The April Digital Edition of Shooting Sports USA (SSUSA) is now available on the web. Shooting Sports USA is FREE to read online, and you can subscribe for free. As always, SSUSA has match reports and a full calendar of NRA shooting events. This month’s digital edition has a “must-read” section on NRA Rule Changes for 2011. This covers multiple disciplines including High Power, Smallbore Rifle, NRA Pistol, and Action Pistol.
We also recommend Larry Carter’s excellent article on Red Dot Sights (pp. 18-19). Whether you’re a multi-gun competitor, bullseye pistol shooter, or a turkey hunter, we guarantee you’ll learn something new from Carter’s article. Here are some highlights:
Dot Size:Use only as much diameter as you need. Small diameter for bullseye and larger diameters for sports that require moving from target to target. Either way the field of view is unlimited if you shoot with both eyes open.
Mounting:Try to get the [red dot] sight as close to the bore as possible. Consult with your gunsmith about what type of mounting is best for your activity and pistol.
Durability:Leave the dot turned on for the day’s shooting. Saving wear on the control is worth the trade-off in battery life. Most sights will run up to 500 hours on a battery.
Vision:If you don’t see a round dot, ask your eye doctor if you have an uncorrected astigmatism. This is especially true if you have really good vision. The eye doctor will not normally give a prescription to correct a small astigmatism if everything else is OK.
Editor’s Note: Astigmatism IS a major problem when it comes to using red dots. Some years ago I ordered an Aimpoint for an AR. Instead of a nice, distinct round dot I saw something that looked like a little starburst with fuzzy edges. I sent the Aimpoint back, thinking it was defective. But the replacement red dot sight was the same, so I went to my optometrist. It turns out I had astigmatism. Once that was corrected with prescription shooting glasses, I could see a nice distinct round dot. Without correction, it was very difficult to use the red dot sight effectively.
Bartlein Barrels leads the way among companies supporting American competitors at the 2011 World Benchrest Championships in France. Bartlein Barrels has made a significant donation to this year’s American team — over $14,000.00 worth of match barrels. In dollar value, this is the single largest donation to the team from any source. Each Team USA member will receive four (4) barrels in their set-up of choice. We commend the folks at Bartlein Barrels for generously supporting the United States Benchrest Shooting Team.
World Benchrest Championship USA Team Members Selected
Listed below are the names of the team members who represent the United States at the 2011 World Benchrest Championship (WBC-11). The Championship will be held August 23-27, 2011 in Volmerange, Les Mines, France. USA Team members were selected through points accumulated at five qualifying matches in 2010.
Team 1 – Tony Boyer, Larry Costa, Gene Bukys, Chris Harris Team 2 – Mike Ratigan, Jack Neary, Andy Shifflett, Wayne Campbell Team 3 – Tim Oltersdorf, Dave Coots, Rabon Stewart Jr., Larry Baggett
Alternates: Bob Hammack, Don Nielson, Lou Murdica, Greg Reed | Honorary Captain: Walt Berger
The 2011 Hickory Groundhog and Egg Shoot at Vale, NC was a big success. Some 177 shooters vied for over $7,000 worth of prizes. The main course of fire was challenging, with three sets of paper groundhog targets at 100, 300, and 500 yards, and NO Sighters. Shooters can also compete in an Egg Shoot for cash and other prizes. For the primary three-yardage Groundhog match, there are two rifle classes: Custom Division and Factory Division. The match, one of the most popular varmint competitions in the country, is sponsored by Bulls-Eye Sporting Goods (Larry Willis, owner). The event is held every year on the first Saturday in April.
This year’s “Top Shot” at the Hickory was Randy Chappell. Shooting a 6 BRDX (we were told), Randy scored 90 points to win the Custom Division. Randy took home a new Nightforce NXS scope plus $300.00. Runner-up Robbie Roberts steered his 6BR to second place in Custom, earning him a Sightron Scope and $150.00 in cash. Finishing third in Custom Division was past Hickory winner Chris Brady, Terry Brady’s son. Chris, who also shot a 6BR, took home a Shehane Tracker stock and $50.00.
CUSTOM Division
1st Place, 90 points Randy Chappell
2nd Place, 82 points Robby Roberts
3rd Place, 80 points Chris Brady
FACTORY Division
1st Place, 72 points Greg Davis
2nd Place, 59 points Jeff Godfrey
3rd Place, 59 points Jason Elmosre
Rock River AR Wins Factory Division
There were some surprises this year in the Factory Division. While many folks expected a Savage 6BR or 6.5-284 to win, that wasn’t in the cards. This year a semi-auto ‘Black Rifle’ outshot all the factory bolt guns. Greg Davis scored 72 points with his .223 Rem Rock River AR15 to win the Factory division by a comfortable margin. The next best Factory shooters, Jeff Godfrey and Jason Elmore, both had identical 59-point totals. Godfrey was awarded second place over Elmore on a tie-breaker.
Challenging Conditions on the Range
Conditions at the Hickory were pretty tough this year. Sam Hall, a past Hickory winner and IBS Shooter of the year explained: “It was difficult this year, with 20+ mph, gusty winds in the afternoon. This is a ‘no sighters’ match and I was having trouble with my cold bore zero. I wasn’t the only one.”
The 6 BRDX — The Best BR Improved Yet?
Shooting his new 6 BRDX, Sam finished eighth in Custom Division, with 73 points. Sam likes the 6 BRDX chambering, which is a 6BR Improved with a 40° shoulder, but with a longer neck than a BRX or Dasher. “I’m real happy with the BRDX… I think it is as accurate as a BRX or Dasher, but the brass is much easier to form. Randy Chappell told me the same thing. I think it has enough case capacity to hit the velocities we want. The BRDX was shooting ‘lights out’ earlier this year, but I think maybe my tune wasn’t right for the conditions at the Hickory.”
Hornady has discovered social networking. This week Hornady launched official Facebook and Twitter sites. Fans can go to Facebook.com/hornady and Twitter.com/teamhornady to get the latest news about Hornady products and events.
Hornady’s Facebook Site will offer:
Live chats with industry experts.
Exclusive discounts and promotions.
Timely info on new products.
Product photo galleries and videos.
On Hornady’s new social media pages, shooters can share their photos and stories about hunting, competitive shooting, and reloading. Importantly, the Facebook Page will allow shooters to interact with Hornady’s “brain trust” — the ballisticians, designers, and engineers who develop Hornady’s new products. Allowing customers to share their ideas/experiences with the folks who design and build Hornady products is a good thing. Hornady can get reliable, immediate feedback on its products. That should speed up the process of making improvements and enhancements.
MidwayUSA is running a special “Tax Relief Discount” promotion right now through April 18th. This is a simple “money-off” deal, giving you $10 off an order of $100.00 or more, $20 off order of $200 or more, and so on. Note: sale and back-order items are excluded. These discounts apply only to regularly-priced, in-stock products. Remember the deadline is April 18, 11:59 pm, Central Time.
To receive your Savings:
1. Add regular price, in-stock products to your cart totaling:
$100 or more – Use Promotion Code 141177
$200 or more – Use Promotion Code 241177
$300 or more – Use Promotion Code 341177
$500 or more – Use Promotion Code 541177
2. Enter the promotion code into the box titled, “Promotion Code” on the shopping cart page.
3. See the discount applied on the Confirmation page near the end of the checkout.
Fine Print: This offer can only be used once, and it is limited to online order (no phone or fax orders). The promo applies ONLY to regularly-priced items; sale, clearance, out-of-stock and Nightforce products do not count towards the total, and Gift certificates do not count towards the total. This cannot be used with any other promotion code, or combined with Dealer, Birthday or Special pricing.
Gary Eliseo tells us: “The new CG INCH is a very robust triple-lug action designed by Robert Chombart. The CG INCH’s unique rear lug design allows the loading port to be much closer to the shooter than with a rem-style action. The port is about 1.5″ further back. With the CG INCH’s rear three-lug design, the bolt throw is shorter than a front lug action so the bolt handle is no further to the rear when the bolt is open. This design makes loading from the shoulder much more convenient.” Another nice feature of the CG INCH is that no separate recoil lug is required with the CSS Kit. The rear of the action is milled perfectly square and this acts as the recoil stop once the action is assembled into the CG1 chassis. Gary says the only downside to the CG INCH action is that the three-lug bolt does require a bit more effort to lift and cock than bolts in most two-lug actions.
Order Now for Delivery in 6-8 Weeks
Eliseo has finished his first run of CG1 Chassis Kits, but they are all pre-sold. He will commence another run soon, which should be available in 6-8 weeks. Get your order in soon if you want a kit from the next run. The price is $850.00 with choice of 150 powder-coat colors. Anodized or Cerakote finish is $75.00 extra. For more information, visit CompetitionShootingStuff.com or call CSS at 714-630-5734.
In a near-perfect performance, Sarah Scherer, a sophomore at Texas Christian University (TCU), claimed the gold medal in Women’s 10m Air Rifle at the ISSF World Cup Korea. Scherer entered the final round tied with Poland’s Agnieska Nagay, a two-time Olympian. Scherer then nailed an impressive 103.5 score in the final, to finish with 501.5 total points, winning by one point. Nagay finished with 500.5 total points (398+102.5) for the silver medal and a quota place for Poland. Finishing third was Serbia’s Ivana Maksimovic with 499.4 total points (397+102.4).
Sarah, an All-American and NCAA Champion shooter at TCU, wowed the crowd. National Rifle Coach Major Dave Johnson said, “Sarah was a focused machine. I was impressed with her control and determination.” You can watch Scherer shoot in the ISSF Video below (action starts after 35-second intro).
Not only is this a huge accomplishment for Scherer, she also brings home a much-needed 2012 Olympic quota for Women’s 10m Air Rifle. In an ISSF interview, Scherer said, “It has been my first time in a final, and it was a bit intimidating to shoot shoulder to shoulder with these experienced athletes. But I have been training hard to get here, so I was quite confident. It feels great to win a quota place for my country.” This was Scherer’s first ISSF Gold. But she is no stranger to the podium. Sarah was the 2010 NCAA National smallbore rifle champion and the 2010 USA Junior Olympics air rifle champion.
Forum member Jerry Tierney reports that the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center (Folsom Shooting Club) had a great turnout for its 600-yard high power prone and F-Class match this past weekend. There were 55 shooters total, with more F-Class shooters than prone shooters, and the 20 F-TR shooters was the biggest . That’s impressive attendance for this early in the season.
Noma Mayo Wins Prone, Pete White Wins F-Open, Sean Mattson Wins F-TR
Jerry Tierney reports: “I really hate to say this but, Lane got beat by the girl again. Prone winner was Norma Mayo with a 599-43X, edging runner-up Lane Buxton who shot 598-40X. That is a bunch of Xs!” Interestingly, If Noma had shot on the F-class target (using iron sights and sling) her score would have been 582.
F-Open winner was Peter White, who posted 592-33x to edge Jerry Tierney on X-Count. Jerry shot 592-20X for second place. Jerry was shooting his 7mm SAUM (with Berger 180gr Hybrids) while Peter was shooting his 6BRX with Varget, Berger 108s, and CCI BR4s. Forum member Sean Mattson shot 555-16X, finish first in a large F-TR field. With 20 shooters, F-TR was the most popular class.
NBRSA 600-Yard and 1000-Yard Nationals Coming Soon
One reason this Match was so well-attended by F-Classers is that the NBRSA 600-Yard and 1000-Yard Nationals plus a 1K F-Class Bench Match will be held later this month in Sacramento, so this weekend was an ideal “tune-up” match. The entry/information forms are now available for the NBRSA 600-yard Nationals (Sloughhouse 600: April 20-21, 2011), 1000-Yard F-Class Bench Match (April 22, 2011), and 1000-Yard Nationals (Sloughhouse 1000: April 23-25, 2011). All three major events will be held at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, located outside Sacramento, California.
The 2011 NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championships, hosted by Clemson University, conclude today. We have final results from the Air Rifle competition which wrapped up earlier. Clayton Peck of Michigan State won the overall air rifle title with a 582 score. Clemson’s Dylan Smith took second with 570, barely edging Tori Kostecki from North Georgia CSU who posted a 569. In team competition, Clemson won gold, Penn State took second, while West Virginia finished third. Below is a slide show with images from the air rifle finals which took place at The Citadel Marksmanship Center.
Powder Valley is running a great Wolf Ammo Special right now. All Wolf rifle ammo in .223 Rem and 7.62×39 is just $5.00 per box of 20 rounds. This Polyperformance ammo features polymer-coated steel cases (non-reloadable). The polymer coating ensures smooth feeding and extraction. In addition, the coating helps prevents the steel cases from leaving marks on your shiny metal parts or painted stocks. Note that Wolf ammo has a 100% performance guarantee. If you are not satisfied, Wolf will refund the pro-rated purchase cost of the unused portion of your ammo. Can’t argue with that.
Disclosure: Powder Valley Inc. advertises with AccurateShooter.com.
Story Sourced by Edlongrange.
The April Digital Edition of Shooting Sports USA (SSUSA) is now available on the web. Shooting Sports USA is FREE to read online, and you can subscribe for free. As always, SSUSA has match reports and a full calendar of NRA shooting events. This month’s digital edition has a “must-read” section on NRA Rule Changes for 2011. This covers multiple disciplines including High Power, Smallbore Rifle, NRA Pistol, and Action Pistol.
We also recommend Larry Carter’s excellent article on Red Dot Sights (pp. 18-19). Whether you’re a multi-gun competitor, bullseye pistol shooter, or a turkey hunter, we guarantee you’ll learn something new from Carter’s article. Here are some highlights:
Challenging Conditions on the Range
In a near-perfect performance, 
The 2011 NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championships, hosted by Clemson University, conclude today. We have final results from the Air Rifle competition which wrapped up earlier. Clayton Peck of Michigan State won the overall air rifle title with a 582 score. Clemson’s Dylan Smith took second with 570, barely edging Tori Kostecki from North Georgia CSU who posted a 569. In team competition, Clemson won gold, Penn State took second, while West Virginia finished third. Below is a slide show with images from the air rifle finals which took place at The Citadel Marksmanship Center.
