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August 4th, 2011
 The Modern Pentathlon is a 5-discipline Olympic event that combines Horse Riding, Running, Swimming, Fencing, and Shooting. However it looks like there won’t be real shooting anymore, at least at the 2012 London Games.
Union International de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) President Klaus Schormann declared that laser guns will be used instead of air pistols in the Modern Pentathlon at the 2012 London Olympics. Schormann claimed the lasers would enhance safety and allow “competitions in parks and even shooting malls”. Last year, UIPM officials argued for the use of lasers to reduce the environmental impact of lead pellets from air pistols. Schormann stated: “The decision to introduce non-air pistol shooting … is a significant development in terms of lowering the environmental impact of the sport.” That’s nonsense — Pentathlon air pistols fire tiny 7-grain pellets that are easily captured by bullet traps, so there is virtually no environmental risk.
 Sebastian, creator of the Snowflakes in Hell Blog, observed: “The reasoning of the [UIPM] committee is disturbing. I hope this doesn’t portend bad things to come with other Olympic shooting sports, whose environmental footprint is arguably worse.” One Snowflakes Blog reader astutely commented: “It would have been trivially easy to mandate lead-free pellets, if the ‘lead poisoning’ argument were the real reason behind this change. Replacing air pistols with lasers instead of a much simpler requirement to use nontoxic shot suggests that it was the ‘gun-ishness’ of the air pistols, and not the environmental impact, that may have been the primary driver here.”
Technical Problems with Laser Systems
British pentathlete Sam Weale recently challenged the use of lasers in Modern Pentathlon. According to the Inside the Games website, Weale claims persistent technical problems with the laser shooting system have rendered Modern Pentathlon a “lottery” which threatens the integrity of the sport. Olympians can not trust the electronic scoring systems, Weale argues. “It can’t go on, it is embarrassing,” said Weale, who, along with four other atheletes, lodged a protest over malfunctioning targets at the recent European Championships.
Read Full Story on Modern Pentathlon Protest by UK Pentathlete Sam Weale.
UIPM Decision Criticized by USA Shooting & ISSF
The Outdoor Wire’s Jim Shepherd polled leading shooting sports officials and found widespread criticism of the UIPM decision to replace pistols with laser devices. According to Shepherd: “USA Shooting and International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) dislike the change. Their position is simple, the laser gun takes much out of the ‘shooting’ element of external conditions (pistol and pellet accuracy) and turns shooting ‘into an arcade game’. They view it as a possible threat to shooting, moving away from what is ‘shooting sport’.”
 EDITOR’s Comment: One wonders if the UIPM’s next move will be to replace fencing foils and sabres with Wii computer-game controllers — in the interest of safety. And shouldn’t the UIPM replace Pentathletes’ four-legged equine mounts with hobby-horses to reduce solid waste and methane emissions?
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June 28th, 2011
Pyramyd Air, the nation’s leading source for air pistols and air rifles, is running some great promotions for the Fourth of July Holiday. First of all, Pyramyd is offering FREE Ground Shipping (in lower 48) for all orders of $100.00 or more. Second, as a separate promotion, you can save 10% on your Pyramyd Air purchases by using COUPON CODE “AirgunsJun28-2011″ during check-out in Pyramyd’s web store. The 10% off deal is good through July 11, 2011 (but it cannot be combined with the Free Shipping offer). One last item of interest — if you are a good photographer, you can win a $50.00 Pyramyd Air Gift Card as the “Big Shot of the Week”. To enter, simply upload a photo to Pyramyd’s Facebook Page.
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March 20th, 2011
 From March 15-19, the NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championships were held at Ft. Benning, Georgia. The tournament determined the National Collegiate Individual and Team Champions in NTA Intercollegiate Free Pistol, Standard Pistol, Open Air Pistol, Women’s Air Pistol and Women’s Sport Pistol. Both men and women competed shoulder to shoulder in Free Pistol, Standard Pistol, and Open Air Pistol events, but there were separate Ladies’ Only matches for Air Pistol and Sport Pistol. Men and Women shooters competed in separate divisions.
Navy beats Army in Ladies’ Sport Pistol and Air Pistol
There was a strong rivalry among the military academy teams in the Women’s Pistol Matches at the USAMU’s 25 meter range. In Women’s Sport Pistol, the U.S. Naval Academy earned its second Women’s championship this year with a score of 1626, topping the West Pointers by 24 point. In the individual Sport Pistol finals, Kirsten Asdal of the U.S. States Naval Academy took the win with a 655.3 score, edging West Point’s Heather Deppe (653.9 score). The Lady Midshipmen (Midshipwomen?) also won the Women’s Air Pistol Championship with a final team score of 1086. Arch-rival West Point finished second with a 1073 team Air Pistol score.
U.S.M.A. (West Point) Win’s Standard Pistol Team Championship
USNA, USMA, Ohio St., Citadel, Oregon St., USCGA, MIT, Texas A&M, Yale and USMMA were all represented in the team championship by shilled shooter however after the third stage had been fired the United States Military Academy had emerged victorious with a total team score of 2121. Tallying up another championship under his belt this year, Nick Mowrer of Pikes Peak Community College shot a 569 to claim the Standard Pistol Individual title.
Below, courtesy The NRA Blog, is a slide show from the NRA Intercolllegiate Pistol Championships.
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October 30th, 2010
Top airgun and smallbore shooters competed this past week at the 2010 ISSF World Cup Rifle and Pistol Finals. In this season-ending World Cup, Russia led the pack of nations, taking an impressive total of five medals (four gold and one silver) out of ten shooting events. The USA was second with two gold medals and one bronze, while Italy finished third with one gold, two silver and one bronze.CLICK HERE for the complete match results posted on the ISSF-sports.org website.
Team USA put on a solid performance with three medals and six finals appearances. U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Daryl Szarenski won the Men’s 50m Free Pistol competition, finishing 5.5 points above the silver medalist. In an interview with the ISSF’s Marco Dalla Dea, Szarenski said, “This has definitively been my best season ever!”
 American Jamie Beyerle won the gold medal in Women’s 3-Position, 50m Rifle event. During the match, Beyerle shot an amazing 590 points to qualify in first place for the finals. Jamie also won the Air Rifle Champions Trophy (with a €500 prize from Sius Ascor), outdoing Germany’s Sonja Pfeilschifter. This was the second straight Champions Trophy for Beyerle, who also took the prize at the 2009 ISSF World Cup Final in Wuxi. In addition to her Gold Medal in 50m 3P, Jamie won Bronze in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle event.
Sgt. 1st Class Jason Parker was 1.5 points shy of medal contention in Men’s 50m Rifle Three Position. Parker finished fourth with a match score of 1170 points and the highest scoring final of 100.1 points. Teammate Sgt. Joseph Hein finished seventh in the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone event. Hein was in a four-way tie for third headed into the final, but fell short of a medal with a 101.8 point final for 698.8 total points.
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August 3rd, 2010
 While much of the American shooting community is focused on the National Championships in Camp Perry, Ohio, nearly 2500 of the world’s top shooters are competing in Munich, Germany in the 50th ISSF World Shooting Championships which concludes August 11, 2010.
 The 50th World Shooting Championship opened in Munich, Germany on the 30th of July with a festive Opening Ceremony on Munich’s iconic Marien-platz. This is the largest World Shooting Championship ever — with 2,460 shooters from 103 countries competing for medals in 54 events. Competitors will also vie for 69 Olympic Quotas allowing their respective nations’ teams to compete at the 2012 Games in London.
At the ISSF World Championships, disciplines include Air Rifle, Air Pistol, Smallbore Rifle, Smallbore Pistol, Running Target, 300m Rifle, and Trap, with classes for Men, Women, and Juniors. So far Americans have done well, with high individual placings and a team win in the mens’ 50m rimfire prone event (see photo). The 50m mens’ prone team, consisting of Matt Emmons, SGT Michael McPhail, and SFC Eric Uptagrafft, won its second consecutive World Championship.
The ISSF-Sports.org website provides extensive coverage of the ISSF World Championships, including video webcasts of the finals in many disciplines. There are numerous photo galleries where you can see the shooters and high-tech air rifles and rimfire rifles used by the top shooters from many countries.
Running Target Competition is Fun to Watch
At the ISSF Worlds, one of the most challenging events is the Running Target Competition. Since this is not an Olympic shooting discipline, you may have never seen it before. But we guarantee this is worth checking out. Shooting in a man vs. man format, pairs of shooters engage a quickly moving target at 10 meters with air rifles. But the scoring is like tennis. For each pair of shots (one by each shooter), the competitor who puts his shot closest to dead center gets one point, while his opponent gets nothing. This is all done offhand from the standing position, requiring superb holding skills. It’s hard enough to shoot “10s” when the target is fixed. Imagine trying to put a pellet in a tiny 10-Ring, when the target is moving! To watch the Running Target Finals, CLICK this LINK then select the “Medal Match 10m Running Target Men” video from the list at the right. Forward to the 28-minute mark for the final Gold Medal shoot-out between Russia and China.
Team USA photo by Wolfgang Schreiber, ©2010 ISSF
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June 30th, 2010
 The July digital edition of Shooting Sports USA is now available for free online. In this latest edition of the popular “e-zine”, Managing Editor Chip Lohman reports on recent major collegiate matches, including the first ever Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship.
This July issue also features an excellent article by Scott Pilkington on Airgun Maintenance. This is an important topic which needs more coverage. Pilkington is a respected air rifle expert who served as the official gunsmith for the U.S. Olympic air gun squad at the Sydney Olympic games. He also runs his own Tennessee-based business, Pilkington Competition Equipment, www.pilkguns.com.
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June 27th, 2010
The 2010 National Junior Air Gun Championships in Albuquerque, NM concluded yesterday. The new champions were crowned last evening at an awards ceremony. Here are the top three individual and team winners from both the Sporter and Precision classes. Note: these results are preliminary, and are not final until the challenge period has ended.
| Precision Rifle Division
Individual Aggregate (1200 possible points):
1. Landon Shankles, LaCueva HS, MCJROTC, 1179
2. Abigail Stanec, Ohio Rifle & Pistol Assn., 1177
3. Dan Lowe, Washington State Rifle & Pistol Assn., 1172
Team Aggregate (4800 possible points):
1. Ohio Rifle & Pistol Association, 4667
2. LaCueva HS, MCJROTC, 4634
3. Washington State Rifle & Pistol Assn., 4633
A record number of JROTC teams competed in this year’s championship. |
Sporter Rifle Division
Individual Aggregate (1200 possible points):
1. John White, Maryland State Rifle & Pistol Assn., 1106
2. Dahkota Hayes, Montana Rifle & Pistol Assn., 1094
3. Shaley Clements, Ohio Rifle & Pistol Assn., 1085
Team Aggregate (4800 possible points):
1. Montana Rifle & Pistol Assn., 4267
2. Venture Crew 123 Aloha Council BSA, 4223
3. Maryland State Rifle & Pistol Assn., 4156
This was the second year in a row than the Montana Rifle & Pistol Assn. won a team championship. |
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March 1st, 2010
Eleven members of the 2010 World Championship team were selected following the Spring Airgun Championships, which served as Part II of the World Championship Team selection for the men’s and women’s open air rifle and pistol events. Six air rifle and five air pistol shooters qualified to represent the U.S.A. this August at the 50th ISSF World Championships in Munich, Germany.
 The 2010 World Championship team for airgun was determined by the match scores from the first two days of the 2009 Winter Airgun Championships (held last December), added to the match scores from both days of the Spring Airgun Championships and the best two finals from both matches. For complete results from the 2010 Spring Airgun Championships, please visit www.usashooting.org.
Olympic gold and silver medalist Matt Emmons qualified for the World Championship team in Men’s 10m Air Rifle with an overall score of 2600.7 points. U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) member Matt Rawlings grabbed the second spot in Men’s Air Rifle with a total score of 2584.2 and Jonathan Hall earned the third spot with 2577.1 total points.
Leading the Men’s Air Pistol team will be 2008 Olympian Brian Beaman, who finished with an overall score of 2507.4 points. Two-time Olympian and 2008 bronze medalist Jason Turner will finished right behind Beaman with 2506.2 points. Three-time Olympian and USAMU member Daryl Szarenski grabbed the third spot after firing a total score of 2502.1 points.
Two-time Olympian Emily Caruso lead the way in Women’s Air Rifle with 1800.4 total points. Jamie Beyerle, a 2008 Olympian, took the second spot with an overall score of 1798.8 points and TCU’s Sarah Scherer qualified in third place with 1796.4 points. Teresa Meyer finished first in Women’s Air Pistol after firing 1691.8 total points, while Brenda Shinn, a 2008 Olympian, took the second spot with 1679.0 points.
CLICK HERE for Info on 50th ISSF World Shooting Championship (PDF)
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November 17th, 2009
 Thanksgiving is almost here. At this time of year many Eastern and snow-belt shooting ranges halt operations for the winter. If you’re an avid rifleman who enjoys shooting regularly, the dark days of winter can bring withdrawal pains. The closure of outdoor ranges can mean months of forced inactivity… unless you have an all-weather indoor shooting solution.
Some clubs maintain their own indoor air rifle ranges where you can continue to shoot and train throughout the winter. If there are no such facilities nearby, Creedmoor Sports now offers a great solution for those who want to shoot indoors — even in your own basement or garage.
Creedmoor’s patented 10m Air Gun Range provides a target holder and a curtain-type backstop capable of stopping pellets with a muzzle velocity up to 600 fps. The target support poles allow three (3) double target boxes to be positioned with attachment points at the correct heights for prone, kneeling, and standing. Creedmoor says the target boxes provide 100% containment for any pellet passing through the target — so you won’t have pellets scattered all over the floor.
The 10M Air Gun Range is available either in a 3-station configuration for $1279 (item 3AGR), or as a one-station (single-point) range for $295 (item AGR-SINGLE). Creedmoor’s Air Gun Range is a proven, heavy duty product — the only Air Rifle target system ever tested and approved by the U.S. Military. This system is currently being used in more than 600 schools nationwide, as well as the new CMP shooting facility in Alabama. The 3-station range easily dis-assembles for transport and storage, fitting inside a 34″ x 10″ x 8″ carry duffle Creedmoor provides.
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November 16th, 2009
The Modern Pentathlon is a 5-discipline Olympic event that combines Horse Riding, Running, Swimming, Fencing, and Shooting. Whether there will really be any “shooting” anymore is questionable if Pentathlon officials succeed in their plan to replace air pistols with laser devices. That’s right, the Snowflakes in Hell Blog reports that the UIPM, the international governing body for Modern Pentathlon, intends to replace air pistols with laser “pistols”, ostensibly to reduce the environmental impact of lead pellets. We think this is just a “feel-good” move reflecting anti-gun political agendas. Pentathlon air pistols fire tiny 7-grain pellets that are easily captured by bullet traps, so there is virtually no environmental risk.
UIPM President, Klaus Schormann, defended the plan to replace air pistols with laser devices, stating: “The decision to introduce non-air pistol shooting was the second big step for the sport following the decision in 2008 to change to the combined run/shoot format. This is a significant development in terms of lowering the environmental impact of the sport.”
Sebastian, creator of the Snowflakes in Hell Blog, observed: “The reasoning of the [UIPM] committee is disturbing. I hope this doesn’t portend bad things to come with other Olympic shooting sports, whose environmental footprint is arguably worse.”
One Blog reader astutely commented: “It would have been trivially easy to mandate lead-free pellets, if the ‘lead poisoning’ argument were the real reason behind this change. Replacing air pistols with lasers instead of a much simpler requirement to use nontoxic shot suggests that it was the ‘gun-ishness’ of the air pistols, and not the environmental impact, that may have been the primary driver here.”
EDITOR’s Comment: One wonders if the UIPM’s next move will be to replace fencing foils and sabres with Wii computer-game controllers — in the interest of safety. And shouldn’t the UIPM replace Pentathletes’ four-legged equine mounts with hobby-horses to reduce solid waste and methane emissions?
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