Congratulations to David Bailey, the 2012 F-Open National Champion. Shooting at Raton last week, David scored 1283-59X, to finish one point ahead of fellow Forum member Bob Sebold (1282-59X). Past F-Open Champion Jeff Cochran tells us: “David did a masterful job. He had one of the best, if not the best, rifles on the line for the morning trigger-pulling contests. He also showed great patience choosing his shots wisely in some of the nasty, switchy afternoon conditions. Not only spitting them downrange when the conditions called for it, but he was smart enough to put on the brakes and not get burned. All in all, David had a great performance in a wide range of conditions.”
Bailey Shot a .280 Remington with Berger 7mm Hybrids
David was shooting a 7mm cartridge, but not the 7mm you might expect. David’s Bat-actioned F-Open rifle has a 32″ Bartlein, 9-twist barrel chambered for a no-turn-neck .280 Remington. David’s winning load consisted of 180gr Berger Hybrid bullets pushed at 2860 FPS by Russian primers and Hodgdon 4831SC powder. Bullets are seated about 0.015″-.020″ away from the lands (this happens to be Berger’s suggested “starting point” seating depth for these Hybrids). David says he does “very little brass prep” other than sorting his Remington brass. (That’s right — Remington!) He does use an expander ball during reloading to push out any neck-wall-thickness variations.
The pretty green stock is a Robertson Composites ‘Speedy F-Class’ model, with adjustable cheek-piece. David added 4.5 pounds of lead in the buttstock to bring the gun up to max F-Open weight. David’s rifle was originally smithed by Richard King of King’s Armory in Arlington, Texas, (817) 265-0118, rking3005 [at] sbcglobal.net. The current .280 Rem barrel was chambered and fitted on the gun by David himself.
We had a chance to chat with David Bailey after the Nationals. When asked how he felt about the big win, David replied: “It took a while to sink in… I was extremely happy that two of my teammates finished in top 10 — Mark (Walker) and Michelle (Gallagher) — [as a team] we had a very good week overall.” David wanted to give credit to his past/present team-mates, “both the Spindle Shooters and Long Shots — they have been a tremendous help.” David added, “In particular I want to say thanks to Jeff Cochran. And I can’t forget my gunsmith Richard King, he’s been a tremendous asset.”
For those who have been following David’s shooting, it was no surprise that he did well at Raton. David noted: “I’ve been shooting well for the last couple of years, but this time it all came together. I will say my wind reading has gotten a lot better the last couple of years.”
Asked if he had any advice for new F-Class shooters, David replied: “Practice — shoot as much as you can. And as for hardware and reloading — don’t get hung up on the gimmicks.”
Team Long Shots Wins F-Open Team Title
As captain of Team Long Shots, David Bailey helped lead the Long Shots Open Team to their second consecutive national title. The Long Shots compiled a 1583-83X score to finish first, ahead of second-place Team Spindle Shooters (1576-65X). Long Shots Team Members are: David Gosnell, Mark Walker, Ken Dickerman, team captain David Bailey, and coach Michelle Gallagher. This year, the Long Shots turned in a great performance, emerging victorious over what may be the largest number of F-Open teams ever at the F-Class Nationals.
For the equipment junkies, it’s interesting to note that Michelle Gallagher used a rifle with a new stock David Bailey designed and built. Texas gunsmith Richard King barreled Michelle’s rifle in .280 Remington, and also built other guns for Long Shots Team members. Richard built Mark Walker’s rifle and Ken Dickerman’s rifle and stocked David Gosnell’s gun. Jeff Cochran reports that Richard King also smithed two rifles used by the Sierra Spindle Shooters team (Cochran’s own gun and Jeff Traylor’s rifle). Overall Richard King worked on six rifles for the top two F-Open teams — that’s a pretty strong endorsement of King’s gun-building skills.
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A new high-octane, gun-oriented TV show, Rapid Fire, debuts October 3, 2012 on the Outdoor Channel. Rapid Fire focuses on military weapons, in particular, full-auto machine guns and other select-fire hardware. The Rapid Fire preview video confirms the new show features plenty of action, with reactive targets, and lots of lead going downrange. The show is hosted by Top Shot Season 1 Champion Iain Harrison, a talented shooter with military training in all types of small arms. Harrison will be aided by co-host Mike Seeklander, Training Director for the U.S. Shooting Academy. While firing legendary automatic weapons is the centerpiece of the show, Rapid Fire will also provide historical background information on a variety of weapons, explaining their design and their role in history.
Rapid Fire Preview Video (Lots of Action!)
Watch the video above to see Harrison and Seeklander try out everything from a hand-crank Gatling to a modern, motorized mini-gun. Sixteen full-auto weapons are featured, including SAWs, BARs, Thompsons, Vietnam-era M60s, HK PDWs and much more. Rapid Fire airs at 8:30 pm and 11:30 pm ET on the Outdoor Channel.
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Open Grove Range in Southern California recently hosted an air rifle benchrest match. The Open Grove (SoCal) Regional was conducted in conjunction with the World Postal Championship and U.S. Air Rifle Benchrest nationwide standings, under World Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Federation (WRABF) rules. All shooters competed for individual placements and SoCal Regional standings for this one event. In addition, three SoCal team members, Linzie Boise, Jim Herrick, and John Carter, would have their combined three-person match scores entered into World Postal Match team competition standings. It sounds more complicated than it really was. For most of the shooters this match was all about having fun with good friends. The cost was low, the fun factor was high, and, at the end of the day, everyone left with a big smile. CLICK HERE to View Match Photo Gallery (170 hi-rez pictures).
WATCH Match Video with Shooter Interviews
There were two competition classes: Light Varmint (LV) and Heavy Varmint (HV). Light Varmint class is for rifles weighing no more than 10.5 pounds, with a power limit of 12 foot-lbs-energy (FPE) max power. The Heavy Varmint class allows 15 pounds max weight, with a max power limit of 20 FPE. Any scope magnification is allowed. Unlike ARA rimfire benchrest, you can’t use a one-piece rest; a two-piece set-up (with front rest and rear bag) is required. For more information on Air Rifle Benchrest rules and classifications visit www.wrabf.com and usairriflebenchrest.com.
Hardware and Course of Fire
The rifles used at SoCal Regional are pre-charged using compressed air tanks. The rifles were chambered for either .177 or .22 caliber pellets. While some of the rifles were dedicated benchrest rigs, many were converted/adapted Field Target Rifles. The large side-focus-parallax wheels you see on some of the rifles are used for ranging in Field Target competition. The targets were set at 25 meters. Each target has 25 record bulls. The time limit was 30 minutes per target. Winners were determined based on the Overall Aggregate from the combined scores of three, 25-bull targets. Trophies were awarded to top shooters in HV and LV classes, and the Overall winner.
Comments from Match Director
After seven years as a rimfire benchrest shooter, I found a new passion with these air rifles. The cost involved will vary depending on where one wants to start. The sport right now is developing quickly with barrel manufacturers, custom action builders, and stock makers all getting involved. For Open Grove Benchrest, this event was a huge success in attracting different levels of competitors from first-time shooters to Benchrest regulars. We hope this will be a turning point for attracting new shooters to the sport. We tried to make this a fun family event. People really did seem to enjoy themselves. After the last relay, all the shooters were treated to a lunch. Then we gave out door prizes and awarded trophies to the winners.
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Gear Review by Boyd Allen
Just about everyone knows that Wilson and Redding make neck-sizing bushings. But few shooters seem to be aware that RCBS produces bushings. In fact, RCBS does make quality neck-sizing bushings, including very nice Tungsten Disulfide-coated bushings.
As a companion product for their Gold Medal bushing-style dies, RCBS produces its own line of sizing bushings, that have a couple of notable features. First, along with plain steel bushings, RCBS offers bushings with a distinctive, dark gray Tungsten Disulfide (WS2) anti-friction coating. Redding offers bushings in bare “white” steel or with a gold-colored Titanium-Nitride anti-friction coating. Wilson bushings are plain steel with a shiny silver finish. Though the Redding and Wilson plain steel bushings may look like stainless, remember that these un-coated bushings need to be kept oiled or they WILL rust. In normal use, you shouldn’t have to worry about rust on the Tungsten Disulfide-coated RCBS bushings.
Comparing coated bushings, Redding’s gold TiN-coated bushings look pretty, but the WS2 anti-friction coating on RCBS bushings seems to work as well. Tungsten Disulfide (WS2) has an extremely low coefficient of friction — 0.03 compared to 0.6 for Titanium Nitride. Accordingly, the RCBS WS2-coated bushings can work with minimal neck lubrication. When I actually sized necks with the RCBS WS2-coated bushings, the “smoothness” of the neck-sizing operation seemed on a par with other quality, coated bushings.
Another notable difference with the RCBS bushings (compared to other brands) is that RCBS stamps the bushing size onto the outside of the bushing, rather than on the top. RCBS puts the bushing diameter on a reduced-diameter band that runs around the circumference of each RCBS bushing. I think that this is a good idea because it eliminates the possibility that raised edges from the stamping itself might interfere with proper bushing alignment*. (Remember that the top of the bushing — where size marks are stamped by other bushing-makers — contacts the retaining cap in the die during sizing.) Putting the size marks on the outside also makes it easy to distinguish RCBS bushings from other bushing brands.
The other feature that I like is the shape of the entry chamfer on the bottom of the RCBS bushing. This chamfer is large and angular, rather than curved. This is only a guess, but I think that it may do a better job of letting the bushing align itself with the case as it is inserted into the die, and do a better job on brass from chambers that allow more neck expansion. (The picture shows the smaller chamfer at the top of the bushing.)
That about wraps it up, with the exception of one small point. While MidwayUSA has a wide selection of RCBS bushings, other retailers need to do a better job of stocking these bushings. I got mine from RCBS, but you may have trouble finding them in many online catalogs, or on dealers’ shelves. Hopefully this small review will help to increase awareness of RCBS bushings, and more retailers will carry them.
*As you probably know, stamping displaces metal, some of which is raised above the level of the surface that was stamped. Although it can be argued that shooters have gotten some pretty spectacular results in spite of any cocking of neck bushings caused by their being stamped on top, I am sure that a lot of us would prefer to have things as straight as they can be, and moving the stamping to a recessed band that runs around the outside of the bushing helps accomplish this.
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Two familiar names topped the Open Division at the 8th NRA World Action Pistol Championship in Phillipsburg, Germany, which concluded September 16th. Doug Koenig won the Mens Open Division with a 1916-184 tally, finishing ahead of fellow Americans Kevin Angstadt (1916-171), and Bruce Piatt (1916-167). Among lady shooters, Jessie Duff scored an impressive come-from-behind victory to capture the Womens Open title with a 1900-151 score, edging USA team-mate Helen Jeavons (1899-131) by one point. Team USA’s Troy Mattheyer won the Metallic Division.
The host German Team also did well, winning titles in the Open Modified, Production, and Revolver Divisions. In fact, Germany’s Christoph Geppert (1912-159), Roman Hauber (1897-148), and Frank Reiche (1896-124) finished 1-2-3 among the wheelgunners.
Jessie Wins Ladies’ Open Title Jessie explained how she pulled out a gritty, come-from-behind win: “Dropping 12 points in the Practical event and being four points behind the leader, I was feeling rather defeated right out of the gate. I still had another event to shoot that day. After a short time to gather my thoughts, I decided I didn’t come to Germany to give up, and would give the rest of the match everything I had! My next two events were plates and barricade, and approached them with a clear mind and positive attitude, and cleaned them both.”
The last day of the event Jessie, sponsored by Taurus, was still four points behind the leader. With the “Mover” still to shoot, she knew she had to turn in her best performance to stay in the hunt for the championship. “I realized, I had given it everything I had, and that’s what I asked of myself. I couldn’t change anything now, and whichever way the title goes, I would be happy. When they brought our targets over to be scored officially, is when I realized I had pulled ahead by one point and won the Bianchi World Cup!”
USA ‘A-Team’ Wins Team Event
Team USA A, composed of Kevin Angstadt, Jerrold Della Bella, Doug Koenig, and Bruce Piatt, won the Team Open title with a combined score of 7652-658. Germany’s Team BDMP finished second with 7614-607. USA Team B (shown below) scored 7573-566 to finish third. In the two-person team comps, Rob Leatham and Kyle Schmidt combined for a Mens’ Production division win, while Americans Helen Jeavons and Vera Koo won the Ladies’ Team Event.
Photos courtesy Julie Golob, D. Brandenburger, and Jessie Duff.
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Mark your calendars, gents. The IBS 600-yard Nationals are slated for next weekend — September 28th through 30th. The event will be held in St. Louis, Missouri at the Bench Rest Rifle Club of St. Louis (BRRC). The 2012 600-yard Nationals consist of an 8-target Aggregate match in Light Gun (LG), plus an 8-target Aggregate match in Heavy Gun (HG). There will be a total (LG + HG) of 16 record targets (5 record shots each [80 total]). After a safety meeting, the match begins at 9:00 am on FRIDAY September 28th, and continues on SATURDAY, September 29th at 8:00 am. Sunday, September 30th is a make-up day if needed due to weather delays.
Sight-In and Practice Times on Thursday
Sign-up begins at 10:00 am, Thursday September 27th at the Club House. The range is also open on Thursday for sight-in and set-up. NOTE: Due to the nature of this event, open practice sessions will not be available on match days (9/28 – 9/30) prior to the start of the matches.
Match Fees are currently $80 for one class (Light Gun or Heavy Gun) or $150.00 for both classes. There is still time to register. Make checks payable to BRRC. For Match Info and lodging suggestions visit ShootingSTL.com or call Jerry Kloeppel at 314-973-2326. Camping is available for $10.00 per day.
Hornady just unveiled its “new and improved” online Ballistics Calculator. It’s free, fast, and easy to use. New enhancements include selectable G1 or G7 BCs, drop and windage in MOA and MILS, metric value option, and the ability to enter shooting angle, wind angle, and more. To access all these features (such as G7 BCs), you’ll need to select the “advanced” display from Hornady’s Ballistic Calculator Entry Page. That will open up more entry fields. Default values are entered in the temperature and pressure fields, but you can override these with your actual field data. You can select a zero range from 0 to 2000 yards, with intervals from 25 to 400 yards. Once you’ve entered all the values, simply click “Calculate” and the program provides your drop numbers in a handy chart.
Printable ‘Cheat Sheet’ for your Rifle
One very cool feature of Hornady’s online calculator is the “Cheat Sheet” — a handy, printable come-up table. Once you’ve entered your variables and run the calculator, the results appear in a handy table that you can print-out and affix to your rifle stock. Here’s a sample Cheat Sheet prepared for Berger’s 105gr VLD and a 6mm Dasher*.
Although it can employ G7 BCs now, the Hornady Ballistic Calculator, unlike the JBM online solver, does NOT include a built-in database of G7 values, based on field-testing by Bryan Litz. For that reason, the JBM Ballistics Calculator is still our first choice for an online ballistics solver. We really do like Hornady’s handy “Cheat Sheet” option though. You can, of course, get a Litz-derived G7 value from JBM and then plug that number into the Hornady Calculator to produce a printable drop table.
*NOTE: Note: Even if you have a Dasher and use the Berger 105gr VLDs, you should run your own solution with your specific sight height, elevation, temp, pressure, humidity, and zero distance.
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The 2012 F-Class Nationals have concluded and the event was a great success. Nearly 200 shooters competed at Raton this year.
Congrats to the new F-Class National Champions: David Bailey (F-Open) and James Crofts (F-TR). Bailey amassed a 1283-59X score to edge F-Open runner-up Bob Sebold (1282-59X) by a single point. Note that Jim and Bob, both AccurateShooter Forum members, had the same X-count. Bob’s excellent X-count placed him ahead of Jim Murphy (1282-50X), who captured third place along with F-Open High Senior Title. High Lady Shooter was Michelle Gallagher with a 1274-51, while Danny Biggs, a past National Champion, was High Senior with 1273-46X.
Forum member James (‘Jim’) Crofts took the F-TR crown with a truly dominating performance. Jim’s 1272-47X was a full six points and 11 Xs ahead of runner-up (and 2011 champ) Jeff Rorer, who finished with 1266-36X. In third-place overall, was High Senior Daniel Pohlable (1264-42X). In fourth overall, was the High Lady shooter Trudie Fay (1259-45X).
Jim Crofts really deserves praise for his marksmanship at Raton. Jim’s F-TR Score of 1272-47X would have ranked him 13th in the F-Open division, ahead of dozens of skilled shooters running ballistically-superior cartridges. In his .308 Win, Jim ran Berger 200gr Match Hybrids at 2600 fps with Hodgdon Varget. Jim’s winning F-TR rifle featured a 30″ Brux barrel and Precision Rifle & Tool (PR&T) stock. And take note — Jim’s barrel had over 3000 rounds though it by the end of the match. Jim wants to thank Ray Bowman at PR&T for smithing a great rifle and providing sponsorship.
Interview with Jim Crofts
We had a chance to talk to Jim by telephone this morning, and he was kind enough to answer a few questions for us….
AccurateShooter: Is this your first big win? How did you feel receiving the trophy as National F-TR Champion?
Jim: I won the Berger SW Nationals earlier this year, but this is my first-ever National Championship. I was very relieved once it was over because there were many great shooters right behind me.
AccurateShooter: Did you run any new hardware at the Nationals? Did you alter your load any?
Jim: This is the same combination that I’ve used all year long. I went back to my old faithful PR&T-built rifle and my old faithful load and everything works. I still anneal my cases every firing. You will find this helps maintain consistent bullet seating and it helps lower your extreme spread.
AccurateShooter: Shooters from your neck of the woods have now won the F-TR division two years running — Whats the secret?
Yes, with my win we’ve had back to back F-TR National championships for North State X-Men club members. Jeff Rorer, last year’s F-TR champ [and 2012 runner-up] shoots with us at a local level. That’s who I’ve been chasing since last year’s National Championship. When you shoot against quality competition every week, it makes you strive for perfection.
AccurateShooter: How were conditions during the week? Raton can be windy…
Jim: Actually, conditions were moderate most of the week. However, on the last day, it was calm during the first match, but in the second match it got to be very tricky. There were changes in velocity and angles — I had a hard time keeping up with the velocity changes in the last match.
AccurateShooter: How has the FTR game changed in the last couple years? Is it more competitive than ever before?
Jim: The sport is growing and it’s getting tougher, that’s for sure. This year we had 91 competitors in F-TR. It went up from about 60 last year to 91 this year — a 50% increase. And the competition is really getting tight in F-TR. Not only are the numbers of shooters growing, but the quality of the competition is getting higher every year.
Also at the F-Class Nationals this year, some Eliseo Tubeguns made an appearance. Shown below are Linda Shehan (Team Australia) and Warren Dean (Team USA) with their GC-1 FTR rigs at the nationals. These tubeguns feature actions by Rod Shehan, with an Adam Davies bipod on the left, and Sinclair F-Class bipod on the right.
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Bryan Litz, chief Ballistician for Berger Bullets (and a trained rocket scientist) has authored an impressive new book: Accuracy and Precision for Long Range Shooting. Bryan’s new book is a companion to his successful treatise, Applied Ballistics for Long-Range Shooting. Now in its Second Edition, Litz’s Applied Ballistics book has become the “go-to” Ballistics book for precision shooters worldwide.
While Bryan’s first book covers the science of ballistics and trajectory calculation, his new book examines practical issues involved in long-range accuracy. Bryan explains: “In a nutshell, this book focuses on the uncertainties of practical shooting which affect hit percentage on various size targets. In other words, classic ballistics teaches you how to calculate windage and elevation corrections. This book will help you understand what your chances are of hitting a target under certain conditions, and how to improve those chances through training and design.
Practical Examples
Does a low ES/SD really make a difference at long range? Absolutely. In Chapter 6, you can see that reducing muzzle velocity variation from 20 fps Standard Deviation (SD) to 10 fps SD improves hit percentage on a 5″ circle at 500 yards from 83% to 93%.
Ever wonder how much spin drift, Coriolis affect, or using G1 vs. G7 BC’s affect your chances of hitting a target? In Chapter 10 for example, you’ll learn that ignoring spin drift in ballistic calculations reduces hit percentage on a 10″ target from 21% to 15% at 900 yards for a specified environment and cartridge.
The new book is divided into three main sections. Part 1 focuses on Precision, which explores how hit percentage is related group size. Litz explains the variable that affect group size: muzzle velocity variation, range estimation error, wind estimation error, and inherent rifle precision
Part 2 focuses on Accuracy, which is how well the group is centered around the aim-point. Topics include: leveling your sights, trajectory modeling and secondary effects, calibrating ballistic solutions, and live fire verification.
Part 3 focuses on Weapon Employment Zone (WEZ) analysis. WEZ evaluates firearm effectiveness in terms of hit percentage. The author applies WEZ in the contexts of score shooting, varmint and big game hunting, and tactical shooting. WEZ is also used to compare hit percentage for the 300 Win Mag vs. .338 Lapua Mag.
Book is 300-page, Hard-Cover Format
Accuracy and Precision for Long Range Shooting is a 6″x9″ hardcover book with 300 pages, and retails for $34.95. The book is currently at the printers, and should begin shipping by October 15, 2012. In the mean time, you can pre-order and save $5 off the regular $34.95 retail price.
After more than 60 years as a competitive target shooter and gunsmith, McLane (Mac) Tilton, proprietor of MT GUNS, is passing the baton to his chief gunsmith/machinist, Mark Chesebro. “Mark has acquired the assets of MT GUNS and will be its successor. I’m very pleased that Mark is establishing Chesebro Rifles and that he will continue to provide highest quality competition target rifles in the tradition of MT GUNS,” Tilton announced today.
Tilton expressed his complete confidence in Mark’s ability to provide a seamless transition for MT GUNS customers: “He attended the well-respected gunsmithing course at Yavapai Community College in Prescott, Arizona, followed by four years with Bill Atkinson at H.S. Precision, where he perfected techniques in chambering and rifle smithing. After eight years of general gunsmithing in Everett, Washington and as an aerospace machinist, tool maker and CNC programmer, Mark relocated to Arizona, where he joined the team at Ruger. He came to MT GUNS in 2004 and we were very impressed with his inventive capabilities.”
“In 2006, Mark and his wife, Lisa, answered a call from their church to fulfill a three-year teaching mission in Ecuador. When he returned in 2009, he rejoined our team at MT GUNS and has continued to develop his innovative ideas and techniques, including the development of a press to insure perfect alignment when rebarreling Anschuetz rifles, as well as a centerfire conversion for BSA Martini rifles. He has also developed an entire system for converting the Anschuetz 54 action from a single shot to a magazine-fed repeater. Also, he’s mastered the critical alignment when bedding Vee-blocks for Barnard and Anschuetz actions.”
Chesebro Rifles will continue to build competitive Palma, F-Class, and Benchrest rifles using the Barnard action, as well as the very successful BSA and Anschuetz Rimfire Bench Rifles. Contact for Mark Chesebro at Chesebro Rifles is: info [at] chesebrorifles.com.
McLane Tilton and Bruce Duncan will still be available at MT GUNS for any customers with unfinished business.
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Breaking News:We’re informed that Forum Member James Crofts (aka “VA Jim”) has won the F-TR division of the F-Class Nationals, shooting a .308 Win rifle with Precision Rifle & Tool stock. Read more about Jim Crofts HERE.
The F-Class Nationals are underway right now at the Whittington Range in Raton, NM. Conditions have been fairly challenging. On Day 1 of the individual championship, forum member Steven B (aka “Sleepygator”) reports that: “The winds later in the day were a little tougher. The tailwind caused some vertical to those unfortunate enough to shoot the third match at the little end.” F-TR shooter James Crofts shot amazing well on Day 1, recording 446-17X. Crofts outscored not only all other F-TR shooters, but he beat all but one of the F-Open “hot rod” shooters, Mark Walker (who posted a 446-19X). When an F-TR outshoots nearly the entire F-Open field, that’s newsworthy. Well-done James. Forum member Mark H. (aka “Hunsucker”) observed: “I personally know for a fact how much Jim [Crofts] practices and how hard he works.”
On Day 2, conditions became trickier at the end according to Forum member Greg Taylor: “Day 2 started out very like Day 1, except a bit warmer. Winds were relatively forgiving, especially for Raton. That is until the third match. The last match of the day, winds were absolutely wicked, ranging from 1-2 mph, up to 10-11 mph, from SE/S. Scores for many dropped predictably.”
Close Competition in F-Open
F-Open leaders after Day 2 are: F-Open Leaders after Day 2: Bob Sebold with 886-39X, David Bailey with 885-44X, and Mark Walker with 885-37X. This is a tight battle — the top ten places in F-Open are separated by 6 points.
Team Sinclair Secures F-TR Team Win
In F-Class Team competition earlier this week, Team Sinclair secured a victory in the F-TR division with a combined score of 1561-48X. The team is coached by Raymond Gross, and shooters are Paul Phillips, Derek Rodgers (Captain/shooter), Jeff Rorer and Brad Sauve. Phillips declared: “Ray did a great job coaching for both spirit of America and nationals. Brads rifle shot half the national record and jeff and mine were the other half. Great work from the whole team. Very tough competition. FTR is getting very very competitive now.”
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Fiocchi of America is recalling various lots of 22-250 Remington and .243 Winchester centerfire rifle ammunition. There is a serious safety issue affecting certain lots of Fiocchi ammo types: 22250B, 22250HVD, 243SPB, 243HSB, and 243SPD. The problem involves the loading of multiple bullets in a single cartridge. If you have any Fiocchi ammo from the affected product lots listed below you should return it immediately. The following ammunition products are affected by this recall:
Text of Fiocchi’s Recall Notice:
Through extensive evaluation Fiocchi has determined that the above lots of 22-250 and 243 may have been loaded with multiple bullets that can cause excessive pressure. This ammunition with multiple bullets may cause firearm damage rendering the firearm inoperable, and subject the shooter or bystanders to a risk of personal injury when fired. DO NOT USE THE ABOVE LISTED FIOCCHI 22-250 REM. OR 243 WIN. AMMUNITION OF SPECIFIED LOT NUMBERS. The ammunition lot number is black ink stamped inside one of the box end tuck flaps that you would open to remove the 20-round carrier.
To determine if your ammunition is subject to this notice, review the ITEM and LOT NUMBER. If the item number AND last three digits of the lot number match the above listed products, please return the ammunition to FIOCCHI of America via United Parcel Service (UPS) or FedEx Ground. Securely pack the ammo in a strong fiberboard box with packing materials to make it “snug” in the box. You will need an “LQ” label to ship the ammunition. To get the “LQ” label, [CLICK this LINK] or you can call the factory customer service directly at 417-449-1039 or email service@fiocchiusa.com prior to shipping. Affix the “LQ” label to the package with packing tape ensuring that all sides are adhered to the carton and ship to:
FIOCCHI OF AMERICA, INC., ATTN. Recall, 6930 N. FREMONT RD., OZARK, MO 65721
Fiocchi will provide replacement product upon receipt of your return. Please include your name, street address, phone number (required for return shipping), and email address with your return. Ammunition cannot be shipped to post office boxes.
This notice only applies to above listed Fiocchi 22-250 Rem. and 243 Win ammunition with the above lot numbers. If you have questions concerning this ammunition recall, please call customer service directly at 417-449-1039, write to the above address, email service@fiocchiusa.com, or visit our website, www.fiocchiusa.com.
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We had a chance to chat with David Bailey after the Nationals. When asked how he felt about the big win, David replied: “It took a while to sink in… I was extremely happy that two of my teammates finished in top 10 — Mark (Walker) and Michelle (Gallagher) — [as a team] we had a very good week overall.” David wanted to give credit to his past/present team-mates, “both the Spindle Shooters and Long Shots — they have been a tremendous help.” David added, “In particular I want to say thanks to Jeff Cochran. And I can’t forget my gunsmith Richard King, he’s been a tremendous asset.”
Comments from Match Director
Gear Review by Boyd Allen
Two familiar names topped the Open Division at the 8th NRA World Action Pistol Championship in Phillipsburg, Germany, which concluded September 16th. Doug Koenig won the Mens Open Division with a 1916-184 tally, finishing ahead of fellow Americans Kevin Angstadt (1916-171), and Bruce Piatt (1916-167). Among lady shooters, Jessie Duff scored an impressive come-from-behind victory to capture the Womens Open title with a 1900-151 score, edging USA team-mate Helen Jeavons (1899-131) by one point. Team USA’s Troy Mattheyer won the Metallic Division.
Jessie explained how she pulled out a gritty, come-from-behind win: “Dropping 12 points in the Practical event and being four points behind the leader, I was feeling rather defeated right out of the gate. I still had another event to shoot that day. After a short time to gather my thoughts, I decided I didn’t come to Germany to give up, and would give the rest of the match everything I had! My next two events were plates and barricade, and approached them with a clear mind and positive attitude, and cleaned them both.”
Interview with Jim Crofts
Fiocchi of America is recalling various lots of 22-250 Remington and .243 Winchester centerfire rifle ammunition. There is a serious safety issue affecting certain lots of Fiocchi ammo types: 22250B, 22250HVD, 243SPB, 243HSB, and 243SPD. The problem involves the loading of multiple bullets in a single cartridge. If you have any Fiocchi ammo from the affected product lots listed below you should return it immediately. The following ammunition products are affected by this recall:
