2024 Southwest Nationals (SWN) Match Results From Phoenix
The 2024 Southwest Nationals (SWN) concluded Sunday, February 18, 2024. It was a great event this year, with very close competition and some spectacular scores being shot in all divisions. We congratulate the new SWN Long Range Champions: Jay Christopherson (F-Open), Brad Sauve (F-TR), and Philip Crowe (Sling). We also congratulate the talented 600-Yard Champs: Tod Hendricks (F-Open), Tom Hubbard (F-TR), and Jarrod McGaffic (Sling).
This is Jay’s second SWN Long Range Championship — the talented F-Open shooter also won in 2020 (SEE Jay 2020 Report). Jay was on a roll through the competition, not dropping a point until the last day and finishing with 1248-79X, just two points from a 1250 “clean”. F-Open runner-up Tim Vaught finished just one point back at 1247-83X, and Tim had the highest X-count among all F-Open LR competitors.
Tod Hendricks, a team-mate of Jay C. on Team Lapua-Brux-Borden, won the F-Open 600-yard competition with 600-52X. Notably, the Top Ten F-Open Shooters at 600 all finished “clean” with 600 points, so the rankings were decided on X-Count.
Senior F-TR ace Brad Sauve (1245-71X) also shot a brilliant Long Range match, finishing a full five points ahead of second place Tom Hubbard (1240-67X). Sauve also notched the highest X-Count among all F-TR shooters. Very impressive performance by Brad this year. And we should note that Tom Hubbard won the F-TR 600-yard competition held earlier in the week, nailing an excellent 599-38X.
F-Open Champion Commentary
We had a chance to talk with 2024 SWB F-Open Champion Jay Christopherson. Jay stated that, for most of the match, conditions were very good. But Jay also noted that the general level of accuracy for F-Open improves with each season.
Observations by F-Open Winner Jay Christopherson — Wind Wisdom and More…
1. The wind was pretty mild all week. I personally never held more than 4 lines of wind (mostly on the left), with zero wind dialed on my scope.
2. A solid wind zero was absolutely key. I saw and heard plenty of people talking about conditions that just didn’t exist. In most cases, my guess would have been a bad wind zero, which would have had you chasing your tail or thinking that the mirage or flags were lying.
3. I’ve never seen so many cleans (i.e. no dropped points, all ten scores) at long range in my life. In my opinion, E-Targets are the catalyst for this. The data and instant feedback you get help set the bar extremely high. It’s much easier to really understand what a good load looks like using an E-Target.
4. I had a plan for the wind coming in to each relay (usually developed during prep time). Most of the time, my plan worked out pretty well, but being ready to stop and execute a backup plan is a really useful skill to develop. It worked out for me on the last relay.
5. Even though I won the F-Open class, I still learned a few things watching the shooters around me — there’s always something nifty to learn if you are paying attention.
Great Performance by 2024 F-TR Champion Brad Sauve
Brad Sauve shot superbly to secure the overall F-TR Aggregate win at the 2024 SWN. Brad dropped only one point during the Palma match, was clean during the first day of the LR Aggregate, and finished with a 1245-71X, setting at least three new National Records in the process (one a 200-18X at 1000 yards). We commend Brad on his remarkable 2024 performance.
F-Open 1K Results | F-TR 1K Results | Sling Division 1K Results
| 2024 SWN F-Open, F-TR, Sling Long Range Top 10 | ||
| F-Open LR Top Ten Jay Christopherson 1248-79X Tim Vaught 1247-83X William Kolodziej 1247-74X Johnny Ingram 1246-82X Norman Harrold 1246-69X David Christian 1245-74X Peter Johns 1245-73X Erik Cortina 1244-76X Brandon Zwahr 1244-73X Jim Murphy 1241-71X |
F-TR LR Top Ten Brad Sauve 1245-71X Tom Hubbard 1240-67X Alan Barnhart 1237-55X Brad Traynor 1234-47X Eric Bisson 1233-58X Joaquin Bolsa 1231-56X Carl Matthews 1231-52X Robin Retzloff 1231-52X Robert Garibay 1231-39X Michael Walters 1230-41X |
SLING LR Top Ten Phillip Crowe, 1243-60X Justin Skaret, 1242-74X Verne Conant 1241-59X Nate Guernsey 1240-66X Trudie Fay 1240-61X Jarrod McGaffic 1239-62X Oliver Milanovic 1237-75X Justin Utley 1237-59X Nicole Rossignol 1236-66X Benjamin Lucchesi 1236-62X |
| All F-Open Long Range | All F-TR Long Range | All Sling Long Range |
600 Yard Results (All Divisions) | TEAM Results (All Divisions)
| 2024 SWN F-Open, F-TR, Sling 600 Yard Top 10 | ||
| F-OPEN 600 Top Ten Tod Hendricks 600-52X Johnny Ingram 600-46X Erick Cortina 600-42X Ted Wedell 600-42X Barry Holcomb 600-42X Jim Murphy 600-41X Dan Di Leva 600-40X Roger Mayhall 600-40X Lou Murdica 600-38X David Christian 600-36X |
F-TR 600 Top Ten Tom Hubbard 599-38X David Park 599-28X Mike Sowa 598-39X Brad Sauve 598-34X John Moreali 598-26X Chrstopher Faloon 597-41X Oleg Savelyev 597-36X Jeremy Newell 596-36X Eric Bisson 596-36X Brad Traynor 596-35X |
SLING 600 Top Ten Jarrod McGaffic 600-42X Trudie Fay 600-39X Nicole Rossignol 600-35X Tom Whitaker 600-28X Oliver Milanovic 599-45X Adam Fitzpatrick 599-43X Zevin Linse 599-39X Benjamin Lucchesi 599-38X Kimberly Rowe 599-37X Justin Utley 598-37X |
| 2024 SWN F-Open, F-TR, Sling TEAM Matches Top Five | ||
| F-OPEN Team Match Team Vihtavuori 2589-156X Bayou Boys 2580-155X Team Grizzly 2577-128X Team Lapua-Brux-Borden 2576-162X Team Canada Red 2571-131X |
F-TR Team Match USA F-TR KWS 2561-112X Team Texas 2558-100X Canadian Gun Runners 2554-126X USA F-TR Blue 2554-112X USA F-TR Red 2550-118X |
Sling Team Match U.S. Palma MRNAK 2580-150 Brits Abroad 2573-112X U.S. Palma Gross 2567-128X Canada Red 2563-127X USAMU 2554-146X |
SEB MINI Rest — Good for Gold (Twice), Silver, and Bronze
You don’t necessarily need the newest or most expensive equipment to succeed in Long Range competition. Jay Christopherson won the F-Open division using an older MINI STANDARD rest with a standard front bag. See the unit at right. Jay says it works great, and is easier to transport that some of the very large heavy, benchrest-style front rests. Jay has now won the SWN match twice with this rest, finished second in 2017, and third in 2018.
Jay sent a message to Sebastian Lambang, creator of the SEB MINI: “Hi Seb, I thought you might like to see a picture of the rest that took Silver in 2017, Bronze in 2018, Gold in 2020, and Gold again in 2024. A little older, a little more wear and a lot more mileage, but still winning when it counts. Thank you for such an amazingly reliable rest. I always enjoy the fact that the original MINI still gets it done. Winning the 2024 SWN still using the original one-piece bag generated a bit of a conversation on the line. I think my rifle rest setup was the easiest one to inspect by far for Matt [Schwartzkopf] and his team.
Modern F-TR rifle looking down-range at Ben Avery Shooting Facility.
Top competitors show focus and concentration in mid-range match 2022.
Stunning F-Open rifle with SEB Mini front rest with Blake Machine accessories.
Working in the pits is part of the Berger SWN experience.
Hundreds of Competitors from the USA and Many Other Countries
Along with top American F-Class and sling shooters, the Southwest Nationals attracts competitors from around the world.
Photo by Nancy Tompkins near Ben Avery Shooting Facility in 2022. Nancy posted: “Thank you to all of the sponsors, volunteers, and shooters who have traveled from all over… to make this match so special.”
See you next year!
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