High-Tech to Primitive

To help the competitors with the longest shot ever tried on Top Shot, producers brought back George Reinas, who was the only shooter to nail the 1,000-yard target in Season Two. He didn’t win that day, but it truly showed the skill of the trained sniper.

This time, the remaining competitors used a Barrett MRAD in .338 Lapua Mag. to take out an exploding target placed at 1,760 yards (1 mile), and Reinas helped fine tune the skills needed for such a long shot. It was interesting to see Jamie and George together again, as George was one of the main instigators against Jamie during the second season; I’m pretty sure I saw some resentment on Jamie’s face as he walked up to practice, and can’t help but wonder if that was “planned” by the producers. It was also neat to see that Jamie was the only competitor to take out the target in one shot, and he did it in the fastest time, too, winning an Oculus scope from Bass Pro Shops.

The second slot went to long-range rifle expert Kelly, which is a little sad considering that this should have been his event. Most of the shooters did fairly well though; I’m scared to think about how long or how many shots it would have taken me to complete this challenge, but four competitors took more than a minute to turn the target into a fireball and were sent to the Proving Ground.

Alex, Brian, Joe and Peter tried to center punch a target at 60 yards with an 1860 Henry, but the only one to get close was Joe, who incidentally was the only one not sent to the Elimination Challenge where the situation went back in time from one of the most high-tech rifles available to one of the first extended-distant weapons in history-the Atlatl.

Primitive weapons specialist Joe Dagger was of the opinion that the chosen three were fairly well prepared, but in this challenge, strategy proved more important than skill with the Atlatl. Peter quickly showed that he understood that by increase the pressure on his compatriots with a couple of successful throws at the closest target. And while Brian Zims might be one of the best pistol shooters in the world, he got greedy with the Atlatl and tried for the middle target when he could have ended the game with a hit on the close target. This forced a tie breaker that Brian eventually won, requiring Alex to say goodbye.

The current season is great for those who just want to see cool shots made with awesome guns, and the competitors jerked from their comfort zones with outlandish primitive weapons. But I will admit that I would have loved to hear Jamie’s thoughts on seeing George again. Maybe I do want a little drama. Of course, I’m still rooting for Jamie and Kelly, and hope one wins it all. Who are you rooting for, and why?