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December 1st, 2015
 Profile by Kyle Jillson for NRABlog
In the December 2013 issue of Shooting Sports USA, Barb Baird of Women’s Outdoor News sat down with Nancy Tompkins, one of the most accomplished shooters out there. A past World and National Champion, Nancy likes to reach out and touch targets at 1,000 yards with accurate rifles. She’s been competing in Palma (.308 caliber at 800, 900, and 1000 yards), Long Range (1000 yards) and Smallbore prone for 41 years. Thanks to her father, Nancy began competing in the seventh grade and now shares the love of shooting with her daughters Michelle and Sherri Gallagher, her husband Mid Tompkins, and her goddaughter, Danielle Makucevich. Nancy has competed on numerous international Palma teams, traveling from her home base in Prescott, Arizona.
“There is nothing better than traveling, making new friends and competing with the best shooters in the world,” said Nancy. And she only shoots with the best equipment. Her 2013-vintage Palma rifle featured a McGee stock, Stolle Panda action, Krieger barrel, Anschütz trigger, Warner rear sight and a Right Sight (front sight). Her .22 LR Smallbore rifle sports an Anschütz action and trigger with a Hart barrel, McGee stock, Right Sight (front sight), and Warner rear sight.
As always, interviewer Barb Baird had a key question for Nancy: “What’s in your range bag, Nancy Tompkins?” Actually, Nancy stores stuff in her Creedmoor shooting stool for High Power matches and in a large plastic box from Home Depot for her Smallbore matches. Here’s what Nancy keeps at the range:
- Sinclair timer
- Allen wrenches, small screwdriver, and grease
- SPF-15 lip balm
- Magnifying glass
- Two slings
- Creedmoor shooting glove
- Decot shooting glasses
- TLC Gunworks elbow pad
- Champions Choice shooting visor
- CeCe’s custom ear plugs
One More Item — Nancy’s Lucky Mouse
Nancy’s cat, Sierra, placed a toy mouse in one of her shooting stools a few years ago. Nancy now considers it her lucky charm. To learn more about Nancy’s recommended equipment, and glean great tips on Long Range marksmanship, get Nancy’s excellent book, Prone & Long Range Rifle Shooting.
Nancy Tompkins has been shooting competitively for over 38 years. She has won the National Long Range Championships 5 times (1986, 1997, 1999, 2003, and 2015), the across the course National Highpower Championships (1998), the Metric Smallbore Nationals (2012) and the Fullbore Nationals (2012). She has also been the Wimbledon Cup winner (1993) and a 7-time Leech Cup winner (1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2011 and 2012). She has won both team and individual medals in the World Championships and has been on eight Palma Teams (as both a shooter and a coach).
CLICK HERE for December 2013 SSUSA Issue with article about Nancy.
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March 3rd, 2015
At ranges across the country, on any given weekend, there are probably more IDPA matches than any other type of pistol competition. And now the IDPA has its own official steel practice target: the IDPA PT (Practice Torso). The new target, crafted by Utah-Based Action Target from 3/8″-thick AR550 steel, features a regulation torso shape with scoring zones. Green-colored reactive plates provide instant feedback. Notably, the target has no exposed bolts, clamps or brackets. The completely flat shooting surface reduces the risk of ricochets coming back at the shooter.
The IDPA target’s reactive plates feature an innovative hinge design. “A lot of work went into the design of this target,” said Chris Hess, Action Target’s marketing manager. “Not only did we ensure that the torso dimensions of the target perfectly match IDPA regulation, we also created a new patent pending hinge design for the reactive plates that minimizes the number of parts needed and provides consistent reaction on every shot. This new design will soon be used on all of our reactive steel targets.”
New IDPA PT Target features innovative, Patent-pending hinge design.
Two-time national IDPA champion Tom Yost helped develop the new steel target: “As a competitive shooter, this is exactly the kind of target I want to train with. Practicing on steel helps build muscle memory for accurate shots better than anything else because it provides instant feedback that you can hear and see.”
IDPA Matches feature “real-world” type scenarios, with guns drawn from cover.
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March 2nd, 2012
 In today’s economy, Free is good. Here’s a list of older shooting books that can be downloaded for FREE from Google Books. This list, created by German Salazar, includes many classic treatises on marksmanship that still have value for today’s competitive shooters. In addition, we’ve included illustrated firearm histories, such as Townsend Whelen’s fascinating book, The American Rifle, and The Gun and its Development (9th Ed.), by William Wellington Greener.
In the list below, the title link will take you to the Google Books page for each book. You can read the entire book online, or you can download it to your computer as a PDF file* and save it (or print it). You can also create your own Google Library and save the books there for access from any computer.
The Bullet’s Flight From Powder to Target, Franklin W. Mann, 1909, 384 pages.
Irish Riflemen in America, Sir Arthur Blennerhassett Leech, 1875, 216 pages.
The American Rifle, Townsend Whelen, 1918, 637 pages.
Suggestions to Military Riflemen, Townsend Whelen, 1909, 243 pages.
Modern Rifle Shooting From the American Standpoint, W. G. Hudson, 1903, 155 pages.
 The Gun and its Development, William Wellington Greener, 1907 (9th Ed.) 846 pages.
Manual for Rifle Practice: Including Suggestions for Practice at Long Range, George Wood Wingate, 1879, 303 pages.
How I Became a Crack Shot — With Hints to Beginners, W. Milton Farrow, 1882, 204 pages.
Cartridge Manufacture, Douglas Thomas Hamilton, 1916, 167 pages.
Description and Rules for the Management of the United States Rifle, Caliber .30, Model of 1903, United States Army Ordnance Dept., 1904 (5th rev. 1914), 72 pages.
CLICK HERE for more FREE, downloadable Classic Shooting Titles.
*To download a book, first click the title from the list above. Then, once you’re at the Google book site, look for the icon that looks like a gear in the upper right-hand corner. Click that and a pull-down menu will appear. Select “Download PDF” from the menu — this will bring up a security question to make sure you are a human. Respond to the security question correctly and your normal download prompt will appear. Choose a location to hold your new e-book, and click “save”.
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March 3rd, 2011
 The complete events schedule for the 2012 London Olympics has been released. Shooting events will take place at the Royal Artillery Barracks near Woolwich. Shooting competition starts with 10m Air Pistol on July 28 and finishes with the Mens 3-Position Finals and Trap Finals on August 6.
Olympic tickets (for all sports) go on sale starting March 15, 2011. Don’t delay if you want to grab tickets for the Shooting Finals. U.S. residents can purchase tickets through CoSport.com, while UK residents can get tickets from the London2012.com official website.
Download 2012 Olympic Shooting Schedule (with ticket prices) PDF
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September 3rd, 2010
The September digital edition of Shooting Sports USA magazine (SSUSA) features an Expert Forum on Wind Shooting. This outstanding article on wind reading starts off with a section by Bryan Litz, ace Palma shooter, and author of Applied Ballistics for Long-Range Shooting. Then five of the greatest American shooters in history share their personal wind wisdom. Lanny Basham (Olympic Gold Medalist, author, Winning in the Wind), Nancy Tompkins (Past National HP Champion, author, Prone and Long-Range Rifle Shooting), David Tubb (11-Time Camp Perry National Champion), and Lones Wigger (Olympic Hall of Fame) all offer practical wind-reading lessons learned during their shooting careers.
Whether you shoot paper at Perry or prairie dogs in the Dakotas, this is a certified “must-read” resource on reading the wind. Here is a sample selection from the article:
You can sign up online to receive FREE digital editions of Shooting Sports USA every month. In addition to feature stories such as the wind-reading article, each monthly edition provides a comprehensive schedule of shooting events nationwide. CLICK HERE to SUBSCRIBE.
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June 30th, 2010
 The July digital edition of Shooting Sports USA is now available for free online. In this latest edition of the popular “e-zine”, Managing Editor Chip Lohman reports on recent major collegiate matches, including the first ever Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship.
This July issue also features an excellent article by Scott Pilkington on Airgun Maintenance. This is an important topic which needs more coverage. Pilkington is a respected air rifle expert who served as the official gunsmith for the U.S. Olympic air gun squad at the Sydney Olympic games. He also runs his own Tennessee-based business, Pilkington Competition Equipment, www.pilkguns.com.
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April 21st, 2010
 The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has released the results of a survey of Americans 18 years or older. The study showed that 34.4 million adult Americans (11.2% of the U.S. population*), went target shooting in 2009. This number surpasses all previous survey estimates of annual sport shooting participation. The study, “Shooting Sports Participation Survey in the United States in 2009,” was conducted for the NSSF by Responsive Management through a random digit dialing telephone survey of 8,204 U.S. residents ages 18 and older.
Mark Duda, executive director of Responsive Management, declared: “This was a highly scientific study with the sample meticulously developed on a state-by-state basis to construct the national number. Both landline and cell phones were utilized in the actual proportions they exist within the American population.” Duda said this type of telephone survey yields a 95 percent confidence level. The report’s sampling error is ± 1.08 percentage points. Added Duda, “This study measured all shooting participation— from hunters sighting in, to friends going shooting with friends who own firearms, to women practicing their self-defense skills. This study measured the full range of shooting activities across America.” CLICK HERE for NSSF Survey Report.
24 Million Adult Rifle Shooters and 22 Million Adult Handgunners
In the NSSF survey, respondents were asked about their use of particular types of rifles. An estimated 24 million adult Americans shot traditional sporting rifles, while 22 million adults shot handguns. Users of AR-style rifles (aka “modern sporting rifles”), numbered an estimated 8.9 million adults. Interestingly, however, the AR owners went shooting more often than did sport shooters using other types of firearms. The estimated 8.9 million adults who shot a modern sporting rifle in 2009, did so on 22.9 days per year on average. Though more people shot other types of rifles (24 million) and handguns (22 million) than shot modern sporting rifles, they ranked below modern sporting rifle shooters in activity, with traditional rifle users participating on 17.3 days and handgun shooters 16.7 days.
AR Shooters Outnumber Trap/Skeet Shooters
More people shot with modern sporting rifles (ARs), and more often, than with shotguns in the established sports of skeet, trap and sporting clays. As noted above, 8.9 million Americans used their ARs for sport shooting. The survey showed 7.6 million people went trap shooting on 14.8 days, 7 million went skeet shooting on 15.5 days and 8.4 million participated in sporting clays on 13.7 days.
The survey sought to define the demographic makeup of those who shoot with a modern sporting rifle, such as an AR-15. As expected, men represented 84 percent of modern sporting rifle shooters and women 16 percent. Most modern sporting rifle users reside in small cities or towns (25 percent) and non-farm rural areas (25 percent) compared with urban areas (19 percent), suburban areas (16 percent) and farms/ranches (15 percent). Modern sporting rifles appealed to younger shooters, with 64 percent of users ranging in age from 18 to 44. Modern sporting rifle users were 86 percent white, with Hispanic/Latinos the next largest ethnic group at 5 percent.
*The US population was 307,006,500 in July 2009, according to U.S. Census Bureau Data.
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October 2nd, 2009
 The October issue of Shooting Sports USA e-zine is now online, FREE for the reading. Dedicated to competitive shooting, Shooting Sports USA offers a good mix of news briefs, feature stories, and a very extensive calendar of shooting matches.
You won’t want to miss this issue. It contains a multi-page report on the High Power, Long Range, and Smallbore Championships at Camp Perry, complete with plenty of photos and interviews with participants.
 In addition the October issue features a number of articles of interest to AR-platform shooters. The competition models from major manufacturers (such as Armalite, Colt, and DPMS) are profiled. Plus, there is a detailed, two-page feature on Geissele AR triggers. These triggers are widely considered to be among the best available for AR service rifles, and they are also popular with space-gun shooters.
Each month, Shooting Sports USA is “published” on the web in a print magazine-style format. You navigate with an index, and then flip pages to move from one story to the next. There’s no fee to read each issue, and you can sign up to receive a reminder in your inbox every time a new issue is released.
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May 7th, 2008
Larry and Brenda Potterfield of MidwayUSA recently established the MidwayUSA Foundation, a not-for-profit public foundation designed to provide financial support for education and training in the areas of shooting, hunting, firearms safety and outdoor skills.
The Potterfields donated over half a million dollars as the first donation to the Foundation. “New shooters are the lifeblood of our industry,” said Larry Potterfield, President of MidwayUSA, a catalog and internet retailer of shooting and hunting products. “Bringing new shooters into the sport is critical to the future of the shooting sports.”
To this end, the Foundation’s first endowment is the Scholastic Shooting Trust (SST) Fund. Via the SST fund, an alumnus (or other interested party), can make a donation to a particular high school or college program. That donation will be used to support the designated school’s existing shooting program or to help launch a shooting program.
“Here is how the program works,” continued Potterfield. “I just used the Foundation Website to make a donation for the University of Missouri’s Shooting Team. A portion of the donation will be contributed to the Shooting Team, with the remainder left as endowment principal. Every year in perpetuity, the Shooting Team will receive earnings from the principal to use for the team’s operating expenses.” Contributions to the SST Fund can be made through the Fund’s website at www.ScholasticShootingTrust.org.
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