Top Shot Wiki
Register
Advertisement
James "Jim" Sinclair
 Personal information
Born

1961–1962[1][2]

Hometown

Dover, NH

Occupation
  • Historical Firearms Competitor
  • Rifle competitor
 Competition information
Team

Blue Team

Place

13th

Episode eliminated

"Friend or Foe?"

[Source]

James Sinclair, usually known by his teammates and fellow competitors as Jim, was a contestant of Top Shot Season One and a member of the Blue Team.

Personal life[]

Jim Sinclair awards

Jim's many shooting awards.

Jim taught himself to shoot at a young age, and has been interested with historical firearms since he was about five years old. He is mainly a high-power rifle shooter, attending national matches at Camp Perry, OH, and holding several state titles in the northeast. In 2007, he won a match with the M1903 Springfield, and tied for first in the John Garand Match in 1999. In 2010, shortly after the filming of Top Shot, he won the national M1 Carbine match, also in Camp Perry, OH. Jim is a printer and part-time truck driver as well as a national rifle competitor.

Audition video[]

See also: Audition video

In Jim's audition video, he is seen showing his numerous shooting awards to the camera and viewers of Top Shot.[3]

Top Shot[]

Week One[]

Jim's arrival

Jim arrives for Season One.

"Using these rifles, it does give you a picture of what people were dealing with. You can actually reflect back on what it was like to be in a trench. You're trying to get the cartridges into the rifle, but your fingers are not working because they are frozen solid."
―Jim during the Practice Session[src]
Jim Sinclair

Jim with the Blue Team uniform

Jim entered the competition, and was immediately assigned to the Blue Team. After the remaining contestants, Iain Harrison, Tara Poremba, and Caleb Giddings, Colby Donaldson, the host of Top Shot explained the rules of the competition and introduced the contestants to their home for the next few weeks. After being given time to be introduced to their competitors, both teams went to a Practice Session to become familiar with four historic rifles, the M1903 Springfield, SVT-40, Mosin-Nagant, and M14 under guidance by Craig Sawyer. The Blue Team was then sent to return to the house to let the Red Team practice, but returned soon after. Jim had done well at practice, shooting firearms that he specializes with. The Blue Team was then sent to the home to decide on who would be using what rifles the next day.

Jim Sinclair 1st TC

Jim with the Mosin-Nagant.

During the Team Challenge the next day, there were four separate stations, each with an obstacle in the way. Despite his familiarity with the M1903 Springfield, Jim was assigned to fire the Mosin-Nagant along with Simon "J.J." Racaza. At the beginning of the challenge, Mike Seeklander and Andre Robinson represented for the Red Team while Iain Harrison and Tara Poremba represented the blue. After the Blue Team had hit both their targets, and the Red Team had hit one target, Blake Miguez and Caleb Giddings went to fire the SVT-40, and quickly demolished both the targets. Then Jim and J.J. were up, climbing a rope to get to their station. J.J. quickly shot his target, as did Jim. The Blue Team finished off with Adam Benson and Chris Cerino shooting their final targets before Mike Seeklander of the Red Team was able to shoot his target.

After the Red Team arrived back at the house after the first Elimination Challenge between Mike Seeklander and Kelly Bachand, Jim had witnessed the hanging of Mike's shirt as a tribute to his departure.

Week Two[]

"Jim is the weakest link. I don't want to say that, but he is just the least experienced with the pistol."
―Simon "J.J." Racaza[src]

After the first Blue Team victory, both teams were sent down to another Practice Session for the next challenge. This time, the contestants were to become familiar with the Beretta 92F pistol under guidance by Ben Stoeger. During the session, being a predominant rifle shooter, Jim struggled with firing the weapon. He had little confidence and hardly knew what he was doing. The members of the Blue Team were at that point wondering how Jim would do during the Team Challenge.

Jim Sinclair 2nd TC

Jim during the second Team Challenge.

Later, at the Team Challenge, both teams went down to the Shooting Range to compete. Using the Beretta 92F, each team would have to shoot seven tubes, each gradually getting smaller. The Blue Team had already heard that someone would have to sit out in the competition for Blue Team, and they hoped to have Jim sit out, but this was the decision of the Red Team, who chose Blake Miguez. Jim was then assigned the largest tube, due to his lack of experience with the 92F. After the Red Team had finished, the Blue Team was up to shoot. Jim fired at his tube for the first time, taking a rather long time to fire the weapon. Despite this, Jim missed his tube and Caleb Giddings was up to shoot his target. After the rest of Blue Team had shot their tubes, Jim was up to shoot again. He took a long time again to fire, but ended up shooting his target and helped the Blue Team in beating the Red Team by just seconds.

The next day, during the night, Jim took part in another shirt hanging, but this time for Red Team member, Frank Campana, who had been eliminated earlier in the evening.

Week Three[]

Both teams were given a time of rest until they were to go to yet another Practice Session, this time using the longbow under guidance by archer, Chris Palmer. During the Practice Session, Jim was known to have been short of hitting the target.

Jim Sinclair 3rd TC

Jim aiming at his target.

The following day, both teams headed down to the Shooting Range to compete in the third Team Challenge. Here, a large hay target was set up. Whichever team could hit closer to the bullseye would win. Iain Harrison of Blue Team was up first, whose best shot hit in the yellow near the green of the target. Then Kelly Bachand of Red Team was up, and with his last shot was able to hit in the yellow close to the red bullseye. After this, nobody, including Jim, was able to beat Kelly's shot until J.J. Racaza was up. On his second-to-last shot he hit closer to the bullseye than Kelly by only inches. It was then up to Bill Carns of Red Team to hit closer to the bullseye to win the challenge for his team. However, this did not occur, resulting in Blue Team's victory.

Both teams arrived back at the house where the Red Team held their third team meeting before heading to the Nomination Range. When they returned, it was revealed to Blue Team that Bill and Brad Engmann were sent to the Elimination Challenge. When Red Team arrived with Brad, it was clear that Bill had been eliminated. His shirt was later hung in tribute to him.

Week Four[]

"His accuracy was dead on. He just needs to pick up the pace a little."
―Tara Poremba[src]

After yet another Blue Team victory, both teams were given another period of rest before having to attend a Practice Session using the AR-15 under guidance by the returning ex-SEAL, Craig Sawyer. During this session, Jim happened to be out of his comfort zone, shooting a more modern rifle. He was fairly slow in shooting his targets, but did not end up shooting any of his friend targets, which he is to hit the least of.

Jim Sinclair 4th TC

Jim during the fourth Team Challenge.

During the Team Challenge, the contestants had to fire at a 36-square grid with friend and foe targets being displayed for a few seconds before being covered by a wall. This challenge tested the skill of memory and judgement. After it was decided by the Red Team that Blake Miguez, J.J. Racaza, and Iain Harrison were to be benched, the Blue Team kind of struggled in keeping up with the Red Team. Nearing the end, the Red Team had a total of 20 points, while Blue had 13. The stakes for Jim were high, because he had to have a perfect run to tie with the Red Team. He hit four foe targets an 1 friend target, giving the Blue Team a total of 16 points, which was unable to compete with Red Team's 20. For the first time, the Blue Team had lost a Team Challenge.

After both teams returned to the house, the Blue Team held their first meeting on deciding who to send to the Elimination Challenge. Almost instantly, Jim and Tara volunteered for elimination because of their poor performances. Then Iain volunteered, stating that he still thought he owed Blue Team for taking a long time during the first Team Challenge and doing horribly in the fourth Practice Session. Iain then stated that he would vote for Jim based solely on performance. At the Nomination Range, Adam Benson fired first, shooting Iain's target. Chris Cerino then voted for Iain, followed by a shot to Jim's target by Caleb Giddings. After Caleb's shot, Tara was up, and shot at Iain's target, followed by a shot by Blake Miguez. At that point, it was almost certain that Iain would be in the Elimination Challenge. Jim then shot Iain's target, making it absolutely certain that Iain would be in the elimination. Then J.J. Racaza shot at Jim's target, ensuring both their spots in the Elimination Challenge.

Jim Sinclair EC

Jim during the Elimination Challenge.

Later, Jim and Iain got up to attend a Practice Session before the Elimination Challenge, once again under Craig Sawyer, but using the TZ99 pistol, shooting at a moving target. Jim evidently did well, shooting very methodically, but not very quickly. Later that day, both contestants were to shoot at moving friend and foe targets. Iain was to shoot his targets first, hitting three foe targets and no friend targets. Then Jim was up to shoot, firing three foe targets as well, but accidentally shot a friend target. Iain ended with a total of three points, but Jim ended with two. After being eliminated, Jim said goodbye to his team, and stated he walked out of the competition like a winner by meeting great people, using new weapons, and that the weather was better than that of New Hampshire, his home state.

Post-competition[]

Jim Sinclair's shirt

Jim's shirt being hung on the balcony.

After Jim was eliminated, his shirt was hung next to Bill Carns' by Caleb Giddings. Ironically, the next to be eliminated would be Caleb Giddings, having his shirt hung next to Jim's.[4] It is revealed in an epilogue to the Season Finale that Jim had won a match with historical rifles shortly after the competition.[5]This match was the national M1 Carbine match in Camp Perry, OH.

References[]

  1. James Sinclair. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved 6:54, May 9, 2011, from http://www.history.com/shows/top-shot/bios/james-sinclair.
  2. Note: This is a user-made calculation. Was 48 during filming according to his bio.
  3. James "Jim" Sinclair's bio on History.com
  4. Top Shot: "The Good, The Rat and The Ugly"
  5. Top Shot: "Season Finale"

External links[]

Advertisement