LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The man who is literally the face of the Smith & Wesson firearms company, Jerry Miculek of Princeton, La., won yet another Revolver title with his outstanding performance at the 2010 Smith & Wesson USPSA National Handgun Championships last weekend.

Getting to the top of the podium wasn't a walk in the park though, as Miculek battled jetlag after returning from a match in Australia, a bad head cold that turned into an inner ear infection and a fly away front sight.

"It was the longest three days of my life. I told my wife Kay it felt like I'd been here for a week," joked Miculek.

Nearly all the competitors described the match as one after another of difficult target presentations that challenged shooters and pushed them beyond their comfort zone. The same was true for Miculek.

"It was the longest, hardest match and every time you pulled your gun out of the holster it was extremely difficult to try and survive the stage. Every time you made a shot it was a hard cover, no-shoot, long range disaster event. It was just nerve wracking and I do believe it was the hardest one I've ever shot," said Miculek.

In addition to all the obstacles Miculek faced on his way to victory, there were several top wheelgunners looking to dethrone the revolver king.

Fellow Smith & Wesson teammates Elliot Aysen, John Bagakis, David Olhasso and Josh Lentz were all gunning for Miculek. Last year's champion Cliff Walsh was hoping to repeat. Also looking to overtake the revolver legend, and coming the closest, was Matt Griffin who finished the match a very close second.

"There are some good shooters coming up," said Miculek about his competition. "I'm getting toward the end of my competition lifespan, I guess you could say. I realize that physically so the younger bucks are going to start coming in and pushing the old bucks out. It's just the way of the world and I left my mark and I hope they do well and leave their mark."

Before any of those "young bucks" gets too comfortable with the thought of beating Jerry Miculek they'll probably want to look closer at his 2010 performance.

Despite all the obstacles before him, Miculek won six of 18 stages and finished in the top five on all by one. No other shooter in any division in the competition came close to that kind of consistency.

Ultimately, Miculek finished the match with a final score of 1680.7297 match points and a mere 9.4980 points ahead of Matt Griffin of Louisville, Ky. in second with 1671.2317 points and four stage wins.

David Olhasso of Holland, Pa. finished third with 1626.2809 points and three stage wins while Josh Lentz of Walnutport, Pa. claimed fourth with 1599.4413 and one stage win. Rounding out the top five was John Bagakis of Livermore, Calif., who also had one stage win and posted a final score of 1542.7188.

The Smith & Wesson National Handgun Championships were held October 9 through 16 at the Desert Sportsman's Rifle & Pistol Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 600 shooters put more than 250,000 rounds downrange in a quest for the coveted U.S. Practical Shooting Association national title in the Open, Limited-10, Limited, Production and Revolver divisions.

For more information visi www.uspsa.org, follow @USPSA_Shooting on Twitter or visit the Practical Shooting blog at PracticalShooting.posterous.com.