Sorry for the multi part post (Character limit)
I'm new to 3 gun having only shot two matches to date. I saw a 3 gun nation video on YouTube and thought hey that looks fun. So after a Web search and doing a lot of reading it seemed that the majority of advice was shoot what you have, to learn what you need/want. Since it has been 20 or more years since I was involved with guns I'm way behind on new technology.
So off I went for my first match, My SIG P220 with 2 extra 8 rd mags that I bought in 1992 as a duty gun, my Colt 16" carbine with carry handle and iron sights bought used in 1984 or 85, and my 870 I bought in 79 or 80 with the homemade cut down 18.5" barrel, no sights and no choke. The rifle put me in Tac Irons and I must say I didn't finish first but didn't DQ and man was it fun, all except the loading the shotgun that part sucked. For a belt I used my old duty belt which I didn't realize had shrunk quite a bit while in storage since it just barely fit and when I left LE years ago it was almost to big. I put an AR mag in my back pocket and the shotgun shells in the cargo pocket of an old pair of BDU pants I had, for some reason the pants had shrunk alot in the waist but the length was the same WTH? After the first shotgun stage one of the guys in my squad loaned me a couple of carriers, which was great not that it improved my loading ability since I had shells going every where except in the gun. My second match was a repeat of the first and some of the guys there let me shoot a couple of their AR's which pointed out that the AR has improved a bit since the early 80's.
After 2 matches I realized a couple of things 1, people who shoot 3 gun are some of the nicest and most helpful people you'll find. 2 3 gun is a blast even if you suck at it. 3 I need to update my equipment, but need to update my shooting more.