Zavalla’s Dustin Ellerman is Top Shot

The good thing about getting nominated to the elimination round on The History Channel’s Top Shot is that you get to shoot some pretty cool guns. Everything from Galting Guns to Mountain Guns to the Corner Shot. Bad news is you could be going home. For Dustin Ellerman, that possibility almost became reality during the first round of the season finale. Escaping the evil clutches of elimination, Ellerman went on to win the overall title in a route.

“I came, I shot, I won,” Ellerman said on the show. “It’s pretty crazy.”

Starting with a Glock 34s and a duel tree, Ellerman took the lessons he learned from the first round and sent Chris home with a perfect 12 for 12 as time ran out.

Next was the shooting gallery. With an assortment of firearms and targets, Dustin started things off by nailing a golf ball with a Volquartsen .22 rifle at 100 yards. Mike and Gary came up empty. The competition staggered on until Mike called for shooting an AK-47 with one hand. Mike and Gary were successful while Dustin was not. Then Gary, poor Gary, down by one and Gary fails to hit his shot and is eliminated. On to the finals.

Taking a bit of from practically every round, Dustin and Mike were side by side in the Remington 1875 and rock throwing (yes, they brought back the rocks) stages. It was next, with the Benelli, where Mike literally lost his sights. Using the notch instead of the front sight to zero in on the target, Mike spent the rest of the challenge killing the jars. Dustin, to quote him on the recap, was “go go go.”

From there it was two shots on the Vltor TS3, a quick thumbs up to the wife and a few more rounds through a Smith & Wesson 500 Magnum as Dustin Ellerman became Season 3’s Top Shot. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

“My victory proves that, hey, normal everyday people can be good shooters and can have fun doing it,” Dustin said during the closing credits. “I actually won this thing!”

It’s too late to audition for Season 4, but if you want to learn some of the skills required to be a Top Shot, thensign up for a class at http://nrainstructors.org/ near you.

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