I’ve loved shooting as long as I can remember. My hero’s were always the good guys with guns. For me it started out with “Gospel Bill” a preacher/cowboy who had his own show in the early 90’s for kids. I soaked it all in and it grew into a love of guns, shooting and marksmanship.
Until recently this was only a personal enjoyment. Society told me that enjoying shooting was “politically incorrect” so I kept it to myself and just a few close friends, but now I know better! I am now a competitor on Top Shot Season 3 – a reality TV show that focuses on the skills of a marksman. I believe I made it on the show because they were looking for a “Christian” shooter – well that was just fine by me! If anyone wants to fly me out somewhere and give me cool guns and free ammo to shoot I’ll be there (even if it’s a freedom-smothering anti-gun state like California.)
Now my shooting has defiantly gone public. Having fun with guns is what I’m about, and Top Shot seemed like the perfect place to have lots of fun. I could care less about being on TV, the reason I went is because it was like Disneyland with guns and I knew it was going to be a blast.
This season of Top Shot will definitely be interesting because I’m in the mix with 15 other marksman of considerate backgrounds. There are former marines, army veterans, a Navy SEAL, SWAT team members, policemen, competition shooters and then down at the bottom there I am – a self trained recreational shooter. Although I have been encouraged to, I have never competed in any shooting competitions. I describe myself as 99% self taught, I have only taken one shooting class but it was a good one: Tactical Pistol with Paul Howe at Combat Shooting and Tactics in Nacogdoches. It obviously paid off as well (SPOILER ALERT) because I totally smoked a veteran solder, police officer, firearms instructor and SWAT team member with a S&W M&P 45 in Episode 2’s elimination challenge with a score of 24/11.
This season of Top Shot will also have the biggest, best and most expensive weapons of any previous seasons. We started off the first episode with speed duals using the S&W 500, then moved to a team competition with 8 Larue Tactical .308 OBRs that ran over $4,000 each with the Trijicon optics. This season will continue to impress so don’t miss a single episode; it airs for 12 weeks starting August 9 @ 9pm on the History Channel.
To keep up with my journey in detail check out www.facebook.com/TopShotDustin
