The White Horse Center Range near Peeltree, West Virginia, will host the 2017 National IBS 1000-Yard Nationals from September 1-3, 2017. This will be a great match — over 100 shooters have signed up so far, including many of the nation’s top 1K benchrest aces. It’s not too late to sign up. You can register (on-site) up until 5:00 pm on Friday, September 1. The current match fee is $90.00 per gun class, or $175.00 for both classes (Light Gun and Heavy Gun). The White Horse 1000-yard range will be open on Friday for sight-in and practice.

» CLICK HERE for IBS 2017 1000-Yard Nationals Registration Form

This record-setting offset (assymetical) Heavy Gun belongs to talented shooter Mike Gaizauskas.

2016 IBS 1000-Yard Overall (2-Gun) Champion Tom Mousel (below) will travel to West Virginia to defend his title this weekend at White Horse. Last year Tom posted a stunning 3.356″ Group Agg to win Light Gun Group as well. That’s a 1/3 MOA Agg at 1000 yards — truly remarkable precision.

The Deep Creek Tracker stock, with adjustable “keel”, is the hot ticket now in the 17-lb Light Gun class.

Match Schedule and Fees
The 1K Nationals will be a 3-target Aggregate match for both Light Gun (LG) and Heavy Gun (HG) with six (6) targets total. Practice and Sight-in will be available Friday (9/1/2017). NOTE: There will be a $10.00 per target fee during practice days. Match fees for the Nationals are now $90 per gun ($45 per gun for juniors). All registrations MUST be received by 5:00 pm Friday, September 1st. No walk-up registrations will be accepted on match days.

How to Get There
The Center is located 9.7 miles south on State Route 20 from I-79, exit 115 or 10.1 miles north of Route 20 from Buckhannon. Look for a brown and yellow Dept. of Natural Resources sign on Route 20. Take Crouse Road to the next sign, turn right at the sign, and proceed up the hill to the Center. Map coordinates are: 39°, 7′, 11″ North latitude; 80°, 13′, 4″ West longitude. The White Horse Center website has information on area hotels and campgrounds.

Pennsylvania gunsmith Mark King topped the highly competitive field, placing first in the Two-Gun Grand Overall. Mark shot his trusty 6mm Dashers well in both Light Gun and Heavy Gun divisions to finish with 34 ranking points (lower is better). Mark’s LG had a Broughton barrel, while his HG had a Bartlein barrel. In second place Overall was runner-up Jeff Green with 49 ranking points. Tom Murtiff had a great run with his Light Gun, winning the LG Division after placing first in LG Score and fourth in LG Group. James O’Hara was second in Light Gun, followed by Mark King in third. In Heavy Gun division, the top two positions were separated by a single rank point. Jeffrey Moltern took the HG title after finishing first in HG group and sixth in HG score. Just one rank point behind Moltern in the HG class was Bud Williams, who finished fifth in HG Group and third in HG Score.

Tod’s three, 5-shot Light Gun groups were: 4.489″, 3.760″, and 3.283″. That yielded an average of 3.884″ at 1000 yards. Think about that — Tod’s average is barely over one-third MOA, which is 3.49″ at 1000 yards — seriously small. Yes, those Dashers can shoot!

Wesley Springman was the top Heavy Gun Shooter, placing second in Group and third in Score, to finish first Overall in Heavy Gun class. Don Rabun was second in HG overall, with Eric Springman taking third in HG, edging Don Nagel on a tie-breaker (both Eric and Don racked up 14 Agg Rank Points). As noted above, Tod Sobey won the Light Gun Overall, with Donald Whitlock second in LG, and David Powley third. Notable other performances were Jeffrey Morten’s first place finish in LG Score, and Eric Springman’s outstanding Group shooting in Heavy Gun. Eric finished #1 in HG Group, with an impressively small 5.925″ Agg (that’s for ten-shot groups). And Sharon Ruben nailed the small group for the match, a mind-blowing 2.686″ on her second Light Gun (5-shot) target. For reference, one-quarter MOA at 1000 yards is 2.617″. Amazing.

Winning Rifles: 6mm Dasher Light Gun, 300 WSM Heavy Gun
Tod Soeby provided this equipment rundown for his Nationals-winning rifles.

Light Gun (6mm Dasher): Smithed by Greg Wahlstrom, Straightline Customs, in Ogilvie, MN. Greg also did the stock work and bedding. Action is a BAT “M” multi-flat, 8.5″-long, R-L-R dual port. Stock is a Shehane ST-1000. Barrel is 30″ Krieger 1:8″ twist, chambered as 6mm Dasher with 0.267″ neck. Optics are: Nightforce NSX 12-42X in BAT +20 MOA aluminum ring/bases.

Heavy Gun (300 WSM): Smithed by Clay Spencer. Action is BAT “L”, 10″-long, 2″-round, dual port. Stock is a Bruce Baer 5″-wide thumbhole, with custom rails by Greg Wahlstrom of Straightline Customs. The barrel is a Hart 1:10″ twist chambered in 300 WSM. Optics are: Nightforce 12-42X Benchrest model. Tod is not sure about the source of Picatinny rail and rings.

CLICK HERE for Full 2011 IBS 1K Nationals Results

117 Shooters Competed at 2011 IBS Nationals
Overall, shooters commented that West Virginia’s White Horse facility was a nice range, and many folks hoped that other major events might be hosted there in the future. Despite the predicted hot, humid weather, there was a great turn-out for the event, with 117 registered shooters in Light Gun and 115 Heavy Gun Registrants. The match organizers at White Horse did a good job with such a large field of shooters. The excellent turn-out proves there is a growing interest in long-range benchrest.