2025 NRA Smallbore Rifle Championship in Marengo, Ohio

2025 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championship
The 2025 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championship was held at the Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio. This included a three-position event as well as a prone event. The 3P match involved Prone, Kneeling, and Standing positions. Michael O’Connor won the 3P Championship with a score of 2352-126X. Finishing second was Cameron Zwart (2330-116X) and Denise Loring finished third (2325-100X).

Notably, along with winning the 2025 Three-Position title, O’Conner secured the 2025 NRA Lones Wigger Iron Man Trophy, awarded for the highest combined score across both Smallbore Rifle National championships — Three-Position and Prone.

The NRA Smallbore Championship at the Cardinal Center ran July 20-29, with the Three-Position Championship concluding on July 29. This was the first year the NRA has hosted the Smallbore Nationals — both Conventional Prone and Three-Position — at the Cardinal Shooting Center. Participants say the event proved quite successful. CLICK HERE for Shooting Sports USA Match Report.

Rio 2016 World Cup Photo Courtesy ISSF and Team USA

Would you like to try smallbore position shooting? Here are some tips from one of the best 3P shooters on the planet, Olympian Matt Emmons.

Matt Emmons competed in the Three-Position Event at the Rio Olympics, his fourth Olympic appearance. Matt has competed on the U.S. National Team since 1997, medaling in three Olympic games: Gold in 2004 in Men’s 50m Prone; Silver in 2008 in Men’s 50m Prone; and Bronze in 2012 in Men’s 50m 3X40. Although his specialty is Men’s 3-Position rifle, Emmons’ World Championship and Olympic Gold are in Men’s 50m Prone. He usually shoots an Anschütz or Bleiker .22LR rifle, with Eley Tenex ammo.

In this video, Matt explains 50m 3-Position Shooting For Smallbore and Air Rifles.

Here are shooting tips from Matt, courtesy Anschütz. Click image below to launch a full-screen PDF file.

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Here Matt Shows the Kneeling Position. The other two positions are Standing and Prone.

Three Sets of Hardware for Three Positions
You may be surprised to find that Matt often totes three complete sets of rifle parts to important matches — three buttplates, three cheekpieces, and three Centra sights with adjustable irises. Matt told Shooting Sports USA that he travels with “three sets for three positions. Our final is so fast that I need three sets of everything to allow a fast change-over between positions.” Matt carries his gear in an an Anschütz sport bag: “It’s similar to the big Ogio duffels with wheels, but lighter. I’ve worked with AHG/Anschütz for many years and I like their bag because all of my junk fits in it.”