Have you ever wondered how Olympic-class position shooters hold their aim so steady? Those bulky shooting coats help, but there is a lot of bio-mechanics involved also. Top shooters employ their body structure to help support the weight of their rifles, and to steady their aim. This interesting video, produced by GOnra Media, demonstrates rifle hold and body alignment for prone, standing, sitting, and kneeling positions. Olympic Gold Medalist Jamie Corkish (formerly Jamie Gray) demonstrates the proper stance and position of arms and legs for each of the positions.
Ideally, in all of the shooting positions, the shooter takes advantage of skeletal support. The shooter should align the bones of his/her arms and legs to provide a solid foundation. A shooter’s legs and arms form vertical planes helping the body remain stable in the shooting position.
Jamie Corkish, London 2012 Gold Medalist in Women’s 3 X 20, has retired from top-level competitive shooting. However, Jamie remains involved in the shooting sports as a Public Relations/Marketing representative for ELEY, a leading maker of rimfire ammunition. Jamie also works with shooting clubs and educational institutions to promote smallbore target shooting.
Images are stills from GOnraMedia video linked above.
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Have you ever wondered how Olympic-class position shooters hold their aim so steady? Those bulky shooting coats help, but there is a lot of bio-mechanics involved also. Top shooters employ their body structure to help support the weight of their rifles, and to steady their aim. This interesting video, produced by GOnra Media, demonstrates rifle hold and body alignment for prone, standing, sitting, and kneeling positions. Olympic Gold Medalist Jamie Corkish (formerly Jamie Gray) demonstrates the proper stance and position of arms and legs for each of the positions. Ideally, in all of the shooting positions, the shooter takes advantage of skeletal support. The shooter should align the bones of his/her arms and legs to provide a solid foundation. A shooter’s legs and arms form vertical planes helping the body remain stable in the shooting position.
Jamie Corkish, London 2012 Gold Medalist in Women’s 3 X 20, has retired from top-level competitive shooting. However, Jamie remains involved in the shooting sports as a Public Relations/Marketing representative for ELEY, a leading maker of rimfire ammunition. Jamie also works with shooting clubs and educational institutions to promote smallbore target shooting.
Images are stills from GOnraMedia video linked above.
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One of the most important trends in the shooting world is the rise in the number of females who own firearms. We know women can shoot — just look at champions such as Nancy Tompkins, Trudie Fay, Michelle and Sherri Gallagher, and Jessie Duff.
The number of female shooters and female gun owners have risen steadily in recent decades. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2005, only 13 percent of women were female gun owners, but by 2011, that number rose to 23 percent. That’s a 77 percent increase in seven years.
Additionally, shooting ranges across the country have seen a 51.5 percent increase in the number of women who participate in target practice, and 41.8 percent increase in the number of women who participate in hunting activities over the past ten years (Source: National Sporting Goods Assn. cited in New York Times.)
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Here’s an interesting video about three-position shooting. Produced by GOnra Media, this video demonstrates rifle hold and body alignment for prone, standing, sitting, and kneeling positions. Olympic Gold Medalist Jamie Gray demonstrates the proper stance and position of arms and legs for each of the positions. Ideally, in all of the shooting positions, the shooter takes advantage of skeletal support. The shooter should align the bones of his/her arms and legs to provide a solid foundation. A shooter’s legs and arms form vertical planes helping the body remain stable in the shooting position.
Jamie Gray, London 2012 Gold Medalist in Women’s 3 X 20, has retired from professional shooting this year. However, Jamie plans to stay involved in the shooting sports as a Public Relations/Marketing representative for ELEY, a leading maker of rimfire ammunition. Joining the ELEY team this month, Jamie will work with shooting clubs and educational institutions to promote smallbore target shooting.
Jamie’s role in the USA will be wide ranging. Her job description includes working with state associations, governing bodies, schools, colleges and retail partners, giving educational seminars, and meeting “grass roots” shooters across the USA. Jamie has always been an icon within the USA shooting community.
Those who have met Jamie know that she is passionate about her sport and that she’s always willing to help others. Jamie’s extensive knowledge, international experience, and engaging personality makes her a great choice for ELEY’s new PR & Marketing Executive for the USA. As an Olympian who competed in Beijing 2008 and then went on to win the Gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, she is well qualified to “inform and inspire” the next Olympic hopefuls in the shooting sports.
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Rimfire-ammo maker ELEY Ltd. recently opened a new test facility in Winters, Texas. On hand for the opening ceremony were triple Olympic Medal Winner Matt Emmons and 2012 Gold medal Winner Jamie Gray. Other notable shooters at the opening included legendary Olympian Lones Wigger and husband and wife team Sandra and Eric Uptagrafft. Media and industry were represented by NRABlog editor Chip Lohman, Corrie West of USA Shooting, and staff from Shilen Barrels and Stiller’s Precision Firearms.
Eric Uptagrafft praised Eley’s new facility: “To see this come to fruition is very exciting. It shows the level of support and dedication that Eley has as a partner of USA Shooting. I expect this will create a huge advantage for our team and our abilities to diligently do the testing that is required being an elite-level shooter.” Jamie Gray concurred: “It’s good to have a test range of this caliber in the United States because it makes it easier for [American shooters] to get out and test-fire more often. It’s easier for us to bring our guns to Texas than take them overseas, especially in England.”
Eley has invested heavily in the new two-lane test facility which allows pistol, rifle, and benchrest rimfire shooters to test their firearms with ELEY rimfire ammunition. Eley’s new Texas facility allows lot-by-lot batch testing to be done in the USA for the first time. Batch testing used to be limited to the UK, at ELEY’s Head Office. Earlier this year ELEY opened their second range in Stuttgart, Germany and now the third Winters, Texas. The facility will have the ability to test both .22 Rifles and Pistols with electronic target systems and advanced group-measuring software. All three Eley Test Centers have two 50-meter lanes for testing .22 Rifles and Free Pistols. The USA and Germany ranges also allow testing of Free Pistols and Rapid Fire Pistols at 25m.
Meanwhile, Out in Arizona…. We’re pleased that Eley has opened a two-lane facility in the USA. That’s great for shooters. But the new Eley facility is limited to 50m (fifty meters) maximum. By contrast, the new state-of-the-art Lapua Rimfire Service Center in Mesa, Arizona has the ability to record results at 50m AND 100m simultaneously. As your shots pass through special sensor grids positioned at both 50m and 100m, Lapua plots your group size at both distances during on the same string of fire. We think that’s a huge advantage for Lapua’s Arizona Test Center compared to Eley’s Texas facility. Another difference is that at Eley you can only test Tenex ammunition while at Mesa, you can test all types of Lapua rimfire ammo from the top of the line to the more economical products. That’s another significant advantage for the Lapua operation. But it’s great that American shooters now have a choice of two rimfire testing facilities within our national borders.
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Open today’s (8/22/2012) edition of USAToday, and you’ll find a full-page ad congratulating all members of the USA Olympic Shooting Team who recently competed at the London Olympics. The ad features the four shooter-athletes who earned three gold and one bronze medals in London. This advert was sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The ad’s headline reads: “Congratulations To All Our Shooters on the U.S. Olympic Team” and continues, “Making history, setting records, showing the world the fun and excitement of the shooting sports: You’ve made us proud.”
“The National Shooting Sports Foundation is honored to be a sponsor of USA Shooting, and we are thrilled to draw even more attention with this ad to the fine men and women representing our sports on the world stage,” said Chris Dolnack, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for NSSF, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry.
Four USA Shooters are featured:
Gold medalist Kim Rhode, who became the first American ever to medal in five consecutive Olympic Games and who set a new Olympic record and tied a world record in women’s skeet.
Gold medalist Vincent Hancock, who became the first skeet shooter to win that Olympic event twice and who set two Olympic records.
Gold medalist Jamie Gray, who set two Olympic records in both the final and qualification rounds of women’s 50-meter, three-position rifle.
Bronze medalist Matt Emmons, who added to his gold and silver medal tally from previous Games in the men’s 50-meter three-position rifle.
Download NSSF Where2Shoot App for iPhone
The NSSF’s USAToday Ad also gives readers an opportunity to download NSSF’s Where2Shoot App for the iPhone, which allows users to search for shooting facilities nationwide, watch video tips on hunting and shooting and keep up with news about the shooting sports. To learn more about USA Shooting visit www.usashooting.org.
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Jamie Gray won the Gold Medal in women’s 50m three-position rifle today at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London. Jamie finished with a score of 691.9, a new Olympic record. Fittingly, Jamie secured the Gold Medal with a 10.8 on her last shot in the finals, just 0.1 shy of a perfect score. “I’ve worked on taking that last shot for four years,” she said. “It was almost a moment of relief… I knew it was a good one.” Jamie finished 4.4 points ahead of Silver Medalist Ivana Maksimovic of Serbia. The Czech Republic’s Adela Sykorova took the Bronze medal, 8.9 points behind Gray. You can watch the Women’s 50m Three Position Finals on the NBC Olympics Website (internet service provider log-in required).
Jamie shot great throughout the competition and headed into finals with a two-point lead over her competitors. Gray’s qualifying score was 592, also an Olympic record. This was Jamie’s second appearance in the Olympics, and she has made great progress in the past four years. In Beijing in 2008, Jamie finished fifth in three-position rifle, and fourth in air rifle. After winning Gold in Londson, Jamie said: “This is a dream come true. I made a plan and I stuck to it.”
Two Gold Medal-Winning Room-Mates
At the Olympic Athletes Village in London, Jamie shares a room with Kim Rhode, who won Gold in Women’s Skeet Shooting. Perhaps that pairing brought good luck to both ladies. Team USA now has three Gold medals in shooting, the team’s best performance since 1984.
Earlier this spring, in a USA Shooting interview, Jamie talked about Olympic shooting competition which divides male and female shooters into two divisions: “I am a born competitor and whether it is men or women I want to win. In a sport that is equal between men and women I would most definitely enjoy the competition. I started out only knowing that men and women compete against each other. It wasn’t until I learned shooting was an Olympic sport that I realized men and women didn’t compete against each other. It is exciting to me that there are still sports out there that men and women can be equal, however for other reasons it may be better that there are different categories for each.”
Jamie began shooting in a BB gun program at 8 years old. An all-round athlete, as a high school student, she played varsity soccer, basketball and softball. Jamie graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and shot for its nationally-renowned rifle team. She is currently the technical coach for the Columbus State University Rifle Team. Jamie is married to another shooter, USAMU SSG Hank Gray. Jamie, who originally hails from Lebanon, PA, competed as Jamie Beyerle before her marriage.
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As the National Governing Body (NGB) for the sport of Olympic-style shooting in the United States, USA Shooting (USAS) welcomes the dialogue created by the recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Mark Yost titled: Taking Aim at an Old Debate: Can female athletes compete against men?. In shooting, yes — but not in the Olympics. In this article, Yost points out several interesting facts and observations about our sport. This dialogue allows us to engage the shooting community, expand our thinking and establish pathways for bettering our sport for the future.
You will get little argument from many of today’s top shooters, both male and female, as to the shooting abilities of women throughout USA Shooting’s ranks. The success of the collegiate programs like TCU and many intercollegiate programs in the U.S. only echo these beliefs as do some of the sport’s elite shooters like Kim Rhode, a four-time Olympic medalist in trap and skeet shooting, or Katy Emmons, a three-time Olympic medalist from the Czech Republic who is married to [U.S. Olympian] Matt Emmons.
“I am a born competitor and whether it is men or women I want to win,” said Jamie Gray, a 2008 Olympian in Rifle. “In a sport that is equal between men and women I would most definitely enjoy the competition. I started out only knowing that men and women compete against each other. It wasn’t until I learned shooting was an Olympic sport that I realized men and women didn’t compete against each other. It is exciting to me that there are still sports out there that men and women can be equal, however for other reasons it may be better that there are different categories for each.”
From 1968 through the 1980 Olympic Games, Olympic shooting events were mixed, with opportunities for women and men to participate regardless of gender. At the 1980 Games in Moscow, there were six shooting events contested. At the upcoming Games in London, there will be 15 events contested. Opportunities for women to compete in Olympic shooting have not shrunk with the dissolution of “mixed” events, but rather have grown as a result not only in our brand of shooting but across all platforms of the shooting sports. In Olympic competition, 14 women got the opportunity to compete in shooting at the 1980 and 1976 Olympic Games combined. Since that time, the numbers have risen from 77 in 1984 to 145 female competitors at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Shan Zhang Won Gold in 1992
Recent history also suggests that woman can perform alongside men in shooting competitions. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, female competitor Shan Zhang of China became the Olympic gold medalist that year in mixed-event skeet, topping a field of both men and women. Over two days of competition she produced a score of 373 out of 375, a new Olympic and world record. She also became the first woman in the history of the Olympic Games’ shooting competition, to beat all the male shooters in her event. Since that time, no mixed events have been held in an Olympic shooting competition.
“As a proud American female citizen, participating in a sport where gender-specific characteristics are not advantageous, I would overwhelmingly favor a chance to compete in a mixed event — or at least a women’s event with an equal number of targets as the men,” said Kelsey Zauhar, a USA Shooting National Team member in Shotgun.
“I think that anytime you have competition where size or strength is not a factor, females can absolutely compete with the males,” said USA Shooting National Team Pistol shooter and USAS Board member Sandra Uptagrafft. “The fundamentals of executing a good shot work the same regardless of gender, size or age. The question of why females no longer compete with males or why we have differing number of shots in the same events comes up often when I explain our sport to new people. It does seem sexist, but the fact that we have separate events from males in the Olympics actually is a good thing since more females can compete this way. There can only be so many people on the shooting line at one time. I personally am just happy to have a sport like shooting in which I can excel.”
FACTOID: Research by the National Sporting Goods Association shows female participation in target shooting grew by 46.5% between 2001 and 2010. And an October 2011 Gallup Poll found 23 percent of women own a gun. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, from 2001 to 2010, female participation in hunting grew by almost 37 percent.
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Based on their showings in 10m Air Rifle Olympic trials, four athletes have been nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team. The Men’s 10m Air Rifle nominees are two-time Olympic medalist Matt Emmons and 2011 Pan American Games silver medalist Jonathan Hall. The two women nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team are Sarah Scherer and 2008 Olympian Jamie Gray. Olympic Team selection was based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals. All athletes nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team must now be approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Matt Emmons, already nominated for Men’s 50m Rifle Three Position, led the selection with a total of 2587.7 points. Matt note: “I’m happy to earn another nomination to the team and shoot another event at the Olympics. At the same time, I know the scores that I shot throughout Trials are not going to be competitive at the Games and I know what I need to do to get there.” Close behind Emmons, Jon Hall finished the 2012 Trials with 2586.7 total points. Hall, a senior at Columbus State University in Georgia, finished third in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Airgun Trials, barely missing the team in 2008. Hall said that making the 2012 Olympics team is “a relief and an exciting moment — I’ve been working towards this my whole life.”
In Women’s 10m Air Rifle, 21-year-old Sarah Scherer and 2008 Olympian Jamie Gray received nominations to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. Scherer is now the second member of her family to earn an Olympic berth. Scherer’s brother, Stephen, was a member of the 2008 Team, and passed away in 2011. “Honestly, thank you Lord. Without him I could not have made it through this match,” said Scherer who battled a severe head cold throughout the weekend. “The only thing that I had left in my shooting that was still me was my focus and concentration. I couldn’t hear or see as well as normal and my heart rate was all over the place. I’m just so thankful that I made it through.”
Gray, already nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team for Women’s 50m 3P Rifle, is “looking forward to shooting two events [in London].” Jamie, the wife of USAMU SSG Hank Gray, will continue her training at the USAMU’s ranges in Fort Benning, GA, as well as the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado.
Airgun Course of Fire Explained
In airgun competition, male and female competitors shoot 60 and 40 shots respectively during a single course of fire at electronic targets 10m (32.8 feet) down range. The maximum number of points available is 600 for men and 400 points for women with 10 being the highest score possible per shot. Athletes qualify for the finals by placing in the top eight after an aggregate match score. The final for both events consists of ten shots. The scoring in the finals is unique because decimals are counted, so the maximum number of points a competitor can earn is 109 points with 10.9 being the highest score possible per shot.
In related news, two 10m air pistol shooters secured Team nominations at the Olympic Trials held at Port Clinton, Ohio this past weekend. Now set to compete with Team USA are three-time Olympian SFC Daryl Szarenski, and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Jason Turner. SFC Szarenski is the 2011 Pan-American Games Men’s 10m Air Pistol gold medalist. Daryl came into the weekend with an 18-point advantage over his nearest competitor and finished atop the standings with 2537.4 total points.
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Jamie Gray, London 2012 Gold Medalist in Women’s 3 X 20, has retired from professional shooting this year. However, Jamie plans to stay involved in the shooting sports as a Public Relations/Marketing representative for ELEY, a leading maker of rimfire ammunition. Joining the ELEY team this month, Jamie will work with shooting clubs and educational institutions to promote smallbore target shooting.
We’re pleased that Eley has opened a two-lane facility in the USA. That’s great for shooters. But the new Eley facility is limited to 50m (fifty meters) maximum. By contrast, the new state-of-the-art 
Open today’s (8/22/2012) edition of USAToday, and you’ll find a full-page ad congratulating all members of the USA Olympic Shooting Team who recently competed at the London Olympics. The ad features the four shooter-athletes who earned three gold and one bronze medals in London. This advert was sponsored by the 
Shan Zhang Won Gold in 1992
Based on their showings in 10m Air Rifle Olympic trials, four athletes have been nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team. The Men’s 10m Air Rifle nominees are two-time Olympic medalist Matt Emmons and 2011 Pan American Games silver medalist Jonathan Hall. The two women nominated to the U.S. Olympic Team are Sarah Scherer and 2008 Olympian Jamie Gray. Olympic Team selection was based on the aggregate of four courses of fire and two best finals. All athletes nominated to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team must now be approved by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
In related news, two 10m air pistol shooters secured Team nominations at the Olympic Trials held at Port Clinton, Ohio this past weekend. Now set to compete with Team USA are three-time Olympian SFC Daryl Szarenski, and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Jason Turner. SFC Szarenski is the 2011 Pan-American Games Men’s 10m Air Pistol gold medalist. Daryl came into the weekend with an 18-point advantage over his nearest competitor and finished atop the standings with 2537.4 total points.
