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October 12th, 2011
Tune your TV to the Outdoor Channel tonight. There’s a good episode of Shooting USA featuring the 2001 NRA Annual Meeting in Pittsburg, PA, along with a special report from the NRA Youth Adventure Camp in Raton, NM. There are also two helpful tech features. USAMU gunsmiths demonstrate the official Army way to camo-paint your AR, while Wade Bourne explains how to set the trigger pull on a hunting rifle.
 NRA Annual Meeting
The NRA’s annual meeting moves to a new city each year. For 2011 time Pittsburgh was the location and the gathering point for 70,000 members to conduct business, elect members to the board, and hear from a slate of speakers including Newt Gingrich, Lt. Colonel Ollie North, and Mike Huckabee. Along with the speeches and the politics, the highlight of the annual meeting is the trade show, open to all NRA members. Hundreds of vendors are on hand displaying thousands of firearms and shooting-related products. In addition, many top Pro Shooters and celebrities attend the show, meeting and greeting visitors.
NRA Adventure Camp at Whittington
At the NRA’s Youth Adventure Camp, teen participants (13- to 18-years-old) spend two weeks learning about shooting at the 33,000-acre Whittington Center in New Mexico. There are ranges for every NRA shooting sport, and the young campers work their way through most of them, learning the fundamentals of rifle, pistol, and shotgun shooting. In two weeks, the lucky campers will shoot thousands of rounds under the guidance of expert instructors.
| SHOW TIMES — Shooting USA airs every Wednesday on the Outdoor Channel, at these times:
Eastern Time: 4:00 PM, 8:30 PM, 12:00 Midnight | Central Time: 3:00 PM, 7:30 PM, 11:00 PM
Mountain Time: 2:00 PM, 6:30 PM, 10:00 PM | Pacific Time: 1:00 PM, 5:30 PM, 9:00 PM |
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September 18th, 2011
September 11-17, the Bald Eagles Rifle Club hosted the 2011 Spirit Of America rifle match, at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, NM. This match serves as U.S. National Fullbore Championships, but there are also F-Class divisions. The match consists of conventional sling (TR) class, as well as F-Open and F-TR, and the event is shot at distances of 300, 500, 600, 800, 900 and 1000 yards. Approximately 80 shooters, including about 20 F-classer attended the event.
Bryan Litz won the Fullbore TR (sling) competition with a 1782-105X overall score, with runner-up Andrew Wilde (1780-101X), just two points behind. Sean Morris finished third with 1776-85X, and Jim O’Connell shot 1772-81X to claim the High Senior title.
Photo by Randy Pike
In F-Open Class, familiar names topped the leaderboard. Larry Bartholome earned his chair ride as F-Open winner, shooting an impressive 1776-98X. Second in F-Open, five points back at 1771-96X, was past F-Class National Champion Danny Biggs. In the F-TR division, Michael Smith topped the field with a 1738-69X, followed by John Killen, who shot a 1720-52X. NOTE: F-Open and F-TR competitors shoot a target with smaller-diameter scoring rings than the Fullbore Target.
Conditions Were Mild… Then Wild
Bryan Litz tells us the conditions weren’t so bad … until the final day: “We dodged some rain throughout the week, but wind conditions were easy to moderate for the most part. That is until the last 1000-yard string of the last day when Raton finally showed its evil side! The most wind I had used all week was just over 3 MOA. That last relay on Saturday, it was running between 7 and 12 MOA with very quick changes. There were many misses, and just keeping all shots in the black was an accomplishment.” Rick Hunt concurred that the conditions were arduous on the final 1K stage: “At 1000 yards, there was a 9:00 o’clock wind running between 9 1/2 and 13 1/2 MOA. As seen by the scores, two shooters really nailed it. Other than that, it was pretty disastrous for most shooters with the really fast velocity changes.”
When the smoke had cleared, the standings were all jumbled up compared to what they were the rest of the week. Litz added: “An experience like that really drives home the importance of wind shooting skills. To be honest, I had no particular strategy going in other than to stay calm and positive no matter what. A big part of shooting in adverse conditions is managing yourself mentally. I dropped 10 points that last relay, more than I’d lost in the entire tournament up to that point. But given the conditions, I felt good about it, knowing I’d done my best.”
Berger 155gr Hybrids Work Well in Fullbore Competition
Bryan Litz credits his 155gr Berger .308-cal Hybrids for his strong performance: “I was shooting the new Berger 155 grain Hybrid bullets which played a part in saving some points in that nasty wind (on the last day). Due to their length, these bullets require a 1:12″ twist to stabilize and have a higher BC than any other .30 caliber 155 grain bullet. The hybrid ogive makes them length tolerant (insensitive to seating depth) and as the results of this tournament show, they are very effective”.
Complete Final Scores On SOA Blog
You’ll find complete interim and final SOA Match Scores linked from the Bald Eagles Match Blog.
Saturday and Final TR (Fullbore Sling) Class (PDF).
Saturday and Final F-Open and F-TR Class Results (PDF).
At the match the USA Young Eagles unveiled the new uniforms the American team will wear at the World Fullbore Championships in Australia next month. On opposite sleeves, the uniforms feature logos from both major bullet sponsors — Berger and Sierra. Bryan Litz observerd: “Historically teams have been sponsored by ‘one or the other’, but there’s no reason a team can’t enjoy sponsorship by multiple brands, and this is a very positive step in that direction.”
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September 24th, 2010
We recently reported that Trudie Fay of Raton, NM, shooting on her home range, was the Fullbore winner at the Spirit of America Match. Trudie and many other shooters set new National records during the course of the match. Trudie fired an aggregate score of 1781-104x, which was an Open, Civilian, and Woman’s National Record. Second place, with a Senior National Record, was Tom Whitaker. High Grand Senior was Johnie Franklin, high Junior was Kyle Doney, high Service was Emily Windmassinger.
 There were also new records set in F-Class competition, in both F-Open and F-TR classes. High F-Open shooter was Danny Biggs with a score of 1777-88x. Danny’s score was an Open, Civilian and Grand Senior National Record. High Senior was Jim Murphy firing 1766-90x.
Michelle Gallagher was the high F-TR shooter firing a score of 1717-62x. Michellle’s score was an Open, Civilian and Woman’s National Record. Daniel Borwiecki of the Marine Corps Rifle Team was the high Service shooter. Robert Depp was the high Senior and Alan Canavan was high Grand Senior.
Trudie Rides in Style
The winners were “chaired,” holding their rifle and hoisted in the air by the competitors. Trudie Fay, wearing white gloves, was carried in Raton’s timber sedan chair by the Fullbore competitors. Danny Biggs, the F-Class winner, was carried in a rocking chair by the F-Class competitors. Michelle Gallagher, the F-TR winner, was carried in a captain’s chair. All were carried off the 1000-yard line to the Bald Eagles Clubhouse while bagpipe music was played.
Report courtesy Jan Raab and the NRA Blog.
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September 19th, 2010
 Trudie Fay continued her outstanding shooting from earlier this week to win the Spirit of America Fullbore Championsihp with a Grand Agg score of 1781-104X, edging Tom Whitaker by one point. That’s as close as it gets — Tom finished with 1780-105X. He had one more ‘X’ than Trudie, but one less point, and it is the total score that decides the Championship. Trudie shot brilliantly right out of the gate, winning the Sunday Agg with a 450-33X. Tom almost matched that later, winning Thursday’s Agg with a 450-31X, but ultimately, Tom was unable to overcome Trudie’s early lead. Congrats to Trudie and Tom, and all the shooters who performed so well at the 2010 Spirit of America Match.
 Biggs Wins F-Open Division
Multi-time F-Class National Champion Danny Biggs won the F-Open Division with an impressive 1777-88X, three points ahead of Ryan Pierce (1774-87X), a master-level shooter who finished ahead of all the High Masters except Danny. Ryan is clearly a rising star in the F-Class world. Third overall with high X-Count for the match was Jim Murphy who scored 1766-90X. Placing fourth overall was Larry Bartholome, whose 1763-78X score also earned him High Senior Honors. (Photo at right is a file photo when Danny shot F-TR at the 2010 Championships.)
Michelle Gallagher of Berger Bullets won the F-TR division with a 1717-62X score. Michelle eged runner-up Laura Perry (1717-57X) on X-Count. Bill Watts finished third in the F-TR Division with a 1710-60X score.
Final Results have not yet been published for the team competition. But so far, in Fullbore Competition, the U.S. National 4-man Team, coached by Tom Whitaker, is in first place, while the 8-person United States Rifle Team, also coached by Whitaker, has a solid lead over the Bald Eagles Team. U.S. Rifle Team members are: Norm Crawford, Trudie Fay, Wayne Forshee, Johnie Franklin, Boyd Goldsby, Noma Mayo, Kent Reeve, and John Rhynard.
Berger 4- and 8-man Teams Lead in F-Class Team Competition
In F-Class Team events, the 4-Man Team Berger (Larry Bartholome, Danny Biggs, Robert Bock, Jim Murphy) has a 6-point lead over Team Sierra Spindle Shooters. In the SOA 8-man F-Class Team event, the Berger Right-Left Team, coached by Mid Tompkins, has a solid lead over the Insane Clown Posse, coached by Mid’s wife Nancy Tompkins. (It’s all in the family we guess.)
CLICK HERE for latest SOA Match Results
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September 17th, 2010
The Spirit of America Match (SOA), one of the nation’s most prestigious long-range tournaments, has been underway this week at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico. Turn-out has been good, with 111 competitors: 67 Fullbore (Palma) shooters and 44 F-Class competitors, including 31 F-Open and 13 F-TR shooters.
Thus far Trudy Fay won the Camaraderie Trophy match, the Aggregate of last Sunday’s two Matches. Tom Whittaker won US Armed Forces Trophy Match, the Aggregate of Tuesday’s two individual matches. On Thursday the 16th, Match 7 (300, 500, and 600 yards), plus Match 8 (900 yards) were fired. We will provide Thursday results as soon as available. You can check the Bald Eagles Club website for the latest SOA Match Results.
Today, Friday the 17th, the Angel Fire 4-Man Team Match will be held at 300, 500, 600 and 1000 yards. Team matches were previously held on Monday (Raton 8-Man Match) and Wednesday (Cimarron 4-Man Match). The Spirit of America Match will conclude on Saturday with Match 10 (300, 500, 600 yards, sponsored by Sinclair Int’l), and Match 11 (900 yards, sponsored by Lapua). The combined Aggregate of Match 10 and 11 constitutes Match 12, The End of the Trail Trophy match. CLICK HERE for Match Schedule & Class Rules.
The Fullbore National and Spirit of America Championship will be awarded based on the Grand Aggregate of the four Daily Aggregates: Matches 3, 6, 9, & 12 in Target Rifle and F-Class Categories. There are also separate SOA Short Range Championship and Long Range Championship Trophies.
 Sunday Aggregate — Camaraderie Trophy Match
——- HM ——-
TRUDIE FAY W HM 300-25 150-8 450-33 *MW*
MICHAEL STORER J HM 299-18 149-10 448-28 2MW
NANCY TOMPKINS W HM 299-18 149-4 448-22 3MW
NOMA MAYO SW HM 300-25 147-5 447-30 1HM
KELLY BACHAND HM 300-18 147-9 447-27 2HM
——- MA ——-
CARLTON HARDIN MA 300-17 147-3 447-20 1MA
DOUG FRERICHS S MA 298-10 147-6 445-16 2MA
RICK CURTIS MA 299-19 145-4 444-23 3MA
Tuesday Aggregate — US Armed Forces Trophy Match
——- HM ——-
TOM WHITAKER S HM 300-21 143-5 443-26 *MW*
ALLEN ELLIOTT S HM 296-12 146-5 442-17 2MW
JON RHYNARD S HM 296-17 145-4 441-21 3MW
KENT REEVE HM 300-18 141-1 441-19 1HM
TRUDIE FAY W HM 299-20 141-5 440-25 2HM
——- MA ——-
ANDREW DONEY MA 299-17 141-2 440-19 1MA
BILL LAIR S MA 298-12 141-4 439-16 2MA
NICK MOWRER MA 299-11 140-4 439-15 3MA
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July 22nd, 2010
A “Dream Team” composed of four of America’s top lady shooters set a new national long-range Palma record at the Rocky Mountain Palma Championships at Raton, NM last week. The four-woman squad of Trudie Fay (Captain), Michelle Gallagher, Noma Mayo, and Nancy Tompkins shot brilliantly to establish a new National Palma record of 1796-112X, breaking the existing 1791-102X record held by the USAMU (Praslick) team.
Officially listed as “The U.S. National Team”, but dubbed “Team Estrogen” by one of the gals, this squad of four female High Masters was coached by Steve Conico, a veteran long range shooter from New Mexico. Michelle told us that Coach Conico did a great job calling the wind, and all the team members performed well: “Our strategy was simple: lay down, shoot, let Steve think for everybody. Steve’s a fantastic coach. We all just had a good day. All four trigger-pullers were on top of our game. The combination of good conditions (for Raton), great coaching, and good shooting allowed a memorable team performance. That combination is rare. It’s not going to happen again any time soon.”
SCORES: T. Fay: 448-39X | M. Gallagher: 450-35X | N. Mayo: 449-26X | N. Tompkins: 449-22X
For Michelle, competing in this match with a team of female all-stars (who are all close friends) was a dream come true: “We’ve been planning to have a womens’ team for 10 years and it finally happened. It’s fun getting everyone together. We’re all delighted it worked out so well. And I loved being able to shoot with my mom.” Michelle shot a perfect 450 in the match, not dropping a single point.
 Record-Setting Equipment
All four Dream-Teamers were shooting conventional single-shot .308 Winchester Palma rifles — no tube-guns in this arsenal. Nancy Tompkins’ rifle featured a wood stock, Stolle Panda action, and 30″ Krieger barrel. Michelle’s rifle was similarly configured but she used a fiberglass McMillan stock. Nancy and Michelle shot ammo loaded with Hodgdon Varget powder, Wolf (Russian) primers, and the 155.5gr Berger Palma bullet. The other two team members, Noma and Trudie, may have been using Sierra #2156 155gr Palma bullets but that’s not confirmed.
Loading for the 155.5gr Berger Palma Bullet
Michelle observed that the 155.5gr Berger Palma bullet doesn’t require any special tuning: “With the 155.5, it’s pretty easy to swap out any load you’ve used successfully with any of the other 155s. The 155.5 doesn’t require a lot of extra load development. As far as seating depth goes, some people are successful jumping them, some people are successful jammin’ them in. Personally I’ve always soft seated. I haven’t found them to be very finicky.” Editor’s note: “Soft Seating” refers to deliberately loading the bullets long, with fairly light neck tension, and then allowing the bullet to find it’s position as one closes the bolt. The potential benefit is that the bullet ogive is always in the same position relative to the start of the rifling.
Good Conditions Aid Record-Setting Team Performance
During the July 10 team match, the weather gods smiled, providing good conditions (by Raton standards) for the female Dream Team’s record-setting performance. Michelle observed: “Have you ever shot at Raton? It can be the devil. Raton can be really nasty, but it was a pretty benign day by Raton standards. The wind was switchy but not what I’d call ‘blow you off the paper’ wind. We were all able to concentrate on the mechanics — just ‘lay down and squeeze’. Steve did all the work.”
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September 4th, 2009
Well I guess we’re all going to have to read Bryan’s book now…. Over the past few days in Raton (NM), Bryan Litz, author of Applied Ballistics for Long-Range Shooting, proved he has the trigger-pulling skills to match his technical knowledge. At the 2009 Spirit of America Nat’l Fullbore Prone Championship, Bryan put on a clinic, winning most of the individual fullbore matches, and leading his “Palma Red” Team to victory in the Cunico Team Match, Folsom Team Match, Sierra Team Match, and Galaxy Team Match. The “Palma Red” Team was ably coached by Steve Cunico. Bryan’s fellow “Palma Red” shooters on the team were David Crandall, Trudie Fay, and Noma Mayo, all of whom shot great. Congratulations to Coach Cunico, Bryan, and all the Palma Red team members.
Bryan Litz also lead the pack in all the individual Aggregate standings — Short Agg, Long Agg, and Grand Agg (1793-121X). Finishing second in Individual Grand Agg was Mitchell Maxberry (1788-108X), and Nancy Tompkins took third (1787-112X). Charles Ballard (2008 F-Class Nat’l Champ) was the overall top shooter in F-Class with a 1775-94X. Second-place finisher Danny Biggs (1770-83X) edged Larry Batholome (1769-103X) by one point, but Larry had the high X-count among F-Classers. Keep in mind that F-Class targets have smaller scoring rings than the full-bore targets.
There must be some good info in Bryan’s Ballistics book, because Bryan seemed to have an edge over all the other shooters at the SOA this year. Litz started strong and stayed strong throughout the week, winning three of four individual events. USAR Shooter Russel Theurer captured the Sinclair Int’l Individual Match with a strong 449-24X performance. Russ observed: “It’s interesting to see that every day’s Match was won with the Berger 155.5 bullet”. Complete results of the 2009 SOA can be found on the Bald Eagles Rifle Club website. Here are rankings from the individual events:
McGee Individual Match
Bryan Litz, 450-30X | Nancy Tompkins, 447-29X | Mitchell Maxberry, 446-27X
U.S. Air Force Individual Match
Bryan Litz, 449-31X | Trudie Fay, 449-25X | Michelle Gallagher, 448-28X
Sinclair Individual Match
Russel Theurer, 449-24X | David Crandall, 448-33X | Mitchell Maxberry, 448-26X
Sierra Bullets Individual Match
Bryan Litz, 448-30X | Michelle Gallager, 448-29X | Mark Andrew, 447-21X
SOA Grand Aggregate (Individual)
Bryan Litz, 1793-121X | Mitchell Maxberry, 1788-108X | Nancy Tompkins, 1787-112X
Praise for Bald Eagles Club
Bryan Litz had high praise for the folks who run the Spirit of America Match: “The Bald Eagles do a great job running a safe and efficient National Championship. There is an extraordinary amount of experience and common sense at work…. In my opinion, they’re a shining example of how things should be done. One example is squading the relays according to standings. I believe it makes for a more fair contest. If you enjoy midrange and long range shooting, then I highly recommend making the trip to Raton for the Spirit of America match next year. The range is beautiful, people are friendly, and you’ll get plenty of team and individual shooting in the 7 days.”
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