The second season of Top Shot started with a challenge that involved shooting billiard balls that were partially blocked by other billiard balls, using a standard 1911 pistol — which bears little resemblance to what pistol champions like Athena Lee or Chris Tilley shoot in the “open” division of IPSC:
With the 1911 they didn’t let us practice. I shoot with optics for the most part. For the last 20 years I’ve been shooting my Open division gun with about a pound and half trigger pull, red dot, everything. I’m not trying to make excuses. When we saw the first challenge I saw the billiard balls and the 1911 and thought “OK, I got this,” but as soon as I picked up that 1911 I knew I was in trouble.
I was like “Wow, this gun sucks.” Then, as soon as I lined up my sights I saw that my front sight was bigger than the pool ball. I’m not used to shooting iron sights. I know the concept, I’ve shot them and trained with them before, but I don’t shoot iron sights anywhere near as much as I shoot my Open gun. But I figured that all the same principles apply, I’d just line up the sights and make sure the front sight was in focus and press, “Bang!” and I missed.