McPhail Wins Smallbore Prone Title with 4798 out of 4800 Score

Story based on Report by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog
Second NRA championship in three years for Olympian McPhail
SSG Michael McPhail of the USAMU won the 2013 NRA National Smallbore Prone Championship with a 4798 out of 4800, only two points shy of a perfect score. That’s an amazing score when you consider the event is shot outdoors, in widely varied conditions, over the course of multiple days. McPhail showed world-class skill and “staying power”. This is the soldier’s second smallbore title — McPhail won the coveted Critchfield Trophy in 2011. (He did not shoot in the 2012 National Matches because he was competing with Team USA at the London Summer Olympics.)

Matthew Chezem, winner of the 2013 NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship earlier this spring, placed second by three points with a 4795. In third was McPhail’s USAMU teammate SFC Eric Uptagrafft with a 4794.

The Smallbore Prone Championship is determined by the 480-shot Aggregate of the Metallic Sight Championship and Any Sight Championship; each championship comprising 240 shots spread out over six matches from distance of 50 meters and 100 yards. Reya Kempley, 2012’s overall silver medalist, won the Metallic Sight Championship with a perfect 2400. McPhail took the Any Sight Championship with a 2399 and 199 tie-breaking Xs, besting teammate SFC Jason Parker’s 2399-188X.