Congratulations to the winning Rifle National Trophy Junior Team, Sagen Maddalena and Forrest Greenwood. Competing as Team California Grizzlies Berger, Sagen (left, below) and Forrest (right) set a new National Record of 968-21X in the two-person match held last week. Sagen also led all competitors, racking up the top individual score of 488-15X. The winning team receives the Freedom’s Fire Trophy. Team Coach was Robert Taylor II and Team Captain was Mike Barranco. Notably, two other California Grizzlies shooters, Lane Ichcord and Wayne Morgan, finished Third Overall with a 964-24X. This proves there are still some great young shooters coming from California, despite the many restrictive laws in the Golden State. CLICK HERE for complete Match results.
USAMU Shooters Set New Doubles Team National Record
Not to be outdone by the young Californians, U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s SSG Tyrel Cooper and CPL Matthew Rawlings set a new National Match Record of 593-21X last Wednesday in the Hearst Doubles Team Match. Congratulations Ty and Matt!!
How brave are five young hoodlums, two armed with guns, who tried to rob a Glendale, California jewelry store? They are complete cowards it turns out. When the 65-year-old lady store owner confronted the punks (using her own handgun), all five thieves fell over themselves fleeing the store in a panic. And it was all captured on security camera video last week.
Despite their “gangsta” ambitions, all five hoodlums ran like scalded cats when faced with a courageous senior citizen. The get-away driver even started to pull his vehicle away before all five criminals could climb aboard. The speed with which the five young robbers fled from the scene is almost laughable, if this wasn’t a deadly serious situation. Lt. Jeff Nightengale of the Garden Grove police department stated: “She felt her life was in jeopardy. She felt it was appropriate action to protect those people in the store”.
Hats off to Top Shot Season 3 Champion Dustin Ellermann for finding this recent video story.
Review by German Salazar, Contributing Editor Tom Sziler, a very talented machinist and shooter, is now offering handsome billet aluminum loading blocks through CNCshooter.com. I recently bought a set and am very impressed with their quality. You can see I have the cartridge type engraved on my .30-06 block. Tom makes these in all case head sizes and will engrave just about anything you like on the side. Tom’s been a bit backlogged lately, but for a custom product, delivery was more than speedy. I received mine in about three weeks.
2011 Update (By AccurateShooter.com Editor)
Tom has recently expanded his line of CNC-milled loading blocks, which are sold through his website, CNCshooter.com. There are now four price levels for the 50-round blocks: $16.50 for .22LR blocks (Small); $28 for most centerfire cartridges (Standard); $31 for very large cartridges such as .338 Lapua, .45-70, etc. (Large); and $33 for BMG, CheyTac, etc. (Jumbo). Tom also offers an “economy” version of his 50-rd loading block for just $19.00. These are made to the same quality and precision as the original loading block; however, they are crafted from 3/4″ aluminum and have NO engraving.
New Products: 25-round Block and Range Tray
New this year from Tom is a smaller, 25-round loading block, priced at $17.50. This has the same basic design (with engraving) as the 50-rounder, but it is half the length (with half the capacity). This is perfect for low-quantity handloading. Some guys like to use the 25-round ammo block when shooting in competition. It makes for a quick, handy ammo caddy. But even better for competition is Tom’s new Range Tray shown below. It has a milled-out tray for empty brass or small parts. Price is $28.00 for most cartridges up to WSM head diameters.
If you order from Tom, add $5 for shipping up to 2 pieces, or $10 for 3-7 pieces. Loading blocks ship in USPS flat-rate boxes. Tom prefers to receive payment by way of U.S. Postal Money Order. Send money order, order specs and your shipping address to:
Tom Sziler
5521 W 110th Street, Ste 6
Oak Lawn, IL 60453
tom.sziler[at]gmail.com
Jamie Gray won the Gold Medal in women’s 50m three-position rifle today at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London. Jamie finished with a score of 691.9, a new Olympic record. Fittingly, Jamie secured the Gold Medal with a 10.8 on her last shot in the finals, just 0.1 shy of a perfect score. “I’ve worked on taking that last shot for four years,” she said. “It was almost a moment of relief… I knew it was a good one.” Jamie finished 4.4 points ahead of Silver Medalist Ivana Maksimovic of Serbia. The Czech Republic’s Adela Sykorova took the Bronze medal, 8.9 points behind Gray. You can watch the Women’s 50m Three Position Finals on the NBC Olympics Website (internet service provider log-in required).
Jamie shot great throughout the competition and headed into finals with a two-point lead over her competitors. Gray’s qualifying score was 592, also an Olympic record. This was Jamie’s second appearance in the Olympics, and she has made great progress in the past four years. In Beijing in 2008, Jamie finished fifth in three-position rifle, and fourth in air rifle. After winning Gold in Londson, Jamie said: “This is a dream come true. I made a plan and I stuck to it.”
Two Gold Medal-Winning Room-Mates
At the Olympic Athletes Village in London, Jamie shares a room with Kim Rhode, who won Gold in Women’s Skeet Shooting. Perhaps that pairing brought good luck to both ladies. Team USA now has three Gold medals in shooting, the team’s best performance since 1984.
Earlier this spring, in a USA Shooting interview, Jamie talked about Olympic shooting competition which divides male and female shooters into two divisions: “I am a born competitor and whether it is men or women I want to win. In a sport that is equal between men and women I would most definitely enjoy the competition. I started out only knowing that men and women compete against each other. It wasn’t until I learned shooting was an Olympic sport that I realized men and women didn’t compete against each other. It is exciting to me that there are still sports out there that men and women can be equal, however for other reasons it may be better that there are different categories for each.”
Jamie began shooting in a BB gun program at 8 years old. An all-round athlete, as a high school student, she played varsity soccer, basketball and softball. Jamie graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and shot for its nationally-renowned rifle team. She is currently the technical coach for the Columbus State University Rifle Team. Jamie is married to another shooter, USAMU SSG Hank Gray. Jamie, who originally hails from Lebanon, PA, competed as Jamie Beyerle before her marriage.
Here’s a video featuring ‘Gunny’ R. Lee Ermey. This clip is entertaining to be sure, but it carries an important message — gun owners need to register to vote, and they must go to the polls on election day. Ermey explains: “This is a critical time for our nation, and too many people are sitting back to let others do the hard work. So it’s time for all of us to put some gas in it and persuade all eligible gun owners to register. That’s why I volunteered my time to film the ad shown here.” So if you haven’t registered to vote yet, do so as soon as you can. As Gunny Ermey says: “Now it’s your turn and I want to see results! NO EXCUSES. I expect 110% [effort] right now from everyone who values our freedoms!”
Video find by EdLongRange. We welcome reader submissions.
It’s the final day for the CMP Matches at Camp Perry! CLICK HERE to follow the John C. Garand Match results on-line. You can also view results for the other CMP matches completed so far on the CMP Competition Tracker webpage. This afternoon, the final relays for the Springfield/Vintage Military Rifle Matches will be fired. This evening, the CMP will hold its awards ceremony honoring the top shooters at the National CMP Games events. Here are some of the winners of prominent 2012 CMP Matches at Camp Perry (partial listing):
President’s Trophy Winner — Jared Perry, 398-16X
Daniel Boone Trophy (Overall Winner) — SGT Sherri Gallagher, 494-15X
Presidents-NTI-NTT Aggregate (Overall) — SSG Tyrel Cooper, 1286-59X
GSM 3-Gun Aggregate — Dennis DeMille, 858-17X
M1 Carbine Match Winner — Sciarabba, Stephen, 375-5X
NTI Garand Match Winner — Robert Steketee, 468-8X
National Trophy Team Match — USAMU Praslick, 2950-103X
National Trophy Jr. Team match — California Grizzlies Berger, 2880-93X
Vintage Sniper Team Match — Rutherford/Armstrong, 398-17X
25-year-old Peter Wilson of Great Britain earned the gold medal in front of the home country shooting a 188 out of 200. He is now Britain’s first shooting medalist since Richard Faulds won gold in the same event in Sydney 12 years ago. Sweden’s Hakan Dahlby finished second while Russian Vasily Mosin won bronze after a shoot-off with Kuwaiti Fehaid Aldeehani.
Though not well-known in North America, Wilson is a world-record-holder who was one of the favorites heading into the event. In Tucson (AZ) earlier this year, at the ISSF World Cup, Wilson set a new world record, hitting 198 out of 200. Peter, a farmer’s son from Dorset, was the youngest Olympic Double Trap finalist by 13 years and only started shooting at school following a sporting accident which prevented him from playing cricket and squash. He left school a National Shooting Champion and was ranked world No.1 earlier this year before the Double Trap Olympic final.
Practice Makes Perfect
In an interview with The Telegraph, Wilson revealed: “I shoot at 80,000 targets a year. That’s what you do, get the movements ingrained, so when you’re faced with two targets to go in an Olympic final, you’re completely comfortable about what you have to do.”
During his rise to the top, Wilson got a little help from the 2004 Olympic Double Trap Gold Medalist, Ahmad Mohammad Hasher Al Maktoum, a member of the Dubai royal family. After Wilson’s support funding from UK Sport was cut in 2008, the Dubai Royal stepped in to help, providing free coaching help for the young Brit. As the result of budget-cutting by UK Sport, Wilson lost his training stipend. Somehow he had to come up with £10,000 a year to cover his shooting expenses. He tried to work in a pub as a barman, but found that the night shifts conflicted with his shooting practice. His parents instead funded him for a year while he tried to secure further funding. He has also raised funds, along with the rest of the British shooting team, by running fundraising events.
The NRA High Power National Championships begin in just a few days. One of the favorites this year is SGT Sherri Jo Gallagher, who won the High Power Title in 2010. Sherri is only the second women in history to win the National High Power Championship. The first was her mother, Nancy Tompkins. Sherri looks forward to the challenge of competing against the likes of defending champ Carl Bernosky, and past title holders Norman Houle, and David Tubb. Count on Sherri to turn in a strong performance at Camp Perry this year.
Along with competitive rifle shooting, Sherri has other important duties as a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU). Sherri, the 2010 U.S. Army Soldier of the Year, helps train other service men and women in shooting skills. In the video below, Sherri explains her duties with the USAMU. She is proud of the role the USAMU plays in training U.S. Army soldiers.
‘Army Strong’ is a way to show that the Army is going to make you a better person. It’s going to turn you into a much better version of yourself — that you didn’t even know could exist. ‘Dream Strong’ to me would be setting high goals for yourself, and doing what it takes to achieve them. There are things I’ve done in the Army that I’ve never dreamed I could do. I’ve always wanted to be a good leader — to teach others the [marksmanship] skills that I have used my whole life. It’s incredibly gratifying. — SGT Sherri Jo Gallagher
The National Trophy Infantry Team Match was held today at Camp Perry. Congratulations to the USAMU Team Praslick, which won the match with a final score of 1366. Members of the winning squad are: SSG Tyrel Cooper, SPC Augustus Dunfey, SSG Brandon Green, SFC Joel Micholick, SFC Daniel Peters, SFC Grant Singley, SFC Jeremy Mangione (Team Captain), and SFC Emil Praslick (Team Coach).
The Infantry Match is a unique, rapid-fire team event. 56 teams, each with six firing members, shoot the Infantry Course of Fire. A team coach and team captain are also permitted on the firing line while their team members are firing. Each team is permitted a total of 384 rounds to allocate among their team members. Firing starts at 600 yards in prone for 50 seconds. If teams have ammunition left after the 600, teams proceed to 500 yards (prone, sitting or kneeling in 50 seconds). Teams continue to move forward (300 yards – sitting or kneeling in 50 seconds, and then 200 yards – standing in 50 seconds) until all ammunition is fired. CLICK HERE to see scores and standings when they are tabulated.
Watch Infantry Team Match from Friday Morning, August 3, 2012
This report was first published in 2011. Due to numerous requests, we are republishing the story. The time is right because the Giraud Annealer is currently on display on vendors’ row at Camp Perry. Doug Giraud will be at Perry through the morning of August 4th.
Doug Giraud of Giraud Tool Company has created a new bulk Cartridge Annealing Machine that uses an innovative vertical hopper feed. Giraud’s patent-pending design allows the machine to process as many as 700 .223 Rem cases with no hand-feeding required. The new Giraud Cartridge Case Annealer, using a single propane torch, will anneal most cases in 6-8 seconds (that dwell time will melt 750° Tempilaq inside the neck). Annealing dwell times can be adjusted using a simple rotary knob on the right side of the machine. During annealing, each case is rotated in the flame through the motion of a Trolley Plate which moves right to left under the case. At the left-most limit of Trolley Plate movement, each case drops vertically down for air cooling. CLICK HERE for Giraud Annealer Users’ Manual (PDF)
The Giraud annealer uses a large, V-shaped hopper to hold up to 700 .223 Rem cases or 450 .308 Win cases for annealing. You can switch from small cases to larger cases by swapping out the rotary Feeder Wheel below the hopper. Changing Feeder Wheels takes a couple minutes. Five available Feeder Wheels (with different size cartridge slots) let you anneal pretty much any size cartridge — from .17 Remington all the way up to .50 BMG. The common .223 Rem and .308-sized cases used by High Power shooters are served by the Red Feeder Wheel and Blue Feeder Wheel respectively. The Blue Wheel will also work with 6mmBR, .243 Win, and .30-06 cases. The three other Feeder Wheels are: Black (.300 Win Mag); Purple (WSM, RUM, RSAUM, Lapua and Norma Mags); and Green (.50 BMG). For the large mags you also need to switch to a wider Trolley Plate.
Watch Video to See Giraud Annealer in Action
Giraud Annealer Can Process Hundreds of Cases in One Session
The biggest advantage of this machine is its ability to run with minimal user “intervention”. Once you’ve determined the right dwell time for your cartridge type, you can stack hundreds of cases in the V-shaped hopper, turn on the torch and let the machine do its thing. With a typical 8-second dwell time, the Giraud annealing will process about 450 cases an hour. While other multi-torch annealing machines may be faster, Giraud prefers the single-torch design: “With a single torch, you can control total heat input over a longer time. You don’t over-cook the case in a half-second — you have a lot more leeway with a 6-9 second dwell time.”
Yes the case spins in the flame — the Trolley Plate running under the case rotates it. The user may wish to experiment with the speed control knob on the right side panel near the power switch. Typical annealing operations will require the cartridge cases to be positioned in the torch flame for between 6 and 9 seconds.
Much smart thinking went into the Giraud Annealer design. Doug Giraud tells us: “We went through a couple different ideas. Our key goal was to vertically stack a large quantity of cases that would self-feed. The automatic feeding capability of the machine means that the operator can perform another task while the machine is running. The user doesn’t have to load cases one by one. I would caution, however, that you don’t want to turn on the annealer and just walk out of the room… but you can be doing some other reloading task while the annealer is running nearby.”
Giraud wanted a machine that could process lots of cases cheaply and efficiently. The machine’s single torch is optimized to run on inexpensive propane gas. Doug says: “You can process 15,000 cases on a single $2.00 disposable propane bottle.” If the user wants faster processing, the torch is rated for MAP gas, but Doug cautions that, “with more heat, you’ll have to adjust the dwell time accordingly.”
Giraud Annealer Impresses High Power Shooters
The new Giraud Cartridge Case Annealer has already attracted considerable interest. Doug took some early production models to Camp Perry in 2011, and he immediately got orders for 50 machines. Doug told us: “The response from the High Power guys was amazing. There was a pent-up demand for a simple, robust annealer that can process hundreds of cases without having to feed them one by one, and that’s what we created. We’re selling these units as fast as we can build them.”
Giraud Annealers Cost $435.00 — Delivery in Six Weeks from Order Date
Doug has components for 100 more machines, and he’s producing them at a rate of 15 units per week. He’s been back-ordered, but if you order soon, Doug believes he can ship the Annealing machines in about six weeks from date of order. The basic price, with one Feeder Wheel and one Trolley Plate, is $435.00. Additional Feeder Wheels cost $20.00 while extra Trolley Plates are $10.00. For more information, visit GiraudTool.com. To place orders, call (281) 238-0844 Monday through Friday between 9am and 5pm CST. You can also email doug [at] giraudtool.com.
Giraud Tool Company, Inc.
3803 Dawn Lane
Richmond, Texas 77406
281-238-0844 (orders)
281-232-0987 (fax)
Website: www.GiraudTool.com
How brave are five young hoodlums, two armed with guns, who tried to rob a Glendale, California jewelry store? They are complete cowards it turns out. When the 65-year-old lady store owner confronted the punks (using her own handgun), all five thieves fell over themselves fleeing the store in a panic. And it was all captured on security camera video last week.
If you order from Tom, add $5 for shipping up to 2 pieces, or $10 for 3-7 pieces. Loading blocks ship in USPS flat-rate boxes. Tom prefers to receive payment by way of U.S. Postal Money Order. Send money order, order specs and your shipping address to:
Here’s a video featuring ‘Gunny’ R. Lee Ermey. This clip is entertaining to be sure, but it carries an important message — gun owners need to register to vote, and they must go to the polls on election day. Ermey explains: “This is a critical time for our nation, and too many people are sitting back to let others do the hard work. So it’s time for all of us to put some gas in it and persuade all eligible gun owners to register. That’s why I volunteered my time to film the ad shown here.” So if you haven’t registered to vote yet, do so as soon as you can. As Gunny Ermey says: “Now it’s your turn and I want to see results! NO EXCUSES. I expect 110% [effort] right now from everyone who values our freedoms!” 
25-year-old 
The NRA High Power National Championships begin in just a few days. One of the favorites this year is SGT Sherri Jo Gallagher, who won the High Power Title in 2010. Sherri is only the second women in history to win the National High Power Championship. The first was her mother, Nancy Tompkins. Sherri looks forward to the challenge of competing against the likes of defending champ Carl Bernosky, and past title holders Norman Houle, and David Tubb. Count on Sherri to turn in a strong performance at Camp Perry this year.
