Top Shot (2010) s03e09 Episode Script
Stacked
Previously, on "Top Shot".
The Blue Team wins the recurve bow challenge.
Yeah.
Garry in awake for the Blue Team.
- It's nothing personal.
- Whatever dude.
But victory does not bring calm to the team.
If I look at you who the are you yelling at?! - Don't yell at me.
- The is wrong with you? - What you gonna do? - I'm not The are you gonna do, Mike? The you gonna do? Go ahead and do it.
Jake's sportsmanship comes into question.
Jake's disrespecting this competition.
He's disrespecting the competitors.
Everything I do is extremely calculated.
That's why I win the way I win.
That's why I always achieve what I set out to achieve.
Go! And the world-class revolver champion is eliminated.
Cliff, unfortunately, you have fired your last shot.
There are shots that changed history Feats of legendary skill and extreme precision.
Now 16 of today's best marksmen have been chosen.
They come from all over the country and from all walks of life.
Amateurs and professionals, military, recreation, and exhibition shooters.
Each shows the timeless skills of a true marksman Not just with one weapon, with any weapon.
They will compete in a gauntlet of challenges until only one remains, to claim the $100,000 prize and the title of "Top Shot.
" Chris! The Red Team walks through the door, and Cliff's gone.
Y'all don't look too happy.
Oh, no, man.
It's been a long day.
Strategically, this is good for blue.
Cliff was a really good pistol shot.
Dream crusher is no more.
Dream crusher's gone.
Names up there now.
There's a bunch.
How does that look? So, Blue Team's feeling pretty good, and hopefully we can stay together as a team and keep winning these things.
Morning, shooters.
Good morning.
Well, with Cliff's elimination, we are down to seven of you still in the running for the $100,000 and the title of history's "Top Shot.
" Each of you has exhibited outstanding marksmanship up to this point.
Congratulations are definitely in order.
All of you have made it to the individual stage of this competition.
Red and blue teams are no more, fellas.
It's time for the green jerseys.
All right.
Throw one on.
We realized we were all getting our green shirts.
It was almost a surreal moment Something we've all wanted since we got here.
It says, "if I can make it this far, I can make it all the way to the end.
" Getting the green Jersey doesn't really change anything.
I've been operating on my own here for probably the last three challenges, so it doesn't change anythin with me personally.
- Congrats.
- Damn, y'all look good in green.
- Congratulations.
- Good job, guys.
To me, making the green team is a lot like getting promoted at work because the higher up you go, you really got to be on top of your game because if you're not, there's always gonna be somebody there that's willing to knock you off that ladder.
You guys have made it to the individual part of this competition.
From here on out, your personal performance is all that matters.
Every challenge will be head-to-head from this point out until only one marksman is left standing.
You guys ready to get started? Absolutely.
Well, I Hope you boys are ready for some serious recoil because for this first individual challenge, we're bringing out the big stick.
M-50.
The McMillan Tac-50.
I love the.
50-cal.
It's big, it's heavy, it's a man's man's gun.
Shooting a.
50-cal is on everybody's to-do list.
The McMillan Tac-50 rifle is a.
50-caliber long-range sniper rifle.
It is well-known for its unsurpassed accuracy, even at great distances.
In the optimal weather conditions and in the right hands, the weapon is capable of grouping several rounds in a 5-inch circle from 1,000 yards away.
This one's gonna be fun, gentlemen.
Former U.
S.
Navy S.
E.
A.
L.
sniper Craig "Sawman" Sawyer is back to help get you guys dialed in with the McMillan.
Craig used this rifle in the Navy and actually helped develop the current stock design for this weapon.
For this pctice, you'll be shooting at two stationary targets Have fun.
I'll see you tomorrow at the challenge.
I got excited.
It's like, "this is a.
50-cal.
This is what I came here to do.
" Craig, good to see you.
Good to see all you guys, man.
I think the biggest challenge for these competitors shooting a Tac-50 is gonna be overcoming that recoil.
This thing kicks like a three-legged ninja.
That thing is a serious weapon.
When you fire this weapon, not only is there recoil but there's overpressure.
Feels like somebody's punching you lightly in the nose.
You using both eyes open, and then getting the scope where you want it, and then closing it down? No, I wasn't.
I should.
It's quicker.
The basic, fundamental thing I overlooked, and that's why we have the experts there to let us know where our flaws are.
How does my eye relief look? It looks fine.
I'd hate to see somebody creep up too close and get a taste of scope bite 'cause this one will give it to you.
Your finger literally did this pow.
Okay, I'll focus on that.
Bend that trigger one time for me.
Show me you got it.
Absolutely.
Craig's a great teacher.
To be able to sit down there with you, and work your fundamentals out, and get you hitting on a bull's-eye at 500 yards with a Tac-50 It's very impressive.
That's it, man.
Think about follow-through now.
I'm taking a ton of notes to make sure that I suck in everything that Craig Sawyer has to say about shooting long ranges at moving targets.
Okay, a little more follow-through on the trigger.
Craig's wanting me to pin the trigger back.
Better.
And I notice that as soon as I did, my shot placement became a whole lot better.
What else you got for me? Work that bolt.
Practice getting that round in there.
Keep both eyes open.
Line that thing up.
Find it with the cross hairs, and if you want to close one eye, close it then.
Craig really knows what he's talking about behind that gun.
Right target.
Watching Mike practice, he had the most square body position of any of this group.
Breathing's looking good, position's looking good, trigger's looking good.
He seems very, very determined and focused.
- Right target.
- Copy that right target.
Okay, it's right in the red.
My first few shots, they were consistent.
Yeah, there it is again.
You know, at that range, this type of rifle I've never shot before and with that wind, it's about as good as I can hope for.
All right, good effort on the practice.
Good luck in the challenge.
All right, thank you, sir.
Based on what I saw today during the practice, you know, everybody kind of got the hang of the McMillan.
I can't wait to get behind it tomorrow and see what I can do with it in the challenge.
- Hey, congratulations, man.
- Congratulations.
Mike.
I have to get you out of here quick.
It feels a little bit different inside the house now that we're all, you know, one big team.
You know, everybody's kind of playing their cards a little closer to their chests now because if you've got a plan, it's an individual plan.
I think everybody in the house right now is a pretty good shot.
I think everybody's, you know, got their own strategy they might do.
Who you gonna vote for? Jake.
No, I think I'm still gonna base my vote based off performance, and the worst performer goes home.
In theory, I want to shoot against the best, so Well, we'll just have to see.
From here on out, you know, if you have any strengths Everybody's gonna know it, and if you have any weaknesses, you may be out of here.
We're walking up to the challenge, and to be honest with you, it's hard to stand.
It's windy, and it's blowing everybody over.
And, you know, you see the trees they're bending.
The grass in the field is basically bent completely over.
The flag is making a ton of noise, and shooting precision shots in this kind of wind It's gonna be extremely tough.
Morning, shooters.
Morning.
A nice windy morning for you.
Jake, on a day like today with wind like this, the conditions the way they are, do you think the playing field's level between you seven guys? Yeah, I think everybody's level.
I don't think anybody has an advantage or a disadvantage.
Right.
I'm just saying, we had mildly windy conditions yesterday, and we're out here in a hurricane today.
It's a different story, you know? It is.
Let me be the first to say, gentlemen, you are today.
All of you.
Everybody ready for the first individual challenge? For today's challenge, you will compete one at a time using the McMillan Tac-50.
will be a single exploding target 30 inches in diameter.
"Top Shot" twist Is that now the target will be moving.
The target will travel at a walking pace horizontally between those two jeeps, which are 20 yards apart.
When the target reaches the end of the path on either side, it will then go back in the opposite direction.
On my signal, the shooter will load the McMillan Tac-50.
He must then sight and take out the moving target.
You'll be competing to make the shot in the shortest amount of time.
All right, the goal of this competition is to find the best overall shooter, the Top Shot.
And in the spirit of that, we are going to raise the stakes considerably for this challenge.
The best performers will be safe.
The top four finishers in today's challenge will move on to the next round.
The bottom three are at risk of going home.
We drew names to see who goes first.
Alex, you're the man.
Come on up.
It's a horrible day to go first.
The winds are just gusting Good luck, Alex.
Good luck, Alex.
I'm praying for you.
It's absolutely horrible to take a 500-yard shot at a moving target.
Then I've got to make it happen.
Coming up on "Top Shot" I'm sweating bullets, literally.
Going up there to shoot as fast as I could, no matter what.
Another miss.
The first individual challenge on "Top Shot," we're asking you to make an extremely difficult shot for even the most experienced snipers.
Hit a moving target The weapon is the McMillan Tac-50 rifle.
The four shooters with the fastest times advance in the competition.
The bottom three are up for elimination.
Alex is up first.
It is time for the rest of you guys to leave the range until it's your turn to shoot.
Here we go.
I'm up first, which is not a good place to be in.
I'm sweating bullets, literally.
It's a tough challenge, and I'll give it my best.
Turn around.
Marksman, ready SetGo! Alex first on the course with the McMillan Tac-50.
I get on the bench, adjust my rifle.
I actually forget to zoom my scope in, so I lost a few seconds there.
The moving target is almost all the way to the end of the first line.
First shot downrange That's a hit! I'm like, "wow, I got this one.
" Nice shot! You were the first marksman to go.
You just hit a 500-yard moving target in one shot.
And you did it in 12 seconds.
The other shooters have no idea how high you just set the bar.
- Nice shot.
- Thank you.
I'm very relieved, you know, at that point to be in those top four, and I felt really good about it.
Come on in, Chris.
I'm by no means a sniper.
I do have experience shooting in the wind but not something I've done a whole lot of, if any.
So it definitely will be a challenge.
Marksman, ready SetGo! Chris getting the Tac-50 loaded up, acquiring his target.
I judge the wind, get the proper cheek weld, you know, make all the adjustments to the rifle, and I'm set.
Sends his first round downrange.
Chris getting reloaded.
Bullet impacted about 4 foot in front of the target, and so I decided to cut my lead in half half the distance.
Quick on the reload.
Chris sends his second round downrange.
So, now I'm thinking, "what's wrong? What's wrong?" I get another round loaded in, then I just go to the leading edge on the target.
His third shot Nice shot! Chris, it took you 3 shots and 51 seconds.
Not bad.
Take a seat over there next to Alex.
Severely disappointed in myself.
I realiz that I had adjusted twice.
I was using both Kentucky windage, and I made a scope adjustment.
That's an amateur mistake, and I paid the price for it.
Phil, come on in.
Go! Phil already loaded up.
Sends a round downrange! That connects! One shot, one hit for Phil.
Well, Phil, I got to say, Alex started things off pretty impressively.
He hit that target in one shot.
He did it in 12 seconds.
You just beat him.
You did it in 9.
5 seconds.
Taken over the lead.
Find a spot on the bench.
- 9.
5 seconds - That's pretty fast.
So right now, you know, it's looking pretty good for me.
Good shooting.
I'm in third place in the first three shooters, and I know that it's probably going to continue to be that way until I'm at the bottom of the barrel.
Jake, step right up, buddy.
Next shooter's Jake.
I know that he was a former S.
E.
A.
L.
His speciality was not sniping, though, so we're all kind of curious to see how Jake handles this pressure.
Go! When that target came into the right position with a 3-foot lead, I let the round go.
That's a hit! That's a hit! Jake hits it on his first shot! Nice work.
And I'm thinking right then, "he's got me either by half a second, or I got him by half a second.
" All right, Jake, that was pretty fast.
Three other marksmen have gone.
Where do you think that puts you? First.
First.
What if I told you that two other shooters hit it in one shot? Oh, they might've hit it in one shot, but I don't think they did it faster than that.
Phil, you hit it in 9.
52 seconds.
Jake, 9.
02.
You're gonna bump those guys down one spot.
You're in the lead.
That bench is getting crowded over there, fellas.
Chris, you're barely hanging on, brother.
Gary, you're up! Gary's coming up.
He's performed unbelievably well.
He's done well at the rifle challenges.
I'm like, "wow, this is not looking good for me.
" Marksmen, ready, set, go! I found the target really quick.
I got a good bead on it.
It's coming right across the cross hairs.
Gary's first shot downrange just misses.
He's the first person besides myself to miss on the first shot.
Another miss.
Hmm.
Okay, there's two.
Then his third misses.
At that point, I knew I wasn't gonna be in last place anymore.
Gary's fourth shot goes right.
If he doesn't get a hit on target here, he's gonna be looking at last place.
Gary just keeps shooting Keeps shooting.
Oh! You can see it in his face that he's grimacing every time that thing goes off.
And I'm feeling bad for him at this point.
The hotter the weapon's getting, the harder it is to unlock that bolt.
Now I'm really suffering.
Gary's struggling now.
And now I'm floundering.
This is a challenge where you cannot lose your composure.
I got lost.
I really I really didn't know what to do.
You know, I feel bad.
He's performed so well as a teammate, and now he goes out and he struggles like that with the.
50.
Gary getting a little frustrated.
You don't want to see anybody shoot that poorly that they just absolutely fall on their sword.
I don't plan on walking away from this thing without popping that target, so I know I've got to stay on it and deal with the embarrassment later.
Whoo-hoo! Good shot, Gare.
Well, Gary, it took you 14 shots.
but you got it done.
All right, all right.
Because there's only two shooters left, you are definitely eligible for nomination.
All right, thanks, Colby.
I'm so embarrassed, and I'm not very happy with my performance at all.
Hopefully, I'll get a chance to redeem myself later down the road.
How's your shoulder, man? It's killing me.
Two shooters left.
Mike is next.
Come on in.
We got big Mike coming up next, and, you know, Mike is so methodical with the way he shoots.
Point of impact with the wind, the variables, and all this stuff, so this is right up his alley.
Marksman, ready, set, go! Mike just misses the target! And you can see him getting a little flustered with his performance.
He wanted to get up there and obviously hit in one hit just like the rest of us do.
Mike's second round misses.
I absolutely knew he wasn't gonna be able to hit it.
He doesn't shoot long range.
He's struggled with every rifle we've had.
That's a hit! Mike gets it done in three shots! All right, Mike.
So, at this point, Chris is on the bubble, okay? He hit his target in 51 seconds.
Anything longer than that, you're in the bottom three.
You hit it in 44 seconds.
All right, so you're on the bench.
You're in fourth place.
Chris, you are now in the bottom three, brother.
One shooter left.
Dustin, you're the last man.
Come on.
You know, Dustin's very fast, but he gives up accuracy sometimes with that fastness.
Marksman, ready, set, go! Dustin wasting no time getting ready.
His first round down, and that connects! That'll do.
Dustin, with that one shot, not only did you knock Mike into the bottom three, you just won this challenge.
You did it in 8 seconds.
All right, go back over there.
You're on the bench.
Nice work.
I feel like I did real good.
I hit it in one shot.
I came out in first place over everything, and so I'm real excited now.
Well, guys, that was a heck of a challenge.
Dustin, Jake, Phil, and Alex, congratulations.
You guys are through to the next round.
Nice shooting.
Gary, Chris, and Mike, you three are up for elimination.
Two of you will compete in the elimination challenge.
Remember, this competition is to determine who is the best overall marksman.
So the question is, which one of you, based on performance, deserves to stay in the game? You guys can head back to the house.
I'll see you all at the nomination range.
Coming up on "Top Shot" I'm gonna vote for Mike.
I'd expect everybody else to kind of vote for me.
I want to put the strongest members into this elimination.
You're transparent.
It's great.
I'm just trying to get one of them sent home.
What happened with Gary? I don't want to ask him.
That'd be a little I don't know, man.
That's a lot of shooting.
I think my least favorite weapon system so far has been the McMillan just because of the The recoil, basically.
You know, I'm not built the way I used to be.
I've had a little shoulder surgery, and that thing just beat me to death.
You know, it's just a matter of fact.
Everybody's gonna have an off day during this competition.
It's set up that way.
I don't think that anybody comes in here fully prepared for the range of weapons that you're gonna see, you know, just the broad scope of the competitions and, you know, just the chaos of the whole thing.
So, you know, going to the nomination range today, I can I'm fully expecting to have six rounds in my target.
I already told Gary I'm gonna vote for him.
I'm second 'cause my vote goes based on performance.
I'm the second-worst performer, so I expect an equal number of votes or whatever.
I'd expect everybody else to kind of vote for me based on how I did today, but it's up to you guys.
Right.
I'm a little uneased.
You know, I understand it's the first meeting with Red Team, and they kind of have this view that the worst person goes to nomination, no matter what.
I'm thinking about it a little bit, and I have to stem this tide.
I'm gonna vote for Mike 'cause I was saying, I want to put the strongest members into this elimination.
And Gary yelled at me, "what are you talking about, man? "We're gonna put the weakest shooters in, and then when you get to the end, it'll be a gunfight.
" And I was like, "so, you want to shoot against Mike in pistol?" He was like, "yeah, I want to know that I'm the best, and if I get sent home by the best, then I lost to the best.
" - So, I said, " it.
- All right, give it a shot.
" Yeah, I mean, instantly, Gary volunteers himself.
I don't have a problem with him jumping on that grenade to go to elimination 'cause it's gonna take somebody skilled to beat Mike.
I mean, you're one of the best shooters in the house.
You're the last mother grand poobah.
Grandmaster flash in the house.
No, Jake, no, you're transparent.
It's great.
I need another minute.
Just, it's nothing dirty.
There's nothing wrong or slight-handed about it.
I'm just trying to get the two best people into elimination that I can so one of them gets sent home.
Gentlemen, welcome back to the nomination range.
You've all earned your way to the individual stage of this competition.
And as long as you're wearing the green jerseys, you perform well, and you will move on in the competition.
Gary, Mike, and Chris, you three are not out of the woods yet.
Everyone will vote for one of these three guys.
The two with the most votes will be going to the elimination challenge.
All right, fellas, let's get to it.
Chris, you'll be going first.
Ary manned up just like he said he would.
He performed poorly.
He said, "you know, based on performance, I would vote for me.
" Gary, you're next.
One vote Gary, one vote Chris.
Phil, it's your turn.
Fire when ready.
Gary would want me to shoot his target because he performed worse in the individual challenge than anybody else.
And I don't want to do it, but that's where my vote going.
Come on up, Mike.
All right, Gary, that's three votes for you, so you will be in the elimination challenge.
Dustin, you are up.
Jake, you're up.
It was extremely easy to shoot Mike's target.
Just a really good competitor, and I got to send him home.
I don't feel bad at all about shooting a hole in his target.
All right, Alex, you're the last one.
It's up to me.
I could either, you know, break the tie or make it a tie.
I sent my bullet towards Mike.
Jake I don't necessarily disagree with him.
I kind of look at this like a business, and you're not going to forgo an opportunity to outdo your competitor.
If there's another business for sale that's your direct competitor and you have the option to buy it, you will.
Well, since there's a tie between Chris and Mike, we're gonna have to go to the tie breaker.
Since after all "Top Shot" is a marksmanship competition, for the first time, we're gonna have a shootout to determine who goes to the elimination challenge.
So, Colby announces the fact that we're gonna have a good old-fashioned shoot-off.
He's gonna put one target up.
The closest person to the bull's-eye wins and is safe from elimination.
I'll draw a name out of the ammo box to see who shoots first.
Mike.
Remember, you are shooting to stay out of the elimination challenge.
You know, Chris and I are a toss-up.
We're pretty close.
So it really makes sense that there was some sort of competition right there.
Fire when ready.
I 9:00 it a little bit, and the shot doesn't go quite where I want to.
So it's Chris has an opportunity to win.
All right, Chris.
I walk up, kind of reset.
I'm strangely calm at this point, as well.
I don't have any nervousness about whether or not I go to elimination.
So, really, I'm just gonna do the best shot that I can and see what happens.
All right, Chris.
Chris walked up there and sent a round right dead center in the target, and that was it.
Mike and Gary are going to a gunfight.
Mike, Gary, you two will compete for the right to stay in this competition.
I'll see you at practice.
The rest of you guys, I'll catch up with you at the challenge.
Head back to the house.
The only thing I can do now is just put everything that happened prior to this behind me, focus on what I got to do during the practice and during the elimination challenge, and drive on from there.
Coming up on "Top Shot" The Walther p38.
Gary's a confident shooter.
I'm excited to see how this all shakes out.
You're gonna get to see a gunfight.
Come on in, fellas.
Mike and Gary, welcome to practice for the elimination challenge.
This is your chance to prove you have the all-around skills to continue on "Top Shot.
" For the elimination challenge, you will be using another iconic weapon, but this one's from an earlier era.
The Walther p38.
The Walther p38 is a 9-millimeter pistol that replaced the luger as the standard sidearm for German army officers before the start of World War II.
Expert Craig Sawyer is returning to help familiarize you with this weapon.
In addition to accuracy, the skills that you will be learning will be rapidly transitioning between targets and learning to reload the Walther on the fly.
Gary, you're up first.
Mike, you can head back to the house.
You'll practice later.
The Walther p38, it's a little 9-millimeter, very similar to a luger, and I'm thinking in the back of my mind, "great.
I get to go up against the grand master with a pistol.
" - Craig.
- Hi, there, Gary.
- Good to see you again.
- Good to see you.
But the one thing that I'm very aware of is the fact that this is not Mike's pistol.
I think he's just about as prepared to operate this thing as I am.
It felt really good getting behind the Getting behind the pistol.
It's got a nice, crisp single-action break.
Stand by.
Hup! I was a firearms instructor for a number of years, so I get sight management and trigger manipulation.
You know, I worked a little bit on it, so, you know, once I got very comfortable with that, then I left it alone, and I focused primarily on weapons-handling skills.
Quick with that thing.
I got a chance at redemption here.
Don't want to blow it.
I liked how Gary was pushing himself on the speed for the reloads.
He kept handling the weapon, manipulating it over and over again, pushing himself to get more and more familiar and quicker with the time that he did have.
I'm fully prepared to do what I have to do with this pistol.
I'm familiar with it.
I think I had a terrific practice.
And we're just gonna see what happens.
You did well, man.
All right, I Hope you're right.
I appreciate your help.
It's good seeing you.
Thanks.
This is Gary and my both kind of area.
He's a his main gig is pistol craft, and that's my area of focus, too, so I'm kind of thinking, "his is gonna be a pretty neat battle.
" Going hot.
All right, put one up.
Nice.
Yeah, I'm up high.
Biggest Nemesis to me is what is effectively a training scar from my other pistol craft.
The slide runs very low, so it's very easy to touch that slide with the thumb.
Is it binding up on this thumb, or is it binding up on its own? I don't know.
This thumb was down.
And when the slide goes rearward, if I slide on that slide with my thumbs, it slows it down.
It may not go all the way back.
It may get locked backwards.
Bad things can happen, which cause it to malfunction.
Both of these guys seem very dialed in.
They madgreat use of the time that they had.
They trained themselves over and over and over again.
I would expect them to both do well.
All right, Mike, good practice, man.
Outstanding effort.
- All right.
- Best of luck to you.
- Good stuff.
Take care.
- Thanks, buddy.
Went well.
Good practice.
It was a Walther p38.
Oh, cool.
The gun that the elimination challenge is based on is a Walther p38.
It's a pistol.
You know, it's right up their alley.
You got Mike Hughes, grand master pistol shooter, Gary, you know, Department of Homeland Security.
These guys, they're pistol guys.
This is gonna be a "Top Shot" battle for the ages.
So, it's gonna be a fast shoot? Yeah, it's gonna be fast.
I don't know about against the grand master, but we'll see how I hold up.
As far as any added pressure if I'm a grand master and stuff, I mean, first of all, Gary's a very confident shooter.
But you're gonna get to see a gunfight, Jake.
A gunfight? You're gonna get to see a gunfight.
I think Gary is very confident with a pistol.
He trains a lot.
He's a trainer himself.
So I'm excited to see how this all shakes out.
I've got, like, a little wall of fame beside my bunk.
It's full of letters and pictures that my kids and my wife sent out with me before I came here.
We're drawing to the end of this challenge, and the letters from home It's very focusing to me to know what's expected of me from my family.
And I'm not taking anything for granted, and, you know, I'm here to win this thing.
When I'm walking over the hill, the first thing I notice is an array of targets.
I see two sets and two platforms.
So I pretty much surmise that it's gonna be a head-to-head deal.
Walking into the challenge and seeing how everything's set up, it looks great.
Welcome to the "Top Shot" individual elimination challenge.
It is time to show you've got the marksmanship skill to remain in the hunt for $100,000 and the title of Top Shot.
This is head-to-head challenge, fellas.
are 2 identical grids holding 8 hanging wooden planks.
The planks are held in their positions by a series of plexiglas panels.
Those are your targets.
There are 36 in all.
Here's how it's gonna work.
On my signal, you two guys will use the Walther p38 to take out these panels.
If you do that, you'll cause the planks immediately below the ruined targets to drop to the ground.
You must start at the bottom and work your way up.
The first shooter to hit 36 targets and stack all 8 boards on the ground first wins.
Now, listen up.
This is where it gets fun.
You will each be given in 5 magazines.
When you go through that, you will need to start loading the rounds yourself in the mags.
All right, make sense? Now, the reason that's interesting is normally on "Top Shot," we give you enough rounds preloaded so if you have a perfect run, you can finish out the course.
Well, obviously, if there are 36 targets and you only have 30 rounds loaded up, you're gonna have to reload.
Gary, did you work on that in practice? I sure did Worked quite a bit on it.
Mike, how about you? Yeah, I did quite a few reloads.
All right, let's do it.
Step up to your decks.
We'll get started.
This ought to be fun.
This is something we've all been kind of talking about A big shootout with a lot of things to break with a lot of rounds flying.
I think Gary's got a really good shot at this.
It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.
Coming up on "Top Shot" Go! Can kind of see out of my peripheral vision every time one of his planks drop.
Gary's already moving on.
We are all tied up! All right, fellas, it is time for the elimination challenge.
Using the Walther p38, each shooter will have to hit 36 targets, causing 8 wooden planks to drop to the ground.
You must work on one plank at a time, starting at the bottom and working your way up.
Whoever finishes first wins and stays in the competition.
The loser kisses any chance of winning "Top Shot" goodbye.
As an added incentive, whoever wins today is also gonna get a $2,000 gift card to Bass Pro shops.
All right, marksmen, let's do this.
Marksmen, ready SetGo! Gary and Mike battling it out with the Walther.
Mike first to strike Hits his first target.
Mike's got two targets hit! Now Gary's on the board.
Mike two targets left on his first board.
So, I start off doing pretty good, went 5 for 5, and then hit the reload and tried to continue that pace.
Mike drops his first board.
My first two shots, I miss.
I don't hit anything, and I realized right then and there that I'm gonna have to slow myself down significantly.
Gary hits two targets! Gary hits a third target! I slow myself down, and then I start making my hits.
Mike already working on the second board! Gary finally gets the first board! We're pretty close.
Mike working his way across, has four targets.
Now Mike closes out the second board! Gary closes out his! These guys are tight! The only real feedback that I have from Mike's side is, I can hear when he's shooting, I can hear when he's not shooting, and I can kind of see out of my peripheral vision every time one of his planks drop.
Gary catching back up! We're back and forth here! Gary takes the lead! Now Mike catches back up! Both men shooting very well! Gary's got one target left.
Gary taking a bit of a lead here! Mike's back on the course! Oh, Mike chips one of his targets! It does not break! And now it drops down there! Gary's having to manually load up the Walther.
Now Mike's catching back up.
We are all tied up halfway through this challenge! I was trying to get the mags reloaded, and I do start to pull some awareness towards Colby saying that it's a tied-up game.
Both men having to manually load magazines.
The way the challenge is set up is, you're gonna run dry.
Eventually, you're gonna have to reload your own magazine.
I kept everything nice and close to my body because under stress, you work best that way, and everything went together really smooth.
Mike is one target ahead of(Gary at this point.
Now we're all tied up once again! Gary misses! Gary hits! Gary's got one target left! He drops another board! Now Mike's having to play catch up! Mike's got one target left to drop his board.
The one target gave me a little bit of grief.
I fired just a few shots to the upper right, and I was not breaking that sucker.
Two plexiglas targets to hit.
One of them is busted, but it's not quite broken in half.
Gary's got a little bit of a lead at this point.
Mike's back on the course.
Oh, again, hits the target! Now it shatters! Moving on! Gary's got two targets left, and this challenge is over! One target left for Gary! He's having to reload! Mike reloading his.
That's it! Gary wins! Once that last plank dropped and I saw those words "Top Shot" written out in front of me, it was it was a really good feeling.
Gary, you hit all your targets first.
Congratulations.
You are still in this.
I look at this as a privilege to kind of test my skills against somebody that everybody in the house looked up to so much with a pistol, and, you know, I'm just happy at I came out on top.
Come on down and get your gift card.
Rejoin these guys in the green.
You know, the one thing that took me at the very beginning of this course was that Gary was deliberate and accurate.
But I saw Mike go 0 for 6 on one target, which, you know, grandmaster flash once again proves not to be a valid title because some guy from the backwoods of Virginia just sent him home.
Big Mike, unfortunately, you have fired your last shot.
You've been eliminated from "Top Shot.
" I'll give you a second to say goodbye to these guys before you take off.
- Well, I just took a loss.
- I don't feel good right now.
Don't feel like I performed like I really wanted to.
Don't feel like I got tuned in, adapted well.
- Good job, man.
- We'll stay in touch.
Jake.
All right, buddy.
Lost to Gary.
That's how I would want to go out, just battling it out.
Gonna miss you, too, Gary.
Good shooting, buddy.
Good job.
I love this competition.
It's it's extremely unique.
And it's great.
I mean, I love it.
Now, am I really thirsting to go back to regular USPSA competitions? I am.
But this has been a great experience.
Well, like I said before, guys, as long as you're wearing the green jerseys, if you perform well like Gary just did, you will move on, okay? We are down to six of you, battling it out for the title of Top Shot.
You guys can head back to the house.
I'll see you at practice.
On the next episode of "Top Shot" That's the fairest way to do it.
Okay, first of all, mother You can't say nothing's fair.
A stunning turn of events I don't really give a Shocks the shooters.
Jake can't handle it The stress, whatever it is, the rejection.
Then all of a sudden, Colby comes walking in.
And we're just waiting to see what happens next.
The Blue Team wins the recurve bow challenge.
Yeah.
Garry in awake for the Blue Team.
- It's nothing personal.
- Whatever dude.
But victory does not bring calm to the team.
If I look at you who the are you yelling at?! - Don't yell at me.
- The is wrong with you? - What you gonna do? - I'm not The are you gonna do, Mike? The you gonna do? Go ahead and do it.
Jake's sportsmanship comes into question.
Jake's disrespecting this competition.
He's disrespecting the competitors.
Everything I do is extremely calculated.
That's why I win the way I win.
That's why I always achieve what I set out to achieve.
Go! And the world-class revolver champion is eliminated.
Cliff, unfortunately, you have fired your last shot.
There are shots that changed history Feats of legendary skill and extreme precision.
Now 16 of today's best marksmen have been chosen.
They come from all over the country and from all walks of life.
Amateurs and professionals, military, recreation, and exhibition shooters.
Each shows the timeless skills of a true marksman Not just with one weapon, with any weapon.
They will compete in a gauntlet of challenges until only one remains, to claim the $100,000 prize and the title of "Top Shot.
" Chris! The Red Team walks through the door, and Cliff's gone.
Y'all don't look too happy.
Oh, no, man.
It's been a long day.
Strategically, this is good for blue.
Cliff was a really good pistol shot.
Dream crusher is no more.
Dream crusher's gone.
Names up there now.
There's a bunch.
How does that look? So, Blue Team's feeling pretty good, and hopefully we can stay together as a team and keep winning these things.
Morning, shooters.
Good morning.
Well, with Cliff's elimination, we are down to seven of you still in the running for the $100,000 and the title of history's "Top Shot.
" Each of you has exhibited outstanding marksmanship up to this point.
Congratulations are definitely in order.
All of you have made it to the individual stage of this competition.
Red and blue teams are no more, fellas.
It's time for the green jerseys.
All right.
Throw one on.
We realized we were all getting our green shirts.
It was almost a surreal moment Something we've all wanted since we got here.
It says, "if I can make it this far, I can make it all the way to the end.
" Getting the green Jersey doesn't really change anything.
I've been operating on my own here for probably the last three challenges, so it doesn't change anythin with me personally.
- Congrats.
- Damn, y'all look good in green.
- Congratulations.
- Good job, guys.
To me, making the green team is a lot like getting promoted at work because the higher up you go, you really got to be on top of your game because if you're not, there's always gonna be somebody there that's willing to knock you off that ladder.
You guys have made it to the individual part of this competition.
From here on out, your personal performance is all that matters.
Every challenge will be head-to-head from this point out until only one marksman is left standing.
You guys ready to get started? Absolutely.
Well, I Hope you boys are ready for some serious recoil because for this first individual challenge, we're bringing out the big stick.
M-50.
The McMillan Tac-50.
I love the.
50-cal.
It's big, it's heavy, it's a man's man's gun.
Shooting a.
50-cal is on everybody's to-do list.
The McMillan Tac-50 rifle is a.
50-caliber long-range sniper rifle.
It is well-known for its unsurpassed accuracy, even at great distances.
In the optimal weather conditions and in the right hands, the weapon is capable of grouping several rounds in a 5-inch circle from 1,000 yards away.
This one's gonna be fun, gentlemen.
Former U.
S.
Navy S.
E.
A.
L.
sniper Craig "Sawman" Sawyer is back to help get you guys dialed in with the McMillan.
Craig used this rifle in the Navy and actually helped develop the current stock design for this weapon.
For this pctice, you'll be shooting at two stationary targets Have fun.
I'll see you tomorrow at the challenge.
I got excited.
It's like, "this is a.
50-cal.
This is what I came here to do.
" Craig, good to see you.
Good to see all you guys, man.
I think the biggest challenge for these competitors shooting a Tac-50 is gonna be overcoming that recoil.
This thing kicks like a three-legged ninja.
That thing is a serious weapon.
When you fire this weapon, not only is there recoil but there's overpressure.
Feels like somebody's punching you lightly in the nose.
You using both eyes open, and then getting the scope where you want it, and then closing it down? No, I wasn't.
I should.
It's quicker.
The basic, fundamental thing I overlooked, and that's why we have the experts there to let us know where our flaws are.
How does my eye relief look? It looks fine.
I'd hate to see somebody creep up too close and get a taste of scope bite 'cause this one will give it to you.
Your finger literally did this pow.
Okay, I'll focus on that.
Bend that trigger one time for me.
Show me you got it.
Absolutely.
Craig's a great teacher.
To be able to sit down there with you, and work your fundamentals out, and get you hitting on a bull's-eye at 500 yards with a Tac-50 It's very impressive.
That's it, man.
Think about follow-through now.
I'm taking a ton of notes to make sure that I suck in everything that Craig Sawyer has to say about shooting long ranges at moving targets.
Okay, a little more follow-through on the trigger.
Craig's wanting me to pin the trigger back.
Better.
And I notice that as soon as I did, my shot placement became a whole lot better.
What else you got for me? Work that bolt.
Practice getting that round in there.
Keep both eyes open.
Line that thing up.
Find it with the cross hairs, and if you want to close one eye, close it then.
Craig really knows what he's talking about behind that gun.
Right target.
Watching Mike practice, he had the most square body position of any of this group.
Breathing's looking good, position's looking good, trigger's looking good.
He seems very, very determined and focused.
- Right target.
- Copy that right target.
Okay, it's right in the red.
My first few shots, they were consistent.
Yeah, there it is again.
You know, at that range, this type of rifle I've never shot before and with that wind, it's about as good as I can hope for.
All right, good effort on the practice.
Good luck in the challenge.
All right, thank you, sir.
Based on what I saw today during the practice, you know, everybody kind of got the hang of the McMillan.
I can't wait to get behind it tomorrow and see what I can do with it in the challenge.
- Hey, congratulations, man.
- Congratulations.
Mike.
I have to get you out of here quick.
It feels a little bit different inside the house now that we're all, you know, one big team.
You know, everybody's kind of playing their cards a little closer to their chests now because if you've got a plan, it's an individual plan.
I think everybody in the house right now is a pretty good shot.
I think everybody's, you know, got their own strategy they might do.
Who you gonna vote for? Jake.
No, I think I'm still gonna base my vote based off performance, and the worst performer goes home.
In theory, I want to shoot against the best, so Well, we'll just have to see.
From here on out, you know, if you have any strengths Everybody's gonna know it, and if you have any weaknesses, you may be out of here.
We're walking up to the challenge, and to be honest with you, it's hard to stand.
It's windy, and it's blowing everybody over.
And, you know, you see the trees they're bending.
The grass in the field is basically bent completely over.
The flag is making a ton of noise, and shooting precision shots in this kind of wind It's gonna be extremely tough.
Morning, shooters.
Morning.
A nice windy morning for you.
Jake, on a day like today with wind like this, the conditions the way they are, do you think the playing field's level between you seven guys? Yeah, I think everybody's level.
I don't think anybody has an advantage or a disadvantage.
Right.
I'm just saying, we had mildly windy conditions yesterday, and we're out here in a hurricane today.
It's a different story, you know? It is.
Let me be the first to say, gentlemen, you are today.
All of you.
Everybody ready for the first individual challenge? For today's challenge, you will compete one at a time using the McMillan Tac-50.
will be a single exploding target 30 inches in diameter.
"Top Shot" twist Is that now the target will be moving.
The target will travel at a walking pace horizontally between those two jeeps, which are 20 yards apart.
When the target reaches the end of the path on either side, it will then go back in the opposite direction.
On my signal, the shooter will load the McMillan Tac-50.
He must then sight and take out the moving target.
You'll be competing to make the shot in the shortest amount of time.
All right, the goal of this competition is to find the best overall shooter, the Top Shot.
And in the spirit of that, we are going to raise the stakes considerably for this challenge.
The best performers will be safe.
The top four finishers in today's challenge will move on to the next round.
The bottom three are at risk of going home.
We drew names to see who goes first.
Alex, you're the man.
Come on up.
It's a horrible day to go first.
The winds are just gusting Good luck, Alex.
Good luck, Alex.
I'm praying for you.
It's absolutely horrible to take a 500-yard shot at a moving target.
Then I've got to make it happen.
Coming up on "Top Shot" I'm sweating bullets, literally.
Going up there to shoot as fast as I could, no matter what.
Another miss.
The first individual challenge on "Top Shot," we're asking you to make an extremely difficult shot for even the most experienced snipers.
Hit a moving target The weapon is the McMillan Tac-50 rifle.
The four shooters with the fastest times advance in the competition.
The bottom three are up for elimination.
Alex is up first.
It is time for the rest of you guys to leave the range until it's your turn to shoot.
Here we go.
I'm up first, which is not a good place to be in.
I'm sweating bullets, literally.
It's a tough challenge, and I'll give it my best.
Turn around.
Marksman, ready SetGo! Alex first on the course with the McMillan Tac-50.
I get on the bench, adjust my rifle.
I actually forget to zoom my scope in, so I lost a few seconds there.
The moving target is almost all the way to the end of the first line.
First shot downrange That's a hit! I'm like, "wow, I got this one.
" Nice shot! You were the first marksman to go.
You just hit a 500-yard moving target in one shot.
And you did it in 12 seconds.
The other shooters have no idea how high you just set the bar.
- Nice shot.
- Thank you.
I'm very relieved, you know, at that point to be in those top four, and I felt really good about it.
Come on in, Chris.
I'm by no means a sniper.
I do have experience shooting in the wind but not something I've done a whole lot of, if any.
So it definitely will be a challenge.
Marksman, ready SetGo! Chris getting the Tac-50 loaded up, acquiring his target.
I judge the wind, get the proper cheek weld, you know, make all the adjustments to the rifle, and I'm set.
Sends his first round downrange.
Chris getting reloaded.
Bullet impacted about 4 foot in front of the target, and so I decided to cut my lead in half half the distance.
Quick on the reload.
Chris sends his second round downrange.
So, now I'm thinking, "what's wrong? What's wrong?" I get another round loaded in, then I just go to the leading edge on the target.
His third shot Nice shot! Chris, it took you 3 shots and 51 seconds.
Not bad.
Take a seat over there next to Alex.
Severely disappointed in myself.
I realiz that I had adjusted twice.
I was using both Kentucky windage, and I made a scope adjustment.
That's an amateur mistake, and I paid the price for it.
Phil, come on in.
Go! Phil already loaded up.
Sends a round downrange! That connects! One shot, one hit for Phil.
Well, Phil, I got to say, Alex started things off pretty impressively.
He hit that target in one shot.
He did it in 12 seconds.
You just beat him.
You did it in 9.
5 seconds.
Taken over the lead.
Find a spot on the bench.
- 9.
5 seconds - That's pretty fast.
So right now, you know, it's looking pretty good for me.
Good shooting.
I'm in third place in the first three shooters, and I know that it's probably going to continue to be that way until I'm at the bottom of the barrel.
Jake, step right up, buddy.
Next shooter's Jake.
I know that he was a former S.
E.
A.
L.
His speciality was not sniping, though, so we're all kind of curious to see how Jake handles this pressure.
Go! When that target came into the right position with a 3-foot lead, I let the round go.
That's a hit! That's a hit! Jake hits it on his first shot! Nice work.
And I'm thinking right then, "he's got me either by half a second, or I got him by half a second.
" All right, Jake, that was pretty fast.
Three other marksmen have gone.
Where do you think that puts you? First.
First.
What if I told you that two other shooters hit it in one shot? Oh, they might've hit it in one shot, but I don't think they did it faster than that.
Phil, you hit it in 9.
52 seconds.
Jake, 9.
02.
You're gonna bump those guys down one spot.
You're in the lead.
That bench is getting crowded over there, fellas.
Chris, you're barely hanging on, brother.
Gary, you're up! Gary's coming up.
He's performed unbelievably well.
He's done well at the rifle challenges.
I'm like, "wow, this is not looking good for me.
" Marksmen, ready, set, go! I found the target really quick.
I got a good bead on it.
It's coming right across the cross hairs.
Gary's first shot downrange just misses.
He's the first person besides myself to miss on the first shot.
Another miss.
Hmm.
Okay, there's two.
Then his third misses.
At that point, I knew I wasn't gonna be in last place anymore.
Gary's fourth shot goes right.
If he doesn't get a hit on target here, he's gonna be looking at last place.
Gary just keeps shooting Keeps shooting.
Oh! You can see it in his face that he's grimacing every time that thing goes off.
And I'm feeling bad for him at this point.
The hotter the weapon's getting, the harder it is to unlock that bolt.
Now I'm really suffering.
Gary's struggling now.
And now I'm floundering.
This is a challenge where you cannot lose your composure.
I got lost.
I really I really didn't know what to do.
You know, I feel bad.
He's performed so well as a teammate, and now he goes out and he struggles like that with the.
50.
Gary getting a little frustrated.
You don't want to see anybody shoot that poorly that they just absolutely fall on their sword.
I don't plan on walking away from this thing without popping that target, so I know I've got to stay on it and deal with the embarrassment later.
Whoo-hoo! Good shot, Gare.
Well, Gary, it took you 14 shots.
but you got it done.
All right, all right.
Because there's only two shooters left, you are definitely eligible for nomination.
All right, thanks, Colby.
I'm so embarrassed, and I'm not very happy with my performance at all.
Hopefully, I'll get a chance to redeem myself later down the road.
How's your shoulder, man? It's killing me.
Two shooters left.
Mike is next.
Come on in.
We got big Mike coming up next, and, you know, Mike is so methodical with the way he shoots.
Point of impact with the wind, the variables, and all this stuff, so this is right up his alley.
Marksman, ready, set, go! Mike just misses the target! And you can see him getting a little flustered with his performance.
He wanted to get up there and obviously hit in one hit just like the rest of us do.
Mike's second round misses.
I absolutely knew he wasn't gonna be able to hit it.
He doesn't shoot long range.
He's struggled with every rifle we've had.
That's a hit! Mike gets it done in three shots! All right, Mike.
So, at this point, Chris is on the bubble, okay? He hit his target in 51 seconds.
Anything longer than that, you're in the bottom three.
You hit it in 44 seconds.
All right, so you're on the bench.
You're in fourth place.
Chris, you are now in the bottom three, brother.
One shooter left.
Dustin, you're the last man.
Come on.
You know, Dustin's very fast, but he gives up accuracy sometimes with that fastness.
Marksman, ready, set, go! Dustin wasting no time getting ready.
His first round down, and that connects! That'll do.
Dustin, with that one shot, not only did you knock Mike into the bottom three, you just won this challenge.
You did it in 8 seconds.
All right, go back over there.
You're on the bench.
Nice work.
I feel like I did real good.
I hit it in one shot.
I came out in first place over everything, and so I'm real excited now.
Well, guys, that was a heck of a challenge.
Dustin, Jake, Phil, and Alex, congratulations.
You guys are through to the next round.
Nice shooting.
Gary, Chris, and Mike, you three are up for elimination.
Two of you will compete in the elimination challenge.
Remember, this competition is to determine who is the best overall marksman.
So the question is, which one of you, based on performance, deserves to stay in the game? You guys can head back to the house.
I'll see you all at the nomination range.
Coming up on "Top Shot" I'm gonna vote for Mike.
I'd expect everybody else to kind of vote for me.
I want to put the strongest members into this elimination.
You're transparent.
It's great.
I'm just trying to get one of them sent home.
What happened with Gary? I don't want to ask him.
That'd be a little I don't know, man.
That's a lot of shooting.
I think my least favorite weapon system so far has been the McMillan just because of the The recoil, basically.
You know, I'm not built the way I used to be.
I've had a little shoulder surgery, and that thing just beat me to death.
You know, it's just a matter of fact.
Everybody's gonna have an off day during this competition.
It's set up that way.
I don't think that anybody comes in here fully prepared for the range of weapons that you're gonna see, you know, just the broad scope of the competitions and, you know, just the chaos of the whole thing.
So, you know, going to the nomination range today, I can I'm fully expecting to have six rounds in my target.
I already told Gary I'm gonna vote for him.
I'm second 'cause my vote goes based on performance.
I'm the second-worst performer, so I expect an equal number of votes or whatever.
I'd expect everybody else to kind of vote for me based on how I did today, but it's up to you guys.
Right.
I'm a little uneased.
You know, I understand it's the first meeting with Red Team, and they kind of have this view that the worst person goes to nomination, no matter what.
I'm thinking about it a little bit, and I have to stem this tide.
I'm gonna vote for Mike 'cause I was saying, I want to put the strongest members into this elimination.
And Gary yelled at me, "what are you talking about, man? "We're gonna put the weakest shooters in, and then when you get to the end, it'll be a gunfight.
" And I was like, "so, you want to shoot against Mike in pistol?" He was like, "yeah, I want to know that I'm the best, and if I get sent home by the best, then I lost to the best.
" - So, I said, " it.
- All right, give it a shot.
" Yeah, I mean, instantly, Gary volunteers himself.
I don't have a problem with him jumping on that grenade to go to elimination 'cause it's gonna take somebody skilled to beat Mike.
I mean, you're one of the best shooters in the house.
You're the last mother grand poobah.
Grandmaster flash in the house.
No, Jake, no, you're transparent.
It's great.
I need another minute.
Just, it's nothing dirty.
There's nothing wrong or slight-handed about it.
I'm just trying to get the two best people into elimination that I can so one of them gets sent home.
Gentlemen, welcome back to the nomination range.
You've all earned your way to the individual stage of this competition.
And as long as you're wearing the green jerseys, you perform well, and you will move on in the competition.
Gary, Mike, and Chris, you three are not out of the woods yet.
Everyone will vote for one of these three guys.
The two with the most votes will be going to the elimination challenge.
All right, fellas, let's get to it.
Chris, you'll be going first.
Ary manned up just like he said he would.
He performed poorly.
He said, "you know, based on performance, I would vote for me.
" Gary, you're next.
One vote Gary, one vote Chris.
Phil, it's your turn.
Fire when ready.
Gary would want me to shoot his target because he performed worse in the individual challenge than anybody else.
And I don't want to do it, but that's where my vote going.
Come on up, Mike.
All right, Gary, that's three votes for you, so you will be in the elimination challenge.
Dustin, you are up.
Jake, you're up.
It was extremely easy to shoot Mike's target.
Just a really good competitor, and I got to send him home.
I don't feel bad at all about shooting a hole in his target.
All right, Alex, you're the last one.
It's up to me.
I could either, you know, break the tie or make it a tie.
I sent my bullet towards Mike.
Jake I don't necessarily disagree with him.
I kind of look at this like a business, and you're not going to forgo an opportunity to outdo your competitor.
If there's another business for sale that's your direct competitor and you have the option to buy it, you will.
Well, since there's a tie between Chris and Mike, we're gonna have to go to the tie breaker.
Since after all "Top Shot" is a marksmanship competition, for the first time, we're gonna have a shootout to determine who goes to the elimination challenge.
So, Colby announces the fact that we're gonna have a good old-fashioned shoot-off.
He's gonna put one target up.
The closest person to the bull's-eye wins and is safe from elimination.
I'll draw a name out of the ammo box to see who shoots first.
Mike.
Remember, you are shooting to stay out of the elimination challenge.
You know, Chris and I are a toss-up.
We're pretty close.
So it really makes sense that there was some sort of competition right there.
Fire when ready.
I 9:00 it a little bit, and the shot doesn't go quite where I want to.
So it's Chris has an opportunity to win.
All right, Chris.
I walk up, kind of reset.
I'm strangely calm at this point, as well.
I don't have any nervousness about whether or not I go to elimination.
So, really, I'm just gonna do the best shot that I can and see what happens.
All right, Chris.
Chris walked up there and sent a round right dead center in the target, and that was it.
Mike and Gary are going to a gunfight.
Mike, Gary, you two will compete for the right to stay in this competition.
I'll see you at practice.
The rest of you guys, I'll catch up with you at the challenge.
Head back to the house.
The only thing I can do now is just put everything that happened prior to this behind me, focus on what I got to do during the practice and during the elimination challenge, and drive on from there.
Coming up on "Top Shot" The Walther p38.
Gary's a confident shooter.
I'm excited to see how this all shakes out.
You're gonna get to see a gunfight.
Come on in, fellas.
Mike and Gary, welcome to practice for the elimination challenge.
This is your chance to prove you have the all-around skills to continue on "Top Shot.
" For the elimination challenge, you will be using another iconic weapon, but this one's from an earlier era.
The Walther p38.
The Walther p38 is a 9-millimeter pistol that replaced the luger as the standard sidearm for German army officers before the start of World War II.
Expert Craig Sawyer is returning to help familiarize you with this weapon.
In addition to accuracy, the skills that you will be learning will be rapidly transitioning between targets and learning to reload the Walther on the fly.
Gary, you're up first.
Mike, you can head back to the house.
You'll practice later.
The Walther p38, it's a little 9-millimeter, very similar to a luger, and I'm thinking in the back of my mind, "great.
I get to go up against the grand master with a pistol.
" - Craig.
- Hi, there, Gary.
- Good to see you again.
- Good to see you.
But the one thing that I'm very aware of is the fact that this is not Mike's pistol.
I think he's just about as prepared to operate this thing as I am.
It felt really good getting behind the Getting behind the pistol.
It's got a nice, crisp single-action break.
Stand by.
Hup! I was a firearms instructor for a number of years, so I get sight management and trigger manipulation.
You know, I worked a little bit on it, so, you know, once I got very comfortable with that, then I left it alone, and I focused primarily on weapons-handling skills.
Quick with that thing.
I got a chance at redemption here.
Don't want to blow it.
I liked how Gary was pushing himself on the speed for the reloads.
He kept handling the weapon, manipulating it over and over again, pushing himself to get more and more familiar and quicker with the time that he did have.
I'm fully prepared to do what I have to do with this pistol.
I'm familiar with it.
I think I had a terrific practice.
And we're just gonna see what happens.
You did well, man.
All right, I Hope you're right.
I appreciate your help.
It's good seeing you.
Thanks.
This is Gary and my both kind of area.
He's a his main gig is pistol craft, and that's my area of focus, too, so I'm kind of thinking, "his is gonna be a pretty neat battle.
" Going hot.
All right, put one up.
Nice.
Yeah, I'm up high.
Biggest Nemesis to me is what is effectively a training scar from my other pistol craft.
The slide runs very low, so it's very easy to touch that slide with the thumb.
Is it binding up on this thumb, or is it binding up on its own? I don't know.
This thumb was down.
And when the slide goes rearward, if I slide on that slide with my thumbs, it slows it down.
It may not go all the way back.
It may get locked backwards.
Bad things can happen, which cause it to malfunction.
Both of these guys seem very dialed in.
They madgreat use of the time that they had.
They trained themselves over and over and over again.
I would expect them to both do well.
All right, Mike, good practice, man.
Outstanding effort.
- All right.
- Best of luck to you.
- Good stuff.
Take care.
- Thanks, buddy.
Went well.
Good practice.
It was a Walther p38.
Oh, cool.
The gun that the elimination challenge is based on is a Walther p38.
It's a pistol.
You know, it's right up their alley.
You got Mike Hughes, grand master pistol shooter, Gary, you know, Department of Homeland Security.
These guys, they're pistol guys.
This is gonna be a "Top Shot" battle for the ages.
So, it's gonna be a fast shoot? Yeah, it's gonna be fast.
I don't know about against the grand master, but we'll see how I hold up.
As far as any added pressure if I'm a grand master and stuff, I mean, first of all, Gary's a very confident shooter.
But you're gonna get to see a gunfight, Jake.
A gunfight? You're gonna get to see a gunfight.
I think Gary is very confident with a pistol.
He trains a lot.
He's a trainer himself.
So I'm excited to see how this all shakes out.
I've got, like, a little wall of fame beside my bunk.
It's full of letters and pictures that my kids and my wife sent out with me before I came here.
We're drawing to the end of this challenge, and the letters from home It's very focusing to me to know what's expected of me from my family.
And I'm not taking anything for granted, and, you know, I'm here to win this thing.
When I'm walking over the hill, the first thing I notice is an array of targets.
I see two sets and two platforms.
So I pretty much surmise that it's gonna be a head-to-head deal.
Walking into the challenge and seeing how everything's set up, it looks great.
Welcome to the "Top Shot" individual elimination challenge.
It is time to show you've got the marksmanship skill to remain in the hunt for $100,000 and the title of Top Shot.
This is head-to-head challenge, fellas.
are 2 identical grids holding 8 hanging wooden planks.
The planks are held in their positions by a series of plexiglas panels.
Those are your targets.
There are 36 in all.
Here's how it's gonna work.
On my signal, you two guys will use the Walther p38 to take out these panels.
If you do that, you'll cause the planks immediately below the ruined targets to drop to the ground.
You must start at the bottom and work your way up.
The first shooter to hit 36 targets and stack all 8 boards on the ground first wins.
Now, listen up.
This is where it gets fun.
You will each be given in 5 magazines.
When you go through that, you will need to start loading the rounds yourself in the mags.
All right, make sense? Now, the reason that's interesting is normally on "Top Shot," we give you enough rounds preloaded so if you have a perfect run, you can finish out the course.
Well, obviously, if there are 36 targets and you only have 30 rounds loaded up, you're gonna have to reload.
Gary, did you work on that in practice? I sure did Worked quite a bit on it.
Mike, how about you? Yeah, I did quite a few reloads.
All right, let's do it.
Step up to your decks.
We'll get started.
This ought to be fun.
This is something we've all been kind of talking about A big shootout with a lot of things to break with a lot of rounds flying.
I think Gary's got a really good shot at this.
It'll be interesting to see how this turns out.
Coming up on "Top Shot" Go! Can kind of see out of my peripheral vision every time one of his planks drop.
Gary's already moving on.
We are all tied up! All right, fellas, it is time for the elimination challenge.
Using the Walther p38, each shooter will have to hit 36 targets, causing 8 wooden planks to drop to the ground.
You must work on one plank at a time, starting at the bottom and working your way up.
Whoever finishes first wins and stays in the competition.
The loser kisses any chance of winning "Top Shot" goodbye.
As an added incentive, whoever wins today is also gonna get a $2,000 gift card to Bass Pro shops.
All right, marksmen, let's do this.
Marksmen, ready SetGo! Gary and Mike battling it out with the Walther.
Mike first to strike Hits his first target.
Mike's got two targets hit! Now Gary's on the board.
Mike two targets left on his first board.
So, I start off doing pretty good, went 5 for 5, and then hit the reload and tried to continue that pace.
Mike drops his first board.
My first two shots, I miss.
I don't hit anything, and I realized right then and there that I'm gonna have to slow myself down significantly.
Gary hits two targets! Gary hits a third target! I slow myself down, and then I start making my hits.
Mike already working on the second board! Gary finally gets the first board! We're pretty close.
Mike working his way across, has four targets.
Now Mike closes out the second board! Gary closes out his! These guys are tight! The only real feedback that I have from Mike's side is, I can hear when he's shooting, I can hear when he's not shooting, and I can kind of see out of my peripheral vision every time one of his planks drop.
Gary catching back up! We're back and forth here! Gary takes the lead! Now Mike catches back up! Both men shooting very well! Gary's got one target left.
Gary taking a bit of a lead here! Mike's back on the course! Oh, Mike chips one of his targets! It does not break! And now it drops down there! Gary's having to manually load up the Walther.
Now Mike's catching back up.
We are all tied up halfway through this challenge! I was trying to get the mags reloaded, and I do start to pull some awareness towards Colby saying that it's a tied-up game.
Both men having to manually load magazines.
The way the challenge is set up is, you're gonna run dry.
Eventually, you're gonna have to reload your own magazine.
I kept everything nice and close to my body because under stress, you work best that way, and everything went together really smooth.
Mike is one target ahead of(Gary at this point.
Now we're all tied up once again! Gary misses! Gary hits! Gary's got one target left! He drops another board! Now Mike's having to play catch up! Mike's got one target left to drop his board.
The one target gave me a little bit of grief.
I fired just a few shots to the upper right, and I was not breaking that sucker.
Two plexiglas targets to hit.
One of them is busted, but it's not quite broken in half.
Gary's got a little bit of a lead at this point.
Mike's back on the course.
Oh, again, hits the target! Now it shatters! Moving on! Gary's got two targets left, and this challenge is over! One target left for Gary! He's having to reload! Mike reloading his.
That's it! Gary wins! Once that last plank dropped and I saw those words "Top Shot" written out in front of me, it was it was a really good feeling.
Gary, you hit all your targets first.
Congratulations.
You are still in this.
I look at this as a privilege to kind of test my skills against somebody that everybody in the house looked up to so much with a pistol, and, you know, I'm just happy at I came out on top.
Come on down and get your gift card.
Rejoin these guys in the green.
You know, the one thing that took me at the very beginning of this course was that Gary was deliberate and accurate.
But I saw Mike go 0 for 6 on one target, which, you know, grandmaster flash once again proves not to be a valid title because some guy from the backwoods of Virginia just sent him home.
Big Mike, unfortunately, you have fired your last shot.
You've been eliminated from "Top Shot.
" I'll give you a second to say goodbye to these guys before you take off.
- Well, I just took a loss.
- I don't feel good right now.
Don't feel like I performed like I really wanted to.
Don't feel like I got tuned in, adapted well.
- Good job, man.
- We'll stay in touch.
Jake.
All right, buddy.
Lost to Gary.
That's how I would want to go out, just battling it out.
Gonna miss you, too, Gary.
Good shooting, buddy.
Good job.
I love this competition.
It's it's extremely unique.
And it's great.
I mean, I love it.
Now, am I really thirsting to go back to regular USPSA competitions? I am.
But this has been a great experience.
Well, like I said before, guys, as long as you're wearing the green jerseys, if you perform well like Gary just did, you will move on, okay? We are down to six of you, battling it out for the title of Top Shot.
You guys can head back to the house.
I'll see you at practice.
On the next episode of "Top Shot" That's the fairest way to do it.
Okay, first of all, mother You can't say nothing's fair.
A stunning turn of events I don't really give a Shocks the shooters.
Jake can't handle it The stress, whatever it is, the rejection.
Then all of a sudden, Colby comes walking in.
And we're just waiting to see what happens next.