Evan Doss took a shot last summer by forming a new UF gun team.
UF Practical Pistol Team treasurer Doss, 22, formed the UF 3-gun shooting team within the existing pistol team in June.
3-gun shooting is a team competition similar to pistol competitions, except it involves three types of firearms: a pistol, a shotgun and a rifle. The score in the time-based competition is determined by speed.
Doss, an applied physiology and kinesiology fifth-year senior, said he enjoyed shooting 3-gun when he first began in February, but there wasn’t a place for it at the collegiate level.
Positive feedback from the pistol team led him to reach out to sponsors and put together a 3-gun team.
He came across Leupold in August, a fifth-generation, family-owned company based in Oregon. The company is the dominant manufacturer of optical outdoor sporting accessories in the world and official sponsor of the 3-Gun Nation Tour, said Shane Meisel, Leupold trade marketing manager.
“We thought it was a very exciting idea,” Meisel said. “We love to see the growth in the shooting sports, especially at the collegiate level.”
Leupold sponsorship includes the donation of five VX-6 Multigun Scopes, which are designed specifically for a 3-gun shooting event, Meisel said. The lightweight scope adjusts magnification quickly and has a special eyepiece that will help a shooter engage a target at both short and medium distances. They retail at $800 each.
Doss said he reached out to sponsors to make the team accessible to college students on a budget.
“I wanted to reach out to acquire products for the team so anyone can come out and join, even if you don’t have the thousands of dollars worth of equipment,” he said.
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 10/30/2014]
