Getting started in the shooting sports can be intimidating, especially for women. Thankfully, there are many training resources available. NSSF has compiled a series of target shooting tips for women, by women. These tips, presented by instructors Kay Miculek, and Lena Miculek-Afentul, cover basic shooting methods and safety. Topics include pistol grip, stance, eye dominance, and ear protection. These tips can benefit any novice shooter, not just the ladies.
Rifle Stance and Hold (for Action Shooting)
Champion 3-Gun shooters Kay Miculek and Lena Miculek-Afentul demonstrate rifle stance basics and how to properly hold an AR-platform rifle for action shooting.
Grip and Stance for Pistol Shooting
Mother/daughter team Kay Miculek and Lena Miculek-Afentul demonstrate proper grip and stance for shooting semi-automatic pistols in action disciplines.
Eye Dominance (and Hand/Eye Cross-Dominance)
Learn how to identify your dominant eye. Kay Miculek, a cross-dominant shooter, explains how other cross-dominant individuals can maintain a proper sight picture.
Getting started in the shooting sports can be intimidating, especially for women. Thankfully, there are many training resources available. NSSF has compiled a series of target shooting tips for women, by women. These tips, presented by instructors Deb Ferns, Kay Miculek, and Lena Miculek-Afentul, cover basic shooting methods and safety. Topics include pistol grip, stance, eye dominance, and ear protection. These tips can benefit any novice shooter, not just the ladies.
Rifle Stance and Hold (for Action Shooting)
Champion 3-Gun shooters Kay Miculek and Lena Miculek-Afentul demonstrate rifle stance basics and how to properly hold an AR-platform rifle for action shooting.
Grip and Stance for Pistol Shooting
Mother/daughter team Kay Miculek and Lena Miculek-Afentul demonstrate proper grip and stance for shooting semi-automatic pistols in action disciplines.
Eye Dominance (and Hand/Eye Cross-Dominance)
Learn how to identify your dominant eye. Kay Miculek, a cross-dominant shooter, explains how other cross-dominant individuals can maintain a proper sight picture.
Ear Protection — Double-Up for Safety
Babes with Bullets Director Deb Ferns says the most common complaint among new shooters is, “It’s too loud!” Deb recommends “doubling up” — wearing muffs OVER soft foam earplugs. That’s “sound advice” for any shooter.
Jerry Miculek — that name is synonymous with revolvers. But Jerry is also one heck of a rifleman, as he demonstrates in this video.
Three Shots Standing at 400 Yards in 4.37 Seconds
For those of us who usually shoot from the bench, hitting a silhouette target at 400 yards from an standing position (unsupported) would be a big challenge. Here Jerry Miculek makes it look easy.
In this video, Jerry hits not one but THREE c-zone targets at 400 yards. And — get this — he does this in under 4.4 seconds starting with his rifle laying on a support. It took Jerry two tries (on his first run he hit 2 out of 3 in 4.65 seconds). On the second attempt (see video starting at 2:19), it takes Jerry just 4.37 seconds to shoulder his rifle, aim, and fire three shots, each hitting a separate steel target. Wow. That’s truly remarkable. Most of us would need ten seconds (or more) just to get the scope on the first target.
Trust us folks, this ain’t easy. It takes remarkable marksmanship skills to shoot with this kind of precision at this kind of pace. As Jerry would say himself, “Not bad for an old guy who needs glasses”.
Three Shots Standing at 400 Yards in 4.37 Seconds Could you hit a silhouette target at 400 yards, shooting offhand? Probably, with a little practice. Now try doing that three times in just 4.37 seconds, including picking up/mounting the rifle! Not possible? Watch the legendary Jerry Miculek do that in this impressive demonstration of rapid-fire rifle shooting.
Jerry Miculek — that name is synonymous with revolvers. But Jerry is also one heck of a rifleman, as he demonstrates in this video. Grabbing his rifle from the top of an oil drum, Miculek proceeds to put shots on three different steel targets at 400 yards — all in under 4.4 seconds. Most of us would be lucky to make one successful shot in that time limit. Miculek hits all 3 targets (and makes it look easy).
In this video, Jerry hits not one but THREE c-zone targets at 400 yards. And — get this — he does this in under 4.4 seconds starting with his rifle laying on a support (plywood on top of a barrel). It took Jerry two tries (on his first run he hit 2 out of 3 in 4.65 seconds). On the second attempt (see video starting at 2:19), it takes Jerry just 4.37 seconds to shoulder his rifle, aim, and fire three shots, each hitting a separate steel target. Wow. That’s truly remarkable. Most of us would need ten seconds (or more) just to get the scope on the first target.
Trust us folks, this ain’t easy. It takes remarkable marksmanship skills to shoot with this kind of precision at this kind of pace. As Jerry would say himself, “Not bad for an old guy who needs glasses”.
Doug Koenig proved two things this past weekend at the 2016 NRA World Shooting Championship. First, he showed that he is one hell of a shooter, maybe the best action shooter ever. Second he proved that trick, custom race-guns WILL out-perform off-the-shelf firearms. As originally conceived, the WSC has been a multi-discipline match in which competitors shoot an assortment of manufacturer-supplied firearms. But this year, a rule change allowed “BYO” firearms and ammunition in the new Professional Open Division (Pro Open). Koenig’s choice to run in Open Class proved to be a good one — he walked away with a check for $25,000 and the title of 2016 “World Shooting Champion”.
Competing in the Pro Open Division (using his own guns for most stages), Koenig dominated, winning all 12 stages while racking up 3000 points, effectively a “perfect” score. Only a couple shooters competed in Pro Open using their own guns and ammo. Though some say he made it look easy, Koenig, a 17-time Bianchi Cup Champion, insisted this was a tough match. After the awards ceremony, Koenig told Shooting Sports USA: “This was a really great match — and a fun test of all the different shooting disciplines. [The WSC] is without a doubt one of the most difficult matches that I have ever shot. I have a lot of respect for the other disciplines that I have never done before.”
Curiously, only a couple competitors competed in Pro Open, while there were 67 shooters in the regular Pro Class, and 131 Amateurs. Given Koenig’s thorough trouncing of the Pro Stock competitors, one wonders what will happen to the WSC event next year. Will more shooters join the Pro Open ranks? Will there even be a Pro Open Division next year? Koenig served notice that if you want to win the overall title, you better bring your own guns. But that would seem to change the signature theme of the WSC — shooting “normal”, box-stock firearms. One wonders how the other competitors felt about Koenig capturing $25K and the title of “World Champion”, while they shot off-the-shelf hardware.
Nonetheless, Koenig deserves full credit for his superb, 3000-point “perfect” performance. In winning all twelve stages (including some disciplines he had never shot before), Koenig’s 2016 WSC performance was truly one for the ages.
Greg Jordan won the Professional (Stock) Division with a score of 2934. Jordan had a very strong performance with class wins in the 2-Gun, 3-Gun, and America’s Rifle Challenge stages. Pro Stock runner-up, 41 points back, was Mark Yackley with a 2893 score.
Brilliant Performance by Amateur Competitor Nate Dudley
The Top Amateur at the 2016 WSC was Nate Dudley with 2879 points. Dudley’s strong showing would have placed him ahead of all but four of the Pro Stock shooters*. That’s remarkable. Nate beat 63 Pros, including last year’s WSC Champion Bruce Piatt who finished 8th in the Pro (Stock) division.
The Miculeks — America’s First Family of Shooting
Lena Miculek won the Ladies Championship with a score of 2816, and Lena’s mom, Kay Miculek was the second-place lady. Lena’s father, the legendary Jerry Miculek, finished 9th in the Pro Stock Division.
*Fourth-place Pro Ryan Muller scored 2881 points, while fifth-place Pro Nick Atkinson had 2878 points.
Getting started in the shooting sports can be intimidating, especially for women. Thankfully, there are many training resources available. NSSF has compiled a series of target shooting tips for women, by women. These tips, presented by instructors Deb Ferns, Kay Miculek, and Lena Miculek-Afentul, cover basic shooting methods and safety. Topics include pistol grip, stance, eye dominance, and ear protection. These tips can benefit any novice shooter, not just the ladies.
Rifle Stance and Hold (for Action Shooting)
Champion 3-Gun shooters Kay Miculek and Lena Miculek-Afentul demonstrate rifle stance basics and how to properly hold an AR-platform rifle for action shooting.
Grip and Stance for Pistol Shooting
Mother/daughter team Kay Miculek and Lena Miculek-Afentul demonstrate proper grip and stance for shooting semi-automatic pistols in action disciplines.
Eye Dominance (and Hand/Eye Cross-Dominance)
Learn how to identify your dominant eye. Kay Miculek, a cross-dominant shooter, explains how other cross-dominant individuals can maintain a proper sight picture.
Ear Protection — Double-Up for Safety
Babes with Bullets Director Deb Ferns says the most common complaint among new shooters is, “It’s too loud!” Deb recommends “doubling up” — wearing muffs OVER soft foam earplugs. That’s “sound advice” for any shooter.
Legendary pistol and 3-Gun shooter Jerry Miculek stars in a great instructional DVD set from Brownell’s. The 3-Disc DVD set, “Jerry Miculek Practical Rifle”, shows Jerry working his magic with AR-platform carbines. This DVD set is available from Brownells.com (item 100-004-974) and from Jerry’s website.
The Jerry Miculek Practical Rifle DVDs cover every aspect of shooting the AR-15 in multi-gun matches — from the basics of stance, grip, trigger control, all the way to advanced shooting techniques. Specific topics covered include: 1) Setting up your rifle; 2) Stance grip and trigger technique; 3) Acquiring targets more quickly; 4) Shooting on the move; 5) Shooting multiple and moving targets; 6) Shooting behind cover; 7) Reloads and malfunction drills. Along with the instructional demos, the DVD provides basic and advanced drills that viewers can use to improve their shooting speed and accuracy.
The Miculek Practical Rifle DVD comes in a 3-Disc set. Disc One covers gun set-up and hardware selection (trigger, barrel, optics). Disc Two covers shooting technique — stance, position, weight distribution, target acquisition and other gun-handling skills. Disc Three is the “Application” — Jerry shoots typical courses of fire, showing how to engage various types and locations of targets with maximum efficiency.
We predict serious multi-gun shooters will add this DVD set to their libraries. Produced entirely at Brownell’s studios in partnership with Jerry Miculek’s Bang Inc., the complete 3-Disc set runs 2 hours and 17 minutes. Each Disc features multiple camera angles (including “shooters’ eye view” through the optic), slow motion footage, and animated illustrations.
Results are in from the inaugural IDPA World Championship held September 21-24, at the Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof, Florida. There were 387 competitors from 18 different countries. Triple-digit temps, high humidity, rain, and muddy conditions made the 22 challenging stages even more difficult.
Champions were named in each of IDPA’s five divisions, based on elapsed time and penalties for “points dropped”. Robert Vogel topped the field of Standard Service Pistol (SSP) shooters, with a superb 248.29 score — the best score for the match and over 40 points better than any other SSP shooter. Robert was also the High Scoring Law Enforcement competitor. In the video below, Robert demonstrates the skills that carried him to victory in Florida.
In other classes, James McGinty became the first-ever World Champion in the Enhanced Service Pistol (ESP) Division by scoring 283.31 with his STI 2011 9mm. Glenn Shelby, with a score of 299.48, took the Custom Defensive Pistol (CDP) Division shooting his Wilson CQB. Among the wheelgunners, Jerry Miculek shot a modified .45 ACP S&W Model 625 to win the Enhanced Service Revolver (ESR) Division. Miculek hammered through the tough stages during the monsoon-like weather, scoring 411.79. In Standard Service Revolver (SSR) Division, Craig Buckland led the way with a 426.9, using his S&W Model 19. Other notable competitors were: James Myers (Most Accurate Shooter); Tom Yost (Top Senior); and Tierrani Hendrix (High Lady).
This week’s episodes of Impossible Shots and Shooting USA are definitely worth watching. On Impossible Shots, Bob Munden shoots 600-yard targets with a .44 Magnum handgun and Jerry Miculek shows off his steel-shooting skills. Wednesday’s Shooting USA episode is outstanding — it features the Fort Benning 3-Gun Match, followed by rifle shooting tips from top marksmen with the USAMU. Both Impossible Shots and ShootingUSA air multiple times each Wednesday on the Outdoor Channel, starting at 2:00 pm (Eastern) for Impossible Shots and 4:00 pm (Eastern) for Shooting USA (consult your local listings for other areas). Watch the video below for previews of both shows.
The USPSA National Handgun Championships were held October 9 through 16 at the Desert Sportsman’s Rifle & Pistol Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 600 shooters put more than 250,000 rounds downrange in a quest for coveted U.S. Practical Shooting Association national titles in the Open, Limited-10, Limited, Production and Revolver divisions.
K.C. Wins Opens Division — His First USPSA National Title
K.C. Eusebio won the Open division title, outgunning his nearest challenger by more than 73 points. K.C. notched his first Overall USPSA Nationals win with this impressive victory. The Team Limcat shooter who earlier this year won the Steel Challenge Nationals and the Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships, put his speed and shooting skills on display as he won six of 18 stages and finished in the top five on all by three. However, Eusebio sat out the first day of competition waiting for his match ammo to arrive and had to make up the missed stages over the next two days of the competition. Second place in the match went to fellow Limcat shooting team member J.J. Racaza who posted a final score of 1649.2863.
Miculek Wins Yet Another Revolver Championship — But It Wasn’t Easy
Jerry Miculek once again won the Revolver Division, with a close victory over runner-up Matt Griffin. Miculek finished with 1680.7297 match points — mere 9.4980 points ahead of Matt. Getting to the top of the podium wasn’t a walk in the park though, as Miculek battled jetlag after returning from a match in Australia, an inner ear infection and a fly away front sight. Despite all the obstacles before him, Miculek won six of 18 stages and finished in the top five on all by one. No other shooter in any division in the competition came close to that kind of consistency.
Miculek competing earlier this year at the Steel Challenge. Photo Courtesy SteelChallenge.com.
“It was the longest three days of my life. I told my wife Kay it felt like I’d been here for a week,” joked Miculek.”It was the longest, hardest match and every time you pulled your gun out of the holster it was extremely difficult to try and survive the stage. Every time you made a shot it was a hard cover, no-shoot, long range disaster event. It was just nerve-wracking and I do believe it was the hardest [pistol match] I’ve ever shot,” said Miculek.
“There are some good shooters coming up,” said Miculek about his competition. “I’m getting toward the end of my competition lifespan, I guess you could say. I realize that physically so the younger bucks are going to start coming in and pushing the old bucks out. It’s just the way of the world and I left my mark and I hope they do well and leave their mark.”
Jessie Abbate 3-Peats As USPSA Limited National Champ
Jessie Abbate won the USPSA Women’s Limited Division Championship for the third year in a row, finishing 75 points ahead of runner-up Lisa Munson. After finishing second in the earlier Open division contest, Abbate, adjusted her approach: “Coming into the Limited match, I decided that I had to be aggressive, I had to shoot my sights and let those be my speedometer,” said Abbate.
“This is a very hard match, especially for iron sights. There are more partial targets here than I’ve ever seen and I knew I had to be accurate. I had to be patient and let my sights tell me what to do.” That patience paid off as Abbate won 11 of the 18 stages in the match to post a final score of 1173.5946. Abbate used some Open Class techniques to her advantage in Limited Class: “I’ve been shooting mostly Open this year so and I’ve brought some things over from my open shooting to limited that have helped me a lot. Lots of speed, more shooting on the move and being a more aggressive shooter overall.”
Team Glock’s Dave Sevigny Wins His 6th Production Division USPSA Title
Competing in a field of 120 top Production division shooters, Sevigny had to come from behind to win. “Unfortunately I started out a little bit flat, and I think everybody at some point got sideways in this match. I’ve been in these situations before where I knew I had to lay the hammer down to go for the win, and I knew that today I had to do that.” Finishing second behind Sevigny was Team CZ shooter Matt Mink of Conway, Ark. who finished more than 80 points behind with a final score of 1556.5509.