SSG (Staff Sgt.) Ty Cooper, a service rifle shooter/instructor with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, was selected as the Military Marksmanship Association (MMA) Soldier of the Year (SOY) for 2011. MMA president Lt. Col. (Ret.) Robert Harbison made the announcement at the MMA Annual Membership Meeting. Harbison presented the Soldier of the Year Award to Cooper — a .45acp pistol donated by Smith & Wesson. Other MMA 2011 SOY nominees were: PFC Matthew Sweeney from the Action Shooting team; SGT Lawrence Cleveland from the Service Pistol team; SFC Thomas Rose, International Pistol; Shotgun team member SSG Josh Richmond; SFC Eric Uptagrafft from the International Rifle team; and SPC Billy Hankins from the Custom Firearms Shop.
Cooper Wins Big Matches After Deployment to Afghanistan
Ty Cooper had a remarkable year on and off the range. Cooper claimed his first Interservice individual championship at Quantico in July. He also won the long-range individual championship and was a member of the overall team champions, making it a clean sweep. A few weeks later, Cooper won the National Service Rifle Championship at Camp Perry, Ohio. All of this success was accomplished despite a deployment to Afghanistan that stretched into the spring.
SSG Cooper (center) with Lt.Col. R. Harbison (Ret.) (left) and Lt.Col. D. Hodne USAMU Commander (right).
“Looking back over the whole year I really am proud of being able to maintain the level of consistency it took to stay right there at the top,” said Cooper. “I think the thing I am most proud of was winning the two biggest matches that we have in our season in the same year. My goals kind of progressed as the summer went. I had never won an Interservice Championship and that was top of the list. I [also]had a burning desire to prove myself at the NRA Nationals and I won the Service Rifle National Championship.” When not shooting in competition, Coopper serves as a lead instructor for the service rifle team.
Legion Productions, creators of the Military Channel’s popular Top Sniper and Modern Sniper TV shows, has released a feature-length DVD covering the 9th Annual Sniper Comp at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Every year the U.S. Army Sniper School at Ft. Benning hosts the International Sniper Competition. The 9th Annual Comp drew top military marksmen from around the world. Thirty-two teams from the Army, Army National Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force, Special Forces, SWAT and three foreign countries competed in eighteen events and combat simulations over the course of seven very tough days.
Legion’s action-packed, 173-minute-long SNIPER COMP DVD follows elite sniper teams as they compete in one of the most demanding sniper challenges on the planet, a grueling event that tests participants’ marksmanship, endurance, stalking skills, and observational abilities.
SNIPER COMP HD Trailer (to view with Hi-Def 720p resolution, click the Gear Icon during playback).
DVD Proceeds Benefit Military Sniper Associations
NOTE: This production was created to raise money for deployed forces and to honor fallen soldiers. Profits from SNIPER COMP are donated to the U.S. Army Sniper Association and to the USMC Scout/Sniper Association. The SNIPER COMP video can be purchased for $15.49 through Amazon.com and Ebay.
Legion Productions is a film and television production company with offices in California and North Carolina. Legion Productions specializes in military- and weapons-themed film and television projects. In cooperation with Magpul Industries, Legion filmed and edited the very popular “Art of…” series of firearms training DVDs.
Story tip from EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
As the National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport of Olympic-style shooting in the United States, USA Shooting (USAS) welcomes the dialogue created by the recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Mark Yost titled: Taking Aim at an Old Debate: Can female athletes compete against men?. In shooting, yes — but not in the Olympics. In this article, Yost points out several interesting facts and observations about our sport. This dialogue allows us to engage the shooting community, expand our thinking and establish pathways for bettering our sport for the future.
You will get little argument from many of today’s top shooters, both male and female, as to the shooting abilities of women throughout USA Shooting’s ranks. The success of the collegiate programs like TCU and many intercollegiate programs in the U.S. only echo these beliefs as do some of the sport’s elite shooters like Kim Rhode, a four-time Olympic medalist in trap and skeet shooting, or Katy Emmons, a three-time Olympic medalist from the Czech Republic who is married to [U.S. Olympian] Matt Emmons.
“I am a born competitor and whether it is men or women I want to win,” said Jamie Gray, a 2008 Olympian in Rifle. “In a sport that is equal between men and women I would most definitely enjoy the competition. I started out only knowing that men and women compete against each other. It wasn’t until I learned shooting was an Olympic sport that I realized men and women didn’t compete against each other. It is exciting to me that there are still sports out there that men and women can be equal, however for other reasons it may be better that there are different categories for each.”
From 1968 through the 1980 Olympic Games, Olympic shooting events were mixed, with opportunities for women and men to participate regardless of gender. At the 1980 Games in Moscow, there were six shooting events contested. At the upcoming Games in London, there will be 15 events contested. Opportunities for women to compete in Olympic shooting have not shrunk with the dissolution of “mixed” events, but rather have grown as a result not only in our brand of shooting but across all platforms of the shooting sports. In Olympic competition, 14 women got the opportunity to compete in shooting at the 1980 and 1976 Olympic Games combined. Since that time, the numbers have risen from 77 in 1984 to 145 female competitors at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Shan Zhang Won Gold in 1992
Recent history also suggests that woman can perform alongside men in shooting competitions. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, female competitor Shan Zhang of China became the Olympic gold medalist that year in mixed-event skeet, topping a field of both men and women. Over two days of competition she produced a score of 373 out of 375, a new Olympic and world record. She also became the first woman in the history of the Olympic Games’ shooting competition, to beat all the male shooters in her event. Since that time, no mixed events have been held in an Olympic shooting competition.
“As a proud American female citizen, participating in a sport where gender-specific characteristics are not advantageous, I would overwhelmingly favor a chance to compete in a mixed event — or at least a women’s event with an equal number of targets as the men,” said Kelsey Zauhar, a USA Shooting National Team member in Shotgun.
“I think that anytime you have competition where size or strength is not a factor, females can absolutely compete with the males,” said USA Shooting National Team Pistol shooter and USAS Board member Sandra Uptagrafft. “The fundamentals of executing a good shot work the same regardless of gender, size or age. The question of why females no longer compete with males or why we have differing number of shots in the same events comes up often when I explain our sport to new people. It does seem sexist, but the fact that we have separate events from males in the Olympics actually is a good thing since more females can compete this way. There can only be so many people on the shooting line at one time. I personally am just happy to have a sport like shooting in which I can excel.”
FACTOID: Research by the National Sporting Goods Association shows female participation in target shooting grew by 46.5% between 2001 and 2010. And an October 2011 Gallup Poll found 23 percent of women own a gun. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, from 2001 to 2010, female participation in hunting grew by almost 37 percent.
Looks like the days of manual target scoring are numbered — at least for airgun shooters. Effective April 23, 2012 (after this year’s Sectionals) the NRA will accept targets digitally scanned and scored with the new Orion Scoring System. Produced by Shooter’s Technology in Virginia, the Orion System exceeds the accuracy standards set by the ISSF, and routinely scores shots within .04mm. Currently the Orion scoring system can work with 5m BB gun targets, 10m Air Rifle Targets, 10m Air Pistol Targets, and 50-foot smallbore (.22LR Rimfire) targets.
50m Smallbore Capability in Development
Orion is working hard on more powerful software that will be able to score 50m smallbore targets — but that’s still many months away.
The makers of the Orion Scoring System claim it can score targets faster, more accurately, and more reliably than scoring by hand using calipers and target plugs. Orion 2.0 will score a 12-bull air rifle target in about 5 seconds — that’s up to five times faster than manual methods. Single-shot accuracy is consistently between .04mm and .10mm, even for low velocity sporter air rifles. Multiple-shot accuracy (when two or more shots overlap on a target) is between .10mm and .25mm.
The Orion Scoring System is a new technology that automates the scoring process. Shooters fire at specially-designed paper targets sourced from Orion. Once each stage of the match is completed, targets are collected and then digitized using commercial scanners. The Orion software reads the target image files, and scores each shot using an image processing algorithm.
Orion’s Dr. Erik Anderson explains how the system works: “Orion’s scoring process uses a computer vision algorithm known formally as ‘Visual Image Scoring’ (VIS). VIS works in a three-step process. First, VIS calculates the precise center of the aiming bull by extrapolating and using the edge of the aiming bull. Second, VIS locates the center of each shot using a similar process using data from the shot hole edge. Finally, the distance between these two locations, called the radial distance, is used to determine the score value. A key to Orion’s accuracy is using the complete shot hole edge. In comparison, manual methods of scoring only look at the inner most edge point and thus have a limited amount of data to determine the shot value.” Anderson says the Orion Scoring System can be as accurate as very expensive electronic targets, though the Orion requires a much smaller investment in hardware. The only special equipment a shooting club needs is a decent flatbed scanner for the targets. Orion says: “most flat-bed scanners manufactured in the last five years are likely to work with Orion.” Another advantage of the Orion System over electronic targets is that a physical copy of the target exists. The match results won’t disappear if someone fries a computer hard-drive.
Orion Match Management and Score Publishing Functions
The Orion Scoring System can generate ranked results and instantly post them online. Once a shooting facility links up to Orion’s Online Results Center, match results (and target scores) can be uploaded for later viewing on the web. If the range lacks a web connection, the Orion score data can be captured on a thumb drive and moved to a computer hooked up to the web.
How Accurate is Orion?
Orion is designed to meet or exceed the accuracy requirements set by the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF):
Air Rifle: 0.125mm radial error
Air Pistol: 0.40mm radial error
50ft Rifle: 0.122mm radial error
How Fast is Orion?
The time it takes to score a set of targets depends on scanner speed and computer processing power. On a dual-core 2.6GHz machine, with Canon DR-6010C scanner, Orion will score:
An air rifle 3×20 set of targets in 1 minute 25 seconds
A smallbore 3×40 set of targets in 1 minutes 55 seconds
A 60 shot air pistol course in 2 minutes 30 seconds
Orion is available from three sources: Shooter’s Technology, the makers of the Orion Scoring System, Gold Medal Shooting, and 10.9.com. Orion is licensed on an annual basis. The first year license fee is $398. The fee for the second year (and each subsequent year) is $78. Separate licenses are required for air rifle, air pistol and 50-foot pistol. Both the National Three Position Air Rifle Council and USA Shooting have approved Orion-based scoring for airgun matches.
Story based on report by Kyle Jillson in The NRA Blog.
Choate Machine & Tool, www.riflestock.com, offers an affordable tactical stock design for Remington ADL/BDL long and short actions, and Savage 10,11,12,16 (short) and 110,111,112,116 (long) actions. Choate’s ADL/BDL and Savage tactical stocks sport an 80/20 blend of polypropylene and fiberglass, wrapped around a full-length aluminum bedding block. These stocks come with an adjustable spacer system allowing for .75″ of adjustment in length of pull, a rail integrated into the bottom of the fore-end to mount a bipod, and four swivel studs for customized carry options. The stocks have a wide barrel channel allowing most barrel contours to free-float.
The Choat ADL/BDL tactical stocks have some very nice features. We like the fact that the toe (underside) of the buttstock is relatively straight, and long enough to work well in a rear sandbag. The built-in rail on the fore-arm’s underside allows you to move your bipod fore and aft, plus you can easily mount other accessories. The spacer system is a nice feature in an “economy” stock, which retails for just $221.99 at MidwayUSA.com. The stock is sufficiently well-built and rigid. However, it does have a very thick (wide) pistol grip section, which may be a negative for persons with small hands.
Very Positive Review from Stock Owner CLICK HERE for an an honest, thorough owner’s assessment of the Choate tactical stock for the Rem BDL. Posting on SnipersHide.com, the reviewer, MAX100, provides good photos, including side-by-side comparisons with a $400 HS Precision tactical stock. Max 100 concludes the Choate stock is an excellent performer for the price. Max100 writes: “The New Choate Tactical stock is well-made and offers a lot for the money. It is made of virtually indestructible Rynite polymer. This stock is … built like a tank. I gave the butt of the stock a few good whacks with a hammer with no damage whatsoever. Try that with a fiberglass stock. The lower cost of the stock will offer a good alternative for those on a budget. I feel for the most part Choate did a very good job on this stock.”
Stock Sizing: Choate’s Rem tactical stocks fit Remington short action receivers with 6.50-inch action screw spacing, or Rem long actions with 7.35-inch action screw spacing. The Savage Model 10 version fits the Savage factory detachable magazine actions with 4.4″ action screw spacing, while the Model 110 Choate stock fits Savage actions with 5.062″ action screw spacing.
Choate-Stocked F-TR Rifle Wins World & Euro Championships
We know that some folks scoff at the Choate product line, assuming that a lower price means that Choate stocks can’t perform as well as all-fiberglass stocks that may cost two or even three times as much. Well, to those “sticker-price snobs”, consider this. Britain’s Russell Simmonds won the 2009 F-TR World Championship (at Bisley, England) shooting a .308 with a Choate stock. Russell then went on to win the British League Championship (the second time in a row) AND the European Championship. Russell’s gun features a Barnard action, True-flite barrel, Choate “Ultimate Sniper” stock and 8.5-25×50 Leupold scope.
You can now watch complete, 21-minute episodes from 3-Gun Nation’s second season on the NBC Sports Network. Web versions of the 3-Gun Nation TV shows are streamed on 3GunNation.com. Episodes 1 & 2 feature Keith Garcia’s dramatic victory at the 2011 Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun. The “must-watch” third Episode covers the popular Ft. Benning 3-Gun Challenge. More episodes will be released starting March 2, 2012.
Episodes 1 & 2 — Superstition Mountain Mystery 3-Gun
Superstition is one of the premiere matches on the 3-Gun Nation circuit. Watch as 3-Gun pros Keith Garcia, Mark Hanish and 2012 3-Gun Nation Champion Tommy Thacker compete head-to-head in this legendary speed match. Garcia revealed: “I really like the stages at [Supersition Mountain]; they tend to be fast and fun to shoot. I felt confident that if I shot well I would make the Shoot-Off, but when problems come up you know things could get tough. Lucky for me I was not the only shooter who had some rough patches, and I made the Superstition Shoot-Off by a narrow margin.”
As for Thacker, he learned valuable lessons from Superstition and continued to improve throughout the 2011 season, saving his best shooting of the year for when he needed it the most, ultimately becoming the 2012 3-Gun Nation Champion.
Episode Three — Ft. Benning 3-Gun Challenge
Run by the USAMU with support from the U.S. Army, the 2011 Ft. Benning 3-Gun Match was a crowd-pleaser. 3-Gun Nation cameras give an inside look into the life of one of the sport’s most fierce competitors, Clint Upchurch. Also profiled is the 2010 Blue Ridge Mountain 3-Gun and veteran shooter Bruce Piatt. The Ft. Bennng match draws competitors from around the nation. It is unique in that the Army provides armored vehicles and other military hardware “props” not found anywhere else. You can watch the entire Ft. Benning episode in the embedded video below. CLICK HERE to learn more about the Ft. Benning match.
Based on their showings in 10m Air Rifle Olympic trials, four athletes have been nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team. The Men’s 10m Air Rifle nominees are two-time Olympic medalist Matt Emmons and 2011 Pan American Games silver medalist Jonathan Hall. The two women nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team are Sarah Scherer and 2008 Olympian Jamie Gray. Olympic Team selection was based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals. All athletes nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team must now be approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Matt Emmons, already nominated for Men’s 50m Rifle Three Position, led the selection with a total of 2587.7 points. Matt note: “I’m happy to earn another nomination to the team and shoot another event at the Olympics. At the same time, I know the scores that I shot throughout Trials are not going to be competitive at the Games and I know what I need to do to get there.” Close behind Emmons, Jon Hall finished the 2012 Trials with 2586.7 total points. Hall, a senior at Columbus State University in Georgia, finished third in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Airgun Trials, barely missing the team in 2008. Hall said that making the 2012 Olympics team is “a relief and an exciting moment — I’ve been working towards this my whole life.”
In Women’s 10m Air Rifle, 21-year-old Sarah Scherer and 2008 Olympian Jamie Gray received nominations to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. Scherer is now the second member of her family to earn an Olympic berth. Scherer’s brother, Stephen, was a member of the 2008 Team, and passed away in 2011. “Honestly, thank you Lord. Without him I could not have made it through this match,” said Scherer who battled a severe head cold throughout the weekend. “The only thing that I had left in my shooting that was still me was my focus and concentration. I couldn’t hear or see as well as normal and my heart rate was all over the place. I’m just so thankful that I made it through.”
Gray, already nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team for Women’s 50m 3P Rifle, is “looking forward to shooting two events [in London].” Jamie, the wife of USAMU SSG Hank Gray, will continue her training at the USAMU’s ranges in Fort Benning, GA, as well as the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado.
Airgun Course of Fire Explained
In airgun competition, male and female competitors shoot 60 and 40 shots respectively during a single course of fire at electronic targets 10m (32.8 feet) down range. The maximum number of points available is 600 for men and 400 points for women with 10 being the highest score possible per shot. Athletes qualify for the finals by placing in the top eight after an aggregate match score. The final for both events consists of ten shots. The scoring in the finals is unique because decimals are counted, so the maximum number of points a competitor can earn is 109 points with 10.9 being the highest score possible per shot.
In related news, two 10m air pistol shooters secured Team nominations at the Olympic Trials held at Port Clinton, Ohio this past weekend. Now set to compete with Team USA are three-time Olympian SFC Daryl Szarenski, and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Jason Turner. SFC Szarenski is the 2011 Pan-American Games Men’s 10m Air Pistol gold medalist. Daryl came into the weekend with an 18-point advantage over his nearest competitor and finished atop the standings with 2537.4 total points.
David Tubb’s impressive 2-disc DVD, “The Art & Technique of the Modern Match Rifle”, is a great resource for any position shooter. This 2-disc DVD provides over 4.5 hours of instruction and shooting demonstrations. We’ve watched the entire video and can assure you that it is excellent. Novice High Power and prone shooters who apply David’s methods should definitely improve their scores.
David has included highlights from that DVD in a shorter promo video. While the shorter video is a sales tool, it’s very informative in its own right. Watch the video and you’ll learn a great deal just by watching how David shoulders his rifle, and how he adjusts and maintains his shooting position. David shows examples of prone, sitting, and standing positions. In the short “trailer”, David also provides helpful tips on adjusting sights, and placing the spotting scope.
If you shoot Service Rifle, High Power, or prone, you can benefit from watching this short sampler video embedded above. The full 2-disc DVD is available for $49.95 from Creedmoor Sports or DavidTubb.com. With over 4.5 hours of content, the DVD covers all the across-the-course positions, the set-up and use of aperture sights and diopters, High Power and long range targets, the approach method in offhand, proper placement and use of spotting scopes. The DVD includes bonus footage of David shooting strings in all of the across-the-course positions. (NOTE: Creedmoor Sports is running a February DVD Special for a few more days — Buy two (2) DVDs and get a third for 10% off.)
$24.95 DVD Shows How to Set-Up and Maintain Tubb 2000 Rifle
If you want a High Power match rifle that works brilliantly for all positions, definitely consider the Tubb 2000, aka the T2K. Yes it’s very expensive, but since the year 2000, when the T2K was introduced, this design has won more High Power National Championships than any other bolt-action rifle. The video below showcases features of the T2K that allow it to perform so well in all High Power disciplines. With the T2K’s inline, low-profile action, the shooter can cycle the bolt without raising his head off the stock. That’s a huge benefit for the competitor, particularly in rapid-fire stage. Other tubeguns, such those built on Eliseo (CSS) chassis kits, share this quality, but the T2K also has an extremely easy-to-manipulate bolt (and a superb Anschütz trigger). Watch how quickly and easily David can cycle his T2K without upsetting his shooting position.
David has created an informative DVD about the Tubb 2000 rifle that shows how to assemble/disassemble the Tubb 2000 rifle, how to custom-fit the T2K to the shooter, and how to set up the adjustable buttstock for different shooting positions. This Tubb 2000 (T2K) DVD is available for $24.95 from DavidTubb.com.
The complete, final results of the Berger SW Long Range Nationals (at the Ben Avery Range in Arizona) have been posted. You can download all the results from the links at the bottom of this story. In case you missed our previous match report, Trudie Fay was the overall winner in the sling category, Jim Murphy took F-Open Class, and James Croft won F-TR. In team competition, The sling winners were the US National Team composed of Trudie Fay, Bryan Litz, Justin Skaret and Peter Church. In F-Open, the winning team was Team Norma/Berger composed of Larry Bartholome, John Brewer, Danny Biggs, and Jim Murphy. The winning F-TR team was the Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Assn. squad, with Warren Dean, John Chilton, Steve Lockwood and German Salazar. Complete Results are linked below.
This Video by Jim Everson, was shot from the pits at the 2012 Berger SW Nationals:
Michelle Gallagher of Berger Bullets provided this post-match message:
I hope you all enjoyed yourselves at the match and got back home safely. We were so excited that you could all make it, and I’m glad the weather even cooperated!
Thank you to everyone that helped out during the week. There are just too many to list everyone, but the match would not have run as smoothly without you, and we deeply appreciate everything you did. We want to give a special thank-you to Kathy Buell, Jennifer Litz, and Melesia Cisneros for their help. They had no idea what they were getting into when they volunteered to help, but they were invaluable. Also, Matt Schwartzkopf with AZ Game & Fish put in countless hours getting the range ready. He did an amazing job, the range looked beautiful, and we were excited to have him shooting with us! We also want to send a big thank-you to all the companies who donated to the match. We are so thankful for your participation, and I know the shooters were as well.
We’ll be sending out the results CDs as soon as possible, but here are some results for now. I also have them up on the Berger website. We’ll also be posting some photos of the match soon.
Shooting is hugely popular in Norway. Each summer, the Norwegian National Rifle Championship draws 4,000-6,000 participants — an amazing number considering the population of Norway totals just 4.9 million. In Norway, as in Finland (home of Lapua), kids often get started in competitive shooting as early as age 6. In this video, you’ll see four Norwegian kids, Torje (age 8), Anders (age 7), Tonje (age 9), and Mari (age 15) trying out an Izhmash Biathlon rifle.
You’ll be impressed by the steady shooting skills of the youngsters, particularly 8-year-old Torje. He’s a future champion in the making we think.
Here’s another video with 15-year-old Mari, showing her rock-solid form with an Olympic-grade Izmash, using a quick-release arm sling. Note how steady she holds the rifle. This girl can shoot!
The rifles in the videos are both toggle-bolt Izhmash Biathlon guns, made in Russia. Like the German Fortner straight-pull action (used by Anschütz), the Izhmash toggle bolt action allows extremely rapid bolt-cycling. Shooters can quickly eject and reload without disturbing their shooting position or sight picture. The rifle in the first video sold in the USA last year for about $1560.00. That sounds expensive, but it is half the price of an Anschütz Fortner biathlon rifle. Check with AltiusGuns.com for current pricing and availability. The Izhmash Biathlon is offered in two models, the Biathlon 7-4 for adult men and the more compact Biathlon 7-3 for women and juniors. FYI, while the Izhmash 7-3 and 7-4 have not been imported in recent months, MT Guns still has a few LEFT-HAND model 7-4 Biathlon rifles in inventory. Southpaws, if you want one, call MT Guns at (805) 680-0201 before they’re all gone.
SSG (Staff Sgt.) Ty Cooper, a service rifle shooter/instructor with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, was selected as the Military Marksmanship Association (MMA) Soldier of the Year (SOY) for 2011. MMA president Lt. Col. (Ret.) Robert Harbison made the announcement at the MMA Annual Membership Meeting. Harbison presented the Soldier of the Year Award to Cooper — a .45acp pistol donated by Smith & Wesson. Other MMA 2011 SOY nominees were: PFC Matthew Sweeney from the Action Shooting team; SGT Lawrence Cleveland from the Service Pistol team; SFC Thomas Rose, International Pistol; Shotgun team member SSG Josh Richmond; SFC Eric Uptagrafft from the International Rifle team; and SPC Billy Hankins from the Custom Firearms Shop.
Legion Productions, creators of the Military Channel’s popular Top Sniper and Modern Sniper TV shows, has released a feature-length DVD covering the 9th Annual Sniper Comp at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Every year the U.S. Army Sniper School at Ft. Benning hosts the International Sniper Competition. The 9th Annual Comp drew top military marksmen from around the world. Thirty-two teams from the Army, Army National Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force, Special Forces, SWAT and three foreign countries competed in eighteen events and combat simulations over the course of seven very tough days.
Shan Zhang Won Gold in 1992
Looks like the days of manual target scoring are numbered — at least for airgun shooters. Effective April 23, 2012 (after this year’s Sectionals) the NRA will accept targets digitally scanned and scored with the new 
You can now watch complete, 21-minute episodes from 3-Gun Nation’s second season on the NBC Sports Network. Web versions of the 3-Gun Nation TV shows are streamed on 
Based on their showings in 10m Air Rifle Olympic trials, four athletes have been nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team. The Men’s 10m Air Rifle nominees are two-time Olympic medalist Matt Emmons and 2011 Pan American Games silver medalist Jonathan Hall. The two women nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team are Sarah Scherer and 2008 Olympian Jamie Gray. Olympic Team selection was based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals. All athletes nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team must now be approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
In related news, two 10m air pistol shooters secured Team nominations at the Olympic Trials held at Port Clinton, Ohio this past weekend. Now set to compete with Team USA are three-time Olympian SFC Daryl Szarenski, and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Jason Turner. SFC Szarenski is the 2011 Pan-American Games Men’s 10m Air Pistol gold medalist. Daryl came into the weekend with an 18-point advantage over his nearest competitor and finished atop the standings with 2537.4 total points.
David Tubb’s impressive 2-disc DVD, “The Art & Technique of the Modern Match Rifle”, is a great resource for any position shooter. This 2-disc DVD provides over 4.5 hours of instruction and shooting demonstrations. We’ve watched the entire video and can assure you that it is excellent. Novice High Power and prone shooters who apply David’s methods should definitely improve their scores.
Sling Grand Agg.pdf
The rifles in the videos are both toggle-bolt 
