The 2023 NRA National Matches at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, kick off on Saturday, July 8, and our cover feature this month highlights the historic competition, which includes the NRA High Power Rifle, Precision Pistol and Smallbore Rifle National Championships. Read our match update (page 24) for the latest news about electronic targets during High Power, as well as the biggest news of all—the return of the NRA World Shooting Championship, to be presented by Walther at Camp Atterbury in 2024. Previously held in 2019, this popular competition stands apart for two main reasons: its unique blend of rifle, pistol, shotgun and multi-gun disciplines across a 12-stage match, and the fact that all competitors’ guns and ammunition are provided by the National Rifle Association of America and match sponsors. Be on the lookout for more information about the 2024 NRA World Shooting Championship in future issues.
In Product Focus, Field Editor Art Merrill reviews the CZ-USA 600 Range Rifle (page 10), which he said has “the best trigger I’ve ever pressed on a reasonably priced production rifle.” If you are in the market for a High Power competition rifle that is fully capable of shooting High Master scores at 600 yards out-of-the-box with select ammunition, now you have a suitable candidate with the CZ-USA 600 Range Rifle.
You won’t want to miss my interview with Larry and Brenda Potterfield (page 18), where they detail how they started the MidwayUSA Foundation to support youth shooting sports teams around the country through the use of team endowments. The MidwayUSA Foundation now manages a whopping $267 million in endowment funds for more than 2,600 youth shooting teams in the United States. Additionally, learn how you can secure funding for a team with help from the MidwayUSA Foundation by watching the full interview with Larry and Brenda Potterfield on YouTube.
Author Brad Miller focuses on competition revolver loads in his latest article “.38 Short Colt Competition Handloads” (page 30). Modern competitive revolver shooters often prefer to use the .38 Short Colt due to its short case, which is faster to eject and reload than the more common .38 Special cartridge. In the article, Miller shares load data suitable for multiple disciplines and spanning a wide range of power factors.
Finally, this month Field Editor Chris Christian shares four manufacturers that market effective .22 LR training guns for new action pistol competitors. In his article “Rimfire Training Pistols” (page 36), he outlines how by using these four rimfire guns which closely mimic their centerfire counterparts, competitive action shooters can realize significant cost savings, due to the difference in price between rimfire ammunition and centerfire loads.
John Parker
Editor-in-Chief, Shooting Sports USA
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