USA Teams and Ratigan Dominate World Benchrest Championships
American teams topped the field at the recent World Benchrest Shooting Federation (WBSF) Championship, hosted in Hölles, Austria. USA Team 3 (Ed Adams, Darrel Loker, Tim Oltersdorf, and Mike Ratigan) took the Team Gold Medal, followed by USA 2 (Silver), and USA 1 (Bronze). American Mike Ratigan was the top individual shooter, winning the Two Gun (.2188 MOA 2-gun Agg), the Heavy Varmint Grand Agg, and the Light Varmint Grand Agg. Mike also added Silver and Bronze medals in the 200m and 100m LV matches, adding to his haul. Wow. Way to go Mike! I guess it’s high time for all of us to read Mike’s Benchrest treatise, Extreme Rifle Accuracy. Giantonio Quaglino from Italy finished second in Two-Gun, with France’s Jean Louis Espinet placing third. Complete match results are found on the WBSF Website.
Italy’s Giantonio Quaglino, New Zealander Ian Owen, and American Larry Costa all had strong individual showings, each winning multiple medals. Ian won silver in the HV Grand Agg and Bronze in the HV 200m. Giantonio grabbed Gold in the Light Varmint 200m and finished Second Overall (in Two-Gun), behind Ratigan. Larry Costa also won two medals–Gold in the HV 200m and Bronze in the HV Grand Agg.
There were many other notable team and individual efforts and we congratulate all the shooters. After the three American Teams, Canada Team 2 (.3085 MOA), Italy Team 1 (.3092 MOA), and France Team 1 (.3113 MOA), were tightly clustered–proving the quality of the competition. While the USA Teams prevailed, international shooters proved their mettle. Three of the Top Five Shooters were from outside the United States. Here are individual Two-Gun results:
