The 2015 NRA National Indoor Rifle & Pistol Championships start January 1, 2015. Unlike the NRA’s National Matches at Camp Perry, the Indoor Championships are shot as a postal match, through multiple sectional tournaments all across the country. This means you can join the action from the comfort of your local range. The scores from shooters around the nation are compared by the NRA, which names the winners in each classification.
The Indoor Rifle & Pistol Championships include a variety of disciplines: Air Pistol, Rimfire Pistol, Air Rifle, and Rimfire Rifles. There is even a BB gun class for Juniors. The Indoor Championships involve multiple sectional tournaments, held in a variety of states from January through mid-April. This is like a super-duper postal match. Winners will be announced by the NRA in late May. There will be nearly 300 sectionals in 2014, so you’ll probably find an event close to home. Here are dates for 2013:
Open Sectionals: 1/1 – 3/18 | Collegiate Sectionals: 1/1 – 2/12 | JR. Sectionals: 1/1 – 4/15
The 50m Free Pistol is one of the events in the NRA National Indoor Championship. It takes skill — the pistol is shot one-handed, with iron sights, and the Ten-Ring is only 50mm (about 1.97″) in diameter. A competitive world-class score is 560 or better out of 600 possible points. Learn more about this challenging discipline in this USA Shooting video:
This week’s big story from the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning involves a lanky Army Reserve Marksman from Montana, Nick Mowrer. The shooting world was shocked when this “pistol guy” (a 50m Free Pistol shooter for the 2012 USA Olympic Team) took a bronze medal in a World Cup rifle competition. Yes, we said “rifle”. And get this — in the process of earning that World Cup bronze medal, Nick racked up enough points to become a triple distinguished marksman (three disciplines).
In the highest level of ISSF competition, it is very unusual for a pistol shooter to even compete in a rifle match. It is unheard-of that a pistol shooter would actually earn a medal. That is like an Olympic 100m spinter also medaling in the Marathon. It just doesn’t happen.
USAR Team shooter Nick Mowrer pulled off this remarkable accomplishment at the 2014 ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning. It’s not known whether a pistol specialist has ever earned a World Cup medal in rifle competition. In fact none of the experts from USA Shooting can recall another shooter who has even competed in both rifle and pistol categories at the same World Cup event. It appears Mowrer made history with his smallbore rifle Bronze medal. Competitive pistol shooters aren’t supposed to be good rifle shooters as well. Mowrer’s bronze-medal-winning performance has changed that view.
Cross-Training Works Well Mowrer Says
Will we see more pistoleros “cross the aisle” and shoot rifle? Only time will tell. But Mowrer believes that “cross-training” with both rifle and pistol has improved his overall marksmanship skills: “I have used prone smallbore (rifle) as cross training for pistol for years now and I am very excited to have the unique opportunity to represent the USA not only in pistol but rifle as well. I shoot multiple events, not only prone, but the reason is just the same; I use other shooting disciplines to be able to compete in more matches and gain more experience that I am able to then use in my pistol shooting! It also keeps shooting fun and exciting.” Read related USAR story.
Mowrer’s medal at Fort Benning has caused a stir among top-level World Cup shooters. The reigning Olympic gold medalist in Women’s 3-P rifle, Jamie Gray, recently posted:
“Today is an amazing day…our Olympic Pistol Shooter Nick Mowrer broke into the medals in Men’s Prone [rifle event]! Couldn’t be more excited for him and obviously his amazing shooting abilities! Nick… [took] a Prone Rifle Bronze, nothing more to say than AWESOME!”
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Are you thinking, “Snow’s on the ground, winter’s here, I won’t be competing until spring.” Well think again — there are opportunities to compete indoors during these cold months.
The 2014 NRA National Indoor Rifle & Pistol Championships start January 1, 2014. There will be indoor matches around the country with a variety of disciplines including Air Pistol, Rimfire Pistol, Air Rifle, and Rimfire Rifles. There is even a BB gun class for Juniors. The Indoor Championships involve multiple sectional tournaments, held in a variety of states from January through mid-April. This is like a super-duper postal match. Your results are sent to the NRA where they’re compared to other shooters. Winners are determined in late May. It’s a fun way to compete with many other shooters and it’s easy to get involved. There will be nearly 300 sectionals in 2014, so you’ll probably find an event close to home. Here are dates for 2013:
For more information contact these NRA staffers: Dian Bullock, (703) 267-1482 (Rifle); Ann Boyd, (703) 267-1452 (Pistol); Tori Croft, (703) 267-1473 (Collegiate).
The 50m Free Pistol is one of the events in the NRA National Indoor Championship. It takes skill — the pistol is shot one-handed, with iron sights, and the Ten-Ring is only 50mm (about 1.97″) in diameter. A competitive world-class score is 560 or better out of 600 possible points. Learn more about this challenging discipline in this USA Shooting video:
John Zurek captured the .22-Caliber Pistol Championship on July 12. On the final day of rimfire competition, John Zurek surged ahead to win the .22 Caliber Championship with an Aggregate score of 893-35X. Brian Zins finished second with an Aggregate score of 887-57X.
July 15 Update: John Zurek also won the .45 Caliber Pistol Title, Scoring 886-43X vs. 883-46X for runner-up ‘Gunny’ Brian Zins. Gunny Zins did win the overall title NRA Pistol Championships — the 11th in his career. Read More on NRA Blog.
.22 Cal. Championship
1. John Zurek: 893-35X
2. Brian Zins: 887-57X
3. James Henderson: 887-44X
4. Gregory Wilson: 884-39X
5. Greg Markowski: 883-42x
Profile: John Zurek
Story based on report by Lindsey Morgan in the NRA Blog
Zurek grew up hunting with guns. Then he joined the USMC and became a member of the Marine Corps Pistol Team. Later he joined the Marine Corps Reserve Pistol Team. After leaving the sport to pursue business interests for a few years, Zurek came back to competitive shooting in 2001.
Zurek’s primary focus as a shooter is Olympic style pistol shooting — air pistol and free pistol. The precision events are his specialty. While he did not make the U.S. Olympic Team this year, the skills he developed for international-style shooting served him well at Camp Perry. “That’s why this is easy for me,” Zurek explained. “That’s why I’ve had such wonderful successes this year from training for free pistol. By practicing free pistol it allows you to work on your focus and concentration by bringing everything in smaller and smaller and smaller.” NOTE: Olympic free pistol uses a smaller bullseye target than the targets at the NRA Pistol Championships.
Zurek’s Shooting Tips: Practice for Long Periods, Use SCATT Training System
If you can’t spend time on the range, then just stay home. That’s a truth that Zurek discovered through his years and years of training. “Most shooters only get 15 minutes here, or 30 minutes there to go and train — and that’s fine when just dry firing,” Zurek explained. “I wouldn’t even go to a range unless you have a four-hour period of time to spend. If you just have a short period of time to train, it’s just better to stay at home and dry fire against the wall. Work on building up your concentration and making each shot perfect.”
Another tool Zurek uses is the SCATT Shooter Training System. SCATT, Zurek believes, gives a shooter great feedback with immediate results. SCATT Training Systems employ an infrared optical device attached to the gun. The shooter aims at an electronic target. The muzzle movement is tracked and displayed as a continuous trace on a ‘real-time’ display screen. When the shooter pulls the gun’s trigger, the point of impact is also plotted. By analyzing the displayed muzzle movement, a shooter can see any flaws in his hold and perfect his technique. CLICK HERE to learn more about SCATT training.
Photos courtesy The NRA Blog.
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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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USAR Team shooter Nick Mowrer pulled off this remarkable accomplishment at the 2014 ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning. It’s not known whether a pistol specialist has ever earned a World Cup medal in rifle competition. In fact none of the experts from 
.22 Cal. Championship
From March 15-19, the 
