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February 11th, 2016

Three National Champions Reveal How to Read the Wind

Blast from the Past: As we get set up in Phoenix for the 2016 Berger Southwest Nationals, we thought we’d revisit one of our more interesting features from a few years back. At the 2010 SHOT Show, we had the unique opportunity to corner three “superstars” of High Power shooting, and solicit their wind-reading secrets. Carl Bernosky, David Tubb, and John Whidden all shared some championship-caliber wind wisdom in video interviews. If you shoot competitively, you’ll want to watch these videos. David’s video is worth watching twice because some of the key points he makes go by pretty quickly.

In the three videos below (in alphabetical order), Carl Bernosky (10-Time Nat’l High Power Champion), David Tubb (11-time Nat’l High Power Champion and 7-time Nat’l Long-Range Champion), and John Whidden (2-Time Nat’l High Power Long-Range Champion) shared some of the wind-doping strategies that have carried them to victory in the nation’s most competitive shooting matches. This is GOLD folks… no matter what your discipline — be it short-range Benchrest or Long-Range High Power — watch these videos for valuable insights that can help you shoot more accurately, and post higher scores, in all wind conditions.

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

We were very fortunate to have these three extraordinarily gifted champions reveal their “winning ways”. These guys REALLY know their stuff. I thought to myself: “Wow, this is how a baseball fan might feel if he could assemble Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Ted Williams in the same room, and have them each reveal their hitting secrets.” Editor’s Note: These interviews were conducted before Bernosky and Tubb won their most recent National Championships.

Permalink - Videos, Shooting Skills No Comments »
May 30th, 2015

High Power Champ Carl Bernosky Explains How to Shoot Standing

Some folks say you haven’t really mastered marksmanship unless you can hit a target when standing tall ‘on your own hind legs’. Of all the shooting positions, standing can be the most challenging because you have no horizontally-solid resting point for your forward arm/elbow. Here 10-time National High Power Champ Carl Bernosky explains how to make the standing shot.

Carl Bernosky is one of the greatest marksmen in history. A multi-time National High Power Champion, Carl has won ten (10) National High Power Championships in his storied shooting career, most recently in 2012. In this article, Carl provides step-by-step strategies to help High Power shooters improve their standing scores. When Carl talks about standing techniques, shooters should listen. Among his peers, Carl is regard as one of the best, if not the best standing shooter in the game today. Carl rarely puts pen to paper, but he was kind enough to share his techniques with AccurateShooter.com’s readers.

If you are position shooter, or aspire to be one some day, read this article word for word, and then read it again. We guarantee you’ll learn some techniques (and strategies) that can improve your shooting and boost your scores. This stuff is gold folks, read and learn…


Carl Bernosky High PowerHow to Shoot Standing
by Carl Bernosky

Shooting consistently good standing stages is a matter of getting rounds down range, with thoughtfully-executed goals. But first, your hold will determine the success you will have.

1. Your hold has to be 10 Ring to shoot 10s. This means that there should be a reasonable amount of time (enough to get a shot off) that your sights are within your best hold. No attention should be paid to the sights when they are not in the middle — that’s wasted energy. My best hold is within 5 seconds after I first look though my sights. I’m ready to shoot the shot at that time. If the gun doesn’t stop, I don’t shoot. I start over.

2. The shot has to be executed with the gun sitting still within your hold. If the gun is moving, it’s most likely moving out, and you’ve missed the best part of your hold.

3. Recognizing that the gun is sitting still and within your hold will initiate you firing the shot. Lots of dry fire or live fire training will help you acquire awareness of the gun sitting still. It’s not subconscious to me, but it’s close.

4. Don’t disturb the gun when you shoot the shot. That being said, I don’t believe in using ball or dummy rounds with the object of being surprised when the shot goes off. I consciously shoot every shot. Sometimes there is a mistake and I over-hold. But the more I train the less of these I get. If I get a dud round my gun will dip.* I don’t believe you can learn to ignore recoil. You must be consistent in your reaction to it.

Carl Bernosky High Power5. Know your hold and shoot within it. The best part of my hold is about 4 inches. When I get things rolling, I recognize a still gun within my hold and execute the shot. I train to do this every shot. Close 10s are acceptable. Mid-ring 10s are not. If my hold was 8 inches I would train the same way. Shoot the shot when it is still within the hold, and accept the occasional 9. But don’t accept the shots out of the hold.

6. Practice makes perfect. The number of rounds you put down range matter. I shudder to think the amount of rounds I’ve fired standing in my life, and it still takes a month of shooting standing before Perry to be in my comfort zone. That month before Perry I shoot about 2000 rounds standing, 22 shots at a time. It peaks me at just about the right time.

This summarizes what I believe it takes to shoot good standing stages. I hope it provides some insight, understanding, and a roadmap to your own success shooting standing.

Good Shooting, Carl


* This is very noticeable to me when shooting pistol. I can shoot bullet holes at 25 yards, but if I’ve miscounted the rounds I’ve fired out of my magazine, my pistol will dip noticeably. So do the pistols of the best pistol shooters I’ve watched and shot with. One might call this a “jerk”, I call it “controlled aggressive execution”, executed consistently.

Permalink - Articles, Competition, Shooting Skills 4 Comments »
May 24th, 2015

Doug Koenig Wins 16th Career Bianchi Cup Title

Bianchi Cup Doug Koenig Carl Bernosky 2015 Columbia Missouri

Story based on report by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog.com.

Doug Koenig secured his 16th NRA Action Pistol title this week at the 2015 NRA Bianchi Cup in Columbia, Missouri. Koenig’s final score was a perfect 1920 with 180 tie-breaking Xs. Koenig needed all those Xs to win — runner-up Jeremy Newell (1920-166X) also racked up a perfect 1920 score, but with 14 fewer Xs. Carl Bernosky, a ten-time NRA High Power Rifle Champion, placed third overall with 1918-180X. Australian shooter Anita Mackiewicz set a new record for a female shooter with a 1916-166X.

Koenig’s success at the Bianchi Cup is unparalleled. Doug’s 16 titles account for nearly half of the 37 total Bianchi championships held. Bruce Piatt has the next best career Bianchi Cup record, with five Bianchi titles, less than one-third of Koenig’s total.

(more…)

Permalink Competition, Handguns 1 Comment »
September 5th, 2014

How Joe Hendricks Won the 2014 High Power Championship

Joe Hendricks of Team Remington is the 2014 NRA High Power National Champion. This is Joe’s first National High Power championship, and he accomplished it through a gutsy, come-from-behind victory on the final day. This was no easy win for Joe, aka “Joesr” on our AccurateShooter Forum.

Here’s the story of Joe’s 2014 victory at Camp Perry. One thing that made Joe’s victory even more memorable was that both Joe’s father and Joe’s son were there to witness the win. Three generations of Hendricks men were at Camp Perry to see his achievement. That’s a great thing for a family.

Team Remington Joeseph Hendricks 6CM H1000 Camp Perry High Power Championship AccurateShooter Forum

Down by Too Many Points and Too Many Xs
By Joe Hendricks, Nat’l High Power Champion (2014)
On the last day of the High Power Championship, believe it or not I felt no pressure — because I really didn’t think I had a chance to win it all. I knew the leaders would clean the day and my only hope was that possibly one or two would falter enough to allow me third place. All I was trying to do was shoot Xs, so that I could move past two of the people in front of me and (maybe) secure 3rd place. I started the day tied for third on points with two other competitor, but in fifth place when you figured in X-count.

Yes I was watching the board going into the final day and so many people say “Don’t watch the board!”. However, for me, looking at the board motivates me.

The best I could do at 300 yards was a 200-6X, with nice groups, but not centered. That was not enough Xs and I knew I wasn’t moving up the leader board. I knew that simply shooting a 200 score wasn’t going to cut it and I still had work to do to get onto the podium (i.e. earn third place). At that point I figured I was still tied for third (disregarding X-count).

So I went to the 600-yard line with goal of getting on to the podium. I was shooting for third at that point. I figured maybe with two cleans I could grab third place.

Understand I know my competition and I know I’m shooting against the best High Power marksmen in the world. There were two people who have won this match before and several deserving champions just behind. So at this point, I’m wasn’t giving myself a chance to win — I was hoping to place third.

The first string at 600 yards went well with nothing less than a 10. I shot a normal 200-10X, meaning 10s and Xs were mixed up with no wide shots. Apparently others faltered when I shot clean (all 10s or Xs) — I didn’t know that after the first string at 600 I was actually in the lead….

Click Image to See Full-Size Photo
Team Remington Joeseph Hendricks 6CM H1000 Camp Perry High Power Championship AccurateShooter Forum

Pulling it Together: Five Xs for the Final Five Shots
The second string at 600 yards was strange. I shot five Xs in my first 6 or 7 shots and then ran a string of 10s that were either wide or corner shots. So, after 15 shots, I wasn’t getting better, I was getting worse. I needed to get my act together (and right quickly).

I took a moment to regroup and said to myself: “Stop this. We are not doing this today…” (i.e. we are NOT going to break down with just five shots to go). That’s something I heard Ken Roxburgh said to my son during their team match.

That thought process changed my attitude, and it seemed to relieve the pressure, so I was able to concentrate on every shot. I was re-focused and ready to roll. I know Perry, I know the wind at Perry and I had confidence in my 6CM cartridge to shoot 10s through the final five shots.

That confidence paid off — in the final five shots I broke every shot dead center and every shot came up an X!

I don’t care where you place at Perry, if your final shot is an X you have something to take back for next year. Running five Xs in a row to end Perry is special. But, ironically, I can not say that running five Xs in a row to win Perry is a feeling I can actually remember, because, at the time, I thought I had finished third, not first….

After finishing the last string, I had a 1798 point total. I packed up my stuff, went over to the Remington golf cart, and told Ken Roxburgh that I was fairly sure I had placed third overall.

“Down 13… How About You?”
I then walked down the line and I saw Brandon Green from the USAMU congratulating Norm Houle on winning. I paused for a moment and then walked over to Norm and asked him: “What did you shoot?” Norm replied: “I was down 13, how about you?” I then answered “Down 11″. Norm gave me a huge handshake and then it hit me. I had won.

I was a feet away from my father. I went to him and said I think I won. Pricelessly, Dad said “Won what?” Then it hit him. Literally in tears, He called my mother to report the good news.

At that point I realized this Championship wasn’t my life’s work, it was his. THANK YOU DAD!

My son Joe Hendricks Jr. was in the pits and didn’t yet know about my first-place finish. He is 18 and has his own hopes for a rifle championship someday. When he came back from the pits, I said to him: “You don’t know…” He looked at me and said “Know what?”. I said “I won”, and he asked “Won what?”. Then I told him: “The whole thing.” I have never seen him smile the way he did at that moment.

Next we call my wife on the phone (she was staying in Port Clinton, but wasn’t at the range that day). I tell her I won, and she says “Won what?” Again, I reply “The whole thing … I won the whole thing.” I hear only silence on the phone, then she says “Are you serious?” I reply, “Yes I am” and then there is a long pause, after which she says: “Joe, you aren’t messing with me are you?” I tell her: “No, I’m serious, come out here, you’ll see…” She pauses then says, “OK I will… but if you are messing with me YOU WILL PAY.” My girls say she almost wrecked the car driving out to the range.

So my wife finally shows up at the Remington Team trailer. As she was getting out of the car she says “If you are [fooling] with me I will kill you. Did you really win?” In fact, she asked me three times before she believed it had actually happened.

By this time Ken Roxburgh of Remington (my coach) had also called Carl Bernosky. Carl Bernosky has been a huge part of my shooting since I young. Having Carl be so excited about my win means nearly as much to me as the win itself. What a great day!

Team Remington Joeseph Hendricks 6CM H1000 Camp Perry High Power Championship AccurateShooter Forum

Joe wanted to thank his sponsors Remington and Berger Bullets. The 6CM Cartridge he shoots is a wildcat based on the .243 Winchester. Joes uses slow-burning H1000 powder and he shot Berger 105gr 6mm Hybrids at Camp Perry this year.

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August 14th, 2014

Thumbhole F-Class Stock by Carl Bernosky

Carl Bernosky Thumbhole Laminate F-Class Barnard Rifle Stock long range adjustable cheekpieceMost of you know Carl Bernosky as a great marksman and 10-time National High Power Champion. But you may not realize that Carl is also a superb stock-maker. A true craftsman, Carl produces outstanding laminated and fancy wood stocks for hunters and competitive shooters. Visit CarlBernosky.com to see a selection of Carl’s competition and hunting stocks.

One of Carl’s latest creations is a thumbhole F-Class stock. Designed for F-Open shooters, this stock features a flat, 3″-wide fore-end, ergonomic grip, and adjustable cheekpiece. The laminated Bernosky stock featured here was crafted for Chesebro Rifles, which offers a turn-key stock package for the Barnard ‘P’ action, one of our favorite custom actions. This particular build features a MT Guns Vee Block Bedding System, MT Guns 3-Way Adjustable Butt Plate, and B&D Precision removable cheek piece.

Click Photo to view full-size image of stock.
Carl Bernosky Thumbhole Laminate F-Class Barnard Rifle Stock long range adjustable cheekpiece

Carl Bernosky Thumbhole Laminate F-Class Barnard Rifle Stock long range adjustable cheekpiece

As you see it, complete with all hardware (including short fore-end rail for bipod) this stock runs $1275.00 ready to ship. Just attach your Barnard barreled action and you’re ready to compete. The stock (by itself) weighs 6.5 pounds. Contact Chesebro Rifles, (661) 557-2442, for more information.

Cheek-piece close-up shows high-quality adjustment hardware.
Carl Bernosky Thumbhole Laminate F-Class Barnard Rifle Stock long range adjustable cheekpiece

Cheek-piece is relieved to allow full bolt travel.
Carl Bernosky Thumbhole Laminate F-Class Barnard Rifle Stock long range adjustable cheekpiece

Short accessory rail on the underside of the fore-end can be used to mount bipod.
Carl Bernosky Thumbhole Laminate F-Class Barnard Rifle Stock long range adjustable cheekpiece

Stock tip from EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
Permalink Gunsmithing, New Product 4 Comments »
August 1st, 2014

Bernosky Undergoes Back Surgery Today — Good Luck Carl

At the 2014 National High Power Championships, Joe Hendricks recorded an inspirational come-from-behind victory that will long be remembered. But during this year’s competition, a 10-time past champion was noticeably absent from the firing line at Camp Perry. “Where’s Carl?” was the question many asked as the High Power Championships began.

Health concerns kept Carl Bernosky from competing at Camp Perry this year — serious health concerns. In fact, Carl is scheduled for back surgery today to deal with chronic pain and related neuro-muscular issues. Carl tells us: “I have had back problems for years but this March my bulging discs and sciatica flared with a vengeance. It was a very difficult time. It made functioning even with everyday tasks hard and shooting impossible. If you include something in your Bulletin please make sure that my friends and shooting competitors know how much I appreciate their kind words, thoughts and prayers. Thank you for thinking of me and hopefully I’ll be back on my feet soon. Please don’t let this in anyway overshadow Joe Hendricks’s well-deserved Championship. Joe shot superbly and I congratulate him on a great performance.”

Carl Bernosky High Power Champion Surgery Back

We know that our Daily Bulletin readers wish Carl well and send their hopes that the surgery is 100% successful and that the healing process goes well. We all want to see Carl pain-free and back on the firing line. Carl is a great marksman — one of the best ever — and an equally great human being. We echo what one of his friends posted yesterday: “Carl is an absolute class act… humble, gracious, and a true gentleman. Heal up fast, Carl.”

In this exclusive interview filmed earlier this year (at SHOT Show), Carl talks about his approach to competition, and Carl offers helpful advice for fellow High Power competitors.

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January 15th, 2014

Ten-Time Champ Carl Bernosky Talks about the High-Power Game

Carl Bernosky Interview SHOT Show Brandon GreenIt’s a rare thing when you can talk with a living legend about the sport he loves. We had just that opportunity yesterday at SHOT Show when we chatted with Carl Bernosky, TEN-TIME National High Power Champion. We covered a lot of ground in the interview, discussing the future of the High Power game and the changes in hardware Carl has seen during his storied career. Carl also offers some “rock solid” advice for younger High Power shooters hoping to improve their skill sets. We also talked about Carl’s plans for 2014 and his epic battle with SSG Brandon Green at the 2013 High Power Championships at Camp Perry. Carl and Brandon battled to the last shot of the last relay of the last day. After four complete days of shooting, the two men remained tied on points and tied on X-count. Apply a tie-breaker rule based on X-count at long-range, Green was named the 2013 Champion, with Carl named runner-up. That 2013 event was a true “Battle of the Titans” between two immensely talented marksmen.

We asked Carl about trends in the High Power game. He said that more and more shooters are moving to the AR15 platform. The accuracy is there, and there are advantages to the self-loading actions particularly during rapid-fire. Carl also felt that it takes more training time to master cycling a bolt while shooting in the standing position. Because he does not have to manipulate a bolt, Carl says his self-feeding AR helps him when standing (Carl is considered one of the best standing shooters ever).

Watch Interview with Carl Bernosky, 10-Time National High Power Champion

Though most readers will recognize Carl from reports of his many National Championships, you may not realize that Carl is also a very skilled stock-maker. Carl produces high quality laminated-wood stocks at his shop in Pennsylvania. He offers a full range of stocks for Prone, Palma, F-TR, F-Open, Long Range Benchrest competition, and he also builds fine tactical stocks and hunting stocks. You can see examples of Carl’s stocks at CarlBernosky.com. Carl recently acquired a CNC machine for inletting. This can create ultra-precise inlets for a wide variety of actions.

Permalink - Videos, Competition 2 Comments »
November 4th, 2013

Stand and Deliver — Carl Bernosky Explains the Standing Position

Some folks say you haven’t really mastered marksmanship unless you can hit a target when standing tall ‘on your own hind legs’. Of all the shooting positions, standing can be the most challenging because you have no horizontally-solid resting point for your forward arm/elbow. Here 10-time National High Power Champ Carl Bernosky explains how to make the standing shot.

Carl Bernosky is one of the greatest marksmen in history. The reigning 2012 National High Power Champion, Carl has won ten (10) National High Power Championships in his storied shooting career. In this article, Carl provides step-by-step strategies to help High Power shooters improve their standing scores. When Carl talks about standing techniques, shooters should listen. Among his peers, Carl is regard as one of the best, if not the best standing shooter in the game today. Carl rarely puts pen to paper, but he was kind enough to share his techniques with AccurateShooter.com’s readers.

If you are position shooter, or aspire to be one some day, read this article word for word, and then read it again. We guarantee you’ll learn some techniques (and strategies) that can improve your shooting and boost your scores. This stuff is gold folks, read and learn…


Carl Bernosky High PowerHow to Shoot Standing
by Carl Bernosky

Shooting consistently good standing stages is a matter of getting rounds down range, with thoughtfully-executed goals. But first, your hold will determine the success you will have.

1. Your hold has to be 10 Ring to shoot 10s. This means that there should be a reasonable amount of time (enough to get a shot off) that your sights are within your best hold. No attention should be paid to the sights when they are not in the middle — that’s wasted energy. My best hold is within 5 seconds after I first look though my sights. I’m ready to shoot the shot at that time. If the gun doesn’t stop, I don’t shoot. I start over.

2. The shot has to be executed with the gun sitting still within your hold. If the gun is moving, it’s most likely moving out, and you’ve missed the best part of your hold.

3. Recognizing that the gun is sitting still and within your hold will initiate you firing the shot. Lots of dry fire or live fire training will help you acquire awareness of the gun sitting still. It’s not subconscious to me, but it’s close.

4. Don’t disturb the gun when you shoot the shot. That being said, I don’t believe in using ball or dummy rounds with the object of being surprised when the shot goes off. I consciously shoot every shot. Sometimes there is a mistake and I over-hold. But the more I train the less of these I get. If I get a dud round my gun will dip.* I don’t believe you can learn to ignore recoil. You must be consistent in your reaction to it.

Carl Bernosky High Power5. Know your hold and shoot within it. The best part of my hold is about 4 inches. When I get things rolling, I recognize a still gun within my hold and execute the shot. I train to do this every shot. Close 10s are acceptable. Mid-ring 10s are not. If my hold was 8 inches I would train the same way. Shoot the shot when it is still within the hold, and accept the occasional 9. But don’t accept the shots out of the hold.

6. Practice makes perfect. The number of rounds you put down range matter. I shudder to think the amount of rounds I’ve fired standing in my life, and it still takes a month of shooting standing before Perry to be in my comfort zone. That month before Perry I shoot about 2000 rounds standing, 22 shots at a time. It peaks me at just about the right time.

This summarizes what I believe it takes to shoot good standing stages. I hope it provides some insight, understanding, and a roadmap to your own success shooting standing.

Good Shooting, Carl


* This is very noticeable to me when shooting pistol. I can shoot bullet holes at 25 yards, but if I’ve miscounted the rounds I’ve fired out of my magazine, my pistol will dip noticeably. So do the pistols of the best pistol shooters I’ve watched and shot with. One might call this a “jerk”, I call it “controlled aggressive execution”, executed consistently.

Permalink Shooting Skills 3 Comments »
August 10th, 2013

SSG Brandon Green Wins National High Power Championship

Brandon Green and Carl Bernosky Finish with Identical 2384-126X Scores, But Green Wins Based on 600-yard X-Count Tie-Breaker.

Story based on Reports by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog

In one of the closest finishes in NRA High Power Championship history, SSG Brandon Green of the USAMU captured the 2013 National Title, besting defending champion Carl Bernosky by tie-breaker.

“It Doesn’t Get Any Tighter…” Says SSG Green
For years, the NRA High Power national title had always been just out of reach for SSG Brandon Green. But finally, in 2013, after four tense days of shooting, Brandon Green is a National Champion. “It feels extremely good,” Green said after receiving his National title at last night’s awards ceremony. “It was a very tight match the whole way through. The weather conditions were so difficult but everybody still shot well.”

Brandon would have had enough to worry about with just the weather, but throw in a neck-and-neck race with defending champion Carl Bernosky and things get nerve-racking. Green observed: “It doesn’t get any tighter than it was today. It was too tight. Too close. I got some gray hair over it,” Green laughed.

ssg brandon green 2013 National High Power Champion camp perryThe fourth and final day of the championships began with Green and Bernosky each at 1789 points, but Green had six more tie-breaking Xs — 98 to 92. With three matches left to shoot, the two men were presented with an opportunity to break away from one another and add an additional 600 points to their scores. As the sun sat low in the early morning sky, competitors assembled at the 200-yard line for the first match, the Crescent Cup, whose 20 shots are taken slowly from the standing position. As fate would have it, both men stumbled during the match. Bernosky and Green each dropped four points and were now tied at 1985. Green managed to push his overall X-count lead to seven, posting eight to Bernosky’s seven.

The Cavalry Cup Match came next. Here, competitors would squeeze off 20 rapid-fire shots from 300 yards while in the prone position. Green and Bernosky both bounced back from their earlier tumbles and scored perfect 200s… once again remaining tied, this time at 2185. However, here in the Cavalry Cup, Bernosky was able to close the already-small gap between himself and Green. Scoring 14 Xs to Green’s 8 Xs, the two shooters would enter the final match with Bernosky down a single X.

“After watching [Bernosky] come off the 300-yard line with a 14X, I thought I was done,” Green said. “And then, of course, I shot a nine on my very first shot for record and knew I was done at that point.”

But Green didn’t buckle. He knew it would all come down to the Crowell Trophy, a slow-fire match shot in the prone position at 600 yards. Green would go on to finish the 20-shot match with all tens, posting a 199-12X. As it turns out, Bernosky had also dropped a point, scoring a 199, and had only shot 13 Xs – bringing the two to a dead tie. Their fate almost undeniably linked at this point, both shooters dropped a single point and scored 199s, cementing their tie-by-points at 2384 each. The winner would need to be determined by the X-Count. But Green, entering the match with a one-X lead over Bernosky, ended up with 12 Xs while Bernosky totalled 13 Xs. So the two men ended the final match tied with the exact same scores and same X-counts. Amazing.

ssg brandon green 2013 National High Power Champion camp perryAfter the final shot at the final yardage in the final match, both Green and Bernosky were tied with identical scores of 2384-126X. What now?

In order to break the tie, the two scores would be compared by how well each man shot from the 600-yard line. If the tie persisted, the comparison would move to scores from the 300-yard line. From there the 200-yard rapid fire scores would be compared, followed by the 200-yard slow-fire scores. If the men were still equally matched, the tie-breaker would eventually count the point values of the individual hits — starting back at 600 yards — until a winner was determined.

Accounting for all shots taken at 600 yards, both men had scored 597 points, however Green had 35 Xs and Bernosky had 34 Xs. That sealed it — SSG Brandon Green won the 2013 National High Power Champsionship by having one more X at 600 yards than Carl. This was the slimmest margin of victory seen in a long time, but Green is officially the 2013 NRA National High Power Rifle Champion — his first NRA High Power title after years of finishing so close. SSG Green was crowned the 2013 champion at Friday night’s award ceremony (photo above right).

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August 8th, 2013

Carl Bernosky Leads High Power Championship at Half-Way Point

Story by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog
(Camp Perry – August 7, 2013) Half way through the hunt for the 2013 NRA National High Power Rifle title, defending champion Carl Bernosky is in the lead with a 1193-69X. It is a narrow lead, but a lead nonetheless. One point behind Bernosky is 2009 champion Norman Houle at 1192-49X who himself holds off three very capable shooters by just one point.

NRA National High Power Championships Camp Perry Carl Bernosky

With six matches completed and six more to go, the Championships are at the official half-way point. The High Power Championship involves a 12-match cycle, with 480 total shots for record. Two full days of shooting remain for competitors, who have already been thoroughly pummeled by Camp Perry’s notorious heat and rain. Whoever wins the High Power title will have earned it — the hard way.

NRA National High Power Championships Camp Perry Carl Bernosky

Bernosky has been in this position before. The winner of ten national championships, he is more than aware of how close the race can get. All of the top shooters are veterans and capable of winning it all. At this point, with these scores, it’s nearly a blank slate when shooting begins again tomorrow morning. Will Bernosky hold on for number eleven, could Houle claim his fourth Mumma Trophy, or will a new champion step up on the podium?

NRA National High Power Championships Camp Perry Carl Bernosky

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May 24th, 2013

Koenig Wins 2013 Bianchi Cup, Bernosky Finishes Second

The 2013 MidwayUSA NRA Bianchi Cup is in the books. Congrats to the Top Guns of the men’s division: Doug Koenig First Place (center), Carl Bernosky Second Place (left), and Bruce Piatt Third Place (right). Though Koenig finished on top, we have to credit Carl for his versatility. Bernosky is the reigning (and 10-Time) NRA High Power Rifle National Champion. Few humans can rival Carl’s skills with a rifle, and he’s just proven that he is one of the very best with a pistol as well.

2013 Bianchi Cup Koenig Carl Bernosky Bruce Piatt

Photo from Bruce Piatt.
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December 29th, 2012

Christmas Cowboy Revealed — Yes, It’s Carl Bernosky

Yesterday we featured a “mystery man” in a old family photo from a 1950s Christmas. We challenged readers to identify the young boy in cowboy hat who later grew up into one of America’s greatest rifle shooters. Most folks thought our mystery celebrity was Texan G. David Tubb. Others, no doubt focusing on the hat, suggested it was benchrest Hall-of-Famer Tony Boyer. And there were votes for Mid Tompkins and trick-shooter Bob Munden (who recently passed away). But most of you guys guessed right — the “littlest cowboy” was, in fact, 10-time National High Power Champion Carl Bernosky.

Carl Bernosky

Carl BernoskyHow Times Have Changed in America
Carl tells us: “I think the photo was from 1959, when I was three years old. That was on Christmas with my family. Since then, I have upgraded the holster, switched from revolvers to pistols, and gave up the pipe!”

Carl misses the ‘good old days': “It’s hard to believe how much has changed in America. Things were really different in the 50s and 60s. It was great for a boy growing up. We spent a lot of time outdoors, and people trusted each other more.” Carl said: “I remember going on a hunting trip with my Dad. We had to fly from Pennsylvania to someplace out west. Somewhere I’ve got a photo showing my Dad and I carrying our guns in soft cases on to the aircraft. We just walked through the airport and carried our guns right on to the plane. You sure don’t want to try that today!”

Carl Bernosky

Now that he’s all grown up, Carl makes a living producing rifles and gunstocks for hunters and competition shooters. Carl’s company, Carl Bernosky Shooting Sports, offers a variety of stocks made from laminates and fancy woods. A highly-skilled woodworker, Carl can customize stock designs for any customer’s unique requirements. Shown below are some of his creations, prone rifles (in fancy wood) on the left, and an F-Open rifle in Rutland Laminate on the right.

Carl Bernosky

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