After building a commanding lead going into the final day of this year’s World Shooting Championship presented by Kimber, by the close of shooting at the Peacemaker National Training Center in Glengary, WV, Greg Jordan had secured the victory—becoming the fourth NRA World Shooting Champion. For his victory, Jordan received a check from the NRA for $25,000.
Jordan joins an elite club that includes previous NRA World Shooting Champions Daniel Horner (2014), Bruce Piatt (2015) and Doug Koenig (2016). His raw score of 978.6265 was 49 points ahead of this year’s runner-up, Nick Atkinson. Jordan finished with 81.55 percent of the points available to all shooters.
About the match Jordan said, “The NRA does an outstanding job running this complex match. I’ve been coming to the World Shooting Championship since the first match in 2014, and it keeps getting better and better. I will definitely be back next year.”
The USPSA and PRS stages were Jordan’s two best individual performances this year. For USPSA, Jordan had a 17.62-second time, and his PRS score was 63.12. Both scores were the best for each stage.
Repeating her 2016 performance, Lena Miculek won High Lady with a raw score of 768.1818—64.02 percent of points available. Her best stage was the .22 Rimfire Challenge with a final score of 9.41. Miculek has won three of the last four WSC High Lady titles since 2014.
The winning amateur was John Chambers of Great Britain, earning 69.31 percent of all the points available to him. Chambers’ best stage was PRS, his final score of 76.69 was the third best of both amateurs and professionals.
Unlike typical matches, the NRA World Shooting Championship has all guns and ammo provided to competitors. This allows ordinary target shooters to compete with the best marksman in the world using the exact same firearms and equipment. It also provides an excellent opportunity for the public to test out guns that are not on the market yet, as well as for manufacturers to obtain valuable feedback on their products.
Some notable statistics: this year there were 283 shooters, with 232 amateurs and 51 pro shooters. Shooters traveled from far and wide to participate—Australia, Great Britain and South Africa were all represented.
Ian Hunt of the Blacktown Pistol Club in Sydney, Australia, saw an advertisement for the match and decided to travel to the U.S. to check it out, making a vacation out of it.
“I saw an email promoting the match and it was so unique, I had to come check it out. I wasn’t disappointed—this is one of the best matches I have ever competed in. I’ll definitely be back to compete next year.”
The Amateur and Pro prize tables were stocked with great merchandise from generous corporate sponsors. Companies such as Kimber, Nightforce, JP Enterprises, Armalite, Surgeon Rifles, Strategic Armory Corps, Daniel Defense, Otis, Smith & Wesson, Walther, Leupold, Timney Triggers, Bushnell, Weaver, Mossberg, Rio Ammunition, Ruger, Aguila, Barrett, Berger Bullets and SIG Sauer supported this year’s WSC—just to name a few of them. View the full list of match sponsors here: wsc.nra.org/sponsors.
Richard Kirk, Kimber’s director of marketing and communications, said, “It made sense to support the NRA in helping to introduce recreational and competitive shooting sports to the thousands of new gun owners that emerge every year through events like the World Shooting Championship.”
Sean Murphy, marketing communication manager for Nightforce Optics has been coming to the NRA WSC for a few years now. This year, he finished ninth place in the Pro Division—reaching his goal of a top 10 finish. Congratulations, Sean!
“I had a great time at the NRA World Shooting Championship this weekend. It’s a 12-stage match featuring 12 different disciplines, with all equipment provided,” said Murphy. He added, “You have to adapt to each set of rules and equipment and then shoot and be competitive. This is a fun format for both new and experienced shooters, and gives some insight into other disciplines ... Congratulations to Greg Jordan on the overall win, don’t spend that $25,000 all at once!”
What 2017 WSC Competitors Had To Say
Ninety-six percent of competitors rated the 2017 NRA World Shooting Championship as either “Excellent” or “Good” after the event. Here are some of their testimonials:
“I have attended each year and you can tell that they are listening to the shooters feedback and attempting to make it better all the time. Is it perfect? No, but effort is being made to make it better and that’s all we can ask for. I will attend next year!”
“The WSC is a great match, and I can’t wait to compete again next year.”
"I think this is undoubtedly the best match I’ve ever participated in. Every match has it’s quirks, [I] don’t think it is possible for one not to. The concept, the format and the match management are outstanding.”
“Great stages, gorgeous facility, excellent staff. Very smoothly executed. Great weekend in every respect.”
“I was a first time shooter at this match. The event was very well organized and staffed appropriately.”
“Well run for my first event with competitive shooting. RSO’s were all very helpful and informative.”
“It is a blast, there’s a reason I keep coming back.”
“Second year and I learned more about my own overall shooting capabilities than the first year.”
View the full 2017 NRA WSC results at this link: practiscore.com/results/new/43368
Learn more about the NRA WSC at: wsc.nra.org
Photos by Jesse Snyder
