First-Ever NRA Extreme Long Range One-Mile Match
Photos by Sheri Judd. See more on Sheri’s Facebook Page.
The first-ever NRA Extreme Long Range (ELR) Match took place this past week at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. Also labeled the “One-Mile Match”, this inaugural event ran as a side-match between the NRA’s Mid Range and Long Range Championships at Atterbury. The event drew many of the nation’s top marksmen, including multi-time National High Power and LR Champion David Tubb, recent F-TR National Champion Bryan Litz, and 2016 KO2M winner Mitchell Fitzpatrick.
It was a tightly-fought match. Showing exceptional skills (along with great rifles and ultra-accurate ammo), both Corbin Shell and Team Applied Ballistics’ Mitchell Fitzpatrick were perfect for 15 shots — making every shot at 1400, then 1575, and finally 1788 yards (1.016 miles). With the score tied, a 1000-yard target center (bullseye) was set on a target backer at 1988 yards (1.13 miles). Mitchell hit the target, but sadly Corbin had his first miss of the match. With that 1988-yard hit, Mitchell went down in the history books as the first-ever NRA ELR Champion. Winning at Extreme Long Range is nothing new for Mitchell, who was the winner of last year’s King of 2 Miles match in Raton, NM.
Mitchel posted: “We pulled off the win by shooting clean, never missing a shot! It was a great event and I look forward to competing in the coming years. They are trying to extend the facility to make it a 2400-yard match. With the NRA having such a rich competitive shooting history… I am beyond honored to have won the inaugural NRA ELR match. As ELR grows … it will be awesome to look back and know we were in at the ground level. Also, it should be noted that my extractor broke on the second shot at 1788 yards, and I ended up having to fire the last thre shots while extracting my cases with a cleaning rod from the muzzle end…”
| Overall Standings NRA ELR One-Mile Match | |
| 1. Mitchell Fitzpatrick 2. Corbin Shell 3. Randy Pike 4. Paul Phillips 5. Dan Pohlabel |
6. M. White 7. Rusty Phillips 8. Kent Reeve 9. Bryan Litz 10. David Tubb |
Corbin’s Big Rig Built for Extreme Long Range
Runner-Up Corbin Shell was shooting his impressive .338 Lapua Magnum Improved barrel-block rifle, originally built for the KO2M event. It performed superbly in Indiana. This rifle was showcased here on AccurateShooter last month. READ Corbin Shell .338 LM Story.
ELR TECH — Confirming Hits at a Mile (and Beyond)
Confirming hits at extreme yardages is a challenge. With a conventional spotting scope you can see a target swinging but it is very difficult to see actual impact at extreme ranges. For this match, wireless remote TV cameras were placed near each of the targets down range. These fed video signals to monitors and tablet computers, allowing scorers to confirm hits on steel. In addition to the Targetvision target cam systems, GSL Technology had a drone to get aerial footage and augment streaming video coverage on Facebook. Sheri Judd, NRA ELR Match Manager, also captured some great still images of the event, including the images you see in this article.
Like Father, Like Son — Rusty and Paul Phillips
The NRA ELR match was a family affair for the Phillips clan. Paul Phillips shot with his father Rusty. The elder Phillips, at the ripe young age of 80, had multiple hits at one mile, earning his official “One Mile Club Certificate”. You can see Rusty shooting in the video below. Paul says: “I had a great day shooting with my dad at the inaugural NRA ELR match. My dad went four for five at 1 mile (1788 yards) on a 36″ plate and earned his One Mile Club membership. This was his first competitive match ever shot at 80 years old and he finished 7th overall! Bryan Litz and myself help keep him centered up.” Paul and his father Rusty used GSL .375 Lethal Mag Copperhead Suppressor and the .338 Lapua Copperhead.
Rusty Phillips, at 80 years, shot 4 for 5 at 1788 yards (1.016 miles) to earn his One Mile Club Certificate. Congratulations Rusty!
Similar Posts:
- Phillips Video Shows Highlights of King of Two Miles Competition
- Applied Ballistics Shooters Dominate King of 2 Miles Finals
- Paul Phillips Crowned 2019 King of 2 Miles in New Mexico
- Report from Raton: King of 2 Miles Match, Day 1 and 2
- Extreme Long Range Training — Rockin’ Two Miles at Raton
Tags: Applied Ballistics, Mitchell Fitzpatrick, NRA ELR, One Mile, Paul Phillips
Equipment list would be interesting.
This is like the early days of 1000 Yard BR – very interesting and very exciting.
How much fun this must have been!
Really like how competitors spot for each other. So refreshing when compared to the attitudes in some other disciplines.
Is it only open to USA nRa members or can international people enter
Congratulations Mitch on the win!
Later, Frank
Bartlein Barrels
I think standardising the targets for this type of shooting is the next challenge. Steel is attractive but will become the limiting factor in time.
How good are acoustic targets at the far far ranges? That type of data collection will give a better indication of precision and accuracy into the future.
Well,
I’m glad you managed to get the match in despite the weather.
Nice job keeping the event secret. I was interested in checking it out, but wasn’t sure that Atterbury was even holding the matches. Nothing from the CMP page. Nothing from Atterbury’s page. Maybe I’ll believe you next year.
Editor: The event was listed (as the “One Mile Club”) in the High Power National Matches Program, page 25, which was published on this website and others. We do agree that the NRA could have done more to publicize and promote the match.
Richard, I think the SMT and similar targets would be fine, as long as anything stays supersonic. But in my experience, if they are even into transsonic, it can get a little dicey…very much better to be a solid 1,250.
The main issue would be getting enough routers and boosters set up to relay signal to 2,000 yards (not that tough, just $$), and THEN, keeping shooters from drilling the things with 1/2″ bullets.
-Nate
Now we have a ‘Mile Long Club’ to go with the ‘Mile High Club’.