Our friend Taran Butler recorded a major accomplishment at the 2012 USPSA MultiGun Nationals held April 11-15 in Las Vegas, NV. By winning the 2012 Open Class title, Taran became the first person in history to have won all three USPSA MultiGun divisions: Open, Tactical, and Limited. You can only shoot one division per year at the Nationals, so it’s impossible to hold all three class titles simultaneously. But no other USPSA shooters have won all three class titles over the course of their shooting careers. Not even “immotals” Jerry Miculek or Mike Voight, both multi-time Open-Class winners, have captured all three class championships. Before his Open Class win this year, Butler had previously captured the Tactical Division title four times, and he won the Limited Division back in 2003.
Taran observed: “This has now become the biggest achievement in my shooting career, to finally be the first person in history to win all three divisions of the USPSA MultiGun Championships. I owe thanks to God, my sponsors, and awesome friends.”
Watch Taran Butler in Action
The video below shows Taran accepting a trophy for his 2012 USPSA Open Class victory. Then, starting at the 0:46 mark, you can watch Taran run stages at the recent Nationals. You can see Taran used all three guns: pistol, semi-auto carbine, and shotgun.
In Las Vegas, Taran used the same .223 Rem AR Carbine he shoots in Tactical Division — however he added a second optic (for close targets) when running the gun in Open class. This way he can just tilt the rifle to switch magnification levels to suit the target distance. Taran explains: “Here’s the rifle I used to win the 2012 Open Class Nationals. It’s a custom AR that TTI built with parts from Vltor, LaRue, PRI, Surefire, Noveske, Trijicon, and JP. Its called the Taran Tactical Innovations 17″ Signature Series Rifle aka TTI-17SS. The optics I use are the Trijicon TR24R 1-4 power and the RMR. This is by far the fastest optic setup on the planet.”
The pistol Taran used was an Infinity IMM with comp, shooting the standard 9mm Parabellum round. In the shotgun stages in Las Vegas, Taran used a mag-fed shotgun. The shotgun’s huge external magazines (two are sandwiched together) allow long strings with fewer reloads. However, Taran did suffer a major shotgun jam in one stage that cost him 18 seconds (watch video at 4:12 – 4:30). Amazingly, Taran shot a near perfect match after that to win the Open Title.
Overcoming Mistakes — And Staying Calm — Was Key to Victory
According to Taran, the shotgun jam marked a turning point in his match: “To win at this level, you can’t give up when disaster strikes — as it did with my shotgun in Stage 5. But I kept my cool and stayed focused. After that I really shot the match about the best I could and I didn’t try to rush, which can cause more problem. A lot of shooters, when they encounter a big problem, they get discouraged and just give up. Or, they try to shoot really fast to make up time, and then they usually make even bigger mistakes.”
Open Class: “Anything goes” in the Open Class. Rifles may have multiple sighting systems including any kind of optics. Pistols may be fitted with comps, optical sights, and very large extended magazines.
Tactical Class: This is the most popular USPSA MultiGun class currently. Rifles may have ONE (1) optic, plus back-up irons. Pistols are usually tweaked factory guns with upgraded iron sights and triggers. However muzzle brakes, comps, and Red dot or other optics are not allowed on the pistols. Taran says: “The Tactical Division is #1 in attendance. The hardware is similar to what actual operators would use — ARs with a single optic, and normal-looking pistols with conventional sights.”
Limited Class: The Limited Class restricts rifles and pistols to iron sights (or a non-magnified red dot on the rifle only). This class has seen declining participation in recent years.
Last week, we reported that Bank of America (BofA) had told McMillan Group International (McMillan) to find a different business banking provider. The Daily Bulletin was one of the first media sources to break the story — our report appeared a few hours after Kelly McMillan posted the details on McMillan’s facebook page. According to Kelly’s post, he had been visited by a BofA Sr. Vice President who, in essence, told McMillan to find another provider of banking services within six months. BofA’s stated reason for terminating its long-standing relationship with McMillan was that the family-run, Phoenix-based company now manufactures rifles (and not just fiberglass stocks).
BofA Action Provokes Criticism from Gun Owners
Over the past week, BofA been the focus of a torrent of criticism from gun owners and those who support Second Amendment freedoms. Bank of America (the recipient of $45 billion dollars in federal TARP bailout loans) responded with a notice saying that it does NOT have a corporate-wide policy preventing BofA from doing business with gun manufacturers. BofA pointed to its participation in a very large financing for the Freedom Group (which includes Remington and Bushmaster). Nonetheless, the BofA Sr. VP’s message enunciated to Kelly McMillan — i.e. find another bank within six months — has not been repudiated.
Major Media Pick Up Story — And Glenn Beck Sounds Off
Public interest in this story grows by the day. Major newspapers and media outlets are now running the story.The BofA/McMillan controversy was the focus of Glenn Beck’s April 24, 2012 radio show. Beck opined that BofA’s response was confusing at best — BofA may say that it has no written policy against doing business with gun manufacturers, but this does not prevent BofA’s executives or regional bank managers from denying lines of credit to gun-makers.
NRA Interviews Kelly McMillan
On April 23rd, NRA Radio host Cam Edwards interviewed Kelly McMillan via telephone. In the interview, Kelly provided more details of his recent interactions with Bank of America. Those interested in this controversy can listen to the full interview by clicking on the YouTube Video embedded below:
Forum member Jerry Brandon isn’t just an excellent craftsman of Ballistic Edge annealing machines. He’s also a skilled writer who has authored six fiction novels. Writing as “JK Brandon”, Jerry has penned a series of books that should appeal to anyone who likes a good thriller with plenty of gun-related action.
We recently had the pleasure of reading Jerry Brandon’s book The Kennedy Rifle from start to finish. It’s an entertaining page-turner, with a fast-paced plot, well-drawn characters, sharply-written dialog, and some fascinating insights into the Kennedy assassination, drawn from years of research by the author. Brandon hooks the reader with this intro: “What would happen if you suddenly gain possession of the very rifle that killed President John F. Kennedy? And it’s not a 6.5 Mannlicher Carcano…and it wasn’t the only gun used in the assassination…”
The book’s protagonist is Michael Cole, a firearms and ballistics expert based in Arizona. Brandon says the Cole character is a “cross between Massad Ayoob and Clint Smith”. Those who’ve read much contemporary fiction will also notice that Michael Cole shares some qualities of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee and Lee Child’s Jack Reacher — and that’s a good thing. This Editor has read most of the Travis McGee series of books by MacDonald, as well as many popular Elmore Leonard titles. I can tell you that Brandon writes very convincing dialog that fans of MacDonald and Leonard will appreciate.
In many “best-selling” crime novels and techno-thrillers, the actions of the central character are all-too-often implausible — and sometimes completely “over the top”. That ruins a story for me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read a current novel and the protagonist does something so completely stupid, irrational, or implausible, that the book loses its appeal. You won’t encounter that problem with Brandon’s Michael Cole. The Michael Cole character is not a gun-slinging cartoon. Cole makes plausible decisions that draw on a sophisticated understanding of how real guns work. You won’t find Cole “releasing the safety on his revolver” or shooting down an airplane with a flare gun. The Cole character has another quality missing from most of the current techno-thriller heros — humor. Cole has a clever, dry wit that gives the book another dimension (Rockford Files fans will enjoy the humor.)
AUTHOR TALKS about BOOK
CLICK “PLAY” to hear Jerry Brandon TALK about his new thriller, The Kennedy Rifle.
[haiku url=”http://accurateshooter.net/Video/jkbrandonkr.mp3″ title=”JK Brandon Re Kennedy Rifle”]
If you like the Bob Lee Swagger books by Stephen Hunter or the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child, you’ll enjoy The Kennedy Rifle by Jerry Brandon. And certainly if you have a serious interest in the Kennedy assassination, this book is a must read. Brandon’s book uncovers many of the puzzling facts left out of the Warren Report. Though The Kennedy Rifle is a work of fiction, it makes a convincing argument that important aspects of the Kennedy assassination were never revealed to the American public.
Overall, I can recommend the book highly. My only criticism is that I wish the book were longer. By the third chapter I was “hooked” and proceeded to race through the novel in a couple of late-night sessions. When I got to the finish I wished Brandon had added some more twists and turns, and perhaps a few more sections dedicated to ballistics. In paperback version, the book runs 206 pages, including an excerpt from The Steel Violin, another Michael Cole novel by Brandon. You can order both paperback and eBook versions of The Kennedy Rifle and The Steel Violin from Amazon.com. Visit JKBrandon.com to learn more about the author and his Michael Cole novels.
The official results for the NBRSA 1000-yard Nationals have been released, along with final results for the F-Class Bench and 600-Yard Nationals. Congratulations to Bill Johnston, the new NBRSA 1000-yard Champion. Bill finished first with 18 rank points, edging runner-up Richard Schatz (19 pts) by one point. Terry Balding (who won the 600-yard NBRSA Nationals) finished third with 29 points, ahead of Greg Wilson (30, 4th place) and Robert Hoppe (34 5th Place).
LIGHT GUN GROUP — RICHARD SCHATZ 4.801″
LIGHT GUN SCORE — ROBERT HOPPE 288-6X
HEAVY GUN GROUP — BILL JOHNSTON 7.759
HEAVY GUN SCORE — BILL JOHNSTON 552-4X
TWO GUN GROUP — RICHARD SCHATZ 6.585″
TWO GUN SCORE — BILL JOHNSTON 817-6X
NEW 1000-Yard NATIONAL RECORDS
RICK DUNCAN — LIGHT GUN 3 TARGET SCORE 149-4X
ROBERT HOPPE — LIGHT GUN 6 TARGET SCORE 288-6X
RICK DUNCAN — LIGHT GUN 6 TARGET SCORE 283-6X
Jim O’Connell tells us tha several new records were set at both of the National Champonships (1000-yard and 600-yard). Check out the attachments for all the groups and scores as well as the many winners in separate divisions and target categories (LG/HG, Group/Score, Single Target/3-Target/6-Target). We congratulate all the shooters who attended the NBRSA Long-Range Nationals this week. The match directors thank you for your participation and hope to see you next year.
GunBroker.com, the world’s largest web auction site for firearms, is hosting a unique online auction to benefit the USA Shooting Team’s quest for Olympic gold this summer. Through Sunday, April 29, GunBroker.com members may bid on a unique Kimber Team Match II .45 ACP pistol. Bearing serial number “USA-10000”, this one-of-a-kind Kimber Custom Shop creation was presented to the USA Shooting Team by Kimber owner and CEO Leslie Edelman at the 2012 SHOT Show.
The “USA-10000” serial number on this highly-customized handgun commemorates sales of 10,000 Team Match II pistols. Delivered in a walnut and glass presentation case, the pistol features a mirror-polish finish, and scrimshawed ivory grips with the USA Shooting Team logo. Kimber donated this Team Match II “USA-10000” to the USA Shooting Team, with all proceeds supporting Team USA members competing at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games this London. CLICK THIS LINK to view more photos or bid on the “USA-10000″ Kimber Team Match II. Current high bid is $5,025.00 (as of April 23, 2012).
by Lars Dalseide for the NRA Blog Disabled soldiers from Project Enduring Pride stopped by NRA Headquarters earlier this year for a tour of the NRA National Firearms Museum and a trip to the Range. Apparently the group had a whale of a time because they’re on their way back for more.
Led by Director Ken Strafer, Project Enduring Pride is a community outreach program that works with and assists the severely wounded warriors returning from Afghanistan and Iraq and now recuperating at Military Medical Centers and Veterans Administrations Hospitals in the Washington, Richmond, or Baltimore areas. Project Enduring Pride assists the men and women who were wounded in the service of our country with the sometimes difficult transition from military to civilian life.
“The event will start with lunch in the Café, followed by museum tours and shooting on the Range,” explained Range Customer Service Specialist Debbie Crews. “I hope everyone is ready to provide an exciting day for these wonderful young men and women.”
Firearms for the Enduring Pride shoot come from the personal collection of various members of NRA staff and volunteers. Ammunition, gift bags and other items have been donated by organizations including Brownells and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Tyler Rico — remember that name. We predict you’ll be hearing much more about this young man in the years ahead. Tyler, the youngest shooter ever to earn the CMP Distinguished Rifleman Badge, is one of the best of the new generation of shooters coming up through the junior ranks. With very sound fundamentals, Tyler has shown the ability to shoot just about any kind of rifle, at any distance — from 10m to 1000 yards. And despite his young age, Tyler has the discipline and mental focus it takes to win. Tyler demonstrated that most recently at the National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) where he won the 10m Air Rifle Title, securing a place on the National Junior Team. Tyler will continue to compete in NJOSC smallbore competition over the next few days, where he will be one of the favorites in the Men’s 50m Rifle Three Position and Men’s 50m Rifle Prone.
Tyler has shown the ability to compete head to head with adult-age group shooters — even High Masters. Last year, Tyler won the Service Rifle division outright at the 2011 Western Creedmoor Cup. Among junior across-the-course shooters, he is one of the best ever. He was the top Junior Shooter at the Camp Perry National Trophy Individual Matches four years in a row (2011, 2010, 2009, 2008). A senior at Tucson Wells High School, Tyler will enroll in the U.S. Air Force Academy as a cadet this June.
Rico Also Excels with Centerfire Rifles
Unlike many Air Rifle and Smallbore shooters, Tyler Rico is equally capable (and confident) when shooting centerfire rifles — whether ARs in Service Rifle, or “space guns” in across the course and long-range matches. Tyler regularly competes in Service Rifle and High Power matches — with considerable success. He won the 2010 Nevada High Power Rifle Regional Championship, out-scoring seasoned competitors with decades of experience. Click thumbnail photos below to see larger versions.
As part of the NBRSA Long-Range Nationals conducted this week in Sacramento, an F-Class Benchrest match was held Friday, April 20th, with great success. Why have a benchrest match for F-Classers you might ask? Well, this provides a new activity for F-Class shooters whose 22-lb F-Open and 18.15-lb F-TR rifles would not otherwise qualify under the NBRSA 17-lb Light Gun limits. Having more opportunities for more folks to shoot is always a good thing, we believe. With the success of this event, it looks like “F-Bench” matches will become more commonplace in the future. Jerry Tierney, our “field correspondent” in Sacramento, tells us that the NBRSA plans to approve F-Class Benchrest competition as a regular discipline. This will formalize the rules, targets, and course of fire.
At Friday’s F-Class Bench match, the shooting was all done at 1000 yards, from the covered shooting line at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center. The event consisted of two, 1000-yard matches with a time limit of 30 minutes each and unlimited sighters. Shooters were divided into three relays: one firing, one scoring, and one in the pits. That division of labor kept everyone active throughout the day. All three relays in the first match shot in VERY mild conditions. At the start of match two, the wind came up from the left.
Hoppe Wins F-Class Bench Match
The winner was a familar face, Robert Hoppe, racking up 387-11X with his 6mm Dasher. Runner-up, just one point behind, was Gary Noble (386-11X). In third place was Shawn Greene (383-13X). Robert is a heck of a shooter. He still holds the NBRSA record for the smallest 5-shot group ever shot in a 600-yard NBRSA benchrest match. Robert drilled an amazing 0.5823″ group in 2007 to set the NBRSA Light Gun record. Five years later, he’s still on his game.
The NBRSA Long-Range National Championships continue today and tomorrow with the Sloughhouse 1000 two-day match.
Match results and photos by Jerry Tierney, who shot the match and finished 6th with 383-8X.
A handy eBook version of the popular resource ABCs of Reloading is now on sale for $1.99. That’s right — for the price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you can get a very useful 288-page introductory reloading treatise, complete with hundreds of photos. The print version of this book costs $17.81 at Amazon.
This eBook will not tell you about some advanced reloading methods used by benchrest shooters. However, you’ll find good basic information on important topics such as: powder storage, proper handling of primers, how to set full-length dies, press mounting and set-up, trimming brass, and measuring for run-out. For those who are new at reloading this is a very useful guide that contains the fundamentals you need to know to be a safe and productive reloader. If you have friends who are getting started in reloading, you can send this eBook to them. It’s a thoughtful, inexpensive gift.
Please note: This $1.99 edition is a digital book, NOT a paperback. It does have hundreds of photos and many charts. We found the text very easy to read on a Kindle, and most of the photos were plenty big. You can download a sample for free if you’re curious to see how the book displays before you buy.
What’s an eBook?
An eBook is a digital file with text, photos and graphics. You download the file from Amazon.com to your Kindle (hand-held) eReader, home computer, lap-top computer, iPad or smartphone. You may have to install a free eReader App on your computer or phone before you can access the file. Once the file is loaded you can search text, make bookmarks, and highlight text.
Do I Need a Kindle?
No. Even if you do not own an Amazon Kindle, you can read the eBook on any kind of computer, or you can read the eBook on a smartphone or iPad. But you may have to install a program (App) before the file can be opened. The reading Apps are FREE.
Amazon Prime Members Can Get eBook for FREE
If you have an Amazon Prime membership, you can download this eBook for FREE — provided you haven’t used up your “one book a month” allotment. Certain Amazon titles (like this) are in the Prime Member Lending Library. Each month, you’re allowed to download one Lending Library eBook for free. If you haven’t “borrowed” an eBook this month, and you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can get the digital edition of the ABCs of Reloading for FREE.
The NBRSA 600-Yard Nationals were held April 18-19, 2012 at the Sacramento Valley Shooting Center in Sloughhouse, CA. Among the nearly 40 com-petitors, Forum Member Terry Balding (aka Terry) was the big winner, taking home the Overall Two-Gun Title with strong performances in both Light Gun and Heavy Gun divisions. In both classes, Terry shot his 6mm Dasher Light Gun. Terry finished with 19 rank points, and former NBRSA 600-yard Champion Richard Schatz was not far behind with 24 rank points.
Richard, as you’d expect, also shot a Dasher in both classes. Schatz apparently was at no disadvantage using his Dasher Light Gun in the Heavy Gun phase — Richard set a new NBRSA 10-shot Heavy Gun Record with a 1.769″ ten-shot group, and Schatz also posted HG single-target high score for the match, a 99-8X. Both Terry and Richard plan to shoot their Dasher Light Guns in both LG and HG classes at the NBRSA 1000-yard Nationals which continue this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in Sacramento.
We’re delighted to see Terry Balding win this major Championship. He has worked very hard on his game and has steadily climbed the ranks. He’s a deserving new Champion. Along with his overall win, Terry posted the best 6-target LG score: a 284-5X (plus tie-breaker group). When confirmed this will be a new NBRSA 6-target LG record. Terry told us he shot fast to stay in the non-dominant left to right condition. In both LG and HG relays, Balding waited for the L to R to appear, then he shot fast. Terry’s 6mm Dasher, smithed by Lester Bruno, features a multi-flat BAT dual-port action, March 10-60x52mm scope with PECA Amber filter, McMillan MBR stock, and 28″ Krieger 1:8″ twist, 0.237″-land barrel. Terry told us this barrel shot great “right from the start”, and his Dasher has performed very well in the last five matches, so he wasn’t surprised it did so well in Sacramento.
Berger 105gr Hybrids, Varget, and Brass Annealed After Every Firing
Terry’s match-winning load consisted of Berger 105gr Hybrids “pointed slightly with a Whidden Pointer”, pushed by Varget powder and CCI 450 primers at 3030 fps. Terry seats his 105s very slightly into the lands. As is becoming the fashion with many top shooters, Terry anneals his brass (with a Ken Light annealer) after every firing. Terry believes this helps him maintain “very consistent neck tension”.
Terry wanted to give credit to his friend Richard Schatz, who “has been a great help for a number of years”. Terry, who hails from Wisconsin, also wanted to mention that his home club, the Columbus Sportsmans Association, is constructing a new 600-yard benchrest range in Columbus Wisconsin. Terry invites his fellow shooters to visit the new range when it is complete, hopefully by August of this year.
Schatz Sets New Heavy Gun Group Record While Finishing Second Overall
Our friend Richard Schatz performed well, shooting his trusty 6mm Dasher. There was a bit of a change this time around — Richard was pushing his 2006-vintage 107gr SMKs with Varget powder, rather than Reloder 15, which he has used in the past. Richard explained that his lastest barrel seems to prefer the Hodgdon Varget. Richard joked: “After so many years using RL15, I felt like I was taking a new girl to the Prom”. Like his friend Terry Balding, Richard shot fast to stay in a condition: “I was running pretty much as fast as I could. By the time of the Heavy Gun relay, the gun had settled well into the bags, so it was returning to battery really well.” Richard definitely had his Dasher running well during the Heavy Gun phase, as he ended up setting a new NBRSA 10-shot Heavy Gun single target record. Shown below is Richard’s record target.
Two Gun Overall Rankings
1. Terry Balding (National Champion) – 19
2. Richard Schatz – 24
3. Frank Vance – 30
4. Bill Johnston – 33
5. Rick Duncan – 36
6. Dan Robertson – 36
7. Peter White – 40
8. Dick Colyar – 48
9. Larry Kahle -53
10. Don Nielson – 56
Two Gun Score
1. Frank Vance — 822-12X
2. Terry Balding — 809-8X
3. Bill Johnston — 809-5X
4. Dan Robertson — 808-10X
5. Rick Duncan — 805-7X
Two Gun Group
1. Bill Johnston — 3.276
2. Richard Schatz — 3.517
3. Terry Balding — 3.586
4. Dick Colyar — 3.572
5. John Crawford – 3.764
Best Targets
Light Gun High Score: Terry Balding – 50-3X, 1.77″
Light Gun Small Group: Bob Dorton – 0.851, 46-0X
Heavy Gun High Score: Richard Schatz – 99-4X, 2.222
Heavy Gun Small Group: Richard Schatz – 1.759″ (10 shots), 88-0X (New NBRSA Record)
Thanks to Jerry Tierney for providing 600-yard match photos. Jerry will be shooting in the F-Class Benchrest match held April 20th in Sloughhouse.
Last week, we reported that Bank of America (BofA) had told McMillan Group International (McMillan) to find a different business banking provider. The Daily Bulletin was one of the first media sources to break the story — our report appeared a few hours after Kelly McMillan posted the details on 
BofA Action Provokes Criticism from Gun Owners
Forum member Jerry Brandon isn’t just an excellent craftsman of 
If you like the Bob Lee Swagger books by Stephen Hunter or the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child, you’ll enjoy The Kennedy Rifle by Jerry Brandon. And certainly if you have a serious interest in the Kennedy assassination, this book is a must read. Brandon’s book uncovers many of the puzzling facts left out of the Warren Report. Though The Kennedy Rifle is a work of fiction, it makes a convincing argument that important aspects of the Kennedy assassination were never revealed to the American public.
Disabled soldiers from 
“The event will start with lunch in the Café, followed by museum tours and shooting on the Range,” explained Range Customer Service Specialist Debbie Crews. “I hope everyone is ready to provide an exciting day for these wonderful young men and women.”
Hoppe Wins F-Class Bench Match
Amazon Prime Members Can Get eBook for FREE
The NBRSA 600-Yard Nationals were held April 18-19, 2012 at the 
