NEWS
This year's NRA Bianchi Cup, the National Action Pistol Championship, saw records drop like steel plates. The first and most likely most impressive record fell in what certainly wouldn't be considered record time. Smith & Wesson professional Doug Koenig notched his tenth win in the Bianchi, no small feat considering the other great shooters in the competition, including last year's defending champion, Bruce Piatt. Piatt finished in second place overall, but had a pair of record-setting performances across a pair of the competition stages.
Another Smith & Wesson shooter, Julie Goloski, captured her first-ever Bianchi title, defeating the 13 other women in the competition, and finishing in twentieth place overall.
The NRA National Action Pistol Championship consists of four separate matches: Practical (timed shooting from 10 yards to 50 yards); Barricade (timed shooting from "cover"); Falling Plate (timed fire at banks of six, 8″ plates); and the Moving Target (target moves and is exposed for just 6 seconds). Class awards are presented to various divisions which include high law enforcement, high woman, high junior, high international, high newcomer, high senior, high service, high semi-auto, high revolver, high production firearm, Open Modified firearm and Open / Metallic Aggregate.
We will bring you the final match results as they are provided to us by the NRA.
Smith & Wesson pro shooters Doug Koenig and Julie Goloski won the overall titles in the 29th edition of the NRA's National Action Pistol Championships held May 23-26 at the Green Valley Rifle and Pistol Club in Columbia, Missouri.
A new book is in the works. On a recent visit to the Berger Bullets factory Walt Berger and Richard Mann sketched out an outline for the first Berger Bullets load manual which will also include the story of Walt Berger and Berger Bullets.This is the first time Walt's load data has ever been published and a history of Berger and his bullets has been written down.
The Fusion line of deer hunting ammunition is expanding beyond its original rifle offerings. The latest category to be added is the popular shotgun hunting. More people are using sabot slugs in rifled shotgun barrels to enhance shotgun performance and Fusion will now be available in 12 and 20-gauge offerings beginning summer of 2007.
This week's episode of Shooting USA on the Outdoor Channel will feature the S&W IDPA Winter Championships.
In cooperation with the L.C. Smith Collectors Association, the National Firearms Museum (NFM) is honored to present one of the finest displays of L.C. Smith shotguns ever assembled. Over the next year, thousands of visitors to the museum galleries will enjoy special smoothbores once owned by Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable, as well as Crown, Deluxe, Monogram, and Special Grade guns that are among the highest levels of condition for L.C. Smith arms.
Defending Bianchi Cup champion Bruce Piatt finished in second place overall in the 2007 NRA Bianchi Cup National Action Pistol Championships. Carl Bernosky, a six-time national high power rifle champion finished in third - also wearing SunBuster SportEnhancementEyewear (S.E.E.)
Beretta USA has promoted Rob Viner to the position of Director of Sales - Dealers.
FEATURE
Community College Adds Shooting & Hunting Sports Management Program A new two-year associates program offered by North Carolina's Montgomery Community College will give graduates an inside track on careers in the shooting and hunting sports.
The curriculum is also structured to also allow students outside North Carolina to participate in all but one portion of the program online, making it considerably more affordable to obtain that degree.
The Shooting and Hunting Sports Management Degree Program is made possible through the financial donations of Midway USA's Larry Potterfield. While attending an NRA Short-Term gunsmithing school at Montgomery, Potterfield approached the lead instructor and Montgomery Community President Dr. Mary Kirk with the idea for a shooting sports management program. "Dr. Kirk said she wanted to be the first to offer the program," Potterfield says, "I didn't think much more about it until I received a packet in the mail, mapping out how she was going to go about getting it started."
Potterfield then approached the National Shooting Sports Foundation about money for a feasibility study, obtaining $25,000 for the initial study grant.
At that point, national retailers Bass Pro Shops and Gander Mountain became involved, along with local outfitters, gun repair shops and retailers.
"It was a good example of the collaboration between business and industry working with the community college to meet an identified special need," said Mary Chesson, MCC Vice President of Instruction. As a result, the new Shooting and Hunting Sports Management curriculum will be a concentration in the Associate Degree in Business Administration program. The 71 hour program will run under the auspices of the Business Administration department and includes business concepts including buying and merchandising, advertising and sales promotion and key courses related to the particular field: introduction to shooting sports, gun shop management and sports hunting, and, of course, gunsmithing under the auspices of Wayne Bernauer.
The program is a logical expansion for Wayne Bernauer. His gunsmithing program is one of only four in the country, regularly attracting students from around the world. Each year, Bernauer, his students and MCC President Kirk attend the SHOT Show to help students network in the industry and find potential employers.
The North Carolina Community College System State Board approved the program in April. At that point, NSSF President Doug Painter and Director of Retail Partnerships Randy Clark began assembling what wound up being a proposal for a $100,000 implementation grant. The first $50,000 has been awarded, and after a follow-up report and proposal from MCC in November, the second funding is expected.
"Potterfield, Painter and Clark made this happen," says Kirk. Potterfield says it takes a lot of different skill sets to get something like this started - the important thing is - the people who do the work and implement the idea.
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