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November 18th, 2010
The November 2010 digital edition of Shooting Sports USA has been released, and it’s definitely worth reading. The lead story explains the correct positions for 3-P smallbore and air rifle shooting. This is a well-organized, easy-to-understand article, packed with large photos from start to finish. If you are a three-position shooter (or want to be), you should definitely read this article.
 Silhouette Competition History
In addition to the position shooting story, the current edition of Shooting Sports USA has an excellent article by Jock Elliot on Metallic Silhouette shooting. Elliot covers the evolution of the sport from its origins in Mexico, to today’s popular rimfire and centerfire silhouette programs that attract thousands of shooters throughout the USA. Elliot explains the silhouette courses of fire and interviews top silhouette shooters including 11-year-old Mallory Nichols, the youngest master in the history of silhouette shooting.
Traveling with Firearms — Helpful Tips
Both competitive shooters and hunters can benefit from Shooting Sports USA’s guide to traveling with firearms, found on pages 9-10 of the November edition. There, you’ll find short reviews of recommended travel cases, plus travel tips from experienced shooters. Carroll Pilant of Sierra Bullets explains why he now marks his ammo: “I color code my primers with a Magic Marker. I was on my way to Brazil for the IHMSA match and TSA dumped all my ammo into a pile to weigh it. If they hadn’t been all the same loads, I would have been in trouble.”
In addition to the November issue, you can read previous editions of Shooting Sports USA. Click on the “Archives” tab at the bottom of the page, after you’ve launched the November issue in your browser. Visit ShootingSportsUSA.com to request a free Digital Edition of Shooting Sports USA each month.
November 18th, 2010
 Team SIG Captain Max Michel has made history with his recent Open Division Title win at the 2010 USPSA Area 2 Championships, held November 10-14, 2010 at the Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club in Mesa, AZ. The Area 2 Championship was the final Area Championship of the 2010 season that Michel needed to win to become the first person in history to win all eight USPSA Area Championships in a single year. Michel competed against 151 shooters in the Open Division and finished with 1135.0241 match points, or 100.00%, to ensure his place in the history books.
About Max Michel
By anyone’s account, Max Michel, Jr. is one of the best shooters in the world. With three World Speed Shooting Championships (2009, 2007 and 2005), five USPSA National Championships (2009, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004), 2 US Steel National Championships (2009, and 2008), more than 30 USPSA Area Championships, and over 80 Major Championship wins, Max Michel has become a dominant force in the pistol shooting sports. As an international competitor, Michel has represented the United States in the last four International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) World Shoots and returned home each time with team gold medals. He will again represent the nation in Rhodes, Greece at the 2011 World Shoot and anchor the USA’s Open Division team. Max shot for ten years with the USAMU team before becoming Sig Sauer’s Team Captain.
This video profiles Michel and shows him competing with the USAMU, and later with Team Sig:
November 17th, 2010
by Steve Cooper, CMP Writer
 Having passed muster at the 2010 CMP Eastern and Western Games, the Vintage Sniper Match has been approved as the newest match to be held at Camp Perry in 2011, where the Sniper Match will be sponsored by Hornady Manufacturing. As it turns out, a top Hornady staffer excelled at the 2010 Western Games Sniper match, held recently at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, AZ. The duo of Hornady’s Dave Emary, 52, and Bob Schanen, 62, placed first (out of 14 teams) with an Aggregate score of 559-11X out of 600 possible. Emary fired 141-2X and Schanen 148-4X at 300 yards and the tandem fired matching 135s at 600 yards with Emary scoring five Xs. Glendale “Don” Rutherford, 58, and Brad Donoho, 26, finished second with a 547-7X Aggregate. Emary, chief ballistic scientist at Hornady Manufacturing, said he proposed the idea for the match several years ago as a way to include the popular vintage sniper rifles which, until now, had no official competition format.
 Vintage Sniper Match Course of Fire
The Vintage Sniper Match is a challenging prone slow-fire, two-person team event, fired at 300 and 600 yards using scoped vintage military rifles of the Korean War era and earlier. Both team members shoot and spot, alternating roles throughout the match. The event requires good communication and marksmanship in order to score well. After firing sighters at the 300-yard line, both team members fire 10 shots at a target that is exposed for only 20 seconds per shot. Targets are pulled and marked after each shot and the target rises again after a 20-second period. The team’s observer/coach may call out sight adjustments or “Kentucky Windage” corrections as needed prior to the following shot, until firing is complete.
With targets 600 yards in the distance, shooters of vintage military rifles must rely on their observer/coaches and knowledge of shooting conditions to give themselves an opportunity to score well in the new Vintage Sniper Match. After the first 10 shots are fired the shooter and the observer/coach switch positions, make ready and repeat the same sequence. Upon completion of fire at 300, teams move back to the 600 yard line and fire the course again. Though non-scoped rifles will be permitted at the 2011 National Vintage Sniper Match, priority for squadding will be given to competitors with scoped rifles first. Marc Mustafa, 57, of Littleton, Colorado said he enjoyed the Vintage Sniper Test Match because “he likes to move.” Used to shooting elk across the canyons in his home state, Mustafa said the new match format is right up his alley.
Because the match was a test event, each team member was given 15 shots for record at the Western Games but that total will be reduced to 10 (20 total) in the official match in 2011. Achievement awards were not presented following the test match, but the top three teams were acknowledged for their efforts. A total of 14 teams participated and their results may be found on CMP’s online Competition Tracker. For complete results of the Vintage Sniper Test Match and all 2010 CMP Western Games matches, log onto the CMP’s Match Results Webpage.
November 17th, 2010
Larry and Brenda Potterfield of MidwayUSA have donated $1.6 Million to the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation to support youth shooting programs. The Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) is an educational-athletic organization that exists to introduce school-age youths to the clay target sports and to facilitate their continued involvement by providing, promoting, and perpetuating opportunities to safely and enjoyably participate and compete in a high-quality, team-based sport led by trained adult coaches focused on enhancing the personal growth and development of their athletes.
Larry Potterfield, CEO of MidwayUSA, remarked, “Teaching our youth about shooting and shooting safety will ensure a better future for America. Brenda and I are proud to partner with SSSF and their efforts to change the future by engaging youths through scholastic shooting programs.” Russ Arnold, Exec. Director of SSSF, added: “A donation like this from the Potterfields will go a long way in helping us achieve our mission of developing more young shooters, and furthering the future of our sport.”
November 15th, 2010
Olin Corp. (NYSE: OLN) has announced that its Winchester centerfire operations and approximately 1,000 jobs will be relocated to Oxford, Mississippi (Lafayette County). The company’s decision follows two failed ratification votes by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, in which employees twice rejected a union proposal that would have allowed Centerfire Operations to remain in East Alton, Illinois. The company informed the unions in August that it was considering relocating operations to Oxford to enhance the competitiveness of its operations. The company engaged in discussions with union leaders over the past two months, but Olin’s final offers were rejected, so Olin decided to move its operations down South.
Olin’s relocation decision was influenced by an incentive package offered by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. According to Business Week, the Mississippi State Development Authority will give Lafayette County $25,000,000 “to build a new 500,000-square-foot building for Olin.” The new publicly-owned Olin plant will be built near the current Winchester facility in Oxford. Lafayette County is also “providing the site and site preparation work.” CLICK HERE for more details from Business Week.
November 14th, 2010
 Friday, November 19, is National Ammo Day, a day when gun-owners are encouraged to purchase at least 100 rounds of ammunition. National Ammo Day is an annual BUYcott event, a grassroots demonstration of the numbers of committed American firearms owners. There are an estimated 75 MILLION gun owners in the United States of America. If each gun owner or Second Amendment supporter buys 100 rounds of ammunition, that’s 7.5 BILLION rounds in the hands of law-abiding citizens!
Ammo Day is based on the principle that there is strength in numbers. Consider this — when politicians see the amount of tax dollars generated through ammunition sales those politicians will be less inclined to pass restrictive legislation. Likewise, when millions of lawful firearms owners “vote with their pocketbooks” on Ammo Day, it demonstrates that supporters of the Second Amendment are serious, organized, and willing to spend money to protect their rights. That’s something anti-gun politicians can’t ignore.
November 12th, 2010
 The U.S. Army Reserve Shooting Team (USAR) performed superbly at this year’s Armed Forces Skill at Arms Meeting (AFSAM), conducted in October at Camp Robinson, Arkansas. The USAR Team captured the Overall AFSAM championship and the coveted Lexington Green Trophy.
First held in 1991, AFSAM is an multi-nation shooting competition open to all NATO countries. At AFSAM 2010, competitors hailed from seven countries. Eighteen formal teams competed, with several more squads shooting for honors. In addition to U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard teams from the United States, shooters from Canada, Australia, England, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway competed in this year’s events.
Strong Individual and Team Performances
USAR shooters started strong in the nine individual events, taking seven first places, five second places and five third places. In the overall individual rifle aggregate, USAR team members took gold for first place and four of the top ten places. In the individual pistol aggregate, USAR shooters took first through fourth and secured six of the top ten places..Most impressively off all, USAR team shooter MSG Lance Espinosa won first place overall in both rifle and pistol matches.
 In team events, USAR teams took five first places, two second places, and four third places, earning trophies in nine of the ten AFSAM team events. In AFSAM team competition, National Teams vie for the Lexington Green Trophy, a Grand Aggregate comprised of the International Service Rifle match and Close Quarter Battle (CQB) match. The first is shot from 100 to 500 yards and ends with a run down, shooting at every yard line from 500 back to 100. The Close Quarter Battle starts with a mock casualty evacuation and ammo resupply exercise, requiring teams to run with two litters each loaded with 150 pound “casualties” and sprint to the firing point with eight 30 pound ammo cans. Shooters then fire four stages of a close quarters battle course. In this demanding CQB Match the USAR team finished 93 points ahead of the next closest team. That secured Lexington Green Trophy for the USAR team, as well as the overall AFSAM win.
November 12th, 2010
Just when we thought we’d seen everything, Horus Vision has teamed up with 5.11 to create a wristwatch with a built-in ballistics calculator. Priced at $199.95, the 5.11 Ballistics Field Watch incorporates the Horus Vision SureShot™ ballistic calculator, plus a digital compass to indicate direction and degree. The watch has a molded polycarbonate body, offered in three color choices: black, olive drab, and coyote tan. Equipped with a backlight for night use, the 5.11 Field Watch also features dual time zones, a stopwatch, a countdown timer, and alarm.
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 Full-featured Ballistics Calculator
The ballistics functions are fairly complete. Using the four control buttons you can input temp, scope height (above bore), altitude, zero range, target distance, inclination (up/down angle), wind speed, wind direction, bullet BC (Ballistic Coefficient), and Muzzle Velocity. Then the watch will calculate your elevation and windage correction in either Mils or MOA-fraction clicks. It’s amazing that Horus packed all these features into a normal-sized watch.
CLICK HERE for Interactive Watch Demo.
NOTE: This online product demo is very cool. By clicking the buttons on an interactive watch mock-up, you can test all the functions and see how to input values into the Ballistics Calculator.
We haven’t compared the Horus/5.11 Ballistics Calculator watch with more sophisticated ballistics programs, but if you can remember all the buttons to push (and in what order) this watch appears to be a compact alternative to a laptop or PDA with ballistics software installed. Buyers have rated the watch highly: “Brillliant — I ordered the 5.11 Tactical Field Watch for my husband to use on his tour in Afghanistan. He loves it. He loves every feature it comes with and says that it’s accurate and durable.”
CLICK HERE for more detailed product review from DefenseReview.com.
November 7th, 2010
 The Ruger Rimfire Challenge World Championship concludes today at the Hogue Range near Morro Bay, California. This is a unique, family-friendly two-gun shooting event using rimfire handguns and rifles. Competitors engage steel targets in a variety of scenarios. There are separate classes for revolvers and self-loading pistols. A wide variety of rimfire rifles are allowed, including semi-auto, bolt action, pump action and lever-action. As you’d expect, Ruger 10/22s are the most popular choice in rifles.
More Bang for Your Buck
For competitors, the Rimfire Challenge offers the same rapid-fire action as a centerfire Multi-gun match, but at a fraction of the cost. No big-buck custom firearms are needed, and with the low cost of rimfire ammo, a shooter can send hundreds of rounds downrange without breaking the bank. With the current tight economy, we predict increased interest in rimfire action shooting. Jim Shepherd of the Shooting Wire agrees: “With center-fire ammunition prices being what they are, .22 caliber rimfire makes a lot of sense. One indicator of the popularity of .22 caliber shooting is the Ruger Rimfire Challenge, a series of regional matches held across the United States. The finals are this weekend in California, and the [event has grown] far beyond expectations.”
At the Ruger Rimfire Challenge Championship, shooters compete in Junior and Senior Divisions, with separate awards for male and female shooters. It’s a great way for people of any age or skill level to get started in competitive shooting. In the video below, Ruger’s Ken Jorgensen explains how the Ruger Rimfire Challenge works, and why it has become so popular.
Superlative Range on the Pacific Coast
The Ruger Rimfire Challenge World Championship is held at the Hogue Action Pistol Range, a modern facility with 10 shooting bays. The Hogue Range is part of a large complex of shooting sports facilities operating on a former U.S. Army test range located between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay, California. The public rifle range, located just North of the Hogue Action Pistol Range, is shown below. The San Luis Obispo region is a great weekend destination for the whole family, with beaches and tourist attractions nearby. Visit the San Luis Obispo Sportsmen’s Assocation (SLOSA) website to learn more about the Hogue Range and adjacent shooting facilities.
November 6th, 2010
Need parts for your Remington rifle or shotgun? You can spend hours searching around the web for a few hard-to-find parts… OR you can simply go straight to the source, Remington’s online Parts Store. Remington now operates a modern, searchable online store selling parts for Rem 700 rifles and actions, plus parts for other Remington rifles and shotguns.
Prices are pretty good too. An ejector spring is just $3.20. Likewise a stainless, hex front guard screw is just $3.20. Bigger components are offered as well. Stainless Long Action BDL bottom metal is $82.00, and you can purchase a complete Rem 700 firing pin assembly for $52.00. All cataloged parts can be orderd quickly and easily with a secure shopping cart system. If you have questions about the parts you need, just call Remington’s toll-free customer service line, (800) 243-9700.
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