Top Shot Stuff
People say to me Hey, Uncle, what did you think of this Top Shot business? And I say to them People, it was alright.
First, I despise reality TeeVee. But I like guns. I hoped the fact that I liked guns coupled with me knowing one of the contestants would overcome the suck that is reality TeeVee. And it did. It was entertaining. Needs more shooting and less drama, ego, and people saying dumb shit. More importantly, it’s a show on mainstream TeeVee that’s portrays guns in a positive light. That’s alright by me. Hell, NPR did a piece on it. Sure, they whined about the lack of emotion but, being they’re NPR folks, they expect other people to get all emotional and cry and shit when they spill their Snapple or Starbuck’s is out of Sugar in the Raw.
Caleb, who was on the show, shares some thoughts. Chris liked it. It’s shooty but dumbed down. PDB live blogged it. Heh.
But this ain’t a post about that, it’s a post about this (spoiler stop reading if you don’t want to know): What the fuck happened to Mike Seeklander?
I’ve never met the guy and have no dog in the fight. My first experience with him was watching the show and, except for coming across as a dick at the start (selective editing, I’m sure), he seemed OK. I’ve read about his background and accomplishments in shooting. He’s also got ties to Knoxville. And trains people. In other words, the guy can shoot. I cannot see how someone with that pedigree can miss an 8 inch target at 100 yards 30 times. I won’t say it’s impossible but it ranks up there with lightning striking or hitting the power ball on the highly unlikely scale. I’m not alone in puzzlement and Chris wonders about it too. And, hell, here’s a video of him making those shots in much higher wind:
There had to be some sort of mechanical problem. The gun was off, the target wasn’t set right (though I never saw a hole appear in it), the spotter wasn’t relaying accurate info, someone gave him decaf, I dunno. Because that guy could miss a few times but not thirty times. And, to the haters, I defer to Tam:
I can shoot 1/4 MOA with my keyboard all day long!
Anyway, Mike has his thoughts on what happened:
Everything was going good, and then I just got my ass kicked off the show!
June 8th, 2010 at 7:32 am
“He’s also got ties to Knoxville. And trains people. In other words, the guy can shoot.”
With his Monkey Butt (his mouth).
Come on, Uncle, how long have you been around guns?
The pudknockers who run their mouths the most can do the least.
June 8th, 2010 at 7:45 am
That Kelly guy almost got screwed for no reason. He hadn’t even shot, hadn’t said a word, and they tried to vote him off because he was a ‘youngun’. When push came to shove, he showed THEM who the top shooter was. The smiley face was pure win!
June 8th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Shootin’ Buddy,
“The pudknockers who run their mouths the most can do the least.”
Considering he’s an IPSC Grand Master and I’ve seen you shoot, you wouldn’t mind if I put my money on him in a casual pistol contest?
You sure do talk some big damn smack on the intertubes.
June 8th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Never said I can shoot, but I’ve been around those who do talk smack and then cannot produce. Heck, that’s any gun shoppe.
June 8th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Oh, and . . .
Gun gamer, gun gamer, can’t you see, trophies and medals don’t mean shit to me.
🙂
June 8th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Dammit, I was going to point out that he came off the show and went and won the Area 4 production championship – so he can definitely shoot.
June 8th, 2010 at 8:49 am
That sounds like something from a thread at Bullshido.net.
“My Ninja Gaiden Death Fu is the strongest.”
“Cool! Wanna spar?”
“No! My Ninja Gaiden Death Fu is too strong for sparring!”
June 8th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Tam, that’s kind of the point.:-)
June 8th, 2010 at 9:36 am
As Caleb pointed out, Seeklander’s kung fu is just fine, Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking to the contrary.
I’m just glad none of my bad days have been memorialized on national TV; I’d sure hate for anonymous strangers on teh internets to base their entire opinion of me from one blown stage.
June 8th, 2010 at 10:31 am
“I’d sure hate for anonymous strangers on teh internets to base their entire opinion of me from one blown stage.”
And how many anonymous strangers have you told that you were all that and a bag of .30-’06?
How many times did you say that the blue team has no chance because of your kung fu?
How many times have you labelled yourself a “professional shooter” and then looked like a pudknocker in front of the entire gun culture?
If one does not want anonymous strangers to mock your shooting, then do not hold yourself out as America’s Greatest Shot or you will be mocked. Mock, mock.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Somebody on ARFCOM, assuming somebody who knows 1903s, said that if they were using the battlesight, and not the flip up site, then he would’ve been off (guy also said it was a straight 03 not an 03A3). Guys said that the battlesight on the 1903 is zeroed for out near 500 yards. I didn’t see Mike flip up the sights on the ’03, and if he didn’t know how to use them (since he said he’d barely used the rifle) then he would’ve been way way off with little way to get back on target.
I dunno though, since I’ve never shot a 1903.
June 8th, 2010 at 11:28 am
The goofy format set up the opportunity for whacky results like Seeklander’s Springfield stage. Throw an unknown rifle at someone and anything can happen. Its among the reasons I’m not enamored of the show.
June 8th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
I’m going to the range tomorrow and taking the scope off my flattop M&P 15, then I’m gonna set up a milk jug full of water. If I can’t hit that jug without sights @ 100 yds in 10-15 shots I’ll be disappointed. I’m not being cocky or bragging that I’m some sniper(I’m not), it just doesn’t seem that difficult to me or anyone else I’ve talked to about it.
It’s really hard for me to believe it was shooter error, something had to be wrong with that rifle. I don’t care if he never shot it before he should have been able to hit it with that many shots.
June 8th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
With that many shots he should have gotten lucky and hit the target.
June 8th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
JD, when you do that, be sure to hang that jug in front of some brush at least 5 feet off the ground, so as to make registering the misses difficult, and have a complete stranger who may have a vested interest in your poor performance spotting for you, just to replicate the conditions…..
…. never mind that you won’t have ’06 level recoil to contend with, using that poodle shooter….
30 shots IS a lot, but when you can’t reliably correct for your misses….. it is more understandable.
The ’03 is not a completely unfamiliar platform to the guy, as the above vidio shows….
June 8th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Seriously though 30 shots at 100 yards? Having watched it again, I think he got a bit flustered and lost concentration. It’s one thing to let yourself down. Letting your team down adds a whole other level of stress. That being said I still can’t believe he didn’t get lucky and have a round find its way through the target.
June 8th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
The guy obviously has the qualifications and understands the fundamentals of marksmanship. “There had to be something going on with that rifle” was my gut reaction watching that…but I don’t practice nearly as much with rifles so YMMV.
June 8th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
My first thoughts were, had I been on the red team, to grab that ’03 and see if I could get anywhere close to the target. If nothing else , to help settle the question of was it Mike, or the rifle?
I was also very surprised to see that Andre didn’t get any votes. His spotting calls didn’t seem to help much.
June 8th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
To Jimbob86:
Poodle shooter huh? Ok, will it make you feel better if I take the scope of my Rem 700 25-06 and try? It’ll cost me more $ but it’s probably more realistic and I won’t use a spotter.
I’m not blaming Seeklander, I stated that in my previous post. I agree with Verkan, someone else on his team should have shot the rifle @ the 100 yd target.
June 8th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
First thing I thought, wood stock, bedding went bad. Second, open sights worked loose. Third, everybody can have a bad day (or any part thereof).
June 8th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
What Jimbo86 said. If you can’t register your misses, you can’t hit an 8″ target at 50 yards.
If he could have registered his misses, he would have made Kentucky corrections and probably gotten 27 out of 30. The rifle is up to it, he was up to it.
June 9th, 2010 at 11:05 am
I posted about the ratings… Top Shot did pretty well.
http://spectre23.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/top-shot-tv-ratings/
June 9th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Jimbo and Rivrdog are on target.
He was using teh battlesight, which is a fixed notch set for between 400 and 500-some yards (depending on exact sight and ammo — and I’m only talking about GI spec sights and ammo!), as opposed to flipping it up and using teh precision apeture, which adjusts down to 100 yards.
If he was holding anywhere near COM, he was throwing rounds about 2 feet ABOVE the target FRAME, and they would be landing hundreds of yards downrange. It’s no surprising neither he nor his spotter could register the misses. If you don’t know where you are hitting, how can you apply adjustments via Kentucky Windage?
What I find surprising (and perhaps it’s his competitive and Marine background that caused him not to think of it) is that after five or so misses with no good idea of POI, why he didn’t try and throw a shot into an areas where he COULD register hits, to confirm POA/POI. Either he didn’t think of it (look at his history — “wasting shots” is counter to EVERYTHING he has trained), or he didn’t see an area of dirt at 75 – 500 yards he thought he could use as a spottertarget to confirm zero.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I also agree with Rivrdog and Jimbo. I had a new AR I took out to sight in at 100 yards and couldn’t register a hit to save my life. Tried holding high, low, left and right and still couldn’t register anything. The next week I took it to a 25 yard range and figured out the sights weren’t mounted properly. I was hitting nearly 3 feet left at 100 yards. No wonder the guy in the next lane was giving me dirty looks!
June 9th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Geo:
If his shots were nearly a yard high that would be understandable. But he was “on paper” with his first shot, or at least one of his first. That’s what puzzles me; why was it so hard to walk on-target after that?
June 9th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
‘Cause he couldn’t see the hole? A .3″ hole is a bit tough to spot at 100, especially when your spotter is still glassing all over the hillside trying to find the target.
June 10th, 2010 at 12:18 am
I tried to shoot a jug at the range tonight with my 25-06 minus any sights. I set in it the weeds next to the buckboard and shot at it 10 times without a spotter…no dice. So I set it on the dirt back drop and hit it with my 4th shot. Lucky? probably, but I wasn’t using any sights and had no spotter. Then I had to waste more ammo re-zeroing my rifle.