Report and Photos courtesy NRABlog.com
The first-ever NRA Carry Guard Expo was held August 25-27, 2017 at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee. More than 14,000 visitors attend the Expo, billed as the ultimate assembly of education, training, and products dedicated to concealed carry, personal protection, and home defense. While this is not a handgun-focused website, we know that many of our readers have carry permits, and probably the vast majority own a pistol or two.

At the Expo, over 160 Exhibitors displayed their latest product lines for concealed carry, personal protection and home defense. The exhibit floor spread across nearly 100,000 square feet of the Wisconsin Center.

The Carry Guard Expo hosted 124 seminars with more than 6,400 guests participating in a variety of teaching/learning sessions. Seminar topics included: home defense, active threat protection, concealed carry tactics and much more.

Concealed Carry Permit Seminar
One Expo highlight was a seminar which covered the Utah Concealed Carry Weapon Course. Utah’s Concealed Carry Permit is now recognized in 60% of the USA, with 33 other states granting reciprocity. Seminar participants who completed the course left the Expo with enhanced abilities to protect themselves while traveling. The 4-hour seminar was hosted by Dave Matthews.

Many experts consider the Heckler & Koch P7m8 one of the very best carry pistols ever. On HK’s famous fixed-barrel “squeeze-cocker”, the striker is cocked by squeezing the grip, and then de-cocked when pressure on the grip is released.

P7M8 photo courtesy Michael Sullivan, released to public domain.

It’s March 4th today, and that means St. Patrick’s Day is coming up in a couple weeks. To help celebrate that traditional day of Irish pride, parades, and green beer, the NRA has created two (2) fun targets you can download, print, and shoot.

The first target features a large four-leaf clover in the middle, with 17 other smaller three-leaf shamrocks around the outside. With five black bulls-eyes in the center graphic, that gives you a total of 22 aiming points for shooting fun. For added challenge we suggest you set this target at 100 yards for rimfire rifle and 200 years for a centerfire gun.

The second target offers the legendary Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. Along with a big bullseye on the pot, there are 15 shamrocks in gold circles, plus five small gold bars with tiny bullseyes. Those smallest bulls will be a challenge even at 100 yards. You’ll need a half-MOA (or better) rifle to “clean” this target, hitting the smallest red dots.

Whether you’re Irish or not, these targets will hopefully bring you a bit of luck. Click each image above to open a high-rez PDF file that you can print out. Then, this St. Patty’s day, wear your green, grab your gear, and head to range for some fun shooting.

Report based on story by NRABlog.com
Starting this summer, the NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championships will no longer feature a separate “High Women” award. From now on, men and women will compete shoulder to shoulder in the same category — every shooter will be scored in a single group regardless of gender. (There will still be age-based categories; also men and women have always been eligible to win match top honors regardless of gender).

The reason for this change is, quite simply, that ladies can shoot as well as men (or better in many cases). Consequently, there is no need for a separate class for women: “There is a high degree of parity between men and women shooters in the smallbore championships,” said H.Q. Moody, national manager of NRA’s Rifle Department. Moody explained: “Women are rightly viewed as equals in today’s America. Shouldn’t our championships reflect that attitude as well? Our smallbore committee has discussed making the championships gender equitable for many years now and finally felt it was the right time to implement the change.”

Men and women will now compete on equal terms at the National Smallbore Championship, competing for the same honors in “gender-neutral” classifications.

Photo courtesy Shooting Sports USA.

This change was officially adopted this past January at the NRA Board of Directors winter meetings. It only affects the NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championships for now, but a positive reception could see “gender-neutrality” spread to regional matches and below, and maybe even other NRA disciplines.

History of Women’s Classfication in Smallbore Competition
The women’s category was first introduced to the smallbore championships nearly 70 years ago. Back then, military shooters were dominating the field so convincingly that several new categories were created to recognize the accomplishments of civilian shooters. This move saw the creation of not just the Woman category, but also Junior and Senior. The latter two have since expanded even further (e.g. Grand Senior, Intermediate Junior) to accommodate the skill discrepancies within levels and they make perfect sense to have; junior shooters are generally more inexperienced and many seniors are affected by physical limitations.

But the same can no longer be said of the women’s category. While military shooters still do very well nowadays, the proliferation of female service members has seen quite a few woman match winners. There are also a number of extraordinary female civilian shooters who finish near the top of each year’s overall standings. For instance, women shooters placed first in each of the two aggregate matches that determined last year’s Conventional 3-Position Champion.

The America Match is a four-round team competition shot at 300, 600, 800 and 900 meters. Made up of eight-man teams, each has the opportunity to score up to 600 points per round. Shot last year during the NRA Long Range High Power Rifle Championships in Camp Perry, this is the first America Match win for South Africa.

Having Long Range High Power Rifle Fun in the African Sun
Though one may try, it is truly impossible to simulate game day situations in practice. All the preparation in the world will never prepare you for the tension or adrenaline spike that accompanies real life. The distractions are even greater when competing in South Africa.

Not only is there the incredibly long plane ride, a new culture to embrace and new cuisines to devour, there’s also the local wildlife to consider. Don’t believe me? Then listen to what Alex Williams had to say on the England Rifle Team website:

Aside from keeping a beady eye on the targets, there were several opportunities to cop a look at the local wildlife – dawn is heralded by the cooing of pigeons and the squeaking of hundreds of small starlings. Zebras and elegant giraffes festoon the grasslands on the drive from the hotel to the range. Springbok prance through the fawn coloured savannah startled by the passing minibuses. Dinner also provides an opportunity to sample some of the local wildlife, which generally appears medium-rare.”

Redemption via the Rifle Awaits
Though the American Match holds a special significance to those of us here in The States, American shooters have to toss those results aside. Same goes for the the English, the Welsh and the Irish. After all, they are only three days into ten day of competition. There are plenty of victories left to be had.

Having the home field advantage has played well into the South African’s hands so far. The heat, the elevation (4,500 feet above sea level) and familiarity with the surroundings makes aiming that rifle all the more favorable for the locals. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Things can change.

Yesterday’s match saw Team USA finish second. Under the leadership of Head Coach Norm Anderson, along with coaches Emil Praslic and Steve Harding, Team USA’s shooters (including Lane Buxton, Brandon Green, Michael Storer, Ty Cooper, Bob Gill, Nate Guernsey, Anette Wachter and Dave Crandell) are sure to find their mark soon enough.

Thanks to Anette Wachter and James Watson for contributing to this post … both with pictures (Anette’s) and information. Follow Anette’s coverage of her long range high power shooting saga at www.30calgal.com.

Report by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog.com
This year you can catch all the action at the 2013 NCAA Rifle Championships in real time thanks to a live stream from the match venue in Columbus, Ohio. Just hop on over to the NCAA Live website and dive right in. (The NCAA also provides live streaming coverage of other winter championship events.) The individual finals are set to stream live at 4:30 pm Eastern time.

CLICK HERE for NCAA Rifle Championship LIVE STREAM.

Relay #3 is underway now (as this story is released) and the finals begin at 4:30 PM Eastern. In Relay #1, Alaska-Fairbanks’ Ryan Anderson took the lead with a 586-35X. After shooting a perfect 200 from prone, Anderson faltered slightly while standing and shot a 191, dropping nine. In kneeling, the final leg, he warded off the other shooters in his relay with a 195 to stay at the top.

Photos courtesy NRA Media Relations, some rights reserved.