Top Shot

Michelle Viscusi: Team Glock’s Military Police Enforcer & Former Gymnast

May 8, 2013 By Tom 1 Comment

Team Glock’s Michelle Viscusi

Today we’re talking with Team Glock Shooter, Top Shot contestant, Border Patrol scout and former Army Military Police veteran Michelle Viscusi. We expect to hear scandalous stories about the many times she had to arrest Glock teammate KC Eusebio, also retired Army, at some hole-in-the-wall border cantina. Let’s get to the bottom of the rumors…

My Gun Culture: So Michelle, from a look at your background, I see that you’ve served in the Army Military Police and Border Patrol. Can you give us a bit more background on that?

Michelle Viscusi: I’ve actually served in the Army National Guard. My time with Border Patrol was during my active duty with the Army. I was assigned to border patrol duties for about a year and a half. So I was still Army, just working with my counterparts at Border Patrol.

MGC: So you were busting people coming across the border and engaging in big firefights with drug cartels?

Michelle: Actually, our duty was more of an observe and report role…

MGC: So you were piloting attack drones then?

Michelle: No, unfortunately we didn’t get to do any cool things like that. I wish!

MGC: We just talked with KC Eusebio, who is also retired Army. Since you were part of the Army Military Police, I suspect you had some run ins with him. How many times did you have to arrest KC at some Tijuana bar for conduct unbecoming of an Army soldier? We expect the truth, so no trying to cover for your teammate!

Michelle: I wish I could give you a huge story…

MGC: Well, just make one up!

Michelle: He doesn’t even drink, so there’s no way I could have arrested him at a Mexican bar.

MGC: Maybe he just likes to fight in bars?

Michelle: Well, maybe we brought him in about 5 times then…

MGC: So, Military police huh? I’m standing here next to you and I’m about twice as fat as you. I’m trying to picture you wrestling and cuffing drunk angry dudes…

Michelle: Are you calling me fat?

MGC: No, I’m calling ME fat. What do you do as an MP? Are you out arresting people and throwing them in the brig?

Michelle: Well, actually I’m not LEO (law enforcement officer), I’m more general purpose duty.

MGC: Let’s talk about Top Shot! We’re big fans and loved your season. What changed in your life the day after the first episode aired?

Michelle: My life has completely changed! The show helped me to get here! It’s interesting because my time in the military helped me get on Top Shot, and Top Shot helped get me into competition shooting representing Glock. Obviously I wasn’t on there a really long time, but I’m thankful to have a good following!

MGC: How did you decide to apply for the show?

Michelle: I was watching Season 2 and loved it. I sent in an email and photo and I heard back about 3 weeks later. From that point, it was just following the application process.

MGC: So did you shoot Glocks before joining Team Glock?

Michelle: Well, actually, the first gun I ever owned was a Glock 19, so I’ve always been crazy about Glocks.

MGC: How old were you when you got your first Glock?

Michelle: Ummm….. 21? Yeah, it must have been 21… But seriously I started shooting my own Glock 19 when I was 19. But I started shooting when I was 15. When I started shooting competition, I started shooting a Glock 34.

MGC: Tell us about the first time you ever shot a gun.

Michelle: Well I was 15 and my dad took me to the range, just for fun! I was nervous but loved it. My dad was a cop, so he had a gun and shot quite a bit.

MGC: Were you instantly hooked or was shooting just something you did now and then?

Michelle: Well actually at the time, I was really big into gymnastics – that was what I was going to do. But when I joined the Army, I really grew to love shooting – so that’s when I got really serious about it.

MGC: Tell us how many Glocks you own. You can round off to the nearest dozen.

Michelle: We’ll right now, I only own two. But I expect that to be changing this year when I start competing more.

MGC: How much time do you expect to be on the road competing this year?

Michelle: It’s averaging 1-2 weeks per month. My schedule seems to be about 2 competitions per month, but I am shooting and preparing for a week around each one.

MGC: Tell us about the equipment you’ll be using this year.

Michelle: I’ll mostly be shooting a Glock 34, but will use a Glock 17 for some divisions. I’m doing both IPSC and IDPA. I use a JR Holster.

MGC: So what’s it like jetting around the world in the Glock corporate jet?

Michelle: It’s awesome! There’s usually a pile of cash waiting on my seat along with champagne

MGC: We ask everybody to weigh in and solve a long standing debate question. Do you think that an MK19 Automatic Grenade Launcher is appropriate for home defense?

Michelle: We’ll only if it had a Glock Gen 5 logo on the side. And I would put one in each window, facing out, to minimize blast damage in the house.

MGC: Let’s finish up with a hypothetical question. The Gunny, R. Lee Ermey, also represents Glock. If you had to bust him for disorderly conduct, could you take him down alone, or would you have to call for backup?

Michelle: You know, I’d probably have to call for backup, but I’d give him a good fight!

Thanks to Michelle Viscusi and the nice folks from Glock for helping us catch up and learn a little more about Glock’s newest competitive shooter!

We Ask Sara Ahrens – Do Children Make Effective Blowgun Targets?

May 24, 2012 By Tom 4 Comments

Sara Ahrens

Today we have the distinct pleasure of interviewing a S&W 500 totin’, SWAT Team officiating, meth lab door busting, mother of two, Spanish speaking, Russian translating, Top Shot competing, Army veteran, knife throwing, and Women’s Outdoor News writing lady. If you haven’t guessed her identity by that job title, we’re talking to Top Shot Season 3 contestant, and all around swell lady, Sara Ahrens. Let’s get the scoop on Sara…

My Gun Culture: You’re an Army veteran right? Tell our readers how you got into the Army as a Russian and Spanish translator. And are we really headed for another two front war with Russia and Spain? The last Spano-Russian war was pretty rough as I recall. The market for hot and spicy pierogi’s completely tanked!

Sara Ahrens: I don’t know about the Spano-Russian war, but if it did occur, I would put my money on Russia. Historically speaking, that is one brutal culture! I was fluent in Spanish before I joined the Army, as I was an exchange student to Paraguay just prior to enlisting. When I got to Monterey, California in October 1992 just after graduating Basic Training, I was told I could test out of Spanish, get promoted to Sergeant and move on to my next duty station or select a second language. I chose Russian because it was a one year language program and I wasn’t smart enough to attend the 1.5 year Arabic program. Anyway, I really wasn’t interested in learning a language a culture where women have little value (I didn’t really think I could translate that into a successful post-military career due to my gender). So I passed up more money and more rank for a year in Monterey, California and I never regretted that decision. By the way, hot and spicy pierogi’s actually sound good!? Weird.

MGC: So you AND your husband are both Sergeants in the Rockford, IL police department. That must drive your kids absolutely nuts! Can they get away with anything?

Sara Ahrens checking out a Kriss Vector at a taping of 'Shooting Gallery'

Sara checking out a Kriss Vector at a taping of ‘Shooting Gallery’

Sara: We are both Sergeants, I was promoted first but he is in a position of authority as acting Senior Sergeant. He used to work Internal Affairs so answering the phone calls of unhappy people is something he is more equipped to handle. As far as our children, they are both pretty innocent still. They know they have to step up their game to get one over on us, or deprive us of sleep. I can say that the best class I ever took was called practical lie detection. I am pretty good at it. It works without fail and the only way my kids get away with lying, is if I choose not to address it.

MGC: A Practical Lie Detection Class? OK then. I can shoot the Triple Nickel drill in 4.8 seconds. True or false?

Sara: Ok I’m going to say false, but that’s just a guess. It doesn’t actually work with a statement and it doesn’t work in writing. I don’t want to give away my secret, which gives me an advantage over liars, but if I were interviewing you about an incident and you told me your version of events I can tell if you are lying. It’s fool proof if the person isn’t aware that I am using it. Does that make sense? There are certain things people say and do when they are lying to prevent detection. It comes in the form of how much or how little detail they give, body language and actual words they use. So I will test you and your truthfulness next time we are face to face. For it to work, you have to describe for me the time when you ‘claim’ to have shot the Triple Nickel drill in 4.8 seconds then I will know the truth.

MGC: Uh-oh… I better practice my story. I mean it’s true of course, but I would hate to give off false signals. Word on the street is that you have moved to a Smith and Wesson 500 for your personal carry gun. I don’t want to second guess your decision, but do you really want to rely on a mouse gun like that?

Sara: Yeah, I wanted to carry my Smith and Wesson 500 concealed, but I live in Illinois. I can carry concealed as a law enforcement officer, but my department policy forbids that caliber. I like that my whole pinky fits in the chamber, it is funny. Really, could you imagine a bad guy trying to hurt someone and they pull out that beast? Clean up on aisle four! It would be as effective as the Taser was for my officers (when we could still carry them), just the sight of that red dot generally gained instant compliance.

MGC: What type of concealed holster are you thinking for the S&W 500? If you’re still looking I need to introduce you to Lisa Looper, who has a whole new line of holsters made specifically for women. You might need to convince her to make a 500 compatible model though…

Sara: Obviously you have never met me in person or you wouldn’t even think about Lisa Looper and Sara Ahrens in the same thought! I doubt I could even effectively conceal my Ruger LCP in a Lisa Looper holster! I don’t have a ‘place’ where I could even come close to concealing the 500. If I did carry it concealed, I would have to strap it on (with the sling that is) and conceal it under a long and bulky coat. Then I would have to do 10,000 repetitions to even come close to being able to remove it in a time of need, under stress.

MGC: Do you hunt? Meaning wild game, not meth-heads…

Sara: I do hunt, but I have to say I am leaving Spring Turkey season a little disgruntled. I don’t want to sound paranoid, but I think the turkeys are laughing at me. How is it possible to see them whenever I don’t have a tag? My hunting days are limited because of my work schedule and home responsibilities so I guess with only having 4 days to hunt I shouldn’t be upset about leaving the season empty-handed. Still, there is something about Turkeys and their attitudes that makes me mad. They come into my backyard (where I can’t hunt) and gobble. I speak Russian and Spanish so I feel uniquely qualified to translate turkey. I am pretty certain they are saying, “You’re not so tough now, huh?” Still, I can’t complain because I had a pretty successful deer season this past fall. I got a 10 pointer during shotgun season and a 9 pointer my first season bow hunting.

MGC: Well don’t feel too bad. I ran across three the other day while mountain biking and they were completely un-intimidated. In fact they taunted me with French accented insults. Mainly because they knew I had no shotgun rack on my bike. I heard that you went out and purchased a variety of weapons to prepare for Top Shot. What was the most unusual thing you bought?

Effective blowgun targets in the Ahrens household

Sara: I didn’t really purchase anything unusual, but my training methods almost got me a visit from the Department of Children and Family Services. Obviously I practiced as much as I could with all the weapons they featured in Seasons 1 and 2 (not firearms necessarily). One of my favorites are the blow darts. I am pretty decent with them and in order to challenge myself, I would stand on my elevated deck and make my 10 year old son run from tree to tree in our back yard. I would then attempt to strike him with the stun darts. He loved it! He would giggle and run while I hit my mark, soon my Fox Red Lab, Buddy, got into it too. (I think I hear Animal Control at my door now!) It was all fun and games until my dog started chewing up the stun darts, now I just tag my little guy with them. (For anyone offended I just want to say I made him wear safety glasses.)

MGC: Children absolutely need to learn evasion tactics at a young age. So the way I see it, you should be up for mother of the year! So if you and Dustin Ellerman had a head to head competition with blow darts, who would win?

Sara: Dustin is one of those guys that is good at everything he touches. I would probably be better if I lived in a town of 12 people and my ADHD was better controlled. I would be remiss not to mention that he has God on his side. So my vote is on Dustin…on anything and everything! He is my brother from another mother and a truly nice person. Although the drawback of Top Shot was being exposed to Jake and his shenanigans, meeting Dustin made up for it!

Thanks to Sara Ahren for sharing some time with us! You can keep up with Sara at The WON – Women’s Outdoor News!

Filed Under: People Tagged With: interviews, Sara Ahrens, Top Shot

Iain Harrison Talks About Caliber, Kilts, and Kegerators – A My Gun Culture Interview

December 5, 2011 By Tom 6 Comments

It’s our pleasure to welcome Top Shot Champion, Crimson Trace Pitch Guy, and all-around class clown Iain Harrison to the My Gun Culture interview hot seat. We first met Iain at the NRA Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA earlier this year. Our initial encounter was at a kilt-heavy bar, so most records of the meeting remain sealed. Let’s just say that certain bald members of the gun writer community are now scarred for life. At great personal risk to reputation and career, Iain has graciously agreed to answer some of our more pressing questions…

My Gun Culture: Rumor has it that in addition to handling Media Relations for Crimson Trace and hitting the competitive circuit, that you’re a gunsmith and do scary stuff like milling and lathe. Are you personally making the new Crimson Trace Lightguard in your garage?

Iain Harrison: Ha, I wish! I thought my shop was pretty trick until I visited the Director of Engineering at CTC. His inspired an instant case of machine envy and besides, he’s got a kegerator next to his welder. I can’t compete with that!

My Gun Culture: We’ve heard rumors that you’re been secretly working on a creating a new Shooting Sport – Kilted Action Kombat Skirt Society (KAKSS) or something? Care to comment?

Iain: There are a few avant-garde members of the shooting community who’ve discovered secret inside knowledge that women have been keeping to themselves for centuries. Once you go kilt, you never go back – it’s like air conditioning for your boys and the first time you experience a fresh mountain breeze ruffling your ahem, feathers, you realize what you’ve been missing all these years. The only downside is going prone, but that’s the spectator’s problem, not mine.

My Gun Culture: So if I’m hearing you right, you’re saying that the more traditional form of, umm, let’s say ‘concealed carry’ is not all its cracked up to be. What Crimson Trace product do you recommend for under-the-kilt use? Can lasers burn, ahh, sensitive areas?

Iain: Unfortunately, the killjoys at the FDA limit the power output of consumer lasers, so even if you managed to somehow turn it on while in the holster, there’s no chance of singeing the family jewels. On a side note, I find a Laserguard-equipped Glock 36 fits perfectly in a sporran, which provides the user with a novel concealed carry option.

My Gun Culture: Our editorial staff has had a raging debate over whether the MK-19 Automatic Grenade Launcher is appropriate for home defense. As a former Military guy and multi-gun competitor, can you please weigh in on this and settle the issue once and for all?

Iain: Look, if you’re going trust your family’s safety to a weapons system, at least pick a decent caliber. Experts the world over agree that a 105mm Light Gun parked at the top of the stairs is the bare minimum…

My Gun Culture: So you’ve done Top Shot, Construction, amateur gun-smithing, and Media Relations for Crimson Trace. What’s next? When are you going to enter Top Chef? Can you even cook?

Iain: Do they have an MRE heating stage in that competition? If not, I’m probably going to struggle.

My Gun Culture: Just hypothetically speaking, if we took the first three Top Shot Champions – you, Chris Reed, and Dustin Ellerman – and set up a cage match stocked with assorted medieval weapons, what weapon would you choose? And who would emerge victorious?

Iain: Easy. I’d pick a trebuchet, that way there wouldn’t be any room in the cage for anyone else & I’d win by default. Seriously though, I think Dustin would emerge victorious as he’s just so damned nice – there’s no way Chris and I would be able to overcome his aw-shucks grin.

My Gun Culture: What can you tell our readers about the Crimson Trace Skunkworks? What kinds of things can we expect to see next?

Iain: You remember the Death Star in Return of the Jedi? Yeah, like that. More mainstream products that aren’t capable of destroying an entire planet include a mini rail-mounted laser, new sights for the Gen 4 Glocks and a Lightguard, weapon mounted light for the 1911.

My Gun Culture: When can our staff expect to receive invitations to the ultra-exclusive Crimson Trace SHOT Show party?

Iain: You mean we’re having one? How come I wasn’t told? (insert sound of furious phone conversation with agent).

Again, we’d like to thank Iain for sharing his time and wisdom. We’re also working with Iain to bring you the latest scoop and our field tests on new Crimson Trace Lasergrip and Lightguard products. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: People Tagged With: competitive shooting, crimson trace, iain harrison, interviews, lasers, people, Top Shot

Breaking Top Shot News! (In my dreams…)

July 28, 2010 By Tom Leave a Comment

Los Angeles, CA – June 5, 2011 – In an exciting season finale tiebreaker of rock-paper-guns, long-shot contestant Tom McHale, renowned author of MyGunCulture.com, took the coveted title of Top Shot for the wildly successful shows second season.

Beating a field of 16 distinguished markspeople, McHale clinched the title in the final event which required finalists to fire night vision equipped slingshots at camouflaged Chia Pets while descending a watery Slip’n’Slide. “I started training for this event on my 38th birthday.” stated McHale. “Who would’ve thought that getting a Chia Pet gift set would prepare me for this?”

McHale was convinced that a more well rounded shooter could be competitive in the diverse series of events. “I may not be a Grand Master Champion in any single specialty, but I’m easily 78% as good as they are in that discipline. Moreover, I have the advantage of being well versed shooting on multiple platforms such as pistol, marbles, revolver, spitballs, black powder, rifle, rubber bands, and shotgun. I thought that a well rounded shooter had a great chance of winning this competition, so I entered. That, and my family wanted me out of the house for a while. I guess they got tired of my running around yelling ‘Bang, bang, bang!’ every time Top Shot was on.”

McHale’s entry into the competition was born of frustration from watching Top Shot, season one. “I was watching some of the best action pistol shooters in the world completely fall apart when trying to adapt to new shooting platforms such as old, iron-sighted military rifles. It was amazing to see them miss easy targets at ranges as short as 100 yards. That’s nearly paper-football field goal range. Well, almost.”

Described by fellow competitors as the “jester de la muerte,” McHale was able to befriend his opponents with frequent bribes of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts. “Who could vote me out and risk missing out on the free breakfasts?” McHale wondered.

Asked how he intends to spend the $100,000 grand prize, McHale replied “I tore up my Slip’n’Slide pretty good training for the show, so I’ll probably replace that. And maybe buy some Snuggies for my wife and kids.”

Filed Under: Life, Life Tagged With: Chia Pet, guns, History Channel, humor, Reality TV, Shooting, Top Shot

Top 10 reasons I want to be on Top Shot

July 22, 2010 By Tom 1 Comment

I want to prove to all the pantywaists that armed people can in fact have disagreements without gunfire breaking out. Then again, not many pantywaists watch the History Channel…
I’m not mentioning any names, Adam, but I can make a point without repeating ‘rat fink’ 94 times.
I wouldn’t miss the nomination target like others whose name I won’t mention. Adam.
I always wanted to shoot a slingshot with a night-vision scope.
It would be interesting to see how many internet commandos would find reasons to flame me – just because.
Colby can give me some insider tips about how to get on Survivor.
I haven’t had a good excuse to shoot my blunderbuss for a while.
I want to write “Wendy, I’m home!” on the pool table with playing cards just to see who freaks out.
I bet they eat yummy steaks in that ranch house every night.
I could almost afford a real ACOG scope with the hundred grand prize money.