Top Shooters Compete at NRA National Pistol Championships

Story based on report by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog
NRA Competitive Shooting’s big event of the year, the National Matches, has commenced. The Remington/NRA National Rifle and Pistol Matches are considered the World Series of the shooting sports. Here you will find the nation’s top pistol, smallbore and high power rifle shooters (and many elite shooters from overseas as well). The six NRA championships, Pistol, Smallbore Position, Smallbore Prone, High Power Rifle, High Power Rifle Mid-Range, and High Power Rifle Long Range are broken up into five legs with High Power and Midrange held simultaneously.

This week’s Pistol Championship sees competitors jockeying for the coveted Harrison Trophy, the aggregate of a Preliminary Pistol Championship, .22 Caliber, Centerfire, and .45 Caliber championships. The all-time winningest shooter of the National Pistol Championship, with 11 titles, is Brian “Gunny” Zins, a featured contestant on the History Channel’s Top Shot All-Stars TV show.

Thunderstorm Halts Preliminary Pistol Event
With the Preliminary Pistol Championship (PPC) cancelled due to a tremendous thunderstorm, the national championship’s standings (thus far) are based on the .22 Caliber Championship completed on July 11th. Leading the way at this stage in the Pistol Championships is Chad Ranton with a 879-42X. There’s still plenty of shooting left to do as Friday (July 12) ushers in the Centerfire Championship and Saturday (July 13) brings the .45 Caliber Championship.

Photos courtesy GOnraMedia. See more photos from the NRA National Championships at the GOnraMedia Photo Archive.