February 10th, 2009

Ladies Triumph in Arizona. Savage Shocks Shooters.

The ladies beat the gents at the 2009 Arizona Long-Range Championship at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, AZ. Nancy Tompkins (photo left) triumphed over 50 other shooters to win the main 1K event with a spectacular 600-36X, followed by Michelle Gallagher (of Berger Bullets) who shot 598-28X. Trudie Fay was the top shooter in Palma (.308) class. Way to go ladies! In this event, competitors shot prone (with sling) at 1000 yards. There were 60 rounds for record over two days, with two “any sights” stages, and one “iron sights” stage; the second “iron sights” stage was cancelled due to a sudden and severe hail storm.

Savage Tubegun Wows the Crowd at Ben Avery
Tubegun builder Gary Eliseo finished third overall with 596-27X. Gary’s performance shocked many fellow shooters … not because Gary doesn’t have the skills, but because he shot a 200-12x and a 199-6X on Day One with a Savage-actioned rifle. That’s right, Gary was shooting a prototype S1 Tubegun built with an out-of-the-box Savage Target Action with factory Accutrigger. Gary told us: “To be honest, like everybody else, I was amazed at how well that Savage shot. And I did no modifications or accurizing to the action whatsoever. All I did was lap the outside of the action to the S1 chassis for a better fit.”

Eliseso Savage tubegun

Eliseso Savage tubegun

German Salazar believes the Savage Tubegun is a very important development: “Here’s an affordable long-range prone rifle that can be assembled by the shooter with simple tools. Get a prefit barrel with barrel nut and you don’t even need a gunsmith. You save money, and just as importantly, you save time — no more year-long waits to get your rifle built.”

Plenty of 6mm Rifles on the Firing Line
While the match winner and runner-up were shooting 6.5-284s, the majority of the remaining Top 10 finishers were using a 6mm cartridge of some kind. Gary Eliseo finished third shooting a 6BR Improved (BRX), Randy Tesseidre finished fourth, also with a 6BRX, and German Salazar finished fifth shooting a 6XC and four of the next five finishers also shot 6mm cartridges. This may evidence a trend towards the smaller caliber over the 6.5mm. Why are we seeing more 6mm cartridges used at 1000 yards? According to German Salazar: “The answer is pretty simple — higher scores. Many (but certainly not all) shooters have found their scores increase when shooting 6mm cartridges, as opposed to the 6.5-284 or even the 7mms. The reasons are more consistent vertical and less recoil, and those two factors are related. With less recoil it’s easier to maintain the precise hold needed to shoot 10s and Xs throughout the match.” Third-place finisher Gary Eliseo also feels that some of the 6mm cartridges may be easier to tune than the 6.5-284. “I shoot the 6BRX”, Gary explained, “it’s an amazing little cartridge–easy to load for. With Berger VLDs seated into the lands it’s super-accurate and really holds tight elevation.”

More Match Results on Desert Sharpshooters Website
Complete Match Results are available on the Desert Sharpshooters website. The Top Three F-Class shooters (in order) were Jim Murphy, Larry Bartholome, and Jeff Cochran, while John Brewer was F-Class High Senior. The Palma match for .308 rifles, held on Friday, was tightly contested. Among the 48 Palma competitors in Friday’s match (not part of the championship aggregate), the top five finishers were Eddie Newman (445-26X), Gary Eliseo (444-25X), David Littlefield (444-21X), Trudie Fay (443-29X), and Steve Cunico (442-26X). Trudie was the High Women shooter while Steve was High Senior.

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