I believe that he blew the pistol shot on purpose, if you watched the follow up show, he tried to hint that he might have blown the Sharps rifle shot on purpose too. That I don't believe.
I think he was pretty much a cocky fool who thought he could give away the point on the pistol and still pull it out with the Sharps rifle. As it turned out, if he hadn't muffed the pistol shot on purpose, they still would have been tied and probably gone to some kind of sudden death. So the outcome is still uncertain, which is why I think that the guy who ended up winning it all deserved it.
I also think that Brian Zins (sp?) was too overconfident going into the final round.
I like that the modest guy (Chris), who was more of an all around shooter, ended up winning in the end over the cocky guys.