Throwback Thursday: the only shot I’m glad I missed

Caleb_Giddings_5th_TC

I’ve been thinking about the past a lot recently. I found this image online when searching for some unrelated flintlock pictures, and it jarred my memory, taking me down a road I’d not traveled in some time. For those that don’t know, that photo is from Season 1 of Top Shot, and right after it was taken I missed a 125 yard shot with that flintlock. I’d like to go back in time to April 2010 when that was filmed and tell younger me to aim a little higher.

And then I realize that I don’t want to do that at all. Yeah, I missed that shot, and we lost the challenge, and I ended up getting eliminated. I went home to Indiana, and I could have kept going with my boring life, in the suburbs, selling insurance. But I didn’t. I think that miss had something to do with it. I don’t particularly enjoy failing at stuff (who does) and knowing that I’d missed a difficult but makeable shot lit a fire inside me that hadn’t burned in a long time. So when the show came out months later, I had a shot at the brass ring. I went for it.

I’d started this blog in 2006 under a different name and URL. Top Shot gave me a chance to take it big time, and now four years later, it’s one of the most respected websites in the firearms industry, and I own part of another great company. I fly around the country shooting matches and teaching classes. I work with a great team, and I get to help make the best gun magazine ever.

And it’s all because of a missed shot.

8 Comments

  1. I’m a fan of your site and of Top Shot, but I had no idea that was you… Gimme a second; the world’s shifting again. Okay.

  2. Thank you for missing I guess and keep up the great work. A couple years ago I recognized you from top shot and was surprised to see you at my local range. I decided to take your IDPA 101 class to get started in the sport and I have stopped being entertained and learning from you since.

  3. I started following you after Top Shot. I liked the way stood up to the backstabbing guys on the show.

  4. Definitely started reading your site after watching the show. Was Adam as much of a dick in person as he seems in front of the cameras? 🙂

    Although I will admit I copied so many of the bad habits you had back then 🙂

Comments are closed.