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May 3rd, 2011
In a few more weeks, many readers will hit the road for a summer holiday. Would you like to find a convenient shooting range near your destination? Perhaps you’ve recently relocated and want to join a shooting club near your new residence. Or maybe you’re just looking for a facility close to home that offers instruction or specialized programs for women or juniors. You can quickly find exactly what you want at the WhereToShoot.org website.
A service of the NSSF (Nat’l Shooting Sports Foundation), WhereToShoot.org offers a Searchable Database of pistol, rifle, and shotgun ranges around the country. You can search by state, or select a particular distance from any zip code. The database is very complete. The individual range pages also include web addresses, phone numbers, and map links. The example below shows the results of a search for rifle-specific ranges in Arizona:
Five-Star Ranges
Your search results may reveal ranges identified with up to five stars. This is a rating system developed by the National Association of Shooting Ranges (NASR) that distinguishes these ranges as the best at providing quality-level recreational experiences.
May 3rd, 2011
All gun owners, hunters, and target shooters are invited to participate in the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Photo Contest. Here’s your chance to win a $50 Cabela’s Gift Card and have your photos showcased on the NSSF website. Each month, from May through December 2011, NSSF will announce a contest theme*. This month’s theme is “Spring Hunts”, so post a photo of your spring hunt — whether turkey, game birds or small game.”
How To Enter NSSF Contest
To enter the photo contest, click the Contest Tab on NSSF’s Facebook page. Photos may be posted during the first three weeks of each month. (To post a photo, you must first “Like” the NSSF Facebook page.) At the end of the month, the ten photos with the most votes will be declared winners, and the top voter-getter each month will receive a $50 Cabela’s Gift Card. Click HERE for Contest RULES.
* Other monthly themes will focus on target shooting, youth participation, family and friends, hunter orange, wildlife conservation, AR-style modern sporting rifles and handguns.
May 2nd, 2011
The National Rifle Association’s Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Pittsburgh, PA wrapped up yesterday. The day’s special events started with the annual Prayer Breakfast, and concluded with a rousing seminar featuring Ted Nugent. Mid-day Seminars included: Women’s Pistol Instructor Training, Advanced Handloading Techniques, and a seminar on 100 Years of the Model 1911 pistol. As on Friday and Saturday, hundreds of exhibitors displayed firearms products, plus hunting and outdoor gear. This slide-show from the NRA Blog features some famous faces and other highlights from the NRA’s 3-day meeting in Pittsburgh. The next NRA Annual Meeting will be held April 13-15, 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri.
At the Glock booth, Top Shot Champs Chris Reed (Season 2) and Iain Harrison (Season 1) were on hand to meet the public, along with Gunny R. Lee Ermey. The appearance of “simple country boy” Reed drew much attention, as many booth visitors had watched the soft-spoken Reed capture his title only days before on the dramatic final episode of Top Shot Season 2. With two million+ viewers per week, Top Shot is a big hit. Top Shot Season 3 is in production and the show’s producers are now interviewing contestants for Season 4.
Story by Lars Dalseide, courtesy the NRA Blog
May 1st, 2011
What’s a “wallet group”? It’s a singularly spectacular proof target that entitles its bearer to bragging rights. The wallet group may or may not have been shot in competition, and, by definition, it may not be repeatable. But it exists as incontrovertible proof that, at least once, the stars aligned, and the wind gods smiled on the shooter.
 Five Shots in 0.178 MOA at 1000 Yards
A couple seasons back, Forum member and F-Class shooter Gary Wood was testing his 6.5-284 rifle at the 1000-yard range in Coalinga, California, getting ready for an up-coming long range match. In practice, Gary nailed a witnessed 1.859″ five-shot group, with four of the five shots well under an inch. Use this as proof to win those club-house arguments about whether it is possible to shoot “in the ones” at 1000 yards. Gary’s group worked out to 0.178 MOA!
Gary reports: “I was load testing with 5-shot groups. Each group was shot on a new F-Class center and pulled by Ret. Master Chief Jerry Pullens and spotted by an other long-range shooter. The second 5-shot load group looked really small … by our reckoning four out of five shots measured under an inch. I was amazed. What’s more, when I shot the group, the 4th shot blew the spindle out of the 3rd shot. My spotter saw that in his scope and Jerry Pullens told me about it afterwards”.
As measured with the OnTarget Software, using a scan of the target, Gary plotted the group size at 1.859″ total for five shots, or 0.178 MOA. Gary noted: “I had everyone sign the target which I saved and photographed.” Yes, Gary, this may be the wallet group to end all wallet groups. You should have that target framed.
Gary’s Load and 6.5-284 Rifle Specs
Gary’s load was 48 grains of Hodgdon H4350 and CCI BR-2 primers, pushing 142gr Sierra MKs, in Lapua 6.5-284 brass. The rifle features an F-class, single-shot Surgeon action with a Bartlein 5R barrel chambered with a no-turn neck. Gary says “The barrel only has 70 rounds through it… yep, I think it will shoot.” Gary did all of the gunsmithing and barrel work himself.
Did Gary have any special reloading tricks? Apparently not: “Other than weighing the cases and the powder very carefully, there really were no magical reloading secrets used. The Sierra 142s were moly-coated straight from the box of 500, but they were not weighed or checked for bearing surface. The powder was dropped with a RCBS ChargeMaster then checked with an Acculab scale (to under a tenth). The Lapua cases were not neck-turned, but I did weight-sort them. The five cases for the small group weighed: 195.05, 195.03, 195.03, 195.03, 195.01.”
April 29th, 2011
 If you can’t make it to the NRA Annual Meeting (and Exhibits) in Pittsburgh, PA, you can still monitor developments via radio. Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Radio will broadcast live from the NRA Annual Meeting this Saturday, April 30th, from 12pm – 3pm Eastern at the Taurus Booth, #1937. All attendees are encouraged to stop by the booth and “watch” the radio show. Guests will include ‘Hickock 45′ (popular YouTube Gun reviewer), plus representatives from major manufacturers including Liberty Safe, Ruger, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson, Taurus, and Timney Triggers. If you miss the live broadcast, you can download a recorded podcast version from the Gun Talk Archive.
 The NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits, April 29th through May 1st, are free for NRA Members (tickets required for banquets). It’s worth attending if you can spare a day. Attendees can check out hundreds of exhibits from firearms and shooting accessory companies, meet celebrities, and talk with gun enthusiasts and shooters from around the USA.
April 28th, 2011
The 2011 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits officially kick off tomorrow, April 29th. However, if you’ll arrive in Pittsburgh, PA early, you can occupy yourself with many interesting afternoon activities, including air gun shooting:
2:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Member registration
Registration opens this year and offers a great chance for you to take care of this early, allowing you to walk right by the line and into the convention center Friday morning.
 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Pyramid Air Air Gun Range
Pyramid’s indoor Air Gun range in the Lawrence Convention Center opens at 2 pm today. For a $1.00 fee you can shoot the latest models of air rifles, air pistols, air silhouette rifles and 10-meter running game target rifles. CLICK HERE to see all the different models available.
2:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Antique Guns & Gold Showcase
At the Guns and Gold Showcase in the Convention Center upper lobby, experts from the National Firearms Museum can evaluate your antique guns, explaining markings and appraising current market values.
5:00 pm – National NRA Foundation Banquet
This evening’s National NRA Foundation Banquet (ticket required), includes dinner, silent auctions, games, and special drawings with all proceeds going to support The NRA Foundation.
April 26th, 2011
From April 20th through the 24th, the NBRSA conducted its National long-range Benchrest Championships at the Sac Valley Shooting Center in Sloughhouse, CA. The 600-Yard Nationals were held on April 20-21. Next was an F-Class Benchrest match on Friday the 22nd. This was followed by the two-day, 1000-yard Nationals on Saturday and Sunday, April 23-24.
Complete Match Scores (MS Word files): 600-Yard Results | 1000-Yard Results | F-Class Bench Results
Peter White was crowned the new NBRSA 600-yard Champion. Peter, who shot a 6mm BRX in both Light Gun and Heavy Gun classes, finished with 17 ranking points overall, well ahead of runner-up Greg Wilson (24 points). (In the two-gun overall ranking, fewer points are better). A highlight of this event was Bruce Bangeman’s 280-7X score, which has been logged as a potential NBRSA World Record.
Bruce Bangeman was the “Top Shot” in the NBRSA 1000-Yard Championships held on Saturday and Sunday. Bangeman won the 2-Gun Overall to be named the NBRSA 1K champion, with 23 ranking points. Bob Hoppe finished second with 26 points, and our friend Bruce Duncan of MT Guns finished third with 32 ranking points. CLICK HERE for a PDF file with complete 1000-yard results.
Despite rather blustery weather, there was a good turnout for all the events, with over 30 shooters on the line in both the 600-yard and 1000-yard Tournaments. Bruce Duncan, who finished 3rd overall in the 1K event, told us that: “Conditions were tough off and on throughout the match. We had targets blown off the board in some events. The winds were especially nasty on Sunday morning.”
600-Yard NBRSA National Championship
National 2-Gun 600yd Champion: Pete White, 17 points
2nd: Greg Wilson, 24 points
3rd: Gary Gagliono, 27 points
4th: Ken Schroeder, 33 points
5th: Jay Cutright, 34 points (tiebreaker- higher finish in 12 tgt grp)
6th: Robert Hoppe, 34 points
7th: Lou Murdica, 38 points
8th: Connie Murdica, 40 points
9th: Bruce Bangeman, 41 points
10th: John Crawford, 44 points
2 Gun Score Champion: Pete White 798 7x
2 Gun Group Champion: Jay Cutright 3.291
2011 Light Gun Score Champion: Bruce Bangeman, 280-7X (Pending World Record)
2011 Light Gun Group Champion: Jay Cutright, 2.670″
2011 Heavy Gun Score Champion: Connie Murdica, 535-3X
2011 Heavy Gun Group Champion: Jay Cutright, 3.912″
1000-Yard NBRSA National Championship
National 2-Gun 1K Champion: Bruce Bangeman, 23 points
2nd: Bob Hoppe, 26 points
3rd: Bruce Duncan, 32 points
4th: Billy Copelin, 37 points (won tiebreaker)
5th: Lou Murdica, 37 points
6th: Jay Cutright, 37 points
7th: Gary Gagliano, 42 points
8th: Greg Wilson, 44 points
9th: Curt Mendenhall, 51 points
10th: Everet Smith, 52 points
2 Gun Score Champion: Jay Cutright, 781-3X
2 Gun Group Champion: Bruce Bangeman, 8.279″
2011 Light Gun Score Champion: Gary Gagliano, 271-3X
2011 Light Gun Group Champion: Bruce Bangeman, 6.690″
2011 Heavy Gun Score Champion: Jay Cutright, 534-3X
2011 Heavy Gun Group Champion: Bruce Bangeman, 9.869″
 F-Class Benchrest Match
In addition to the 600-yard Nationals and 1K Nationals, this year the Folsom Shooting Club conducted something relatively new — an “F-Class Benchrest” event. On Friday, a benchrest match for F-Class rifles was held. This allows the F-TR guys and the F-Open shooters with their 22-pounders to shoot from a seated position. Jerry Tierney reports: “The Friday F-Class Bench match was won by Tom Price (right) with a 386. In second place was Charles Greer with a 386 with less Xs.” Jerry finished in 3rd place “with a lot more Xs but only 385 points”. The first match was fired on the F-class target. The second match was on the slightly smaller 1000-yard bench rest target.
Shooters Pick 1K Benchrest Targets for Future F-Bench Matches
There was a vote on which target to shoot on for F-Class bench match and it was a close vote. Bob Hoppe observed that any range holding an F-bench match will have the 1000-yard Benchrest targets, but may not have F-Class 1000 yard targets. Another vote was taken and the 1000-yard Benchrest targets will be used for F-Bench matches.
Match photos courtesy Lou Murdica.
April 26th, 2011
 MidwayUSA is releasing a new series of Firearm Safety Videos. These can be viewed free at www.midwayusa.com/safety, or you can Download the Videos for later playback.
These professionally-produced, High-Def videos teach safe handling and use of firearms. Each 90-second video covers one or more Basic Firearm Safety Rules. “Firearm Safety, Gun Safety or Hunter Safety; it doesn’t matter which term you use, this is a very important topic for everyone who spends time around guns – whether as a collector, a shooter or a hunter,” says Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA. Potterfield will announce the new Videos on Saturday, May 30, at 1:30 pm at the NRA Annual Meeting in Pittsburg, PA.
MidwayUSA VIDEO Downloads: Right click and “save as” to download to your computer.
All videos are in Movie (MOV) format. The latest version of QuickTime Player is required to play videos. Download QuickTime Player Now »
April 22nd, 2011
As posted in the Calguns.net a while back, there was a nasty out-of-battery firing incident involving a BOHICA Arms .510 DTC AR15 upper. The cause of the out-of-battery firing is not certain but it appears that the ammo was not sized properly and the firing pin may have been stuck in the extended position. As a result, the round went off before the bolt was closed with the lugs seated. In the process, the bolt handle broke off, as the bolt retracted violently, actually ending up outside the bolt raceway.
The shooter was badly injured, with multiple broken bones and ligament damage to his left hand and tissue damage to his right hand. The shooter was holding the rifle with his left hand near the front of the chamber where a gas vent was located. Gas and shrapnel existed the vent hole causing the severe injuries to the left hand.
From range reports, it appears that the shooter had been struggling to chamber previous rounds, and was having trouble closing the bolt. After talking with one of the rangemasters, a poster on AR15.com reported: “The guy was using new reloads that weren’t exactly fitting well into his chamber. [The shooter] was slamming the bolt handle with his palm trying to get the cases to lock in. The guy was also slamming the bolt forward full force from the rearmost position back and forth trying to ram the cases into chamber in an attempt to squeeze the rounds in so the bolt could close. Finally, on one of the attempts … the possibly stuck firing pin rams into the primer and explodes the round when he slams the bolt forward (zero lug engagement hence the KB) and shooter puts himself into a world of hurt.”
Lessons Learned — Don’t Try to Force Oversize Ammo into a Chamber
By all reports, the shooter’s ammo wasn’t fitting his chamber properly. In an effort to force the ammo into the chamber, he worked the bolt with excessive force. That MAY have caused the firing pin to extend or the hammer to fall without the trigger being pulled. One theory is that the trigger system may have been modified, allowing the hammer to fall from the force of slamming the bolt forward. Others have speculated that the firing pin may have failed to retract because the bolt handle was over-torqued — a safety issue listed in the BOHICA manual.
Whatever caused the out-of-battery firing, it appears that improperly-sized ammo (or a poorly-cut chamber) was the root cause of the problems. If you go to a range and find your bolt does not close easily over the ammo — STOP SHOOTING — don’t try to force the issue. Disaster may result. To paraphrase Johnnie Cochran: “If the ammo doesn’t fit, it’s time to quit”.
Photos by Wildcard, originally posted on Calguns.net.
April 21st, 2011
 USA Shooting, the national governing body for Olympic shooting sports, has named its new team of Assistant National Rifle Coaches: Marcus Raab, Thomas Tamas, and Ernie Vande Zande. These men will work with the National Coaches to help develop junior talent, support National Team members, and promote the shooting sports.
Raab, the NRA’s National Coach Trainer for Rifle and Pistol, has helped lead the National Coach Development Staff program. Raab is also a highly-respected Juniors’ coach. National Rifle Coach Major Dave Johnson credits Raab for much of the junior team’s recent success, including the 2010 smallbore World Championship win by our junior women. As a competitor, Thomas Tamas was a world-class rifleman, particularly in prone. A past World Champion, Tamas has set multiple world records. He has also served as an instructor (and shooter) for the USAMU Rifle Team. Vande Zande has been a long-time coach, competitor, and manager of Olympic-style shooting sports. Like Tamas, Vande Zande was also a world record holder in men’s prone.
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