ask someone like Blair Hawkeye

[00:03:46.00] do the trigger for you for $75.

[00:03:48.00] You can add some base pads
for $35 from Mike Dawson.

[00:03:50.02] You know, something like
that and you can sort of

[00:03:53.01] piece into this a little bit but really,

[00:03:55.00] you need the pistol and three magazines.

[00:03:59.01] Glock 34.

[00:04:00.03] All right, so now I’m going
to talk a little bit about

[00:04:02.04] the 3-gun rifle.

[00:04:03.06] This one happens to be
mine for the season.

[00:04:05.02] This is an Obsidian Arms gun with some

[00:04:06.06] with some cool Hiperfire parts.

[00:04:07.09] There’s a component right there

[00:04:09.04] you haven’t probably seen before.

[00:04:11.03] Trigger, vortex spitfire.

[00:04:13.05] It’s a wonderful gun
and this is one of these

[00:04:15.04] places where a lot of
guys wanna get into 3-gun

[00:04:17.05] because of the rifle.

[00:04:19.02] It’s sort of the sexiest gun.

[00:04:20.06] And the reason that we
recommend what we recommend

[00:04:22.07] is because it’s sort
of right in the middle,

[00:04:25.04] it hits all the benchmarks
without being overly

[00:04:28.04] expensive or leaving you
under gunned if you do

[00:04:31.04] get really into the game.

[00:04:33.01] So, let’s go back over to Arms

[00:04:34.03] and take a little look
at some of the rifles.

[00:04:36.05] For the rifle, the one that we recommend

[00:04:39.06] is, and this is one that
place where everybody

[00:04:41.09] loves to blow their was is the rifle.

[00:04:43.07] It’s kind of what gets a
lot of people into 3-gun.

[00:04:45.05] And so, in this case, what we recommend is

[00:04:47.09] this Armalite at 1500-1495.

[00:04:51.07] So, why the Armalite?

[00:04:53.06] You can probably get a much cheaper rifle,

[00:04:56.09] you know, I know you can.

[00:04:58.05] I mean you can spend
7-600 bucks on an AR15

[00:05:01.01] and it’s gonna run and
if that’s what you have

[00:05:03.03] right now, don’t spend any money on this

[00:05:06.01] until you’ve played the game.

[00:05:07.08] Gonna say this over and
over again, but when

[00:05:09.07] you’re looking for a full featured rifle

[00:05:11.01] at a reasonable price, this is it.

[00:05:13.03] You’ve got the adjustable comp,

[00:05:15.07] you’ve got an adjustable gas system,

[00:05:17.01] you’ve got a really
good batch grade barrel.

[00:05:18.08] You’ve got a decent ball carrier group

[00:05:20.07] and buffer system.

[00:05:21.08] You’ve got some adjustable parts
and a high-quality trigger.

[00:05:24.01] These are sort of all the
basics and that’s gonna

[00:05:26.01] run ya 1500 bucks.

[00:05:27.05] This is probably the most
exciting rifle under two grand

[00:05:29.02] we’ve ever seen ans so
we highly recommend it.

[00:05:32.06] As far as barrel length and all that goes,

[00:05:34.00] it’s somewhat personal.

[00:05:35.06] These days the shorter
rifles are more en vogue.

[00:05:38.01] And we would, we would
recommend going that route,

[00:05:41.01] to be totally honest with
you, most of your shots

[00:05:43.02] are low, inside of 100
yards and these little

[00:05:46.09] short barrels are excellent
for cruising around targets.

[00:05:49.02] If you want a 16 or 18, that’s fine.

[00:05:51.04] You’re never gonna know the difference.

[00:05:54.08] On top of that guy, we
would probably place

[00:05:57.09] a vortex and so you got a hundred bucks

[00:05:59.09] for just a basic cantilever mount

[00:06:02.01] and then this year they
came out with the Viper 1-6

[00:06:06.08] and those are about 700 bucks.

[00:06:08.04] I don’t have one right here, however,

[00:06:11.08] if I was looking for some ways to save

[00:06:14.00] a little bit of money,
another option at 300 bucks

[00:06:16.00] is gonna be something
like the Strike Eagle.

[00:06:18.09] I would honestly, probably push myself

[00:06:21.03] to the Viper 1-6.

[00:06:22.06] It’s really, for a few
hundred extra dollars

[00:06:25.03] is a huge upgrade.

[00:06:26.06] All right, so that’s the rifle.

[00:06:29.02] You’ve got one magazine with the gun,

[00:06:30.08] you’re gonna want to
pick up a couple extra

[00:06:33.04] P mags, maybe a 30 and a
40, something like that.

[00:06:35.06] Just keep it real simple.

[00:06:37.04] And you’re good to go with the rifle.

[00:06:39.00] So the one place we see people cheap out

[00:06:41.04] the quickest in the game is the shotgun.

[00:06:45.00] So, look, up here in Minnesota,

[00:06:47.03] shotgun is a huge part of 3-gun for us.

[00:06:50.00] Maybe not so much down in the South

[00:06:51.07] where they don’t have
quite the shotgun culture

[00:06:53.07] or frankly they have the
long ranges for the rifles

[00:06:55.04] so, they’re not looking
for interesting ways

[00:06:57.09] to make their shorter bays more exciting

[00:07:00.04] and you know, that’s going
to vary from place to place,

[00:07:03.02] but up here in Minnesota,
this is a key component.

[00:07:05.06] I don’t know how many games
have been won and lost

[00:07:07.01] with a shotgun and most guys
want to get a super sexy

[00:07:10.05] rifle or some wicked
awesome pistol and they’re

[00:07:12.08] totally, you know, just putting the least

[00:07:16.03] amount of money possible in
the shotgun to get it done

[00:07:18.05] and that’s where I think
guns like the Stoeger

[00:07:21.01] and stuff have really shine.

[00:07:22.08] We’ve looked at the
Franchi Affinity as well

[00:07:24.08] and those are a couple of different ways

[00:07:26.02] to save some money.

[00:07:27.07] But, you know, let’s go over to the shop

[00:07:29.07] and look at why we sort of
decided to go this route.

[00:07:32.08] The shotgun is one that I,

[00:07:34.07] one of the reasons, frankly,
this video took so long

[00:07:36.01] to do is when we talk about
budget, there’s really

[00:07:39.00] a gun that everyone’s
gonna immediately think of

[00:07:42.00] and that’s the Stoeger.

[00:07:43.04] And we’ll show you that as
an option for, in a second,

[00:07:44.07] but I am going to go out
and say, if you’re gonna

[00:07:47.02] spend 1500 bucks on a rifle,
then spending 1500 bucks

[00:07:49.00] on a shot gun makes sense as well.

[00:07:53.02] A lot of games are won
and lost with the shotgun.

[00:07:57.00] With this gun, you’re looking at, for

[00:07:59.02] the basic M2 is $1,279,
and we would recommend

[00:08:02.07] you put a $75 mag tube
from Nordic on there,

[00:08:08.00] and then probably have
your, not necessary,

[00:08:11.09] but really, really nice
is to have your lifter

[00:08:15.01] cleaned up, take that
pickle fork out of there

[00:08:18.05] and open up your loading port a little bit

[00:08:21.02] so that it’s easier to load the quads

[00:08:22.08] into these guns.

[00:08:24.01] All in with like $150
worth of upgrades from

[00:08:26.07] Hawkeye would be something
in the neighborhood

[00:08:29.06] of, where are we at with that?

[00:08:32.04] Two and a quarter, we’re
at about 1,500 1,600 bucks

[00:08:35.02] for the shotgun, but then you’re all set.

[00:08:37.07] Now, there is another option,

[00:08:40.04] and that would be Stoeger.

[00:08:42.07] Now this one is ported.

[00:08:44.00] I didn’t have a 3k, 3-Gun one in,

[00:08:49.00] but this is the Stoeger, and a lot of guys

[00:08:51.01] are loving this, and it’s 700 bucks.

[00:08:52.09] You’re getting a lot of extra parts,

[00:08:54.08] you still have to buy the tube.

[00:08:56.07] You could probably save six or 700 dollars

[00:08:58.05] going with this gun.

[00:09:00.04] And it’s a good gun, there’s
nothing wrong with it,

[00:09:04.06] other than to say, I
haven’t seen them hold up

[00:09:07.03] track record wise over the years,

[00:09:09.05] so I don’t know if I can just

[00:09:11.02] straight up recommend
this, where the Nellie

[00:09:13.07] has got the track record, and frankly,

[00:09:16.07] if you look at all the shooters in the

[00:09:18.03] top brackets, the vast majority of them

[00:09:20.02] are shooting an M2 and
there’s a reason for that,

[00:09:22.02] it’s a work horse, it runs
really, really, really well.

[00:09:25.05] All right, so now we get
into the belt gear, guys.

[00:09:28.04] The only thing you absolutely have to have

[00:09:31.07] to come out and play is some sort

[00:09:34.00] of a safe holster.

[00:09:35.03] You don’t need all this fancy retentions

[00:09:37.00] custom stuff.

[00:09:38.03] What you do need is a
safe, quality holster,

[00:09:41.02] that you’re not gonna do anything dumb,

[00:09:43.01] shoot yourself with or anybody else.

[00:09:45.00] Okay?

[00:09:46.02] So, this is probably your greatest piece

[00:09:47.08] of safety equipment to start besides your

[00:09:49.06] eyes and ears.

[00:09:50.07] So, get a good holster, invest your

[00:09:52.09] money there first.

[00:09:54.02] It’s okay to load magazines
out of your pockets

[00:09:57.08] and shot shells out of your pockets,

[00:10:00.07] and be slow, that’s all right,

[00:10:02.07] we don’t care about that, we just want you

[00:10:04.06] to be safe.

[00:10:05.05] and all these little accoutrements

[00:10:07.03] start to add up.

[00:10:08.02] This is my competition rig right here,

[00:10:10.03] this is the ELS system, but I’m still

[00:10:12.02] really regularly using these blade-Tech,

[00:10:16.01] well, this is actually a Sierra Speed.

[00:10:18.02] This is my very first belt, so if you’re

[00:10:19.06] wondering if you’ll still have it,

[00:10:21.01] there you go, five years later.

[00:10:22.09] So, check out just a little bit more

[00:10:24.06] about what we recommend around the belts.

[00:10:26.05] I use the ELS system from Safariland,

[00:10:28.02] and I recommend that highly,

[00:10:30.04] but I also think that for new shooters,

[00:10:32.08] flexibility and affordability is kind of

[00:10:36.01] where it’s at, so I recommend
something like this.

[00:10:37.09] This Double Alpha’s belt.

[00:10:39.03] Blade-Tech makes one, there’s a few good

[00:10:41.09] ones out there.

[00:10:43.00] Basically, you’ve got velcro inner belt,

[00:10:46.00] and then a very, very
stiff, rigid outer belt.

[00:10:49.05] And the nice thing about
this, it allows you

[00:10:51.07] to really state your
gear anywhere on here,

[00:10:53.04] you can move things around,
so as you’re getting

[00:10:55.02] into the game and you’re learning where

[00:10:56.08] everything goes, you’ve got a lot, a lot,

[00:10:58.08] of really minor flexibility.

[00:11:00.05] With the very popular
ELS system, if you know

[00:11:04.06] where you want your stuff
and you’re committed

[00:11:06.03] to that setup, it’s
awesome, but most of you

[00:11:08.02] new aren’t gonna know that, so belt.

[00:11:13.06] I recommend like one mag pouch for AR’s.

[00:11:17.00] You don’t need a bunch of AR mag pouches,

[00:11:19.00] and then I’d get two,
let’s say, I think two

[00:11:22.07] pistol mag pouches to get you started.

[00:11:24.09] So you got one in the
gun, two on your belt,

[00:11:26.05] plus an AR mag pouch.

[00:11:28.03] These guys are 35 and the
pistol ones are like 40.

[00:11:32.06] These also come with
the tech locks on them,

[00:11:35.00] which is the mounting system you need

[00:11:36.06] for this type of belt system.

[00:11:38.03] So, guys, don’t worry about name brands,

[00:11:40.04] these are just basic prices on good gear.

[00:11:42.09] Blade-Tech’s never gonna let you down.

[00:11:45.04] For the shotgun, you are gonna need,

[00:11:48.01] I would say 24 rounds
of shotgun on the belt,

[00:11:51.05] you know, three sets of eight.

[00:11:53.05] Cost effective wise, the Taccom Sports

[00:11:55.08] are fantastic, these
are 35 plus a 12 dollar

[00:11:58.07] tech lock, so 47 bucks per eight,

[00:12:02.04] so you’re looking around
just short of $150

[00:12:04.06] to get 24 caddies on the belt.

[00:12:06.09] That’s about as cheap as you’re gonna go.

[00:12:08.01] They’re good, there are other options

[00:12:09.08] that you’re gonna maybe
find a preference for,

[00:12:11.08] but to get you started, this is sort of

[00:12:14.02] the way to go.

[00:12:16.04] So, holster’s the last thing on that list,

[00:12:18.08] and I failed to grab one.

[00:12:21.00] I would probably go
with the Blade-Tech Ice

[00:12:23.06] at this point, and the reason for that

[00:12:25.08] is they’re 65$, and with the plastic

[00:12:27.06] guns, you don’t necessarily need

[00:12:31.01] to have the WRS retention system,

[00:12:33.00] which I go back and forth on this,

[00:12:36.03] but it’s the difference between

[00:12:37.09] $65 and 100 something
dollars for the holster.

[00:12:39.07] I also think that if
you end up going all in

[00:12:43.02] on the game, that you’re gonna leave

[00:12:44.09] this pistol, so spending $100 on a holster

[00:12:46.07] early on for a gun that
you’re gonna resell

[00:12:49.03] or sort of relegate to your back up

[00:12:52.08] doesn’t make a lot of sense, so I would

[00:12:55.04] probably stick with
that, the Blade-Tech Ice

[00:12:57.01] at $65 as your holster.

[00:12:59.00] So, we added all this up,
and what we’re looking

[00:13:03.03] at is, for guns, you’re
just short of $4500,

[00:13:06.02] and then the whole belt rig and holsters

[00:13:10.07] and everything is running
right around $350,

[00:13:13.02] so, you know.

[00:13:14.08] It’s not an inexpensive
game, you’re looking at

[00:13:16.07] $4800 to $4900 to get
started with the basic

[00:13:19.04] equipment.

[00:13:20.08] Now, again, there are ways to save money,

[00:13:24.09] there are ups and downs,
and I could sit here

[00:13:26.03] and go, here’s the basic package,

[00:13:27.08] and here’s the middle package, and here’s

[00:13:29.01] the top package, but
that doesn’t make a whole

[00:13:31.08] lot of sense.

[00:13:32.06] I just want to give you
an overall view of this.

[00:13:34.06] So let’s just say, for
the sake of argument,

[00:13:36.05] you cut some money by going with

[00:13:38.06] the $600 gun here and saving $600,

[00:13:41.02] and you went with Strike Eagle right here

[00:13:45.09] instead of the Viper and you save

[00:13:48.05] three or so hundred dollars,

[00:13:50.02] so you saved a grand, so you know,

[00:13:52.00] that’s awesome, you’re at $3800

[00:13:53.05] versus $4800, but these are still

[00:13:55.02] the real costs of the game.

[00:13:57.02] Well, all right, guys, there you have it,

[00:13:58.07] there’s the raw number, it’s in the

[00:14:00.01] $4800 to $5000 range, and you can see

[00:14:03.04] why I lost a little sleep last night,

[00:14:05.00] thinking this might be
a discouraging video.

[00:14:08.09] Again, for those of you
who already have gear,

[00:14:10.07] and most of you do, very few people

[00:14:12.04] go from zero to 3-Gun.

[00:14:14.07] I did it in like six months and it was

[00:14:16.08] really painful, but I think I’m an outlier

[00:14:21.07] in that, so I’m counting on the fact that

[00:14:23.09] you’ve already got a
couple of grand into guns

[00:14:26.02] and whatever, so you’re kind of moving

[00:14:27.08] in the right direction, and again,

[00:14:29.07] please hear me when I
saw, come out and play

[00:14:32.03] with what you’ve got, and if you need

[00:14:33.08] to borrow a shotgun or something,

[00:14:35.01] if you’re in Minnesota and Ignite Match,

[00:14:36.06] we keep a full set of guns and gear

[00:14:38.05] around, just let us know what you need

[00:14:40.01] and we’ll get you sorted out.

[00:14:41.00] Can we carry you for a whole season?

[00:14:42.06] Probably not, but we can definitely

[00:14:44.02] help you out for several
matches while you’re

[00:14:45.09] figuring it out.

[00:14:47.00] And I think you’ll find
that most 3-Gun clubs

[00:14:48.08] are similar that way, you’ll find somebody

[00:14:50.03] who’s willing to help you out.

[00:14:51.09] You know, borrow a pump
shotgun from somebody

[00:14:54.01] to get out, don’t just go buy the cheapest

[00:14:56.01] thing you can to get started

[00:14:57.04] when there are alternatives,
so look into that.

[00:14:59.09] Okay?

[00:15:01.00] 3-Gunners are some of the coolest

[00:15:02.06] guys in the world and
they’re always willing

[00:15:04.06] to help, you can always find somebody.

[00:15:06.00] So, we’re gonna wrap this up.

[00:15:07.07] Here’s what I would encourage you to do.

[00:15:09.08] Put some comments in below this, okay?

[00:15:12.03] And I don’t care if you
totally disagree with me.

[00:15:14.07] What I’m trying to do here is create

[00:15:16.01] a body of information so that people can

[00:15:18.02] come back to this and figure it out.

[00:15:21.01] Okay?

[00:15:22.00] So, if you disagree, put it in the post,

[00:15:23.04] I’ll respond.

[00:15:24.06] Let’s just keep it above
the belt, and let’s

[00:15:26.08] talk about gear and not
be under some misguided

[00:15:30.03] belief that just because we disagree

[00:15:32.07] on a trigger means that you and I

[00:15:34.05] need to come to fisticuffs,
that’s ridiculous.

[00:15:36.09] Let’s just get down,
let’s talk about it openly

[00:15:39.03] in the comments section and help people.

[00:15:41.00] Because over time, this
is gonna change too,

[00:15:43.00] guys, and I’ve seen that
since our first videos.

[00:15:45.04] So, let us know what you think, tell us

[00:15:47.07] all about it, come over to Facebook,

[00:15:48.09] go to Instagram, do it right here

[00:15:50.05] in the comments section below.

[00:15:53.06] But let’s open this dialogue up,

[00:15:55.06] and, man, if we can
shave this down to $4400

[00:15:57.04] or $4200 and agree on it,
I’d be all in for that.

[00:16:00.00] I’m not here to sell
you gear, I’m just here

[00:16:03.04] to show you options and
to help you get started

[00:16:05.09] in the game, which I’ve
come to truly, deeply

[00:16:08.00] love and respect.

[00:16:09.03] I hope this find you all
well, and we’ll see you

[00:16:11.07] on the next one.

[00:16:12.05] God bless.

[00:16:14.04] (rock music)

[00:16:16.08]