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August 31st, 2013
 Now there is new fun and inexpensive way to get started in Three Gun competition, the fastest-growing action shooting sport. NRA Sports Activities has developed the Three Gun Experience (3GE) program utilizing rimfire (.22LR) pistols and rifles, along with 12ga or 20ga shotguns. Targets, specifically designed for rimfire and shotgun, are placed at relatively close (but safe) distances. Most importantly, the NRA envisions that match organizers will provide firearms and ammunition at matches — so participants don’t have to purchase a brace of firearms just to try out the sport.
NRA 3 Gun .22 (3GE -.22) equips attendees with the same firearms and ammunition — creating a level playing field for fun and fast competition. The new 3GE program is intended to help ranges reach new shooters and maximize the number of participants in any given day or weekend event. For questions regarding hosting a 3GE event please contact NRA Sports Recreational Shooting at 1-800-672-3888 or email nrasports@nrahq.org.
August 28th, 2013
The F-Class World Championships wrapped up yesterday at Raton. This was the biggest F-Class Worlds ever, and the level of competition was higher than ever before. But the World Championships were not just about wind calls and V-Counts. The event was also about camaraderie. All those who participated made new friends from around the globe. In the end, this event was about fellowship, and the bond of shared challenges with fellow shooters. No matter what the tally on the team score-card, everyone who participated in the World Championships came home a winner — a winner in the game of life.
Two Aussies Share the Joy of Victory…
Team F-TR USA Members Ham it Up After Winning F-TR World Championship.
The U.S. F-Open National Team on its Way to the Silver Medal.
Tough Guys Jim Crofts, Paul Phillips, and Brad Sauve Helped Carry Team USA to Victory.
Team Canada at the 1000-yard Line. Canada Hosts the next F-Class Worlds in Ottawa, 2017.
2013 World Individual F-Class Champion Kenny Adams Shooting in Team Mode.
Past NRA President John Sigler with his Wife. John is an Avid F-Class Shooter Himself.
South African F-Open Shooter Hard at Work.
Our British Friends Russell Simmonds and Laurie Holland — both Forum Members.
Spanish Team Genius at work — Farley Rest Bolted to a Truck Brake Rotor. Rock Solid.
Team F-TR USA Captain Darrell Buell with the Superb New Nightforce Spotting Scope.
Two Young Ladies on the Junior F-TR Team Enjoyed the Event.
Team Ireland Proudly Shows the Colors. Erin Go Bragh!
Forum Boss and Raton Range Boss Watch the Action on Day 2.
Editor’s Note: If I learned one unforgettable lesson from this match, it is that we shooters have a common bond that spans oceans and crosses national borders. We truly are a brotherhood of riflemen who share a passion for a challenging and rewarding sport.
I want to thank all the many people who came up to me and said “Thanks for the website — keep doing what you’re doing — it’s important”. I heard that message from Brits, Aussies, Spaniards, South Africans, Germans, Kiwis, Italians, Brazilians, Ukrainians, Irelanders, and of course my fellow Americans. Thank you all for your kind words. Rest assured, we’ll do our best to “keep the faith” in the years ahead.
August 28th, 2013
The 2013 F-Class World Championships are in the history books. Congratulations to Australia, winner of the 8-man F-Open Match (Farquharson Cup) and to the USA F-TR squad which captured both 8-person and 4-person F-TR team titles. Here’s a quick summary of the results (an in-depth report with more photos and videos is in the works).
Not all Australia team members shown in photo.
Marty Lobert Explains How Australia Took the Title:
With his straight .284 Win, Marty Lobert shot 442-46V for Australia during the team championships, one of the highest scores among all F-Open shooters during Team Comps. Marty’s Australian team-mate, Cameron McEwan, had a 443-40X, high score for the match. Congrats to Cameron — great shooting!
Team Australia won the 8-man F-Open Championship with a 3490-339V tally. The USA 8-man F-Open team finished second with a 3475-308V team score. South Africa was third with 3445-267V, while the previous champion Great Britain Team finished fourth with 3427-261V. Team Spindle Shooters won the F-Open Rutland Cup for 4-man teams with a 1750-163V score, 10 points ahead of the 4-man Team USA squad coached by Emil Praslick (1740-169V).
In the F-TR Division, F-TR Team USA won both the 8-person F-TR Richardson Trophy Match (3412-261V) and the 4-person F-TR Rutland Cup Match (1689-130V). Canada’s 8-man F-TR team scored 3400-245V for second place in the 8-man F-TR competition, while Great Britain’s 8-man team tallied 3393-220V for third place. Notably, F-TR Team USA’s 8-man team score would have been good enough for fifth place in the F-Open Division. Yanks dominated the 4-man F-TR match, with Nik Taylor’s BNX/21st Century squad placing second (after F-TR Team USA), and the Michigan F-TR team (Barnhart/Litz) finishing third.
Here are the published official results for the 2013 F-Class World Championships, for both the team and individual competitions. These links all point to PDF files. If you have the right browser plugin, you should be able to simply click and view. Otherwise, right-click the link and “save as” to your hard-drive before viewing.
2013 F-Class World Championship Final Scores and Rankings
FCWC Team Results
8-Person F-Open Team Match (Farquharson Cup)
8-Person F-TR Team Match (Richardson Trophy)
4-Person F-Open Team Match (Rutland Cup)
4-Person Team F-TR Team Match
FCWC Individual Results
Individual World Championship – F-Open
Individual World Championship – F-TR
Individual Day 1 – F-Open
Individual Day 1 – F-TR
Individual Day 2- F-Open
Individual Day 2 – F-TR
August 26th, 2013
 Top marksmen from around the world battled for national honors today during Day 1 of the F-Class Team World Championships. F-Open and F-TR teams from many countries were decked out in their national colors. We saw squads from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Ukraine, and the USA. Other nations were represented as well.
Along with the basic two divisions, F-Open and F-TR, there are separate classifications for 4-man squads and the big 8-member National Teams. One Junior team from the USA is also competing. Right now the 8-man USA F-TR squad has a commanding lead. The talent-laden USA 8-man F-Open squad sits in second place, just three points behind the surprisingly strong Australian squad. But there are hundreds of record rounds left to fire tomorrow, and USA F-Open team members hope to move into the top slot on Day 2. Scroll down the page for a video interview with USA F-Open Team Captain Shiraz Balolia.
More than once in today’s matches dust devils appeared on the range. During the 1000-yard match a large swirling dust cloud formed dead center on the range. We heard coach Mid Tompkins call to his shooters: “Whoa – Whoa, stop firing, stop everything”. Mid told us: “When you have dust devils like that, you have to stop — you can’t out-guess it and you may not even be able to see the target.”
Interview with USA F-Open Team Captain Shiraz Balolia
Many of the top teams are using “comm packages” with microphones and headsets. This allows the coaches to communicate with each other, conferring on observations and wind calls. Wireless communicators are not allowed, so cords are strung between the coaching stations.
August 26th, 2013
 Congratulations to American shooters Kenny Adams (F-Open) and Nikolas Taylor (F-TR), newly crowned F-Class World Champions.
The Individual half of the F-Class World Championships (FCWC) has concluded and Americans dominated the Top Ten Standings in both classes (see Agg Charts below). Conditions were very difficult on both days of the competition, which included a thunderstorm on Day One. On Day Two, winds were switchy with velocities that seemed to change by the minute. The men and women who performed well in these conditions certainly deserved their trophies.
As F-Open Champ Kenny Adams told us: “You might look at the scores and think it was easy. But actually conditions were very, very challenging. And with the quality of this field, if you dropped just one point you could fall way down in the standings.”
F-Open World Champion Kenny Adams Talks About His Hard-Fought Victory
Kenny won the F-Open Title is an tough battle with Australian shooter Marty Lobert that went down to the wire on Sunday. Both men finished with identical scores of 466, but Adams had the edge in V-Count, 51 Vs compared to 43 Vs for Lobert. We talked with Marty after the match, and he told us: “It was tight, but Kenny deserved the win — eight more Vs.” Still Marty said that a tight finish like this causes one to think about the “what ifs”: “Losing on Vs — well it makes you think — what if I got one more point in that first relay on Day One, what if I’d held off a little further on just one shot.”
Nikolas Taylor Wins F-TR Championship, Simmonds Second, Buell Third
In F-TR Class, Nikolas Taylor (450-33V) edged the UK’s Russell Simmonds (449-31V) by one point. Simmonds, a past F-TR world champion, shot great on Sunday, picking up five points on Taylor, but that left Russell just one point short. Taylor had built a six-point margin over Simmonds on Day One, and that was enough to secure the victory. F-TR Team USA shooter Darrell Buell finished third with a 445-29V score.
FCWC — Two-Day Grand Aggregate, F-Open and F-TR
FCWC Individual Results August 24 — F-Open and F-TR
FCWC Individual Results August 25 — F-Open and F-TR
FCWC F-Open GRAND AGG TOP 10
Competitor | DAY-1 | DAY-2 | GRAND AGG
KENNY ADAMS: 221-26V 245-25V 466-51V — World Champion
MARTIN LOBERT: 222-17V 244-26V 466-43V
BOB MEAD: 222-24V 243-29V 465-53V
HERBERT EDWARDS: 220-27V 244-19V 464-46V
KEN DICKERMAN: 216-20V 245-29V 461-49V
FREDDY HALTOM: 216-20V 245-26V 461-46V
ALAN FRASER: 214-17V 246-28V 46-45V
BOB SEBOLD: 220-18V 239-22V 459-40V
WILLIAM WITTMAN: 217-15V 242-19V 459-34V
DON NAGEL: 217-13V 242-19V 459-32V
FCWC F-TR GRAND AGG TOP 10
Competitor | DAY-1 | DAY-2 | GRAND AGG
NIKOLAS TAYLOR: 221-18V 229-15V 450-33V – World Champion
RUSSELL SIMMONDS: 215-16V 234-15V 449-31V
DARRELL BUELL: 214-14V 231-15V 445-29V
HILIP KELLEY: 210-11V 235-17V 445-28V
JAMES CROFTS: 215-19V 228-12V 443-31V
BRAD SAUVE: 208-14V 233-15V 441-29V
TRUDIE FAY 215-16V 226-10V 441-26V
KEVIN CHOU: 208 9V 233 11V 441 20V
DEREK RODGERS: 215-12V 226-8V 441-20V
DARYL BARLOW: 207-9V 232-11V 439-20V
F-Open Silver Medalist Talks About the .284 Winchester
August 25th, 2013
We’re halfway through the F-Class World Championships, with the individual matches completed. We should be able to announce the winner very soon, when the final individual scores have been certified. We can report that this match went down to the wire, with the top two places decided on V-Count (the international equivalent of our X-Count). Final results of both Individual and Team FCWC matches will be posted at: fcwc-usa.org/results.
One Very Patriotic Shooter at the F-Class World Championships.
It has been a very tough two days for most competitors. One late relay on Saturday faced a rain squall that resulted in many off-target misses. On Sunday, from mid-morning on, the wind was switching angles all the time with ups and downs in wind speeds. There were apparent lulls that seemed steady, but quite suddenly the wind angle could switch 40° or more, while gusting. Nonetheless, shooters turned in some great performances. During his 800-yard relay, Australia’s Marty Lobert shot a perfect 75-15V for fifteen shots (max shot value at the Worlds is a five).
The individual F-Open and F-TR World Champions will be crowned tonight. Team competition begins tomorrow (Monday). We’ll post video interviews with the top shooters soon. Here are some photo highlights from Sunday at the F-Class World Championships.
August 25th, 2013
There’s a new score game in town — it’s called Ultimate Benchrest (UBR). You don’t have to purchase a membership to compete, and the rules are designed to equalize calibers, so you can shoot a .223, a 6mm (.243), or a .30 caliber benchrest gun — all with an equal chance to win. There’s a special class for factory guns, so you can have fun with Savages, Coopers, Kimbers, and Remingtons. The next step up is the Modified Class — this is for factory guns that have been re-barreled or had the action moved to a flat-bottom, Benchrest-style stock. The Custom Class is for guns with custom actions, benchrest stocks, and premium barrels. Max weight is 13.5 lbs for Factory, Modified, and Custom Class rifles. Any rig over 13.5 lbs competes in the Unlimited Class. Here pretty much anything goes, including one-piece rests.
Ultimate Benchrest Equipment Rules | Ultimate Benchrest Equalized Target System Rules
Next month, the Ultimate Benchrest Nationals will be held September 27-28 at the Buck Creek Range in Kentucky. There’s no limit on shooters and all classes can compete. This two-day event features 100-yard matches on the 27th, with 200-yard competition on the 28th. Many prizes will be awarded, including products from 21st Century Shooting, Benchmark Barrels, Berger Bullets, Cooper Firearms, Krieger Barrels, PMA Tools, Shilen Rifles, and Sinclair/Brownells. If you’re in the area, you should check it out. There’s a class for everyone, and hot food (and cold drinks) will be provided.
For more info, visit UltimateBenchrest.com or email George Coleman, georgeky [at] live.com. To register for the UBR Nationals, call jackie stogsdill at 606-382-5152 or send email to: jackie_stogsdill [at] hotmail.com .
Watch Video Highlights from the 2012 UBR Nationals
August 24th, 2013
 The F-Class World Championships are now underway at Raton, New Mexico. The turn-out is impressive — 17 different countries are represented by roughly 425 shooters. There will be two (2) days of individual competition, followed by the “Battle of the Nations” — the two-day team competition. It is warm and clear today, with a slight chance of a late thunderstorm. The weather gurus are predicting sunny skies for the remainder of the event, with peak temps in the high 80s and 10-20 mph winds.
LINK to Detailed Raton Weather Report.
The F-Class World Championships commenced with opening ceremonies this Saturday morning. At right, Dan Pohlabel and Mike Miller are shown raising the US flag during opening ceremonies. Let the competition begin!
Here are the Schedule and Course of Fire
for the World Championships:
Sat 24 August 2013 — Day 1 of FCWC Individual Championships
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 800 yards
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 900 yards
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 1,000 yards
Sun 25 August 2013 — Day 2 of FCWC Individual Championships
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 800 yards
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 900 yards
2 convertible sighters and 20 for record @ 1,000 yards
Mon 26 August 2013 — Day 1 of FCWC Team Championships
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 800 yards
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 900 yards
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 1,000 yards
Tue 27 August 2013 — Day 2 of FCWC Team Championships
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 800 yards
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 900 yards
2 convertible sighters and 15 for record @ 1,000 yards
Photos courtesy U.S. F-Class Rifle Team (F-TR).
August 23rd, 2013
The dust has settled and all the scores have been tabulated at the 2013 U.S. F-Class Nationals. This was a hugely successful event with 350 shooters on the firing line. After three days of individual matches, concluding with blustery conditions on Thursday, we have two new USA F-Class Champions, Larry Bartholome (F-Open) and Derek Rodgers (F-TR). Both men shot great matches from start to finish — we congratulate both on their well-deserved victories.
CLICK HERE for Final F-Open Full Results | CLICK HERE for Final F-TR Full Results
Derek Rodgers (Team Sinclair) is the 2013 U.S. National F-TR Champion. Posting a 1270-44X final score, Derek edged runner-up Lige Harris (1268-44X) by two (2) points, both men finishing with identical X-counts. John Chilton was third with 1264-35X, with Trudie Fay (1263-33X) and James Crofts (1261-33X) rounding out the top five. Lige finished as High Senior, while Trudie was the High Lady.
Fellow F-TR shooter (and past National F-TR Champion) Brad Sauve praised Rodgers:
“Derek is the only person that has won both the F-TR and F-Open U.S. National Championships. Derek just dominated those Raton winds in every match and must have ice in his veins to go into that last match knowing he was tied for first and [still] pull out another great performance.”
In F-Open class, Larry Bartholome won the 2013 National Championship, besting an extremely strong field packed with talent. Larry shot great on all three days, holding on to his lead even in extremely challenging conditions on Thursday. Larry took the F-Open title with a 1283-59X score. The next three positions were decided on X-Count, with three shooters, second-place Kenny Adams (1281-66X), third-place Freddy Haltom (1281-52X), and fourth-place William Wittman (1281-50X) all finishing with 1281 point totals. Kenny’s impressive 66X was the high X-count for the match. Steven Blair finished fifth with a 1280-52X score.
Here’s One of the Next Generation of Champions…
Stormy Conditions on Thursday
On Thursday, the wind started out calm for the first couple of relays. Conditions started to get a little switchy by the 3rd through the 6th relays and then with a storm front coming in, the 7th and 8th relays got a bit wild. Our reporter at Raton, Jeff Williams, reports: “We had dust devils dancing between the line and the targets. Rain held back until after all shooters had finished.”
August 22nd, 2013
Wednesday was Team Day at the U.S. F-Class Championships. There were 27 four-member F-Open Teams plus 19 four-member F-TR teams. Many teams were composed of foreign shooters who are tuning up for the upcoming F-Class World Championships which kicks off at Raton on Friday. Team competition was fierce, but when the dust settled, two squads emerged victorious, USA F-Open Team 4, and the U.S. F-TR Team 3.
CLICK HERE for Complete List of Team Results
USA F-Open Team 4: Robert Bock, Trudie Fay (Coach), Larry Bartholome (front row); Shiraz Balolia (Captain), Emil Kovan (back row).
F-Open Team USA #4 Captain Shiraz Balolia reports: “We won the first match, lost the second to Australia and won the overall Aggregate Championship (total of both matches). We were knocking on the door of a new National record on the first relay, having the same score, but a few less Xs. One more point would have set a record. We took the Gold Medal in the first match, and Bronze in the second match.” Team USA #4 finished with a 1570-62X total, four points ahead of second-place F-Open Team USA #3 (1566-66X). Shiraz praised team #4 coach Trudie Fay and his fellow team shooters Larry Bartholome, Robert Bock, and Emil Kovan. Shiraz joked: “Maybe it was Trudie’s glow-in-the-dark Crocs that gave us the winning edge.”
USA Team 3 Wins F-TR Championship, Aussie Team Second
The USA F-TR Team 3, under Captain Mid Tompkins and coach Steve Cunico, powered out an impressive victory, finishing with 1536-44X, six points ahead of the runner-up Team Australia Gold squad. USA F-TR Team 3 shooters Lane Buxton, John Chilton, Laura Perry, and Paul Phillips all turned in great performances lead by Lane Buxton’s 388-6X total.
| F-Open Team Championship
1. USA F-Open Team 4, Total 1570-62X
2. USA F-Open Team 3, Total 1566-66X
3. Team Australia #1 F-Open Gold, Total 1566-52X
4. Team Spindle Shooters, Total 1561-47X
5. USA F-Open Team 1, Total 1560-55X |
F-TR Team Championship
1. U.S. F-TR Team 3, Total 1536-44X
2. Team Australia G-TR Gold, Total 1530-40X
3. U.S. F-TR Team 4, Total 1525-51X
4. Michigan F-TR Team, Total 1521-30X
5. Canada F-TR ‘White’ Team, Total 1518-39X |
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