3 gun what does a noob need to get started? Im thinking about trying it out.. what gear am i needing to get a start?

3 guns, minimum.

Sorry.

Tag for serious answers.

3 guns...

what if I have 2.5? am i out of luck or could i use the .5 2x?

Maybe. Half a gun... You mean like an o/u shotgun with one of the barrels cut off?

15 seconds. Damn.

Seriously. 

Semi auto shotgun. Benelli preferred. 

AR with at least a 1-4 scope.

High capacity semi auto pistol.

Mags, holster, mag pouches, shot shell holders, ammo, and money.

You're gonna need an extended mag tube on your shotgun (think 10 total) and lots of practice loading it, a good holster and mag pouches for your handgun.

If I had more yime I would post pics.

I use a competition belt with one ar mag holder and 4 pistol mag holders. 

I built my own 16" barrel ar with 1-4 leupold and an offset red dot.

I have 3 shotgun shell holders on the belt.

I use a kydex holster with a Glock 22 with extended mag release, flared magwell, and ghost trigger.

I use a benelli sbe with 6 round mag extension for 8 rounds total. I want an m2.

Depends. If he's shooting Factory a 9 round mag tube is a no-go. If he's shooting Practical a 9 round mag tube isn't enough.

can one use a Saiga-12 Pattern?

A rifle, pistol and shotgun.

I'm mostly USPSA but pretty sure a box mag fed shotgun puts you in open class in all of the 3 gun games. That means optics and compensators in for the handgun and rifle is what you're competing against whether you have them or not.

Most 3gun matches allow optics on rifles. Optics on pistols puts you in open. Also, mag fed shotguns put you in open.

Pump shotguns and 308 rifles puts you in heavy metal.

Also there's iron sights division at some matches.

Yes but it will put you in open class. In which case youd probably want a compensated pistol with an optic on it.

Go shoot a match with what you have and look what everyone else has before you spend much. I have probably $500 in just my belt, getting the wrong stuff and having to go through several iterations of gear gets expensive.<img src=http://www.ar15.com/images/smilies/smiley_abused.gif border=0 align=middle>

I compete in tac ops aka practical (which is the middle of the levels of gear, its generally the class with the most ppl so you have more competition, then you have open which is more of an anything goes to a point and Factory )

My guns are:

Benelli M2 with various mods and an extended mag tube that allows 13 rounds in the gun at one time, no optic allowed Iron sights. Having a larger capacity tube allows you more options on how to run the stage.

16" Ar15 I built with a vortex 1-6hd scope

Sti dvc 9mm 2011 with mbx xtreme mags that allow me to hold 23+1 rounds.

Belt is safariland ELS system,
holster is a gcode,
I run one ar mag holder, and I have 8 AP custom shotgun shell holders some are quad loaders, some are load 2, and one is a tray style.


You can show up with a pump gun, a basic ar, and a glock with a few extra mags and be fine. Take whatever you currently have and go, its ok if you have to pull extra shotgun shells out of your pocket, or you dont have the "right" guns most of us started this way.

22, 38 and a solothurn?