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August 29th, 2013
 If you want a good chuckle, watch this video. Hornady, with corporate tongue placed firmly in cheek, has created a light-hearted video response to concerns about production cutbacks/changes. Here you see Steve Hornady (President) and Jason Hornady (Vice President) in a very funny intro, after which Steve delivers a serious message assuring customers that Hornady’s factories are working full tilt, seven days a week. Do watch this very amusing video. We expect it will both raise your spirits and calm your concerns. Well played, Hornady….
After the Daily Bulletin reported that Hornady was temporarily suspending production of many types of bullets and ammunition, the story went viral on the internet, unleashing a flurry of worry on other gun forums. Those complaining the loudest apparently did not actually read our story, which explained that Hornady would continue at full production capacity. Hornady was merely shifting production, for the next few months, to items highest in demand. But some folks panicked, worried that their favorite Hornady bullets or ammo types would be gone for good. In fact, Hornady is shipping more ammo and bullets than ever — just fewer specific product types.
 Hornady Production Changes
–What Still Will Be Produced
Hornady suspended production of some products in order to “focus … efforts on the most popular and highest-demand products and ship more total product.” In the months ahead, Hornady will continue to produce over 270 different projectiles and over 140 types of loaded ammo.
Upon seeing ten-page-long list of suspended products, some folks become overly concerned because they did not realize that Hornady will continue to churn out hundreds of bullet types and ammo types — and, in fact, the most popular products will now be manufactured in greater-than-ever quantities. On its website, Hornady now lists all the high-demand bullets and ammo types that remain in production for the balance of 2013.
CLICK HERE to View Updated Bullet and Ammunition Production List
CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD Updated Bullet and Ammunition Production List
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 28th, 2013
We all know that precision factory ammo, and all types of reloading components, are in short supply, with demand often out-stripping supply. Now RUAG Ammotec (RUAG), Europe’s leading producer of ammunition, will be stepping up production with the goal of expanding sales in the USA and worldwide. RUAG produces the elite RWS ammo/components and also markets RWS Sport, Geco, Swiss P, MFS, and Rottweil brand products. See the full product line at Ruag-usa.com.
 
RUAG is significantly extending its production capacities and investing in new systems. Ruag states “This step has become necessary because of the [high demand] in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary and the USA.”
To bring more ammo to market, RUAG Ammotec is hiring new workers and investing over 15 million Euros to enhance production facilities. Increased capacity will be achieved via a “major investment program in the upper double-digit million range” over the coming three years. The production expansion “is the biggest project of its kind in the history of RUAG”, according to Cyril Kubelka, CEO of RUAG Ammotec. “Expanding our production network across all our locations will ideally increase our current capacities. This is the only way for us to be able to meet the high international demand even better in future and reinforce our market position.”
RUAG is a Swiss technology company, with its headquarters in Bern. It has production sites in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Hungary and Austria and USA, and sales companies in UK, France, Belgium, Brasil and Malaysia.
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 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 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 |
August 21st, 2013
The U.S. F-Class Nationals, now underway in Raton, NM, are a big success. This event has drawn huge numbers of talented shooters from across America (and around the world). There are roughly 180 F-TR shooters plus over 170 F-Open Shooters. That’s a record turn-out we’re told. The Nationals got off to an impressive start — the best shooters were center-punching the 1000-yard targets right out of the gate. Chris Ford shot a 150-11X in the first F-0pen match of Day 1, when many other 150s were shot, including a 150-9X by Larry Bartholome. Many 150s were also shot on Day 2 during the first match. On both days, conditions got tougher over the course of the day.
In F-Open, after two days of shooting, William Wittman (894-39X) enjoys a two-point lead over Larry Batholome (892-42X). In F-TR class, Lige Harris (885-34X) has been the class of the field so far, posting the top scores on both Day 1 (445-18X) and Day 2 (440-18X). The level of competition is extraordinarily high this year — so high that some past National Champions are well down the pack. Overall, if you look at the complete score sheets linked below, you’ll see that competition has been very tight, with many shooters clustered with near-identical scores.
Download DAY ONE F-Open and F-TR Results | Download DAY TWO F-Open and F-TR Results
F-Open Results Day 1 (Top 10)
William WITTMAN 148-7 150-10 150-4 448-21X
Martin LOBERT 149-8 150-6 148-9 447-23X
Gordon OGG 148-9 148-7 150-8 446-24X
Larry BARTHOLOME 150-9 148-6 148-6 446-21X
Speedy GONZALEZ 149-8 149-4 148-8 446-20X
Marce BEEN 148-6 149-3 149-8 446-17X
Bob SEBOLD 149-7 148-3 149-6 446-16X
Kenny ADAMS 150-7 145-7 150-8 445-22X
Mike MCGILL 146-4 150-10 149-8 445 22X
Freddy HALTOM 149-6 148-7 148-5 445-18X |
F-Open Results Day 2 (Top 10)
Larry BARTHOLOME 150-10 148-6 148-6 446-22X
William WITTMAN 150-7 147-7 149-4 446-18X
Freddy HALTOM 149-10 149-8 147-4 445-22X
Kenneth PADILLA 150-8 148-8 147-4 445-20X
Steven BLAIR 150-11 147-7 147-3 444-21X
Charles BALLARD 149-11 149-4 146-2 444-17X
Bob SEBOLD 150-9 148-1 146-5 444-15X
Emil KOVAN 150-6 147-4 147-3 444-13X
Jeff TRAYLOR 149-6 148-1 146-3 443-10X
Speedy GONZALEZ 149-8 146-7 147-6 442-21X
Pete PETROS 148-5 147-8 147-8 442-21X |
F-TR Results Day 1 (Top 10)
Lige HARRIS 149-5 146-6 150-7 445-18X
John CHILTON 150-7 146-3 146-4 442-14X
James CROFTS 149-6 143-3 149-7 441-16X
Paul KENT 147-4 147-6 147-3 441-13X
Philip KELLEY 146-6 144-5 150-9 440-20X
Derek RODGERS 148-10 143-3 149-6 440-19X
Michael SMITH 148-4 145-3 147-3 440-10X
Ian KLEMM 147-5 146-4 146-2 439-11X
Daniel POHLABEL 148-8 142-7 148-4 438-19X
Radoslaw CZUPRYNA 147-6 141-1 150-9 438-16X |
F-TR Result Day 2 (Top 10)
Lige HARRIS 147-7 148-5 145-4 440-16X
Derek RODGERS 147-3 147-4 146-4 440-11X
Gerry WIENS 148-4 145-2 145-6 438-12X
Trudie FAY 146-3 146-4 146-3 438-10X
Ian KLEMM 149-6 145-7 142-5 436-18X
Alan BARNHART 148-9 144-2 144-1 436-12X
William LITZ 148-5 143-4 144-4 435-13X
Laura PERRY 146-5 146-4 143-2 435-11X
Allen TAMPKE 147-4 141-4 146-3 434-11X
Stephen SIRCAUSA 148-7 143-8 142-4 433-19X
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August 19th, 2013
The U.S. F-Class National Championships are underway at the Whittington Range in Raton, New Mexico. The event commenced yesterday with squadded practice. Today the first official matches started at 8:00 am, with threee 15-shot invidivual events at 1000-yards. The event is hosted at Raton by the Bald Eagle Rifle Club (BERC). CLICK HERE for match information.
U.S. National F-TR Team on Practice Day…
Course of fire — Day One
- Match 1: 1000-yard individual slow fire prone. Unlimited sighting shots and 15 shots for
record in a time of 22 minutes.
- Match 2: 1000-yard individual slow fire prone. Two (2) sighting shots and 15 shots for record in a time of 22 minutes.
- Match 3: 1000-yard individual slow fire prone. Two (2) sighting shots and 15 shots for record in a time of 22 minutes.
Because the 2013 F-Class World Championships will be held at Raton immediately after the U.S. Nationals, many international shooters will be attending the U.S. Championships this week. The firing line definitely has a multi-national look this year. Below is U.S. F-Open National Team Captain Shiraz Balolia with a proud Canadian competitor. For once Shiraz may have been one-upped in the hatsmanship competition.
Photos courtesy Shiraz Balolia and Team USA F-TR Rifle Team
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