Pandemic: Zombies in the Heartland
Every year Hornady hosts the very popular Zombies in the Heartland event. This “Pandemic” 3-Gun fun match, one of the biggest three-gun shoots in the nation, is just 11 days away. This event will take place June 1-3, 2018 at the Heartland Public Shooting Park in Grand Island, Nebraska. The Pandemic traditionally has a rich prize table worth over $150,000. Prizes include pistols, rifles, shotguns, scopes, AR uppers, gun parts, and gear of all kinds.
The Pandemic is a veritable theme park for shootists, with many fun stages and innovative targets. Many unique, reactive zombie targets have been developed specifically for this match. The use of paper targets has been minimized — so it’s mostly “bang and clang”.
There will be ten multi-gun stages this year. Rifles, pistols and shotguns are used on most stages. There are also fun side-matches. We highly recommend you watch the video below to see highlights from last year’s Pandemic.
2017 Zombies in the Heartland Highlights Video. Guys, this well-made video is WORTH WATCHING! This video offers Shooter’s POV views of many stages including full auto:
This year there will be ten (10) stages, each with a different shooting challenge. Shotguns, rifles and handguns will be used on most stages, which feature handgun targets from 1-15 yards, shotgun targets from 10-20 yards, and rifle targets from 1-200 yards, so be prepared for a variety of target presentations and engagements. There will also be side matches with full-auto demo firearms, exploding targets, specialty targets. View the Zombie Guide Page for more info.
EDITOR: Given the flood of SHOT Show product reporting this week, we thought a little comic relief was in order this Friday, the last day of SHOT Show 2018. This clever video pokes fun of some of the oddballs you’ll find at shooting ranges. Crack open a cold one and have a laugh…
This very funny video that should put a smile on your face — especially if you’ve ever competed in action shooting events. This tongue-in-cheek video from the SuperSetCA team identifies seven (7) annoying/insufferable types of shooters you’ll find at shooting matches. You can’t help but chuckle watching this video. The satire is “dead on” — we’ve all met these kind of clowns at one time or another.
Among the personality types lampooned by the video are the “way too serious” type, the completely unprepared type, the “Hollywood” show-off, the “always an excuse” type, and of course the “I’m too old for this” competitor. As a shooter past age sixty, this Editor might even fall into that category — at least when it comes to “run and gun” games. When I’m asked to gallop around a range carrying heavy gear, yes I’ve been known to mutter: “I’m too [insert swear word] old for this….”
Here’s an extra challenge for you. According to the video’s producers, there are several TV and/or Movie references sprinkled throughout. Can you name them all (with run-times)? (Hint, look for Lethal Weapon and Matrix spoofs).
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Todd Jarrett is one of the world’s best handgun shooters. A multi-time World Champion, Todd knows a thing or two about semi-auto pistols, particularly 1911s and 1911-based raceguns. Jarrett holds four World titles, nine National titles and has won more than 50 Area championships, as well as many other action shooting events. Jarrett is the only USPSA Triple Crown Winner and he holds four USPSA National titles: Open, Limited, Production, and Limited-10. Jarrett revealed in an interview that between 1988 and 2001 he shot about 1.7 million rounds during practice: “I had a gun in my hand for two hours every day for 10 years to develop my skill level”.
In the video below, Todd explains how to get the proper grip on your handgun, and how to employ a proper stance. We’ve watched many videos on pistol shooting. This is one of the best instructional videos we’ve seen. Todd explains, in easy-to-understand terms, the key elements of grip and stance. One very important point he demonstrates is how to align the grip in your hand so that the gun points naturally — something very important when rapid aiming is required. If you watch this video, you’ll learn valuable lessons — whether you shoot competitively or just want to have better control and accuracy when using your handgun defensively.
Related Article: Thumbs-Forward Shooting Grip for 1911s
“Shooting semiautomatic pistols using the thumbs-forward method really becomes useful … where speed and accuracy are both needed. By positioning the thumbs-forward along the slide (or slightly off of the slide) you are in essence creating a second sighting device: wherever your shooting thumb is pointing is where the pistol is pointing. This makes it incredibly fast to draw the pistol, get your proper grip, and press forward to the target without needing to hunt around for the front sight.” — Cheaper Than Dirt Blog, 9/13/2010.
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One eye or two? That’s the question that confounds some pistol shooters, particularly during slow fire. When shooting one-handed, some bullseye pistol shooters use a piece of tape or paper on one lens of their shooting glasses to obscure their non-dominant eye. That way they can get a more precise sight picture. However, when shooting two-handed, it’s almost always better to shoot with both eyes open. And if you are doing a “move and shoot” session/match, you’ll surely want to have both eyes open.
Champion pistol shooter Doug Koenig says he always shoots handguns with both eyes open: “To me it’s very simple — I wouldn’t drive my car with one eye closed. I wouldn’t walk around the house with one eye closed. To me, it’s all about your vision, your depth perception.” Doug adds that you definitely need both eyes open to transition quickly from target to target.
With both eyes open you’ll have better depth perception and peripheral vision. You will also be able to transition from target to target more quickly. In a timed, multi-target stage, you’ll want to move your head/eyes to the next target right after you break a shot. You’ll find that you will then reflexively move the handgun on to the new target when you swing your vision on to it. Don’t linger on the target you just shot — move to the next.
Here are two other helpful videos from Doug Koenig and the NSSF:
Sight Alignment and Sight Picture
Trigger Press and Trigger Control
Doug Koenig’s List of Championships:
10-time World Champion
18-time Bianchi Cup winner
2016 NRA World Shooting Champion
More than 70 National Championships
6-time World Action Pistol Championship Winner
3-time World Speed Shooting Champion/Steel Challenge
Watch Doug Koenig’s Championship Season TV show on the Pursuit Channel: Wednesday 5:30 pm (Eastern); Friday 9:00 pm (Eastern); Saturday 1:30 am (Eastern) West Coast prime-time.
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The name Jessie Duff is synonymous with handgunning excellence. Winner of over 60 major Pistol Championships, Jessie is arguably the best female action pistol shooter in history. Jessie demonstrated her talent recently with another big victory. Jessie took top honors (again) at the 2017 U.S. Steel Nationals. She won her 8th Ladies Open National title, and also finished as High Lady Rimfire Optics plus 3rd overall Single Stack. Congratulations to Jessie and the other divisional winners.
Here’s Jessie shooting the “Roundabout” Stage at the 2017 U.S. Steel Nationals:
Jessie Duff — The First-Ever Female Grand Master
In 2013, Jessie Duff became the first woman in history to earn the vaunted title of USPSA Grand Master (GM), the highest rating conferred by the U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA). To earn this prestigious ranking, Duff had to maintain an average above 95% in shooting classification courses, something never before achieved by a lady shooter.
“I am honored to have earned the designation of Grand Master with USPSA” said Duff. “This is something I have been working toward my entire shooting career and I’ve come this far thanks to a lot of hard work and a lot of support,” she added.
Duff has “raised the bar” for female shooters across the country. As female participation in shooting sports has grown, Duff’s accomplishments and continued success have blazed a path for women in competitive action shooting. “Jessie is one of the best shooters in the world,” said USPSA Executive Director Kim Williams. “USPSA is proud to announce her historic record as the first woman to ever reach this ranking in Practical Shooting,” added Williams.
Jessie Won Rimfire High Lady Title Shooting “Bulk Pack” Eley Ammo
For her rimfire stages at the 2017 U.S. Steel Nationals, Jessie used ELEY Contact .22 LR ammo, which is now available in 300-round bulk “REC Paks”. ELEY Contact is a 42 grain 1090 fps subsonic round engineered to perform in all rimfire semi-auto firearms.
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The nation’s top pistoleros are headed to Missouri this week to compete in the 2016 NRA Bianchi Cup, the most prestigious action pistol match of the year. The 2016 Bianchi Cup event, also known as the National Action Pistol Championship, will be held May 24-28, 2016 in Columbia, Missouri at the Green Valley Rifle & Pistol Club.
Something is new this year — a second “Championship” Round. There will be no multi-gun aggregate match. Instead, the 2016 NRA Bianchi Cup will feature a new format to determine the overall champion. After completion of the match’s 192-shot, 1920-point aggregate, the top 36 competitors will fire an additional 192-shot Championship Round. Scores from the Championship Round will combined into an overall Aggregate to determine each category’s champions.
Check out this “Sizzle Reel” from the 2013 NRA Bianchi Cup:
About the Bianchi Cup
The Bianchi Cup is the NRA National Action Pistol Championship, a major tournament held every May in Columbia, Missouri. The premier action pistol championship, the Bianchi Cup boasts the largest purse of any tournament on the action pistol calendar. The Bianchi Cup is the only major shooting tournament that has retained its original Course of Fire since its inception. The Course of Fire consists of four separate matches:
The Practical Event: From the appropriate shooting line, the shooter fires at distances from 10 yards to 50 yards under varying time limits.
The Barricade Event: From within shooting boxes and behind barricades, a shooter fires at targets on either side of the barricade at different distances and under varying time limits.
The Falling Plate Event: From the appropriate shooting line, the shooter fires at 8 inch round steel plates arranged in banks of six at distances from 10 to 25 yards under varying time limits.
The Moving Target Event: From within shooting boxes at distances ranging from 10 to 25 yards, the shooter fires at a target moving from left to right with the target being exposed for only 6 seconds.
Due to the high accuracy required in each stage of the Bianchi Cup, the tournament is widely considered one of the most difficult handgun championships on the planet.
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Our friend Taran Butler recorded a major accomplishment at the 2012 USPSA MultiGun Nationals held April 11-15 in Las Vegas, NV. By winning the 2012 Open Class title, Taran became the first person in history to have won all three USPSA MultiGun divisions: Open, Tactical, and Limited. You can only shoot one division per year at the Nationals, so it’s impossible to hold all three class titles simultaneously. But no other USPSA shooters have won all three class titles over the course of their shooting careers. Not even “immotals” Jerry Miculek or Mike Voight, both multi-time Open-Class winners, have captured all three class championships. Before his Open Class win this year, Butler had previously captured the Tactical Division title four times, and he won the Limited Division back in 2003.
Taran observed: “This has now become the biggest achievement in my shooting career, to finally be the first person in history to win all three divisions of the USPSA MultiGun Championships. I owe thanks to God, my sponsors, and awesome friends.”
Watch Taran Butler in Action
The video below shows Taran accepting a trophy for his 2012 USPSA Open Class victory. Then, starting at the 0:46 mark, you can watch Taran run stages at the recent Nationals. You can see Taran used all three guns: pistol, semi-auto carbine, and shotgun.
In Las Vegas, Taran used the same .223 Rem AR Carbine he shoots in Tactical Division — however he added a second optic (for close targets) when running the gun in Open class. This way he can just tilt the rifle to switch magnification levels to suit the target distance. Taran explains: “Here’s the rifle I used to win the 2012 Open Class Nationals. It’s a custom AR that TTI built with parts from Vltor, LaRue, PRI, Surefire, Noveske, Trijicon, and JP. Its called the Taran Tactical Innovations 17″ Signature Series Rifle aka TTI-17SS. The optics I use are the Trijicon TR24R 1-4 power and the RMR. This is by far the fastest optic setup on the planet.”
The pistol Taran used was an Infinity IMM with comp, shooting the standard 9mm Parabellum round. In the shotgun stages in Las Vegas, Taran used a mag-fed shotgun. The shotgun’s huge external magazines (two are sandwiched together) allow long strings with fewer reloads. However, Taran did suffer a major shotgun jam in one stage that cost him 18 seconds (watch video at 4:12 – 4:30). Amazingly, Taran shot a near perfect match after that to win the Open Title.
Overcoming Mistakes — And Staying Calm — Was Key to Victory
According to Taran, the shotgun jam marked a turning point in his match: “To win at this level, you can’t give up when disaster strikes — as it did with my shotgun in Stage 5. But I kept my cool and stayed focused. After that I really shot the match about the best I could and I didn’t try to rush, which can cause more problem. A lot of shooters, when they encounter a big problem, they get discouraged and just give up. Or, they try to shoot really fast to make up time, and then they usually make even bigger mistakes.”
Open Class: “Anything goes” in the Open Class. Rifles may have multiple sighting systems including any kind of optics. Pistols may be fitted with comps, optical sights, and very large extended magazines.
Tactical Class: This is the most popular USPSA MultiGun class currently. Rifles may have ONE (1) optic, plus back-up irons. Pistols are usually tweaked factory guns with upgraded iron sights and triggers. However muzzle brakes, comps, and Red dot or other optics are not allowed on the pistols. Taran says: “The Tactical Division is #1 in attendance. The hardware is similar to what actual operators would use — ARs with a single optic, and normal-looking pistols with conventional sights.”
Limited Class: The Limited Class restricts rifles and pistols to iron sights (or a non-magnified red dot on the rifle only). This class has seen declining participation in recent years.
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Shoot, the much-awaited book by Julie Golob, will be released in early 2012, and it can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com. Julie, Captain of the Team Smith & Wesson Shooting Team, is one of the best lady pistol shooters on the planet. Her new book Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition covers the training programs and match strategies that have enabled Julie to win multiple World and National action pistol championships. One of the most well-rounded competitors on the pro shooting circuit, Julie has won national and world titles in seven different shooting disciplines.
This champion, veteran, wife and mother is also an accomplished author, writing about the shooting sports in shooting publications, newswires, and internet blogs. In February, 2012, Skyhorse Publishing will release Julie’s first book, Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition. The book serves as both an introduction to firearms and shooting for novices (with an emphasis on safety) and a primer to help experienced shooters improve their skills.
According to the Shooting Wire, “rumor has it (or is it wishful thinking?) that there might be some copies [of Julie’s new book] floating around at SHOT Show [in January]. Either way, be sure to reserve your copy today.”
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The 7th NRA World Action Pistol Championships (WAPC) was held October 6-9 in Blacktown, Australia. Chip Lohman, Managing Editor of Shooting Sports USA magazine, covered the event, which was dominated by American shooters.
First Place: Doug Koenig, 1920-188x
Second Place: Carl Bernosky, 1920-181x
Third Place: Bruce Piatt, 1920-177x
Doug Koenig, Carl Bernosky, and Bruce Piatt all shot perfect scores at the Championships, a phenomenal feat, Lohman said. Koenig is shown at left with one of his WAPC prizes. (Photo courtesy SSAA2010.com).
The 2009 U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) Nationals were held Sept. 11-19 at the Desert Sportsman’s Rifle & Pistol Club outside Las Vegas, NV. The event drew more than 620 top shooters from across the country and around the world.
Abbate Wins Both Production and Limited Titles
Glock shooter Jessie Abbate won dual national women’s titles at the 2009 USPSA National Handgun Championships. This year Abbate claimed both the Production and Limited division championships. In 2008 she was crowned the Limited and Limited-10 champion.
In the Production division, Abbate took top honors among lady shooters posting a final score of 1097.9378, outpacing runner-up and Julie Goloski-Golob by more than 111 points. Abbate’s score was also good enough to finish 37th overall among all shooters, male and female. In the Limited division, Jessie again put on an impressive display shooting a score of 1050.2892 and finishing over 114 points ahead of Team SVI shooter Lisa Munson, who came in second with 935.3943.
Max Michel Wins Open Division in Tight Race
Just over 11 points separated the top three shooters in the battle for the coveted Open Title at the USPSA National Championships but it was Max Michel who took home the crown.
Heading into the final stages, three ace shooters had a chance to win: Max Michel, K.C. Eusebio, and J.J. Racaza. In the end it was Michel who emerged on top. Max had the best time on 4 of the 16 stages on his way to winning the USPSA Open Title. “Max is one of the top shooters in the sport and a threat to win any match he enters,” observed Michael Voigt, USPSA president. “He faced intense competition this year from both K.C. and J.J. but was able to pull out the win.” Michel’s victory cemented his reputation as one of the top action shooters in the world. His “shooting bio” now includes two World Speed Shooting Championships (2007 and 2005), five USPSA National Championships (2009, 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004) and nearly 30 USPSA Area Championships. In May 2009, Max completed his U.S. Army service. Leaving the USAMU team, Max is now Sig Sauer’s Manager of Competitive Shooting Activities. In the video below, created while Michel served with the USAMU, Max explains how to shoot on the move:
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The 30th Anniversary NRA National Action Pistol Championship, also known as the NRA Bianchi Cup, will be held in Columbia, Missouri, May 18 to 23, 2009. Over 200 of the world’s top pistoleros will compete at the Green Valley RPC’s Chapman Academy Range. Tens of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes will be awarded, making the Bianchi Cup one of the richest shooting sports events. The NRA Blog will provide daily updates from the match.
The 2009 event will offer an Open Class, Metallic Division, and (new for 2009) Production Division. The Bianchi Cup originated in 1979 as a Law Enforcement Training match. The “founding father” was holster maker (and former police officer) John Bianchi. Since its inception, the NRA Bianchi Cup has retained its original, 4-event course of fire:
The Practical Event: From the appropriate shooting line, the shooter fires at distances from 10 yards to 50 yards under varying time limits.
The Barricade Event: From within shooting boxes and behind barricades, a shooter fires at targets on either side of the barricade at different distances and under varying time limits.
The Falling Plate Event: From the appropriate shooting line, the shooter fires at 8 inch round steel plates arranged in banks of six at distances from 10 to 25 yards under varying time limits.
The Moving Target Event: From within shooting boxes at distances ranging from 10 to 25 yards, the shooter fires at a target moving from one side to another (back and forth) with the target being exposed for only 6 seconds.The moving target is shot while moving to the left as well as to the right.
The Bianchi Cup draws shooters from all over the world. In 2008, competitors haled from Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. For more info about the Bianchi Cup and Action Pistol events, contact Tom Hughes at bianchicup@nrahq.org or (800) 672-3888, extension 1478. Bianchi Cup revolver photo courtesy J.C. Blauvelt Gunsmith.
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Pandemic: Zombies in the Heartland
The 7th NRA World Action Pistol Championships (WAPC) was held October 6-9 in Blacktown, Australia. Chip Lohman, Managing Editor of Shooting Sports USA magazine, covered the event, which was dominated by American shooters.
Abbate Wins Both Production and Limited Titles
The 30th Anniversary NRA National Action Pistol Championship, also known as the 
