A few of my thoughts on TOP SHOT:
1) I love the show. I've seen enough shooting competitions on The Outdoors Channel to be bored to tears with them. Same old super fast shooting with guns and holsters and situations never used in the real world. Watching others shoot guns can be like watching golf. Boring.
2) The show is filmed in California and some guns are not "on the list" and cannot be used. That's why certain firearms are used and not others.
3) People are complaining about the type of guns being used. Easy killer. This is just season number one. They can't use every gun ever made. Give them a chance. There will be more seasons and maybe, just maybe your favorite gun from history will be used.
4) They make it interesting with their super expensive slo-mo 40,000 images per second cameras. I can watch those slow motion shots of cases ejecting, bullets exiting bores, and targets exploding again and again.
5) Like the first season of Survivor where viewers complained, "It's not real surviving!" Yeah, it's a game show. "It's not real shooting competition!" Yeah, it's a game show.
6) The reason the "well known" shooters in the industry are not on the show are because they have contracts, because they don't have the time, and because some of their contracts will not allow them to participate. They have exclusive contracts. It wouldn't do to have a shooter firing the competition's brand and it certainly wouldn't do to have a well paid, contracted expert lose.
7) I enjoy the drama and the big personalities. I find them fascinating. It seems I know many of their kind. The quiet guy who outshoots everyone else. The cocky guy who loses. The guy who blames his equipment (oh, we've all met that guy!) instead of his ability.
8) I'd like to see Jerry Miculek show up as an instructor. "Today we'll be shooting S&W Model 617 10-shot .22 caliber revolvers at 25 yards." The participants will all smile and think this will be easy. Then Jerry says, "And we'll be shooting them double action, upside down, pulling the trigger with our pinkies like this...."
9) I'd also like to see firearms manufacturers donate guns to be used in the competitions. Let's see Kahr/Thompson donate a Thompson .45 full auto machine gun. Let's see the competition be pulling the trigger once and firing 50 rounds from a drum magazine on target. If they let go of the trigger, their out. Oh, and the winner gets to keep the gun. Engraved with TOP SHOT on the receiver too.
10) I am lucky enough to live in Northern Illinois and Tara from TOP SHOT watches each episode locally at a bar with her friends and family. I brought my wife and daughter to watch and Tara was absolutely the nicest person you could ever meet. She was fantastic with our 13 year old daughter, talking guns with her. Of course, I am rooting for Tara to win. We'll see what happens!
