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March 15th, 2010
Texas Christian University (TCU) won its first-ever NCAA Rifle Championship, on its home floor at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. In this coed sport, the all-female TCU team triumphed over the all-male Alaska-Fairbanks squad. In the 31-year-old history of NCAA rifle shooting, this is the first time an all-women squad has captured the National title. Way to go girls!
The men from Alaska-Fairbanks did win the .22LR segment of the competition, but the TCU ladies’ superior air rifle shooting secured the overall team title. TCU’s Sara Scherer also won the Individual NCAA Smallbore Championship. (CLICK HERE for team profiles.) TCU (4,675 points) won in its fourth NCAA appearance after previous finishes of third, fifth and fifth. Alaska-Fairbanks was second with 4,653 points, followed by 14-time NCAA champion West Virginia at 4,641.
 TCU alumni nationwide are celebrating this NCAA championship, TCU’s first NCAA team title since 1983 (women’s golf). TCU won football national titles in 1935 and 1938, but those years are distant memories.
The TCU “Horned Frogs” all-female rifle team is coached by Karen Monez, a former world and national champion air rifle shooter. In a few short years Monez built a championship-level squad, five members of which were named All-Americans this week. Sarah Scherer, Sarah Beard and Lorenzen were honored as both smallbore and air rifle All-Americans, while Simone Riford and Caitlin Morrissey garnered All-American honors in air rifle. Senior Erin Lorenzen was honored as the MVP of the championships by the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association.
CLICK HERE for TCU Rifle Team Media Guide
CLICK HERE for Full Match Report
March 13th, 2010
We have moved the AccurateShooter.com Daily Bulletin to a dedicated server, and have expanded the format with a new look. Hopefully, posts should be easier to read, and the search tools on the right should be more obvious. Also, now you can easily navigate to the most popular sections of AccurateShooter.com (such as our Forum) via the handy tabs at the top of the page.
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March 11th, 2010
The 31st Annual National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Rifle Championships will be held this weekend, March 12 & 13, at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
In team competition, shooting powerhouses West Virginia and Alaska-Fairbanks are favored to win team championships, but one of the other six schools could pull off an upset. The eight teams who qualified for this year’s team championship are:
Murray State University
Texas Christian University
University of Alaska-Fairbanks
University of Kentucky
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
U.S. Military Academy
U.S. Naval Academy
West Virginia University
If you want to follow the action, the NRAblog.com will have reporters in Fort Worth providing updates, photos and interviews from the championships.
March 11th, 2010
 The International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts (ICORE) announced that Smith & Wesson will sponsor the organization’s annual International Revolver Championships and six ICORE regionals across America.
The 19th Annual Smith & Wesson International Revolver Championships will take place June 4-6 at the Hogue Action Pistol Range in San Luis Obispo, Calif. This match is the highlight of the revolver shooting season. More than 250 top revolver shooters, from the USA as well as foreign countries, are expected to compete.
ICORE Regionals Start March 20 in Louisiana
The ICORE revolver competition season commences March 20 and 21 when the Southern Shooting Center (Thibodaux, Louisiana) hosts the Southern Regional Revolver Championship. The remaining regional matches are as follows
April 10 — 13th Annual Southwest Regional (San Luis Obispo, CA).
May 1-2 — Rocky Mountain Regional (WCFW High Plains Range, Galeton, CO).
May 2 — New England Regional (Hartford Gun Club, East Granby, CT).
July 18 — Central States Regional (Bend of the River CC, Buchanan, MI).
Sept. 26 — East Coast Regional (Ontelaunee Rod & Gun Club, New Tripoli, PA).
To learn more about on ICORE’s National and Regional Championships, visit www.icore.org.
March 10th, 2010
 Texas Governor Rick Perry, a fifth-generation Texan, is a “gun guy” as well as an extremely effective and popular politician. The Republican governor is a USAF veteran, and a strong believer in gun rights and the Second Amendment. As the Chief Executive of the nation’s second biggest state, Perry has demonstrated that fiscal conservatism works — he said “no” to increased taxes, cut government spending and produced a balanced budget with a $9 Billion “Rainy Day Fund”. He did this while California accumulated a $20 Billion deficit. Maybe California needs fewer liberal legislators and more tough conservatives like Perry.
During his tenure, Governor Perry lead Texas out of a $10 billion budget deficit in 2003 by cutting government spending. He is the only Texas governor since World War II to sign budgets that reduced general revenue spending. In addition, he used his line item veto to scrub more than $3 billion in state spending, while encouraging investments in the economy, education and security.
Gov. Perry Visits LaRue Tactical
Recently Gov. Perry visited the Larue Tactical Center in Leander, Texas. The Governor tried a variety of firearms, including a .223 AR carbine (photo above) and the LaRue-built OBR (Optimized Battle Rifle) chambered in 7.62×51. Below, Governor Perry shows good form shooting the OBR from prone with bipod. We wonder how many other Governors have recently shot sub-MOA with a suppressed semi-automatic rifle?
After graduating from Texas A&M University, Rick Perry was commissioned in the United States Air Force, completed pilot training and flew C-130 tactical airlift in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe until 1977. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain, returned to Texas and went into business farming cotton with his father.
Elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998, Perry assumed office as governor in December 2000 when Governor George W. Bush resigned before his inauguration as President of the United States. Perry was elected to two full terms in 2002 and 2006 and plans to run for a third term in 2010.
LaRue Tactical Photos courtesy Raul Mas
March 9th, 2010
Gary Eliseo of Competition Shooting Stuff (CSS) builds great TubeGun rifle kits and he’s a superb shooter to boot. This past weekend Gary won the California State Palma Championship in Coalinga, California. Gary was shooting his CSS BN1 tubegun with a Barnard action, Krieger 1:13″ twist barrel, and Berger 155.5gr bullets.
Gary reports: “Conditions went from super easy to pretty vicious. The scores haven’t been published yet but mine was 889, and I think the next three were: Lane Buxton 886, Martin Tardif 883, and Jim O’Connell 881. I was using one of my B1 rifles, Barnard P action, Krieger 13 twist barrel, Berger 155.5s. My load was N150 with Winchester .308 brass weight-sorted to 1%. This was the same rig I used at Phoenix (AZ) but I wasn’t completely happy with the performance at 1000 yards. Then, in German Salazar’s Rifleman’s Journal Blog, I read that Mid Tompkins was ‘soft-seating’ the same bullet in his Palma gun. So, I gave that a try for Coalinga and the results were much better. Elevation at 1000 was excellent — the gun holds X-Ring elevation with ease.
The way soft-seating works is that I load long with pretty light neck tension. The bullet moves back about .010-.012 as the bolt is closed. If I extract the round I can barely see any engraving mark on the bullet. But be careful when extracting a soft-seated round because it is possible for the bullet to stick in the rifling. Anyway, the results with soft-seated bullets were much better. So this is a method which works with the .308 case and the Berger 155.5s and my well-worn throat. I don’t necessarily recommend this with other bullets, calibers and throat configurations. And if your discipline often requires you to extract loaded rounds, soft-seating is not advised.”
Top Row: Gary Eliseo (far left), MartinTardiff, unknown, John Giles | Bottom row: Randy Tesseidre, Marco Rojas, Allan Morita. Note that nearly all the rifles are CSS (Eliseo) tubeguns.
To learn more about shooting with Eliseo’s innovative CSS stocks, read German Salazar’s article: Adjusting the TubeGun Stock.
March 8th, 2010
Larry and Brenda Potterfield of MidwayUSA have donated $500,000 to the NRA Foundation’s Youth Hunter Education Challenge. The Youth Hunter Education Challenge (YHEC) is NRA’s “graduate studies” program in outdoor skills and safety training for young hunters. This program uses simulated hunting conditions to reinforce and test a young hunter’s skills and safety practices. Since its inception in 1985, YHEC has reached more than a million young sportsmen and women.
From rifle, bow, and muzzleloader shooting at life-sized targets, to wildlife identification, to map-and-compass orienteering and more, YHEC participants get hands-on training in eight skills areas, giving them expertise in all methods of take and all types of game. State- and provincial-level YHEC programs, hosted by volunteer instructors, involve an estimated 50,000 youths each year. Top-ranked individuals advance to the annual NRA Int’l Youth Hunter Education Challenge event.
Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA remarked, “Brenda and I are excited to be able to assist the NRA Foundation in supporting this type of initiative to focus on developing tomorrow’s leaders today. Changing the future requires us to make the commitment in time or money to support these efforts.”
MidwayUSA Offers Promo for AccurateShooter.com Readers
In related news, MidwayUSA has created a special promotion for the readers of this website. Now through March 21, you will get $10.00 off any purchase of $50.00 or more. There are a few limitations — for example you can’t use the promo for back-ordered items, but basically this deal can save you 20% right off the top of a fifty-dollar order. To get the $10.00 off promo code, click the link below. Be sure to tell your friends. This limited time offer ends midnight March 21, 2010.
March 8th, 2010
Sinclair Int’l is offering a chance to win $100.00. Here’s the deal. If you write and submit a user product review, you will be entered into a contest with a chance to win a $100 gift certificate. For every approved review you write, you’ll get one chance at the monthly drawing. For example, if you write 10 product reviews that are approved, you will get 10 entries. It’s pretty simple. Just remember, there is only one winner per month. The January winner was Ross Livingston.
Each month all reviewers will be entered into a random drawing to win a $100 Sinclair International Gift Certificate. Sinclair says: “You do not need to have recently purchased the item to write a review for it. It could be a product that you previously purchased from Sinclair International. If we still sell it, you can review it!” After the monthly drawing is held the winning reviewer will be sent electronically a $100 Sinclair International Gift Certificate.
March 7th, 2010
Sinclair Int’l has added many new products to its catalog, including recently-introduced reloading products from Hornady: AutoCharge electronic powder measure ($249.95), Lock-N-Load Concentricity Gauge ($99.95), and the Lock-N-Load UltraSonic Cleaning machine ($99.95). In addition, Sinclair has rolled out some impressive new products of its own, such as the new fully-adjustable, quick-attach Tactical/Varmint Bipod.
Sinclair Int’l Tactical/Varmint Bipod
With a hefty $229.95 MSRP, the new Sinclair Tactical/Varmint Bipod (item 04-8500) is nearly three times the price of a Harris bipod. Is it worth the extra money? For a typical varmint hunter, the answer might be no. But for the tactical competitor, the enhanced performance (and extra features) of the Sinclair tactical/varmint bipod may well be worth the extra coin.
The new Sinclair Tactical/Varmint Bipod is a strong, rugged design with billet aluminum and stainless steel construction throughout. There are many enhanced features compared to a Harris. First, the Sinclair Bipod’s individually adjustable legs can spread much wider (and lower) than on a Harris. The legs adjust from 6 1/2 inches to 12 1/2 inches in length, and there is a positive stop on each leg. The Sinclair Bipod also comes with a built-in “Pod-Loc” style cant adjuster, a really important feature that must be retrofitted (for about $27) on a Harris. In addition to the cant adjustment lever, the Sinclair bipod has a secure quick-release attachment system — the same system used on Sinclair’s popular F-Class Bipod. This lets you install or remove the bipod in seconds without any tools. Showing attention to detail, Sinclair also included an extra swivel stud on the bipod upper section, so you can attach a sling. Overall, the new 1 lb., 12 oz. Sinclair Tactical Bipod looks like a very good product that offers real advantages over a Harris for the tactical shooter. We just wish the price was lower.
Hornady AutoCharge Electronic Powder Scale & Dispenser
Here’s the first look at Hornady’s brand new Lock-N-Load AutoCharge electronic powder scale/dispenser. This unit can measure up to 1000 grains of powder. According to Hornady, the unit will calculate weight precisely to within ± 0.1 grains. That would put it on a par with the RCBS Chargemaster, though the Hornady unit sells for $60-$80 less than the “green machine”. The Hornady has many nice features, such as an easily readable, back-lit display, trickle function, calibration weights suitable to both low and high powder charges, and plenty of memory for your favorite loads. The Hornady, priced at $249.95 (item 050068) at Sinclair, also features three, user-selectable dispensing speeds — something you won’t find on the RCBS ChargeMaster. Those three speed settings let you optimize dispensing flow for the type of powder you’re using.
We hope to get one of these Hornady AutoCharge units soon and run a head-to-head comparison with our RCBS Chargemaster. Below is a video from SHOT Show 2010 of an early production Hornady AutoCharge.
March 7th, 2010
It looks like the NRA is considering creating a new type of multi-distance rifle match, or at least expanding High Power competition as we know it today. The NRA has seen the growing popularity of “tactical” matches with scoped bolt-action rifles, and apparently is looking for ways to bring the tactical game under the NRA umbrella.
 The NRA recently hired Trey Tuggle for the newly-created position of “Tactical Rifle Coordinator”. This position is part of the NRA Competition Division’s efforts to bring more people into the shooting sports. The focus of the Tactical Rifle Coordinator will be to promote the use of optics at existing High Power Matches as well as to move the NRA forward with a sanctioning process for Multi-Gun Action Shooting Events.
As a former U.S. Navy SEAL sniper, Trey Tuggle knows his tactical rifles. Tuggle is also an entrepreneur, having created a counterterrorism assault vehicle company called Patriot 3.
Those interested in tactical or multi-gun competition can email Tuggle via ttuggle [at] nrahq.org.
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