Story based on report by Kyle Jillson in NRAblog
Earlier this month, junior air rifle shooters from Georgia faced off against counterparts in Germany during an “internet match” that allowed both teams to keep track of their opponents scores in real-time. The two teams were 4,000 miles apart, but they competed simultaneously, with scores from both countries posted instantly (in both venues) via internet connections.
Each shooter was ranked and paired against the corresponding member of the opposing team – like golf’s Ryder Cup. Instead of a team aggregate determining the outcome, countries earned points for beating their opponents.
The US team was set up at the Ole Mill Range in Griffin, Georgia, while their German opponents were shooting from from Untergrombach, Baden-Wuerttemberg, in southern Germany. American and German teams, separated by 4,000 miles and a six hour time difference, came together on a fall day to shoot a fun match between one another – simultaneously. Instead of waiting for results from one another and shooting on different days, it was great to see the two groups work out schedules that allowed competition as if they were all at the same range.
Instead of a normal 60-shot standing match, the two ranges agreed to tweak the rules to the head-to-head format for a little international fun. All shooters still shot in the same relay with scores reported as they came in and “wins” were counted after each pair had finished.
How did the US team fare? I’m sure they’ve seen better days. Outshot in all but one match, the United States lost to Germany 3-1. Despite the defeat, this match was a great example of the shooting sport’s international strength. This “internet match” opened all kinds of doors for future matches between not only different countries, but different states within the USA. The ease of communication through computers can really help the shooting sports expand with a web of competitions the world over.
This week, the “Sons of Guns” TV show features a grudge match between Brownells and Hornady. On tonight’s episode of the popular Discovery Channel TV series, the sons (and fathers) of two legendary, firearms-industry families square off in a 3-gun match, with “bragging rights” at stake for Brownells and Hornady. The “Corporate Shootout” episode airs Wednesday, October 17, at 9:00 pm (EST).
Long-time friends Pete Brownell of Brownells, and Jason Hornady of Hornady Mfg., both executives at their third-generation family-owned companies, team up with Red Jacket Firearms to do something special for their famous fathers. In the process, they’ll settle a generations-old grudge match over which family shoots better. “I only have to outshoot Pete Brownell,” said Jason. “He’s a long-time friend, but there are no friends when it comes to competitive shooting.”
Pete, pairing up with Frank Brownell, Chairman of Brownells, and Jason, joining Steve Hornady, President of Hornady Mfg., will engage in a friendly Brownell vs. Hornady 3-gun competition using 1911 pistols, AR-15 rifles, and Saiga shotguns built by Red Jacket Firearms.
Echoing Hornady’s sentiments, Brownell jokingly responded, “Jason’s a great guy, but he’s always known that I’m the better shot. In all seriousness, we had a great time competing with our fathers. I want to thank the Hornadys, as well as the crew at Red Jacket Firearms for an incredible experience. The show settles the bragging rights question once and for all.”
TV Guns Featured on Brownells Website
The AR-15s used by the Brownell, Hornady and Red Jacket teams for the filming of “Sons of Guns,” along with a list of products used for their builds, will be displayed in the Dream Guns section of the Brownells website following the show.
Report based on Story by Lars Delsaide in NRAblog.
To steal a line from Hap Rocketto, the Americans scored a rare twofer this summer at during NRA’s National Rifle & Pistol Championships in Camp Perry. With scores of 7834 and 3994-279x, teams of top American Smallbore rifle shooters won this year’s Randle and Dewar Cup matches.
“I received an email from England saying that the United States had won both the Randle and the Dewar matches,” said NRA National Rifle Manager Howard “H.Q.” Moody. “And they didn’t just win them, they won them big!” added Moody. “That’s just phenomenal because [USA shooters] haven’t won them in almost ten years. It’s a real exciting thing to see because the Great Britain Rifle team will be coming to Camp Perry next summer to shoot the Pershing.”
USA Randle Team Photo with coaches and competitors (listed alphabetically): Michelle Bohren, Katie Bridges, Claudia Duksa, Amy Fister, Reya Kempley, Sarah Kramer, Amanda Luoma, Virginia McLemore, Amanda McMullin, and Nancy Tompkins.
The Dewar Trophy International Match is a team event with 20-person national teams (both men and women) from English-speaking countries. Each competitor shoots forty shots at 20, 50 and 100 yards. The Randle Trophy International Match is open to teams of ten women from English-speaking nations. The Randle course of fire is the same as the Dewar Match.
Origin of International Postal Matches
The origins of the Randle and Dewar Cup Postal Matches can be traced back to historic GB vs. USA team matches that began at the turn of the 20th Century. The NRA’s Howard Moody explained that everything started more than 100 years ago with the Pershing and Lord Roberts matches. American and British Teams traveled back and forth “across the pond” to compete at these big events. But that was very expensive even back then. So, it was decided to divide the matches and alternate them every four years. The British would come to America for the Pershing Match, and four years later, the Americans would travel to England for the Roberts. Thus the Pershing and Roberts matches alternate every four years. So how does this connect to the Randle and Dewar Trophy matches? Moody explained: “To keep the competition going in the off years, we use the Randle and Dewar Cup.”
Team Lapua’s Francis “The Animal” Kuehl won the 6th NorCal Tactical Bolt Rifle Challenge (TBRC) held September 29-30 at the Folsom Shooting Center in California. Along with winning the Match Overall title, Kuehl was TBRC Top Steel Evolution Shooter this year. Kuehl, a mild-mannered CPA in real life, has been the man to beat at the TBRC in recent seasons. His 2012 win marked Kuehl’s third overall victory in the TBRC, having finished first in both 2011 and 2009. This year, Kuehl was shooting a .260 Remington. For ammo, Kuehl used 6.5mm Lapua 139gr Scenars pushed by VihtaVuori N160 powder in Lapua .260 Rem cases.
The match featured five separate ranges, and four different evolutions (Long Range, Short Range, Steel, and Run & Gun) over two busy days of shooting. 77 competitors shot the course of fire that called for 215 rounds fired if a competitor was able to fire every required round. Shortest shot was at 25 yards, with the longest at 1000 yards. The long-range segment called for 36 rounds fired from 800 to 1000 yards. Most of the match was shot from 200 to 600 yards, with a small percentage of targets set inside 200 yards for the short range evolution.
This 2010 story is reprinted at readers’ request.
In the past few years, tubeguns have really taken over in high power circles. At many matches you’ll see more tubeguns than conventional prone rifles, and a high percentage of those tubeguns will have been built using an Eliseo (Competition Machine) CSS chassis kit.
Step-By-Step Guide to Stock Set-Up
If you are a new tubegun shooter, or if you are planning a tubegun build this winter, German Salazar has prepared a comprehensive set-up guide for Eliseo tubeguns. Eliseo’s CSS chassis system affords a myriad of adjustments. Initially, one can be overwhelmed by all the variables: Length of Pull, Length to Sights, Length to Handstop, Cheekpad Height, Buttstock Offset, Buttstock Cant Angle, Handstop Angle, and Forearm Rotation.
In his Guide to Configuring the Eliseo Tubegun, Salazar shows how to adjust the Tubegun so that a shooter’s prone position is stable, repeatable, and comfortable. Salazar covers each adjustment, step by step. If you follow his instructions, starting with setting Length of Pull, you should find that your hold becomes more stable, the gun moves less from shot to shot, and your eye position relative to the sights is improved.
German explains the set-up process: “Adjusting the stock is a process that you must work at and it builds on itself. As you get one adjustment right, the others begin to fall into place. Our hope is that you take from this article a system for adjusting the stock, not an exact set of dimensions; and that you understand that it will take continuous work over a period of time to really refine the adjustments. Your goal is not to obtain a ‘perfect set of dimensions’ but rather a perfect feel that accomplishes the three objectives of stability, durability and comfort and the knowledge of how to change the adjustments to achieve those objectives under varying conditions such as sloped firing lines or other terrain features.”
Read More at RiflemansJournal.com German Salazar runs the excellentRifleman’s Journal website, where you will find dozens of informative articles like this story.
Are you a died-in-the-wool .50 BMG fan? Got a hankerin’ for heavy artillery? Then visit the FCSA Photo Gallery page. There you’ll find hundreds of photos from Fifty Caliber Shooting Association (FCSA) matches and fun shoots in California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington. To access the photos from the Gallery Page, click on the colored tabs which indicate match location and date (such as NV2011-08).
Photo sets go all the way back to 2002, so you can see the evolution of the hardware over the years. Sample multiple archives to see the differences in terrain from one range to another — from Raton’s alpine setting to the hot, dry Nevada desert. This Gallery is really a treasure-trove of .50-Cal history. It’s worth a visit. Here are a few sample images.
Story Tip from EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
We all know that young people are the future of our sport. Well here’s a tale of a talented young shooter who is already “running with the Big Dogs” at the ripe old age of 10 years. Rory Jacobs, son of Forum member Tom Jacobs, recently competed at the IBS 600-yard Nationals in St. Louis. Rory won the Junior Nationals title and placed 14th in the Two-Gun Overall, finishing ahead of dozens of highly skilled adult shooters with decades of experience. Among all shooters (of any age) at the Nationals, Rory had the sixth-best Heavy Gun score and placed seventh overall in Heavy Gun. This kid has talent, that’s for sure. Of course, it helps to have a father who runs a shooting range. The Jacobs family owns and operates the Vapor Trail Valley Shooting Range, www.vaportrailvalleyllc.com, near Trenton, Missouri.
That handsome rifle was smithed by Jay Cutright, and stocked by Tom Meredith (the stock is one of Tom’s). The rifle features a BAT action and Benchmark barrel chambered in 6mm Dasher (.270″ neck) . At the Nationals, Rory shot Berger bullets pushed by Alliant Reloder 15 powder and CCI 450 primers. The front rest is from Randolph Machine.
Rory Began Shooting at Age Three
Rory started shooting and hunting at a very young age. He got his first .22LR rimfire rifle when he was three years old, and he started going on hunting trips with his father at the same young age. Within a few years he was a skilled hunter, harvesting a turkey and a couple of deer at age 6. When he was very young, his father took him prairie dog shooting several times. That’s when Rory got “hooked” on long-range shooting. He got involved in competitive shooting at age 9 at some rimfire “fun matches”. He moved up to the big leagues a year later, entering his first IBS match this spring (2012). Amazingly, at his first-ever IBS 600-yard match, Rory won Light Gun class overall and he posted the best LG group aggregate. Not bad for a 10-year-old! And how many folks, young or old, can boast that they won their first-ever benchrest match? This kid’s a natural. Not surprisingly, he is currently leading the IBS in the race for Junior 600-yard Shooter of the Year.
A well-rounded young man, Rory has a variety of interests. Along with shooting, Rory enjoys woodworking and he plays in a summer baseball league. He’s a modest, church-going youngster, whose character impressed all those who met him in St. Louis at the Nationals. When asked what he liked most about the National Championship experience, Rory replied: “I liked spending time with my dad, and I really liked helping other people.” Rory added: “The ride home in Gene Ford’s motorhome was cool.” The video shows Rory shooting at 600 yards.
Report by Ian Pavy (aka “ThunderDownunder” in Forum)
The NIOA Savage Cup for F-TR was held in South Australia at the SARA Lower Light range on the last weekend in September 2012. The three day event covered eight ranges from 300 to 800 metres. It was a history making competition being the first time ever in Australia that F-TR was included into a State Championship, (Queens) event.
CLICK HERE for Savage Cup Results.
Prior to the event, Australian team trials were conducted under the watchful eye of the Team Captain, Linda Shehan. Next year, Australia will be sending a F-Open and F-TR team to Raton, New Mexico for the F-Class World Championships. The formation and inclusion of F-TR has been supported by the NRAA and is a great step forward for Australia’s inclusion into international F-Class events. Those of us that make it into the team look forward to meeting up with our international friends, a lot of whom we got to know through the AccurateShooter.com Forum. Look out guys the Aussies are coming over to compete!
Alan Seaman Tops Field
The NIOA Savage Cup had as first prize a Savage F-TR rifle so it was a hard fought competition with Alan Seaman, (Gosford Rifle Club) taking the prize and the honor of being the first winner in a F-TR championship event in Australia. Alan’s aggregate score of 456.25 was well ahead of Ian Pavy, (Murray Bridge Rifle Club) and Greg Warrian, (Tumut Rifle Club) who both scored 438. Ian won second place on X-count over Greg in third place. These two shooters seesawed back and forth over the three days of competition.
Alan showed remarkable wind reading skills over the three days which included winds up to 50 kph and at times heavy mirage. Alan may be wind coaching the Aussie F T/R team at Raton and from what I have seen we could not be in better hands. Alan’s score of 456.25 would have placed him third outright in F-Open. Scoring Note: The Savage Cup featured an ICFRA target with 6 as the highest ring count and a half-MOA X-ring. The Australian system of 60 points for ten shots can be equated to American scoring (100 points for ten shots) by adding 40 to each Aussie range score.
Vitaly Kuzmin is the creator of a popular military Blog in Russia. Vitaly recently reported on a Russian precision shooting competition held in conjunction with Russia’s Armourers’ Day.
Many interesting rifles were on display at this Sniper Match, including Russian designed-and-built ORSIS T-5000 rifles. A T-5000 chambered in 7mm RSAUM won the Armourers’ Day Match. This alloy-chassis ORSIS design has displayed outstanding accuracy shooting a wide range of chamberings from the .308 Win up to the .338 Lapua Magnum. In .308, the T-5000 looks like it would work well in F-TR competition and tactical matches. Read more on ORSIS Website (English language).
Vitaly writes: “Last year, The President of Russia signed a decree about the establishment of Armourers Day on 19th September. This Saturday on September 15th I visited Sniping competition devoted to the Armourers Day celebration. The event was organized by TSNIITOCHMASH, Promtechnologies Group (ORSIS trade mark), Club of Precision Shooting and National Federation of Precision Shooting.
The event was open for public and without fees for participation, and as a result the competition was more like a meeting of old friends. Participants and spectators created a wonderful atmosphere, and the organizers made excellent conditions for competition.
Although the event was purely civil, it was attended by the officers from several special units. So I decided to focus mainly on the sniper rifles they used. And, of course, ORSIS rifles. The overall winner shot an ORSIS T-5000 chambered in 7 RSAUM. The second place shooter fielded a Sako TRG-42 in .338LM, while the third-place shooter used a Russian SV-98 in 7.62x54R.”
Richard Schatz won the Two-Gun Overall Title at the 2012 IBS 600-Yard Nationals held this weekend in St. Louis, Missouri. Congratulations to Richard for this big win against very capable competition! This marks two Overall wins for Richard in the past three years (Schatz also won in 2010). The match was well-attended, with 81 shooters in Light gun and roughly 60 shooters in the HG division. Winds were challenging at the Match, particularly on Saturday. Sam Hall stated: “Richard [showed us] some fine shooting shooting in those switchy St Louis winds. Richard didn’t do anything spectacular but he was very consistent in all categories — he rarely makes a mistake. Congratulations on the Overall 2-Gun Championship! It could not have happened to a finer fellow!” We are still awaiting the final, official scores to be posted.
Here are tentative Top 10 Two-Gun Overall Rankings (not official) Forum member LMMike obtained by phone from Match Director Jerry Kloppell (there may be spelling mistakes):
Two-Gun Overall Standings
1. Richard Schatz
2. Mike Hanes
3. Stephen Hall
4. Sally Bauer
5. John Powers
6. Sam Hall
7. Tod Soeby
8. Darrel Daucus
9. Chad Jenkins
10. Rodney Wagner
Tim Claunch photo
Posting in our Shooters’ Forum, Sam Hall and Chad Jenkins provided these preliminary (non-official) Light Gun (Day 1) and Heavy Gun (Day 2) results:
Light Gun Overall
1. Mike Hanes
2. Sam Hall
3. Richard Schatz
4. Sally Bauer
5. Chad Jenkins
Light Gun Group
1. Mike Hanes, 2.124″
2. Tim Claunch, 2.138″
3. Sam Hall, 2.198″
Light Gun Score
1. Mike Hanes, 384
2. Sam Hall, 376
3. Chad Jenkins, 376
Heavy Gun Overall
1. Stephen Hall (5 pts)
2. Richard Schatz (8 pts)
3. Tom Jacobs (9 pts)
4. John Powers (11 pts)
5. Tod Soeby (15 pts)
Heavy Gun Group
1. Rodney Wagner, 2.0159″
2. John Powers, 2.1500″
3. Steve Hoskin, 2.1510″
Heavy Gun Score
1. Stephen Hall, 384 (2.1574″)
2. Tom Jacobs, 382 (2.3796″)
3. Richard Schatz, 381 (2.2241″)
Richard and Rory — A Living Legend and a Bright Young Talent
Story based on report by Kyle Jillson in NRAblog
Long-time friends Pete Brownell of Brownells, and Jason Hornady of Hornady Mfg., both executives at their third-generation family-owned companies, team up with Red Jacket Firearms to do something special for their famous fathers. In the process, they’ll settle a generations-old grudge match over which family shoots better. “I only have to outshoot Pete Brownell,” said Jason. “He’s a long-time friend, but there are no friends when it comes to competitive shooting.”
Team Lapua’s Francis “The Animal” Kuehl won the 6th NorCal Tactical Bolt Rifle Challenge (TBRC) held September 29-30 at the Folsom Shooting Center in California. Along with winning the Match Overall title, Kuehl was TBRC Top Steel Evolution Shooter this year. Kuehl, a mild-mannered CPA in real life, has been the man to beat at the TBRC in recent seasons. His 2012 win marked Kuehl’s third overall victory in the TBRC, having finished first in both 2011 and 2009. This year, Kuehl was shooting a .260 Remington. For ammo, Kuehl used 6.5mm Lapua 139gr Scenars pushed by VihtaVuori N160 powder in Lapua .260 Rem cases.
In his 
CLICK HERE for Savage Cup Results.
Alan Seaman Tops Field
Vitaly Kuzmin is the creator of a popular military Blog in Russia. Vitaly recently reported on a Russian precision shooting competition held in conjunction with Russia’s Armourers’ Day.
Tim Claunch photo
