The folks at F-TR Ireland send greetings from the Emerald Isle: “Wishing all our friends … around the globe all the very best. Beannachtai na Féile Phádraig! (that means “St. Patrick’s Day Blessing”.) Hope you all have a great St. Patrick’s Day … whether be you Irish by birth, heritage, or aspiration!”

Your Editor sends a Happy St. Patrick’s Day greeting to all our AccurateShooter.com Bulletin readers. As an Irish-American whose great-grandfather was born in County Donegal, I’m proud to wear green today. But lest readers think that Ireland is only a land of shamrocks, lucky leprechauns, and Riverdancers, be aware that Ireland has an active community of precision shooters. In 2011, the National Rifle Association of Ireland unveiled the beautiful new 1200-yard range in Tullamore, at the Midlands National Shooting Centre. Also in 2011 Tullamore was was the site of the first modern-era Creedmoor Cup Challenge Match between Irish and American Teams. The Yanks won that year, but that was just the beginning of a great rivalry.

Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland
In the year 2000, the National Rifle Association of Ireland (NRAI) was formed. One of its primary goals was to promote fullbore target shooting in Ireland. The NRAI needed a home and that home was found on the bog of Derrymore in Blueball just outside Tullamore in County Offaly. In 2000, a 400-yard range was built on the site. Three years later the 600-yard “Windmill” range, the first of its kind in modern Ireland, was also built to allow for mid-range target shooting. The site was christened the Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland (MNSCI) and with it the story of Irish F-Class began. No sooner had the 600-yard range been built at the MNSCI, when the NRAI formed a national F-Class league bringing together like-minded shooters from all over Ireland.

Irish Rifle (Crafted by Enda Walsh of Custom and Precision Rifles Ireland)

Irish Shooting Range (National Shooting Center, Tullamore, Ireland)

Benchrest Competition in Ireland
Along with long-range and F-Class shooting, benchrest shooting (both rimfire and centerfire) is also popular on the Emerald Isle. Here are images from a major rimfire match sponsored by the National Rimfire Benchrest Association of Ireland (NRBAI).

This video shows a variety of .22 LR rifles shooting Ireland rimfire matches from the bench. It’s great to see the many different rifle types and front/rear rests.

American shooters have been enjoying Irish hospitality this week in Ireland, while attending attending the Emerald 2018 match at Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland (Tullamore). Our friends James Crofts, Phil Kelley, and Aussie Jenni Hausler provided these images from the event — both at the range and off. The Yanks are off to a good start. James reports: “Day one scores are out and Team USA is on top. Madison Bramley topped F-Open and I held on for F-TR. I also won the 1000-yard match. My equipment performed flawlessly — rifle built by Keith Weil of KW Precision, Cerus Stock by Will McCloskey, and BRM action by Jim Borden.”

American Phil Kelley posted: “As always our hosts are outstanding. Man, love this range! Ready for the big match starting tomorrow.”

Phil Kelley enjoyed the Team Match and long-range Clays Fun Match which preceded the main event. Phil posted: “A great day, with a busy line at 1100 and 1200 yards in Ireland. Last fun day included some great competition. Team USA did well. After getting completely destroyed at 1100 yards, I was able to win the 1200 yard match; with a miss! First ever board miss, it’s only 6’ wide. 12-14 mph winds with a lying, heavy mirage.”

The day finished with a fun (and challenging) Clay Pigeon Shoot at roughly 1235 yards. Phil noted: “Ellis Berry, James Crofts and myself were one of only a handful to hit the 4.25″ clay target within 5 shots in these conditions.” Think you can do that? That 4.25″ clay bird represents a mere 0.338 MOA at 1200 Yards! Not easy folks…

Competitors in the Clay Pidgeon Shoot at 1200+ yards.

Posting on Facebook, Mias Nieuwoudt had an interesting observation about the challenge of 1200 yards: “On average it seems the old 308s ran out of steam compared to our F-Open rigs at 1200 yards. Maybe a 40° scope rail with the targets angled backwards at 30° so you can lob the points like mortars!”

Touring the Emerald Isle — Countryside and Castles
On June 5, Phil Kelley observed: “Another great group touring day. A morning stop at Donamass Castle ruins provided incredible Irish views, then on to the town of Kilkenny for the Smithwicks Brewery tour, visit to Kilkenny Castle and a walk on the Medieval Mile.”

Interior of Kilkenny Castle

Nancy Tompkins (left) and Michelle Gallagher (right) give a shout out to friends.

The American contingent — enjoying the good life in Ireland.

Facebook Photo Credits: Jenni Hausler, James Crofts, Phil Kelley, Pat Hunt, the Bramleys.

Can you hit an egg at 1230 yards? Nancy Tompkins can. It did take her a couple of shots though. Mighty impressive shooting by a great lady, the first-ever female to win the National High Power Championship. Nancy was shooting at Ireland’s Midlands National Shooting Centre. She took six shots to hit a clay pigeon, and then hit the egg two shots later. Here’s the official proof:

Nancy, along with daughter Michelle Gallagher, has been in the Emerald Isle competing at a series of matches at Midlands. Hosted by the NRA of Ireland (NRAI), the Emerald & Ireland Long Range Challenge is held annually at the Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland (MNSCI) in late May and early June. The event starts with the Long Range Challenge at 1100 and 1200 yards. That is followed by the Emerald match. In past seasons, the Emerald match included three yardages (800, 900, and 1000 yards) with a shoot-off for the top 10 competitors.

Nancy says she loves to shoot in Ireland — the facilities are excellent and the wonderful hospitality of her Irish hosts makes the experience memorable. Here’s a photo from the Midlands Shooting Centre, located in Tullamore, Ireland.

Way to go Team USA! The American F-Class squad won the prestigious Creedmoor Cup competition held June 28-29 at the Midlands National Shooting Centre in Tullamore, Ireland. This is a competition with a rich history, going back to the original Challenge Match in 1874 between American and Irish Teams in Creedmoor, New York. (Read Match History)

Photo by Matthew Schwartzkopf.

Phil Kelley wrote: “I never knew when planning for this trip the wonderful history that is the Creedmoor Cup, Ireland and U.S. rifle competition, and the hunger of the Irish for freedom. It is one of many things that has made this trip so enjoyable. J.P. Craven [opened] the Creedmoor competition with John Sigler, previous President of the NRA. John had the honor of the first shot with a rifle used to help gain Irish independence. The Irish, like Americans, have a rich history that ties the rifle and independence together. It has been an honor to be part of this event, with each and every individual that is part of it.”

Michelle Gallagher wrote: “Here are the teams from Ireland and the USA with the range crew. I’m so incredibly proud of all my friends on both sides of the pond. And I’m already planning to bring a team back next year for the Emerald Match. Safe travels and see you all again soon!”

Click photo for full-screen view:

In the Emerald Team matches, U.S. squads also prevailed. USA Open Team Blue won the F-Open Division, while USA F-TR Team Red, shown below, won the F-TR event. Both winning teams enjoyed large margins of victory.

In the individual Emerald Match competition held last week, Americans topped the field. U.S. F-Open Team members did well, filling 8 of the top 10 spots with a clean sweep of the medals. Congrats to David Gosnell on his win (Dan Bramley was second and Matt Davis was third). In the F-TR class, Americans again dominated, with Barry Brazil winning, followed by Tim Stewart (second) and James Crofts (third).

F-TR Shooters Sean Murphy, Jim Crofts, and Phil Kelley celebrate after the big win…

Here are F-Open shooters lined up during the Emerald Matches. That’s Irish rifle-builder Enda Walsh in the foreground.

Irish Rifle (Crafted by Enda Walsh of Custom and Precision Rifles Ireland)

Irish Shooting Range (National Shooting Center, Tullamore, Ireland)

Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland
In the year 2000, the National Rifle Association of Ireland (NRAI) was formed. One of its primary goals was to promote fullbore target shooting in Ireland. The NRAI needed a home and that home was found on the bog of Derrymore in Blueball just outside Tullamore in County Offaly. In 2000, a 400-yard range was built on the site. Three years later the 600-yard “Windmill” range, the first of its kind in modern Ireland, was also built to allow for mid-range target shooting. The site was christened the Midlands National Shooting Centre of Ireland (MNSCI) and with it the story of Irish F-Class began. No sooner had the 600-yard range been built at the MNSCI, when the NRAI formed a national F-Class league bringing together like-minded shooters from all over Ireland.

American Shooters Dominate Team and Individual Events
We don’t have all the scores yet, but we do have key results. We’re proud to announce that the USA won the main Creedmoor Cup event! Prior to that, on Friday, the Yanks prevailed in the Europe vs. USA Challenge match (sort of like the Ryder Cup). Forum Member Erik Cortina reports: “I’m not 100% on the numbers but I know we beat them by about 110 points shooting in the rain! We have a very strong team and excellent wind coaches!”

In the individual competitions held during the week, American shooters also topped the podium. In F-T/R individual competition, Darrell Buell won the championship with a solid performance. Larry Bartholome shot superbly in windy conditions to win the F-Open match. (Larry was using a Precision Rifle & Tool Low Boy stock, Nightforce scope and a SEB Neo Rest.) Larry’s compatriots also shot well — there were nine Americans among the top 11 F-Open shooters. That is definitely a dominant performance by our talented F-Open squad.

Here are some reports from Ireland that came in from Forum members Erik Cortina and TonyR over the last few days:

Sunday, 6/26: “The second day of the Creedmoor Match was completed today and the USA has won the Gold Medal. I haven’t seen the score but I’m sure it will show up at some point. Shooting conditions were again tough with high speed fishtail tail winds that switched rapidly but our wind coaches, Bob Mead, Nancy Tompkins, Michelle Gallagher, Dale Carpenter, Jim Murphy, and Ricky Hunt were up to the challenge. The Irish Team were great hosts and we all had a wonderful time. They put together a new range with this event in mind in just a few months and it is something to be proud of.” — TonyR

Saturday, 6/25: “Shot the first day of the Creedmoor Cup today. Winds were tough! We had a fishtailing wind from 5-7 o’clock and we were being pushed into the 3 ring with ease, the F-T/R guys were going into the 1’s! We didn’t have a good day, we dropped 434 out of 4,000, but they had a worst day than we did, they dropped 648 points! So to say winds were tough is an understatement! We are having tons of fun regardless.” — Erik

Friday, 6/24: “We just finished shooting the Europe vs. USA Challenge. I’m not 100% on the numbers but I know we beat them by about 110 points shooting in the rain! We have a very strong team and excellent wind coaches!” — Erik

Thursday, 6/23: “Larry shot great today [to win the F-Open Championship]! In F-Open, there were 9 of us in the top 11. This is an awesome range! We have been shooting in 25 +- winds for two days and it’s fun when you can stay ahead of the wind, but if you get behind it, it’s not fun at all…” — Erik

Want to see more photos from Ireland, and read more reports from the competitors? You’ll find more info about the Creedmoor events, match results, plus linked photo galleries on the USA
F-T/R Team’s new Facebook Page. Log on to: http://www.facebook.com/us.rifle.team.