|
|
August 24th, 2010
A Texas shooter put together a great video covering the East Texas Championship Benchrest Shootout, held August 20-21 in Huntsville, TX. This match, the first at the new Huntsville Range, was co-sponsored by the Pine Valley Benchrest Shooters Association and S&S Precision Rifles of Argyle, TX. On the Friday before the main match, there was also a 500-yard Egg Shoot.
In the video you can see Don ‘Stick’ Starks of S&S piloting a 6.5×47 Lapua long-range varminter he built on a candy-red Robertson Composites ‘Speedy’ F-Class stock. Stick and other competitors were shooting at large (120mm), medium (90mm), and small (60mm) clay birds at 400 yards. Over the course of the day, competitors fired 50 record rounds at the targets. Each shooter came to the line five times to shoot 10 rounds per stage in seven minutes or less. The ‘top shot’ who nailed the most birds took home $600.00 in cash. There was also a team challenge with a $430.00 winning payout.
Thirty-six competitors attended this fun match with $1300.00 in total prize pay-outs for the top four bird-busters. Jason Leavelle won the $600 first-place prize with an 810 score, while Dr. Darrel Martin earned $400 for his second-place finish, 50 points behind Leavelle. Tymn Combest was third, earning $200, and Arthur McMeans took home $100 for fourth place. Pudge Morris was the Junior Division winner. We congratulate all the money winners — it wasn’t easy. According to Mike Cockcroft, who helped run the match, “it was 100 degrees, the winds were strong, and the mirage heavy.” The only wind indicators are range flags at the targets and a couple of standard benchrest flags out at about 100 yards.
Match Winner Used a 6.5×284
Forum member Joe Duke reports: “Jason Leavelle shot a nice 810 out of 1000 (possible) points. He is the winningest shooter on our circuit (fondly known as the ‘Redneck Circuit’) and is always tough to beat. He shoots a 6.5-284 crafted by Sam Duke. Jason’s rifle is built on a Stainless Steel Viper action and sports a Krieger 8.5-twist barrel. I can’t think of one of our shoots that was won with anything other than a 6.5-284 in the last three or four years.”
Rules were fairly “wide-open” for the Saturday Shoot-Out, so you saw everything on the line from varmint rifles to 40-pounders. Most guns are custom bench rigs weighing 17 to 30 pounds. All shooters competed in the same class with these basic rules:
- NO RAIL GUNS OR RETURN TO BATTERY GUNS
- 40 POUND MAX WEIGHT LIMIT
- NO SIGHT OR SCOPE RESTRICTIONS
- NO CALIBER OVER .30
- NO ONE-PIECE RESTS OR GUN-VISES
- NO Shooter-Supplied WIND FLAGS
- NO SPOTTING EXCEPT DURING SITE-IN ROUND
- NO TANK OR CLAM TYPE MUZZLE BRAKES
You should definitely watch the video. It is extremely well made and there are some seriously nice rifles on display. Plus it sure looks like the new Huntsville facility is a beautiful range (even if the Texas winds did blow in the afternoons). CLICK HERE to download Match Rankings and Scores (PDF File).
August 23rd, 2010
 K.C. Wins A Tough Match on Home Turf
K.C. Eusebio, who grew up in Southern California, returned to his home turf to capture the Men’s Championship at the 2010 Steel Challenge this weekend in Piru, CA. This was K.C.’s third overall win at the Steel Challenge. Trailing Team Glock’s Dave Sevigny for much of the match, K.C. pulled ahead in the final three stages to capture the Overall title, his third Steel Challenge Championship, with an 80.27 second total time. Right behind was Sevigny at 82.84. That was an impressive performance considering Dave was running a modified Glock against “full-race” 1911 customs, some of which cost $3500 or more. Even more amazing was the legendary Jerry Miculek, who finished third shooting a Smith & Wesson revolver with iron sights. Jerry’s total time was 83.88.
 Jessie Abbate Wins 3rd Steel Challenge
In the womens’ Division, new Team Smith & Wesson shooter Jessie Abbate of Georgia won her second consecutive womens’ Steel Challenge Championship, and the third in her career. In addition to winning the overall title, Abbate won the Ladies Steel Master title which represents the best combined score of the Open, Limited, and Rimfire events. Jessie won the Rimfire event on Day 1, having the best time on all but one of the eight stages. After that Jessie was locked in a tough battle with her S&W teammate Julie Golob, who captured the Limited Event on Friday (Day 2). In a video interview with AccurateShooter.com, Abbate confessed to being “off her mental game” on Day 2, but she pulled it all together on Saturday (Day 3), capturing the Ladies Overall and Steel Master titles. Kay Miculek, a seven-time Women’s World Speed Shooting Champion, finished second. Watch the video below for a lengthy interview with Jessie.
Young Guns Rise to the Top
This 2010 Steel Challenge showcased rising young stars. K.C. Eusebio recently left the USAMU to enroll in college. Though he no longer has the time or resources to train and compete as often as he could with the USAMU, K.C.’s skills haven’t declined. A past winner of the Steel Challenge, K.C. was fast on all stages and he even nailed a new world record on the Speed Option stage. K.C. rose to the challenge in this match, outshooting defending Steel Challenge champ Max Michel, who had not lost a match all year. We talked at some length with K.C.’s father, who was happy to have a chance to be with his son again: “K.C. left the Army because he wanted to complete his college education. He’s doing that in Georgia, so we still don’t get to see him that much. But it is great to see K.C. shooting in California again, and winning again.”
NOTE: The video has loud gunshot noise. Turn down your speakers if at work.
Oregon Teen Wins Rimfire Event
Another up-and-comer in the mens’ ranks is 17-year-old Ryan Leonard from Oregon. Ryan took the rimfire title, beating all the older sponsored pros in the process. Ryan finished tenth overall (among all competitors) to win the Junior World Speed Shooting title. Ryan has speed to burn and exceptional accuracy. Ryan actually prefers centerfire handgunning, but he obviously knows how to get the most out of the low-recoil rimfire pistols (Ryan shoots a modified Ruger MKII). When asked for his secret of success, Ryan smiled and said: “Don’t miss — Shoot the best you can, but don’t miss.” Ryan is a gifted student-athlete, currently taking college courses while completing his high school education. We expect Ryan to be a major player in the speed-shooting game in the years ahead. He is skilled, dedicated, and gifted with exceptionally fast reflexes.
 From Top Shot to the Steel Challenge
If there was a crowd favorite among all the competitors it might be J.J. Racaza who was one of the strongest competitors on the History Channel’s popular new Top Shot TV show. A blazing fast shooter who exhibited the ability to learn new skills quickly (such as archery and knife-throwing), many viewers favored J.J. to win the whole competition. He was the most consistent performer on the “Blue Team” throughout the show.
J.J. was among the last three competitors on Top Shot, but lost in a shoot-out where the three finalists got to choose their weapons and targets. J.J. told us this involved a great deal of strategy, because each pistol and rifle used on the show had quirks that the competitors had to log into memory: “You needed to know the dope on each gun. One rifle, for example, shot 6″ low at 100 yards, while one of the pistols shot low left. You had to recall those things or you didn’t have a chance.” A true competitor, J.J. was disappointed that he didn’t win the $100K Top Shots prize, but he said that the experience was memorable: “I walked away … empty-handed but I walked with a lot of lessons, and a lot of friends too.”
August 17th, 2010
If you missed the final episode of Top Shot on the History Channel, you can watch it, via streaming video, on Hulu.com. The field is down to four shooters in this season finale. We were sad to see AccurateShooter.com contributor Kelly Bachand eliminated in the previous episode, but he’s shooting right now at Camp Perry. Watch the show and find out who wins the $100,000 prize and title of Season One’s “Top Shot”. No spoilers guys — you’ll have to watch to see who wins. But we can tell you this much — the final man-on-man challenge is a multi-stage event that tested the last two remaining competitors’ skills to the max.
August 14th, 2010
 3-Gun Nation is one of the hottest new shooting shows on cable television. This season-long series showcases many of the nation’s best shooters, vying for big prize money and a National title at year’s end. The latest 3-Gun Nation match was the JP Rocky Mountain 3-Gun Championship held August 5-7 at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, NM. Nearly 250 competitors participated. Here are the Class winners, with point totals:
Open: Jerry Miculek – 821.9395
Limited (Scope): Daniel Horner – 864.9413 |
Limited (Iron Sights): Craig Underdown – 776.5357
He-Man (Scope): Kelly Neal – 867.6091
He-Man (Iron Sights): Patrick Kelley – 820.2407 |
Johnson Duels Miculek for $5000.00
At the end of the match, Remington’s Robby Johnson and shooting legend Jerry Miculek were the final two shooters in the 3-Gun Nation Shoot-Off. Watch the video (above) to see Johnson, a former USAMU shooter, edge out Miculek, earning Johnson the $5,000 prize from Safariland.
August 11th, 2010
 In international 300m competition the top shooters use high-tech rifles shooting some of our favorite cartridges: 6mmBR, 6XC, and 6.5×47 Lapua. These chamberings all possess superb inherent accuracy, allowing great scores even when shooting with iron sights. This week, both men and women have been competing in prone and three-position 300m events. The level of competition has been high — Bettina Bucher of Switzerland tied the womens’ 599 score record in winning the women’s 300m prone event, and the 600-point mens’ record score has been tied twice in prone matches, once by France’s Josselin Henry, shooting factory 6.5×47 Lapua ammo. To see Bettina Bucher and Josselin Henry in action, visit the ISSF-Sports.org website. There you’ll find complete match results, as well as photos and videos of the action.
Right now there are three short videos covering 300m competition. CLICK HERE to access the videos. When the page displays, go to the scrolling menu (on right) and select: “300m Rifle Prone Women”, or “300m Standard Rifle Men”, or “300m Rifle Prone Men”. The video on the 300m prone womens’ competition features Switzerland’s Bettina Bucher who tied a World Record in the event. Note, in the 300m mens Standard Rifle highlights video, the American announcer incorrectly names the winner of the 300m Standard Rifle event as “Henry Josselin”. She got it backwards.
Josselin Henry Wins 300m Standard Rifle Event, But Three Shooters DQ’d
Marco Dalla Dea of the ISSF Media team reports that France’s Josselin Henry won today’s 300m Standard Rifle event, becoming the new world champion with a total score of 587 points. The French shooter, who had equaled the 300m Rifle Prone Men world record of 600 points two days ago, had never won an ISSF medal in this event before. Tomorrow, the 28-year old shooter from Paris will compete in the 300m rifle Three-Position event.
Three competitors were disqualified in the 300m mens’ Standard Rifle Finals. There are strict rules on the geometry and features of a “Standard Rifle”, in contrast to “Free Rifle” class which is pretty much “anything goes”. One shooter was DQ’d for an illegal front sight extension, another was tossed for having an “anatomical” grip, and a third shooter was sent packing because his buttplate had too much curve. In the standing position, a hook-style buttplate extension can provide a significant advantage. This hook configuration is allowed on Free Rifles only.
August 8th, 2010
The NRA/Springfield M1A match takes place this Sunday, August 8. This special M1A match revives interest in the M14, and its modern derivatives. Springfield’s M1A is a commercially-produced, semi-auto version of the M14, a 7.62×51 “battle rifle” that still serves our forces deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. At one time, M14-based match rifles dominated service rifle matches, but that’s history. Now M16/AR15 platform rule the roost in the service rifle game. But many shooters loved the old wood, .30-caliber rifles, leading to the creation of a special National Match just for M1A rifles
Renewed interest in the M1A, coupled with major sponsorship from Springfield Armory, led to the the first dedicated Camp Perry M1A match in 2008. With $25,000 worth of prizes and cash awards, that first-ever match proved a huge success, drawing over 500 shooters. This year, match organizers also expect hundreds of shooters, who will compete for cash awards, as well as Springfield gun-giveaways.
 Nick Till in 2009 M1A Match. Nick was the 2007 Service Rifle Nat’l Champion. Photo courtesy NRA Blog.
M1A Match Course of Fire
Equipment rules allow pretty much all types/grades of M1As in the match. The one-day course of fire consists of 50 shots at 300 yards on the NRA MR-65F target, as follows: 5 sighters; 20 shots slow-fire prone; 10 shots rapid-fire prone; 10 shots rapid-fire, kneeling or sitting; and 10 shots slow-fire standing.
Video of 2009 M1A match at Camp Perry (NOTE: Loud wind noise — turn down speakers.)
August 2nd, 2010
We recommend you tune in to the Outdoor Channel this Wednesday, August 4th, for Shooting USA and its sister show, Impossible Shots. This week Shooting USA features an in-depth product special from SHOT Show 2010 in Las Vegas. On Impossible Shots (note new air times), Jerry Miculek demonstrates 3-Gun shooting (AR carbine, shotgun, pistol), while famed trick-shooter Bob Munden attempts a 600-yard offhand shot with a .44 magnum revolver. Both the Impossible Shots and Shooting USA episodes are well-worth watching. Anytime you get to see Miculek work his magic on the 3-gun range, it’s time well spent. The video below highlights this week’s Shooting USA and Impossible Shots broadcasts.
New Broadcast Times for Shooting USA and Impossible Shots
There are new broadcast times for the two shows. Shooting USA airs Wednesdays at 4:00 pm, 8:30 pm and 12:00 midnight EST. Impossible Shots is broadcast Wednesdays at 2:00 pm, 10:30 pm EST, and on Saturdays at 3:00 pm EST. For other time zones, check your local listings.
July 29th, 2010
 Kelly Bachand, the youngest competitor on the Top Shot TV series, is a regular contributor to AccurateShooter.com. Currently an electrical engineering major at the Univ. of Washington, Kelly is a talented Palma rifle shooter who has managed to hold his own in other shooting disciplines. Kelly is the real deal — a genuine marksman, and we know many readers have been pulling for him through the grueling Top Shot elimination process.
There’s a fascinating full-page interview with Kelly in the Cheaper Than Dirt Blog. The first half of the interview covers Kelly’s background and marksmanship training. In the second half, Kelly discusses his Top Shot experience, revealing secrets about the show and the inter-personal rivalries which have become such a staple of the series. Kelly also explains how he managed to survive three elimination rounds.
| Q: During the first elimination challenge you shot rifles and sent Mike Seeklander home. That was a pretty stunning defeat and seemed to surprise everybody. It does seem like your mental attitude has really helped you through all of the elimination challenges you’ve been through.
Kelly: I do have a certain mental ability that I’ve kind of picked up and practiced and begun to get better at over the last year, year and a half, to kind of shut other things out while I’m actually shooting. I’ll be extremely nervous up until the point I’m actually shooting, extremely nervous.
At the Beretta Xtrema [shotgun] challenge I got up to the line, and I’m way outside of my comfort zone holding this Beretta. I’ve fired it all of about 20 times now, and I got up there, I focused on what I need to do, and I make the shot. It all kind of goes away. What I do is I just repeat a mantra in my head. I just ask myself, “OK, what do I need to do to make this a perfect shot?”. Then I tell myself over and over what I need to do. If I continually force feed myself good thoughts — positive thoughts about what I need to do to make it perfect — I typically make very good shots. That’s right out of Lanny R. Bassham’s book With Winning in Mind. |
Whether you love the Top Shot show (for the shooting) or hate it (for the Hollywood reality-show nonsense), we recommend reading Kelly Bachand’s interview. Kelly has managed to adapt and learn quickly and that’s why he’s still “in the running” while other, more experienced competitors have been eliminated. Kelly offers many insights that can help any competitive shooter.
July 26th, 2010
The Versus cable network’s new 3-Gun Nation TV show debuts on the Versus cable network, today, July 26, 2010. The show airs Mondays at 7:30 a.m. EST and Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. EST. The video below previews the kind of 3-Gun tournaments Versus will cover. The inaugural season features some of America’s best multi-gun events: Superstition Mountain 3-Gun, Blue Ridge Mountain 3-Gun, Midwest 3-Gun Championship, MGM Ironman 3-Gun Tournament, and the Rocky Mountain 3-Gun. Each event ends in a head-to-head, single elimination shoot-off with the winner earning $5,000.
The 3-Gun Nation Tour is a season-long series of matches at multiple venues. Competitors accumulate points throughout the season, and the top 50 are eligible to compete in the year-end championship following the USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals held September 13 outside Las Vegas, NV. In addition, the top finishers in each division at the USPSA Multi-Gun Nationals, who have not already earned a spot in the 3-Gun Championship, will earn a wild card berth, giving 10 additional competitors a shot at $5,000.
The winner of the 2010 3-Gun Nation Championship will receive $25,000, courtesy of Leupold, and will earn the title of the world’s top 3-Gun shooter. The match-by-match money awards, combined with the $25K 3-Gun Nation championship prize, collectively represent the most richest set of prizes in the history of practical shooting. The final two competitions on the 3-Gun Nation tour are: Rocky Mountain 3-Gun in Raton, NM, August 5-7; 3-Gun Championship at the USPSA Nationals in Boulder City, NV, September 13.
July 23rd, 2010
It’s a bit hokey, but the new music video from Australian singer/songwriter Steve Lee, has a catchy tune — and an important message. We commend I’ll Give Up My Gun, Lee’s latest musical jab at nanny-state gun restrictions in his Australian homeland. Lee, who earned worldwide attention for his I Like Guns music video, addresses serious topics — gun confiscation and personal freedom — in his new YouTube video. For those fighting anti-gun politicians, not only in Australia, but in other nations around the world, Lee’s defiant lyrics provide inspiration: “I’ll give up my gun… when the ocean runs dry. I’ll give up my gun… when politicians don’t lie.”
To widen its appeal, Lee’s video blends humor with a serious theme. Hopefully this video may cause a few fence-sitters to rethink their position on gun control. Credit to Steve of The Firearms Blog for spotlighting this entertaining, yet thought-provoking video.
|
