I am not sure the shooting industry is really yet aware of the outstanding performance put on by two highly respected individuals during the NRA High Power Rifle Championship (August 10 thru August 13) held at Camp Perry, Ohio. Sgt Sherri Gallagher US Army (AMU Shooting Team) and Carl Bernosky put on a performance that may never be equaled in the NRA High Power Championship. Sgt Gallagher shot a 2396-161X to claim the title of NRA High Power Champion and Carl came in second with a 2395-140X. Both Gallagher’s and Bernosky’s scores shattered the old National Record of 2389-138X set by G. David Tubb in August 2003.

For those of you that are not aware of the composition of the NRA High Power Championship, it consists of 3 – 20 shot matches in 200 Yard Slow Fire Standing, 3 – 20 shot matches in 200 Yard Rapid Fire Sitting, 3 – 20 shot matches in 300 Yard Rapid Fire Prone, and 3 – 20 shot matches in 600 Yard Slow Fire Prone. The course of fire is shot over 4 days and totals to 240 shots with a total possible score of 2400-240X. Sgt Gallagher dropped only 4 points over 4 days of shooting with 161 shots finding the X ring (67%). Sherri won 7 of the 12 individual matches and had an unbreakable tie in one of the others. I believe Sherri was shooting the 260 Remington.

Carl Bernosky dropped only 5 points over the 4 days with 140 X-ring shots (58%) and won 2 of the 12 individual matches. Carl has won the NRA High Power Championship 9 of the 15 years he has entered including this year if I have my figures straight. He recently won the NRA High Power Championship in 2007 and 2008 and lost by one point last year to Norman Houle. Both Sherri and Carl are incredible shooters, amazingly modest and really great all around individuals.

Here are just a few of the things Sherri did in this significant accomplishment:
1. Set a new National Record with an overall score of 2396-161X
2. She won 7 of the 12 individual matches outright and dropped all 4 of her points in 3 matches that she still won
3. She tied in an unbreakable tie for one individual match
4. She lost 4 matches by a total combined X count of 7X’s (she didn’t lose any matches on points).
5. She was High Woman in every match
6. She won all three 200 Yard Slow Fire Standing matches
7. She lost all three 200 Yard Rapid Fire Sitting matches (by a total of 6X’s).
8. Her biggest margin of loss in any of the four individual matches she didn’t win was 3X’s in the Coast Guard Trophy Match when she shot a 200-15X against the winner SGT Eric Swearingen who shot a 200-18X.
9. She shot several individual National Records
10. Sherri is the 2nd woman to ever win the NRA National High Power Championship. The first woman to win the Championship was in 1998 by her mother Nancy Tompkins. You think it runs in the family?

In the Service Rifle High Power Championship, SGT Eric Swearingen USMC shot the fantastic score of 2381-103. He was only 15 points behind the overall winner and he was using a service rifle. SGT Swearingen also won the Coast Guard Trophy outright with a score of 200-18X beating out all of the match rifle shooters. Eric finished 5th overall with only 4 match rifle shooters ahead of him. This is incredible shooting with a Service Rifle in any type of conditions especially when the shooting is stretched out over a four (4) day period. Congratulations SGT Swearingen! Incidentally, Eric’s dad Don is one of the volunteers that works the firing line during the National Matches. We couldn’t have the National Matches without the volunteers – they are the ones that really make it happen!

During the NRA Award Ceremonies I was very fortunate to be asked to go up on stage with Gunny R. Lee Ermey USMC and present the awards to the Championship winners. Regardless of how they finished up, they should all be congratulated for such outstanding performances with a rifle.

NRA National High Power Championship
1st Place             SGT Sherri Gallagher – Fort Benning, GA 2396-161X
2nd Place            Carl Bernosky – Ashland, PA 2395-140X
3rd Place             Stephen Culpepper – Sharpsburg, GA 2382-121X

NRA National Service Rifle Championship
1st Place              SGT Eric Swearingen, USMC – El Cajon, CA 2381-103X
2nd Place             SSG Tyrel Cooper, USA – Fort Benning, GA 2377-108X
3rd Place              SFC Grant Singley, USA – Fort Benning, GA 2372-121X
High Overall          Tyler Rico – Tucson, AZ 2360-94X
Junior (under 21)

NRA Long-Range Championship

Immediately following the NRA High Power Championships, the NRA Long-Range Championship began. The Long-Range Championship consists of four days of long-range concluding with the Palma individual on the fourth day. The first three days are all 1000 yard, 20 shot courses of fire and the Palma is shot with 15 shots each at 800, 900, and 1000 yards. The total long-range aggregate is based on the total of 125 shots for a total possible score of 1250-125X. There are separate divisions and trophies for Any Rifle (metallic sights and any sights depending on the match), Service Rifle (metallic sights only), and Palma Rifle (metallic sights only). The Palma matches can be shot with either a .223 Remington or .308 Winchester.

NRA Long-Range Day One
Day One (Saturday, August 14) of the Long-Range Championship began with the Remington “Band of Brothers” Match, which was any sights for the Any Rifle division. The second 1000 yard match of the day was the Mustin Trophy Match which is metallic sights only. Fairly nice weather held for most of the day until the afternoon when a quick rainstorm caught the shooters on Relay 1 (third relay because of the mid-day pit change) in the Mustin Match. Fortunately it cleared up for Relay 2 (last relay of the day).

Each of these 1000 yard matches features a 10 shot shoot-off which includes the top shooter for each relay and each rifle (division). In the Remington “Band of Brothers” Match some drama unfolded when Michelle Gallagher and John Whidden tied in the overall shoot-off, both with 100-8X scores. A tie in the shoot-off forces a sudden death shoot which puts the two shooters on the line each taking a shot. The targets are then ran up and if there are identical scores the sudden death continues until one shooter fails to match the other shooter’s score. This sudden death ran until John shot a 9 on the 13 shot of sudden death providing Michelle Gallagher with the win.

After 23 total shots in the shoot-off for the Remington “Band of Brothers” Match, John had to get ready for a second shoot-off from his performance in the Mustin Match. He won this one outright with another 100-8X.

Day One Winners
Remington “Band of Brothers” Match (any sight for the Any Rifle category)
Any Rifle           Michelle Gallagher                  200-13X (230-8X shoot-off)
Palma Rifle        SGT Eric Smith USA                 199-4X (99-4X shoot-off)
Service Rifle      SPC Kevin Trickett, USA          197-7X (99-3X shoot-off)

Mustin Match (metallic sights)
Any Rifle           John Whidden               198-11X (100-8X shoot-off)
Palma Rifle        SGT Eric Smith USA        199-4X (99-4X shoot-off)
Service Rifle      LCPL Justin Moses         189-7X (99-1X shoot-off)

NRA Long-Range Day Two

Day Two seemed even more humid than Day One. Day Two consists of the Leech Cup (Any Rifle – metallic sights), Porter Cup (service rifle), and Edward D. Andrus Trophy Match. Once again John Whidden prevailed winning the Leech Cup with a score of 200-14X and a 100-7X in the shoot-off. The Roumanian Trophy Team Match followed in the afternoon.

Leech Cup
Winner – John Whidden                              200-14X (100-7X shoot-off)
Porter Cup (Service Rifle)
Winner – SFC Grant Singley USA                 196-7X (98-1X shoot-off)
Edward D. Andrus Memorial Trophy
Winner – David Cloft                                  198-12X (98-3X shoot-off)

NRA Long-Range Day Three

Day Three delivered beautiful skies, cooler temperatures and a little pickup in the wind conditions. By the time the team matches started some shooters were experiencing 10 to 11 MOA windage corrections of left windage for the wind coming mainly out of the west. This day’s matches consist of the Wimbleton Cup (any sights), the Farr Trophy (service rifle), and the Herb “Doc” Aiken Memorial Trophy (Palma rifle), all fired concurrently. Some new names appeared in the winner’s circle on Day Three with Richard Kussman from Forest Hill, Maryland winning the Wimbleton Cup with a score of 199-6X and a shoot-off score of 99-3X. The Herrick Trophy Team Match was held in the afternoon.

Wimbleton Cup (Any Rifle – Any Sights)
Winner – Richard Kussman                              199-6X (99-3X shoot-off)
Farr Trophy (Service Rifle)
Winner – SFC Jeremy Mangione USA                195-8X (97-3X shoot-off)
Edward D. Andrus Memorial Trophy (Palma Rifle)
Winner – SFC Norman Anderson USA                198-10X (99-4X shoot-off)

The Sierra Cup is also wrapped up on Day 3; it is an aggregate that consists of scores shot in the Edward D. Andrus Memorial Trophy Match and the Herb “Doc” Aiken Memorial Match. Maximum score is 400-40X. Both of these matches are shot with the Palma rifle.

Sierra Cup
1st Place – Trevor Massey               397-18X
2nd Place – David Cloft                   396-21X
3rd Place – Kevin Nevius                  396-18X
High Junior – Michael Storer             395-15X

NRA Long-Range Day Four (Palma individual)

Day Four is Palma Day where everyone has to shoot either an unmodified .223 Remington (5.56 NATO) or a .308 Winchester (7.62 NATO) in either a rifle with metallic sights or in any service rifle with metallic sights. As mentioned earlier the Palma Match is shot with 15 shots each at 800, 900, and 1000 yards for a total of 45 shots with a maximum 450-45X score.

Approximately 253 shooters stayed to shoot the Palma Individual. Bob Gustin cleaned the Palma course with a 450-33X just holding off Bob Steketee who shot an excellent 449-24X. Kelly Bachand finished in 3rd place with a 447-27X. Great shooting guys.

Palma Individual (450-45X possible)
1st Place – Bob Gustin              450-33X
2nd Place – Bob Steketee          449-24X
3rd Place – Kelly Bachand          447-27X

This day also wraps up the NRA Long-Range Championship and the Canadian Cup. The 2010 NRA Long-Range Champion was John Whidden with a total combined score of 1243-75X. The Canadian Cup consists of the Leech Cup, Wimbleton, and Palma Individual scores and was won by Bob Gustin with a 847-57X.

Canadian Cup (850-85X possible)
1st Place – Bob Gustin                           847-57X
2nd Place – John Whidden                     845-52X
3rd Place – Michelle Gallagher                843-50X
High Junior – Michael Storer                   835-34X

NRA National Long-Range Championship (1250-125X possible)
1st Place – John Whidden                                          1243-75X
2nd Place – SSG Brandon Green USA                           1240-60X
3rd Place – Michelle Gallagher                                    1238-70X
High Junior – Michael Storer                                       1221-45X
High Service Rifle – SFC Grant Singley USA                  1209-39X

I hope I spelled everyone’s name right and got the scores transferred correctly. I didn’t list all the champions such as High Police, High Civilian, High Service Member, etc. but if you would like to see all the results go to http://www.nrahq.org/compete/champ3.asp and click on the specific match or aggregate.

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt
President – Sinclair International, Inc.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 9:26 am and is filed under Sinclair News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.