July 14th, 2012

John Zurek Wins NRA Rimfire Pistol Championship

John Zurek captured the .22-Caliber Pistol Championship on July 12. On the final day of rimfire competition, John Zurek surged ahead to win the .22 Caliber Championship with an Aggregate score of 893-35X. Brian Zins finished second with an Aggregate score of 887-57X.

July 15 Update: John Zurek also won the .45 Caliber Pistol Title, Scoring 886-43X vs. 883-46X for runner-up ‘Gunny’ Brian Zins. Gunny Zins did win the overall title NRA Pistol Championships — the 11th in his career. Read More on NRA Blog.

John Zurek.22 Cal. Championship
1. John Zurek: 893-35X
2. Brian Zins: 887-57X
3. James Henderson: 887-44X
4. Gregory Wilson: 884-39X
5. Greg Markowski: 883-42x

Profile: John Zurek

Story based on report by Lindsey Morgan in the NRA Blog

Zurek grew up hunting with guns. Then he joined the USMC and became a member of the Marine Corps Pistol Team. Later he joined the Marine Corps Reserve Pistol Team. After leaving the sport to pursue business interests for a few years, Zurek came back to competitive shooting in 2001.

Zurek’s primary focus as a shooter is Olympic style pistol shooting — air pistol and free pistol. The precision events are his specialty. While he did not make the U.S. Olympic Team this year, the skills he developed for international-style shooting served him well at Camp Perry. “That’s why this is easy for me,” Zurek explained. “That’s why I’ve had such wonderful successes this year from training for free pistol. By practicing free pistol it allows you to work on your focus and concentration by bringing everything in smaller and smaller and smaller.” NOTE: Olympic free pistol uses a smaller bullseye target than the targets at the NRA Pistol Championships.

Zurek’s Shooting Tips: Practice for Long Periods, Use SCATT Training System
If you can’t spend time on the range, then just stay home. That’s a truth that Zurek discovered through his years and years of training. “Most shooters only get 15 minutes here, or 30 minutes there to go and train — and that’s fine when just dry firing,” Zurek explained. “I wouldn’t even go to a range unless you have a four-hour period of time to spend. If you just have a short period of time to train, it’s just better to stay at home and dry fire against the wall. Work on building up your concentration and making each shot perfect.”

Another tool Zurek uses is the SCATT Shooter Training System. SCATT, Zurek believes, gives a shooter great feedback with immediate results. SCATT Training Systems employ an infrared optical device attached to the gun. The shooter aims at an electronic target. The muzzle movement is tracked and displayed as a continuous trace on a ‘real-time’ display screen. When the shooter pulls the gun’s trigger, the point of impact is also plotted. By analyzing the displayed muzzle movement, a shooter can see any flaws in his hold and perfect his technique. CLICK HERE to learn more about SCATT training.

Photos courtesy The NRA Blog.

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