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September 14th, 2019
The conquering Heroine! Trudie Fay poses with Fullbore Runner-up Oliver Milanovic (on ground).
 Congratulations to Trudie Fay, the Fullbore (Target Rifle) Champion at the 2019 Spirit of America Match. Trudie won yet another major title competing at the challenging NRA Whittington Range in Raton, New Mexico. With her great hard-holding skills and superior wind-reading abilities, Trudie shot brilliantly to finish at the top of a very strong field of competitors. SEE Spirit of America Fullbore Top 20 Results.
Trudie had a very impressive performance at Raton this past week. In her Fullbore (sling and irons) Division, she finished at 1781-105X, four points ahead of runner-up Oliver Milanovic (1777-102X). Trudie also had the highest score on two of the Four Days, and was the only shooter to record a 449 single-day score, which she managed on both Day 1 and Day 3. And as you’d expect, Trudie had the high X-Count for the match. This was another brilliant display of marksmanship by Trudie, who is also one of the best wind coaches in the country.
Trudie’s .308 Win Palma-type rifle was built by gunsmith and stock-maker Doan Trevor in Arizona. Doan commented: “I have had the privilege of building Trudie’s rifles for the last few years. Congratulations, my friend… You did it again!”
Blast from the Past — Trudie on All-Ladies Team at Camp Perry
Trudie is one of America’s greatest female shooters. A few years ago, she teamed up with four other legendary lady shooters for an all-female team at Camp Perry. Left to Right are: Michelle Gallagher, Trudie Fay, Nancy Tompkins (coach), Anette Wachter, and Sherri Jo Gallagher. Nancy was the first female National High Power Champion. And Sherri Jo was the second.
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May 19th, 2015
 1000 yards? Heck, for these KO2M guys, that’s just a warm-up — they plan to shoot out to 2500 yards and beyond. A new ultra-long-range event will be held this summer in New Mexico at the NRA Whittington Center. The King of Two Miles (KO2M) match will be held on July 1-2, 2015, right before the Fifty Caliber Shooters Assocation (FCSA) 1000-yard World Championships. If you like hurling big projectiles at very long ranges, Whittington is the place to be in July. The KO2M event is “wide-open” — any caliber is allowed and rifle size/weight is limited only by the shooter’s ability to lift the gun himself. Rifles will be shot prone with bipod.
Two Miles (Well Not Quite)
The name of the event is a bit of a misnomer, as the max range will be roughly 2500 yards. That’s WAY less than a full two miles (3520 yards). KO2M organizers do plan to go all the way out to two miles in the future, but they say their target and spotting technology isn’t up to that yet. Accordingly, the 2015 course of fire will include steel and electronic targets placed at known distances from 1000 to roughly 2500 yards. Next year, hopefully, the max range will be extended to over two miles, but, for now: “Current optical systems do not allow that.”
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August 29th, 2009
 The Spirit of America National Fullbore Rifle Prone Championship is now underway at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, NM. Sponsored by the Bald Eagle Rifle Club, the Spirit of America (SOA) is a major match that draws many of the top prone shooters in the country. The match is for Target Rifles as well as for F-Class Rifles. “Target Rifle” is defined as “a rifle chambered for use with the unmodified 7.62×51 commercial or .308 Winchester cartridge [or] a rifle chambered for use with the unmodified 5.56mm commercial or .223 Remington cartridge.” In practical terms, “Target Rifle” is a class for .308 or .223 Palma rifles.
Fullbore rifle competition originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s as an offshoot of Service Rifle shooting and has gained popularity in the United States. Both team and individual matches are featured in the championship, in which competitors shoot from distances of 300 yards up to a maximum of 1000. The match is governed by the Fullbore Rifle Rulebook. Different sets of targets will be used by the two classes:
Target Rifle: 300 yds – MR63; 500 yds – MR65; 600 yds – MR1; 800, 900, 1000 yds – NRA LR
F-Class: MR63FC, MR-65FC, MR-1FC, and LRFC
Running for a full week, the SOA consists of a series of daily matches, each with their own awards and rankings. At the end of the week Aggregate awards are determined for Grand Aggregate (Target Rifle and F-Class), Short Range Aggregate (Target Rifle), Long Range Aggregate (Target Rifle), and SOA Team Match Aggregate.
Aug 28 — Cunico Automotive Team Match
Aug 29 — Folsom Shooting Club Team Match
Aug 30 — McGee Stocks Individual Match
Aug 31 — U.S. Armed Forces Indiv. Match
Sep 1 — Sierra Bullets Team Match
Sep 1 — Galaxy Glass Long Range Team Match
Sep 2 — Sinclair International Indiv. Match
Sep 3 — Sierra Bullets Indiv. Match
CLICK HERE for a seven-page Guide to the Match that includes rules, match information, and complete schedule.
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August 7th, 2009
The High Power Silhouette Championships at the NRA Whittington Center (Raton, NM) started Thursday morning (August 6th) with many Smallbore Silhouette competitors taking to their big guns for High Power. Match 1 went well but extreme afternoon winds were blowing silhouettes off the rails so Match 2 was halted. That means the remaining two High Power Hunting Rifle matches over the next two days will jump to 60 shots rather than 40 to close the gap. The top shooters in Match 1 were Joy Cox (35), Defending Champion Angustin Sanchez, Jr (34 – 9 turkeys), and Laura Goetsch (34 – 8 turkeys)
The High Power Silhouette Championships are similar in format to the Smallbore Silhouette Championships held earlier this week. The Standard Silhouettte High Power Rifle matches are shot in the morning with the Silhouette Hunting Rifle Class shot in the afternoon. The main differences between the disciplines are obviously the type of rifle (Centerfire vs. Rimfire) and the distances. For High Power, targets are set at 200 meters (chickens), 300 meters (pigs), 385 meters (turkeys), and 500 meters (rams), while in Smallbore, targets are set at 40, 60, 77, and 100 meters.
A variety of chamberings are popular in the centerfire Silhouette game, including the .243 Win, 6.5 BR, 6.5×47 Lapua, 260 Rem, 7 BR, 7mm-08, and the .308 Winchester. In selecting a caliber, shooters must balance between knock-down power and recoil force. A 6.5mm or 7mm bullet in the 130gr range running 2900 fps is just about ideal. You also need a caliber capable of serious inherent accuracy.
This report courtesy the NRABlog.com
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August 4th, 2009
Roughly 130 competitors have gathered at the NRA Whittington Center for the NRA Smallbore Silhouette Championships held August 2-4. Today the final matches will be held for the Smallbore Rifle Class and Hunting Rifle Class Silhouette Championships.
This year, 13 shooters have traveled from Mexico to compete against some of the best Smallbore Silhouette shooters in the United States. Seven of these Mexican competitors made the 20-hour journey together. Surprisingly however, the Mexican contingent did NOT include Agustin Sanchez, Jr. this year. Agustin, the “Tiger Woods of Silhouette” has won the event for the past six years, but now someone else will take his title. “It’s up for grabs,” said NRA Silhouette Program Coordinator Jonathan Leighton. “There are a lot of good shooters here, so it’s anyone’s game right now.”
Above, Gabriel Guerra of Mexico shoots while Carlos Mercado spots for him. Guerra loves Silhouette shooting for the comradery and the challenge: “I enjoy the mental game, and it’s a very fun sport. You meet nice people, here and in Mexico. I like the friendship of the teams.”
Invented in Mexico, Adopted in America
It’s thought that silhouette shooting began in Mexico around 1914 as a marksmanship contest between Pancho Villa’s men. The sport spread throughout Mexico following the Mexican Revolution, eventually making its way to America in the 1960s. Silhouette shooting started as a centerfire sport, but over the years rimfire silhouette has become more popular. CLICK HERE to read about the history of silhouette competition.
If you’re interested in getting involved in smallbore silhouette, a fun yet challenging discipline, you’ll find a Summary of Silhouette Basics in our Daily Bulletin Archives. You’ll also find more information, including current rules, on the Steelchickens.com website.
Smallbore Silhouette Course of Fire and Rifle Classes
At an official Smallbore Silhouette match, you’ll shoot at least 40 shots, ten each at four sets of 1/5th size standard High Power Rifle Silhouette targets. The smallest targets, the chickens, are set at 40 yards, Pigs are at 60 yards, Turkeys are at 77 yards, and Rams are at 100 yards. (Alternatively, metric distances are used.) Though the rams are the largest targets, hitting them is far from easy. At 100 yards, a little bit of wind will blow you off the target. Two classes of rifles are used in Rimfire Silhouette: Standard and Hunter Class. Standard rifles can weigh up to 10 pounds, 2 oz. (with sights) and have no restriction on trigger pull weight. The fore-end shall not exceed 2 1/4″ wide, and 2 1/4″ deep measured from the centerline of the bore.
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July 26th, 2009
 In a remarkable display of long-range marksmanship, legendary 50-Caliber shooter Lee Rasmussen set four (4) new 1000-yard world records at the recent Fifty Caliber Shooters Assn. (FCSA) Championships, held at the NRA Whittington Center over the 4th of July weekend. First, Lee shot an amazing 1.9557″ 5-shot group in Heavy Gun Class, breaking Skip Talbot’s 2.600″ single-group record set in 1999. Lee’s sub-2″ group works out to .1868 MOA. That’s darn good at 100, and Lee did it at 1000!
Rasmussen Also Breaks Agg Records
In addition to the sub-2″ group, Lee set three new six-target Aggregate 50-Caliber records. In Heavy Gun, Lee shot a 298-19X score to shatter Scott Nye’s 7-year old 297-11X SCORE record. Those six targets also produced a new Heavy Gun GROUP record of 6.39X”. Finally, in Unlimited Class, Rasmussen put together a stunning 5.667″ six-target Group Agg. That is the smallest Group Agg ever shot in 50-Cal competition — in any class. Wow… including the 1.9557″ group, that’s four world records in one match. Lee told us: “It was amazing. I was deeper ‘in the groove’ than I’ve ever been before.” Lee was shooting IMI (Israeli) 50BMG brass, with home-made, lathe-turned bullets fired by Vihtavuori 20N29 powder and RWS 50-cal primers.
While Lee was pleased with his individual performance, he feels the match results are more noteworthy because they show the potential of the 50 BMG for superior long-range accuracy. Lee explained: “My goal has always been to show the rest of the shooting world what this cartridge can do. We want to get the 50-caliber game to where the other shooting sports are, and then take it a little further. Of course a variety of smaller cartridges can do great at 1000. But the difference is what the 50 BMG can do in high winds.” Mark added that, with the ultra-high BCs of the lathe-turned, solid 50-caliber bullets, the 50s can repeatably produce impressive 1000-yard groups even in strong winds.
Forum member Lynn Dragoman observed: “A sub-2-inch group with a standard 50 BMG is simply outstanding. Lee could use a modified case but chooses to stick with the original case to keep the sport [faithful] to its guidelines of promoting the 50 BMG.” Lee Rasmussen is widely respected as one of the most skilled and dedicated 50-caliber shooters, and one of the guys who has always “given back to the sport”.
Consider this, there are 17 possible records in 50-caliber competition and Lee now holds ten of them (plus his wife, Sheri, holds three more). Lee actually held eleven records until the last target at the Nationals, when Lee’s LG Six-Target Group Agg Record was broken by fellow 50-Cal Shooter Mark Avakian. So Lee’s FCSA World Record total stands at ten (10), counting his new HG Small Group Record.
Avakian Set New Aggregate Record
Mark Avakian set a new Light Gun multi-target group size record at the FCSA Nationals. Mark shot a masterful Six-Target 5.823″ LG Aggregate to break one of the FCSA records previously held by Lee Rasmussen. We congratulate Mark for his very consistent shooting over two days to set the record. While the winds were pretty consistent on Day 1, the winds were very inconsistent on Day 2 both in terms of direction AND velocity, according to Rasmussen. Mark agreed, but he said he “was lucky to have better than average conditions for his Light Gun relay”. When asked the secret of his success, Mark said: “The Light Gun has been shooting very well, and I’ve been using a new 808gr bullet from Dave at Lehigh Bullets. The 808s are shooting great.” (See photo below for other Lehigh custom bullets).
For more information on 50-Caliber competition, visit the FCSA website or contact the FCSA at P.O. Box 111, Monroe, UT 84754-0111, phone: (435) 527-9245.
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