Monday, September 15, 2014

A Good Day for Congratulations!

I was all the Trijicon World Shooting Championships, presented by the NRA, at the sprawling Peacemaker facility in West Virginia, about an hour from Dulles Airport, and I think it was an absolute home run! I love the idea of testing all shooting skills to determine who is the "Undisputed World Champions" shooter for this year. Trijicon, the NRA and Peacemaker really stepped up on this one!

The winner?

Not really a huge surprise:

Daniel Horner from the Army Marksmanship Unit and arguable the top 3-Gun shooter in the world. He edged out multiple Bianchi winner Bruce Piatt and held off challenges from Jerry Miculek to claim the $50,000 purse...one of the largest in shooting sports history.

The women's title went to wait for it...wait for it...Lena Miculek — the top woman 3-Gunner, BTW — who outdistanced SHOOTING GALLERY's own Dianna Liedorf-Muller for the win.

I'm going to be talking about this on the podcast this week, but I wanted to note an interesting point. All through the match the pro shooters were telling me that victory would come down to a single stage, the Double Wobble Traps — 2 MEC wobble clay throwers on a stage that was confounding even champion trap throwers. The provided gun (this was a provided gun match to level the playing field) was a dedicated high-rib trap gun, not a piece most of the pro shooter were familiar with.

Going into the stage, Horner knew he had to deliver. And deliver he did, winning the stage. That is the definition of a champion. I believe the Trijicon World Shooting Championships will quickly become the premier shooting event in the world!

Here are the stage descriptions and the overall place finishes.

Also, a quick congrats to Mike Seeklander of THE BEST DEFENSE fame for his 3rd place overall finish (and yes, I know IDPA doesn't recognize overall place finishes!) at the IDPA Nationals in Tulsa.  Seek came in just behind Nil Jonasson in ESP, Enhanced Service Pistol, class. Of course, Bob Vogel, continuing his Terminator-like domination of IDPA, finished first overall and first in SSP, Stock Service Pistol, a staggering 23 seconds ahead of Jonasson

Here are the unofficial results!

5 comments:

NJ Larry said...

LMAO...let me guess that there is a thirty year age difference btw Mic and Horner. Jerry is a constant hope for old guys the world over ! God Bless him and family.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like an amazing event. I remember when the Bianchi Cup was the major match. It says a lot about the strength of the shooting sports that the purse for the match is 50K.
Gerard

K. Rihanek said...

Todd Sindelar finished ahead of Lena Miculek. Lena should have been awarded less prize money than Todd.

Michael Bane said...

Sorry K. Rihanek, I call a big ole BS on that...you are stone dead wrong. The people who pay the piper get to name the tune. It is the opinion of the sponsors — AKA the money —the match organizers and, FWIW, me and most of the shooting sports organizations in America that it is in the best interest of the shooting sports to recognize special categories, including women, juniors and others.

Todd (who shot a great match) and everyone else knew that going in. If they didn't like it, they were free to vote with their feet...nobody forced them to attend.

The TWSC had some structural issues that are being addressed for next year, but the payout isn't one of them. In fact, it is my specific recommendation that the women's purse be raised.

Again, let me be clear here...the sponsors and the match directors alone get to determine if, how and in what form they distribute prizes. Period. You don't agree with it, don't enter. Take your entry fee money, sign up for a USPSA Nationals and for the same place finish take home a box of bullets.

Or, alternately, start your own match and you get to name the tune! If it's cool enough, we'll come cover it...

Sheepdog...from nothing to maybe a grand + for big venues like full features in OUTDOOR LIFE (at least, that's what I got last time I wrote one). AMERICAN RIFLEMAN is the gold standard.

I've heard that bolt technique was how the Tommies achieved that amazing level of fire as well. Never tried it myself. Hard enough for me to work the trigger with my trigger finger. I know a cowboy shooter who always pulls the trigger on her rifle with her thumb, and, hey, she shoots great that way!

Anonymous said...

Another technique is to shoot a left-handed bolt gun right-handed. Manipulate the bolt with the left hand. However, LH bolt guns in general are hard enough to find that the Brit technique is probably more general. Read an article on it years ago. They also had standards for marksmenship while using it, it wasn't just about flinging rounds downrange.

Alas, I suspect that after 6 months of trench warface in WWI, most of the troopers who were good at the technique would have been killed or invalided out of the front lines. The replacements would be unlikely to have been trained to the same level.

RSR