Team Sinclair’s Mason Parker; Junior FT-R Champion

This past season Sinclair International has sponsored Junior shooter, Mason Parker, a high school senior from Huntsville, Alabama.  Mason has been very successful and focused in shooting competitively in NRA F-Class and Service Rifle matches.  He holds multiple national records, and titles.  His results show that he is a very talented marksman that will continue to excel at the sport.   

Recently, Mason sent us an email reporting on his most recent accomplishments.  Here is what he wrote:  “On November 7-8, 2009, shooting off the Sinclair F-Class Bi-pod with my .308, I was able to finish as the Alabama Junior Mid-Range (300, 500, 600 yd) Champion.   During this match, I was also fortunate enough to set two National records; a new 300 yard 20 shot Junior F-T/R record, and a new 600 yard 20 shot Junior F-T/R record!!!  Your F-Class Bi-pod is rock solid!!!  I think that there is no better F-Class bipod in the world!!” 

In addition, below are Mason’s 2009 accomplishments, as you will see he is not only a stellar F-Classer, he is also skilled on the Service Rifle as well:

-2009 National Junior Champion F-Class – F-T/R

-National Record Holder Junior F-TR (1000 yd) – 2 National Records

-National Record Holder Junior F-TR National Match Aggregate – 1 National Record

-National Record Holder Junior F-TR (mid range) – 6 National Records

-National Record Holder Junior F-Open (mid range) – 3 National Records

-2009 Alabama 1000 yd F-Class (F-FTR) Junior Champion

-2009 Alabama Mid-Range Junior Champion

-2009 Regional Mid-Range F-Class (F-TR) Junior Champion

-2009 Regional Mid-Range F-Class (Open) Junior Champion

-2009 Alabama State Junior Service Rifle Champion

I had the opportunity to meet Mason in person at the US F-Class Nationals at Camp Butner this past October, where he earned top Junior in FT-R.  Mason is a very friendly and energetic young man, and I was very impressed with his skill and drive to achieve higher feats in the future.  We expect great things from him both in the shooting world and as a person.  We are very proud to have him represent Sinclair International both on and off the firing line.

Mason is a fine example of the future of competitive shooting and we hope youth shooting continues to grow and expand regardless of the discipline. More young men like Mason or young women will help continue the long heritage of shooting as a sport in the United States and around the world. 

Pete Petros
Call Center/Sales Supervisor
Sinclair

Competitors in the 2009 United States F-Class Nationals were greeted by dry weather and mild temperatures for the event held at Camp Butner, North Carolina.  Situated in the pine forests north of Durham off I-85, Camp Butner is primarily a National Guard training site, but the host of the event, North State Shooting Club uses the 1000 yard range as its home turf.  It is a beautiful but very challenging range for all competitors with shooting berms at every 100 yards or so creating some challenging conditions with wind swirls and vertical lift.

Over 140 Shooters from across the United States, Canada, and Europe travelled to Camp Butner to compete in the 3-Day event consisting of both individual and team matches. Individuals shot three 15 shot strings for record per day (Day 1, 600 yards/Days 2 & 3 1000 yds each).  The team matches featured 4 – man shooting teams plus coaches and consisted of 20 rounds at both 600 and 1000 yards.

A view down range at the 2009 F-Class Nationals

The challenging conditions with the constant wind shifts and occasional gusts did not seem to bother the top shooters.  Charles Ballard (1328-62X ) edged Jim Murphy (1327-59X) in the open class by one point to take the crown.  In the F-T/R Class, veteran Danny Biggs posted a score of 1288-38X to win top honors edging Jeff Rorer ‘s agg of 1284-34X. 

The team competition was held each day after individual matches were completed.  These were long days of shooting for those who took part in both the individual matches and the team matches.  Both in the 600 yard and 1000 yard open class team matches, the “Sierra Spindle Shooters”, (Shawn Ahrens, Brett Solomon, Jeff Traylor, and Jeff Cochrane) took the open crown with a 794-44X at 600 yards, and 791-30X at 1000 yards.

In the F-T/R  class “Team Sinclair”,(Brad Sauve, Jeff Rorer, Derek Rodgers, and Paul Phillips),  who are the reigning champs and National record holders,  raised the bar winning both the 600 and 1000 yard events while breaking their own records at both distances!  Shooting their .308’s off of Sinclair F-Class Bipods, they totaled 784-40X at 600, and 774-20X at 100 yards.  All of us at Sinclair are very proud of them. We look forward to more great results and wins from “Team Sinclair”!

Gold Medal Team - Team Sinclair

 In addition to the top finishing shooters and teams, there were also other categories recognized.  Top Seniors were Danny Biggs in F-T/R and Jim Murphy in Open.  Top Women were Michelle Gallagher in F-T/R and Karin Liebetrau in Open.  Top Juniors were Mason Parker in F-T/R and Ruth Chiappinelli in Open.  Over $15,000 dollars in merchandise was awarded to all of the top shooters.  A real surprise to the Juniors was the awards of new stocks, actions, and barrels to start off a new rifle project!

The North State Shooting Club who hosted and ran the event did an excellent job and were extremely hospitable. This club hosts a mix of all disciplines of shooting events year round and is truly a class act.  Each evening, prior to the awards, North State Shooting Club sponsored home style North Carolina dinners that were a huge hit with the shooters.  Fried chicken, Pulled BBQ pork and the sides were all excellent, and were great after a long day of shooting. For more information on North State Shooting Club go to www.northstateshootingclub.com.

Two shooters from our sales staff made the trip to Camp Butner and competed in the Open Class.  Rod Green, a reloading technician, and Pete Petros, Call Center Supervisor, shot their first U.S. F-Class Nationals at this event.  Both finished in the middle the pack and had a great time while meeting fellow shooters, old and new friends, and putting faces on familiar voices (over the phone).  They set up a Sinclair product and information table along with Harbour Arms Precision (supplier of our new match rifle snap caps).  After shooting they were able to show some of our new products and a select few of our old favorites to those who wanted to learn more about precision reloading for accuracy.   

Pete Petros & Rod Green manning the tent at the 2009 F-Class Nationals

We look forward to being part of the next U.S. F-Class Nationals next March in Sacramento, California.  When more details emerge on the next event we will be one of the first to let you know here on the “Reloading Press”.  Until then good shooting!

Pete Petros
Sinclair, Intl.

 **F-Class competition is one of the fastest growing long range disciplines today.  Originating in Canada, it was first started as a “fun” class. The “fore father” of this class was Mr. George Farquharson.   He came up with the idea of F-Class to aid himself and other veteran shooters to continue competing with their fellow high power counterparts who shoot prone with iron sights and a sling.  F-Classers replaced the iron sights with a scope and replaced the sling with the option of using either a front bi-pod or a bench rest.  Farquharson and others convinced the Canadian NRA (DCRA) to approve the idea and it became official in the 1990’s.

This idea became very popular with all types and ages of shooters and quickly spread throughout Europe, South Africa, the Pacific and the United States.  As it grew in popularity in the U.S., the NRA officially accepted it and today F-Class has thousands of shooters worldwide. 

F-Class shooters shoot on targets that are half the size of the targets used by traditional high power shooters.  Both classes in F-Class use the same target.  The categories are F-T/R and F-Open Class.  F-T/R is shot either with the .223 Remington or the .308 Winchester cartridge off of a bi-pod and rear bag or monopod.  F-Open is open to any caliber cartridge up to .35 cal, and is shot off of a bench rest with a rear bag.  Both categories have separate rules regarding rifle total weights, rests, etc.  To read these rules, and find out more on NRA F-Class, you can find them on http://www.nrahq.org/compete/rules/rul_hpr_06.pdf.

The USA F-Class F/TR team returned from the F-Class World Championships in Bisley, England with the gold medal. Team USA F-Class F/TR posted the top score in the International Team Match event against teams from Great Britain, Canada, Ireland, Germany, and Spain. Team Sinclair members, Paul Phillips and Jeff Rorer, were on the USA F/TR Gold Medal team.

The British F-Class Open Team won the gold medal in the F-Class Open World Championship. Team USA Open came in second place. South Africa (the defending World Champion) finished third this year. Congratulations to all three of these teams.

Jeff Rorer (Team Sinclair) was also successful at the F/TR World Championship as an individual shooter taking fourth place overall and earning a bronze medal. Paul Phillips (Team Sinclair) placed 11th and Brad Sauve (Team Sinclair) placed 15th. Though the top two positions in individual F/TR competition was taken by the British, nine of the top fifteen shooters in the individual event were from Team USA. Paul also earned a Silver Medal in the Wimbledon 600 Yard Individual F/TR Match held as part of the Imperial Matches.

The Bisley experience is a little different from most matches held in the USA. At Bisley, shooters adjourn to a fine mid-day meal at one of the many clubhouses on the Bisley campus. Weather conditions at Bisley this year were typical for that venue with strong winds gusting to 20+ mph and almost daily rain showers. At one point during the team events, rain poured down so hard that some participants were seen using their shooting mats to shelter themselves. As rain is a frequent occurrence, the US shooters learned that the British do not stop shooting any match unless targets are no longer visible. Despite the spots of rain, the Bisley range officials ran a fine match with few issues and the target markers did an excellent job.

Update written by Team Sinclair

Jeff Rorer at Bisley with his F/TR Team Gold Medal and his F/TR Individual Bronze Medal

Paul Phillips at Bisley with his F/TR Team Gold Medal and his Wimbledon 600 Yard Individual F/TR Silver Medal

Note from Bill Gravatt, President – Sinclair International, Inc.

Congratulations to all of the shooters participating in the F-Class World Championships in Bisley this year. Special congratulations go out to the entire USA Gold Medal F-Class F/TR Rifle Team and the British Gold Medal F-Class Open Rifle Team. We especially want to recognize the Team Sinclair members who shot so well – Brad Sauve, Paul Phillips, and Jeff Rorer. We are proud of you guys!

The team members of Team Sinclair F-Class F/TR will be shooting in the upcoming U.S. Nationals in October along with Derek Rodgers who wasn’t able to make the trip to Great Britain. Good luck guys at Camp Butner!

When the word VARMINT pops up in hunting circles names like prairie dog, woodchuck, gopher, and coyote come to mind. Sometimes the daughter’s new boyfriend may be mentioned in the same breath. As the discussion turns to the Varmint Hunter’s Association (VHA), we think about the quarterly magazine and the annual Varmint Hunter’s Jamboree.

Every summer, for the past 15 years a cloud of dust rises in Pierre, South Dakota as shooters arrive from all over the country for a week of shooting and camaraderie. This year proved to be no different with more than 500 folks in attendance! I saw many familiar faces from years past along with lots of new people, especially youth shooters. I might add that these youngsters put quite a few of us so called ‘Hot Shots’ in our places this past week. This is what the VHA is all about. It is much more than trying to bust 18 balloons or becoming “Mr. Coyote”. The VHA is truly a family affair that revolves around passing the torch from one generation to the next, in hopes of keeping our shooting heritage alive and strong.

With the exception of scattered storms on Wednesday and high winds on Friday, the shootout went very well. Temperatures were cooler than normal and the competition was fierce in all classes. Even with the shaky economy and reloading component shortage, there were a record number of shooters in attendance!

Thanks to all of you who came by and saw Sinclair and Brownells on “Varmint Vendor Row”. The usual cast of characters was present along with some new faces this year. Jim Kelbly of Kelbly’s, Inc. was on hand as well as Don Lahr from Precision Bullets, LLC and A.J.Goddard who presented his new line of custom actions.

We all have to take our hats off once again to Gordy Gritters for performing admirably as range master and give special thanks to all the kids on the balloon and target crew who do such a fantastic job. Also, without the endless hours of work from the VHA Staff, none of this would be possible!

The 600 yard I.B.S. State Finals and Jamboree Banquet on Friday marked the conclusion of a great week of shooting, seeing old friends, and making new ones! As the cloud of dust leaves Pierre, South Dakota for the 15th time, I am proud to be a Life Member of such a wonderful organization and am already looking forward to next year.

Thanks to All !

Rod Green

Technical Staff – Sinclair International

Life Member #107 VHA.

We’re well into our second week displaying and selling product during the National Rifle and Pistol Matches at Camp Perry, OH.  These prestigious matches have been labeled as “The World Series of the Shooting Sports” by many, pooling today’s top talent from our military, law enforcement, and civilian communities. This is our second year opening our Sinclair store for the “First Shot Ceremony”, which took place on Monday, July 13th. It’s been a real pleasure seeing all of our friends and many familiar faces from last year.

The first week of competition are the National Pistol Championships – with 681 shooters aiming for the title.  The National Champion is determined after shooting three stages:  .22 Caliber, Center fire, and .45 Caliber stages.  The high aggregate, or combined total of the three stages, is crowned the champion. After completing each of the three required stages, the final results are as follows:

These top three finishers are also recognized below for winning honors in their other prospective categories as well.  Some of the other category champions are as follows:

Congratulations to each of the 2009 National Pistol Champions.  Click here for a complete listing of the National Pistol Championship results.

This week (July 23-25th), the Small Bore 3-Position Rifle segment of the National Rifle and Pistol Championships begins.  Small Bore 3-Position Rifle course of fire is 20 shots, fired with .22 rifles, at 50 meters in each position (prone, standing, and kneeling).  Categories for “Metallic Sights” or “Any Sight” (metallic or telescopic sights allowed) are fired in a four-man team configuration, with team and individual honors being recognized.   Good luck to all who are competing this week…!!!

Fellow Shooters,

If you just read the previous post, we are already out of the Remington 7-1/2 small rifle primers that we received earlier this morning. They are already gone. We’ll let you know when we get some more.

Dear Fellow Shooters,

Just a product update from Sinclair International, Inc.  for our blog readers. We received a small shipment of Remington 7-1/2 small rifle primers in today. They are going fast so if you need small rifle primers or know someone who does – order now. Visit our website at sinclairintl.com to check availability or call 1-800-717-8211. Please limit yourself to 5,000 primers since many of your fellow shooters are without any primers at the present time. We’ll add another post when these primers are gone.

The Staff at Sinclair

Folks, we’ve received another shipment of the Sellier & Bellot primers this morning. There are both Large and Small Rifle primers currently in stock. Call our 800 line @ 800-717-8211 or order from our website to get your primers before it’s too late.

These shipments have typically lasted about a week before inventory is exhausted. We’re requesting that customers, again, respect our one case (5000 primers) limit per purchase. Part numbers are #25-8000 for the Small Rifle primers, and #25-8100 for the Large Rifle primers.

There’s very little hope in sight from the other primer manufacturers at this point. We’ve received a handful of Remington and Winchester primers here and there. Federal and CCI have been nearly non-existent for 15 months now.

We realize how the primer supply has already changed some of our customers summer planning. Just the other day we heard one customer exclaim “If I choose to go on the prairie dog trip we have every July, I might not have enough primers for fall competition.” Hopefully, we can all get our hands on enough primers to get us through the demand surge we’re experiencing.

We’ll do our best to continue to update each of you as we receive more primer shipments.

Staff @ Sinclair

These have been one of the few primers that have been trickling in a little more regularly than the others.

Just a quick announcement for everyone regarding primer availability….  We just ran out of the Large Rifle S&B primers we received about 10 days ago.  This puts us back to zero on Small and Large Rifle primers at the moment.  We’re expecting some Winchester primers in just a few days in all styles except Small Rifle.  Be sure to place an order with our Call Center or support@sinclairintl.com and reserve your place in line as we receive them. 

Thanks for everyone’s cooperation and understanding with our request to limit purchases to one case per customer.  We want to do our part to enable everyone to get out and do some shooting while primers are difficult to obtain.

Good Shooting!!

Staff at Sinclair’s

As posted earlier, we received a few small and large S&B primers recently.  We are out of the small rifle primers, but we have a few of the large rifle primers left.  These probably won’t last through this week so if you’re in need of a few large, give us call or email our tech line for product availability and technical questions