Smallbore Nationals: Prone Conventional Metallic Sights, Day 1

The first day of the four day 2018 National Smallbore Rifle Prone Conventional Championships opened under threatening skies. The fear of rain did nothing to effect Eric Uptagrafft who shot a 400-40X to win the first match. The perfect score put him a position to make run to break a National Record. Unfortunately, the attempt had to be made at the end of the day’s firing when the conditions had become less benign and he was unable to pile up any further Xs.

Uptagrafft, on a roll, shot a 400-37X in the Dewar, only to be denied a second win in a tie breaker with Elizabeth Gratz who had a greater amount of inner 10s.

The 100-yard match went down to the Xs, as Joe Graf outshot previous National Champion Mark DelCotto by one point, 400-31X to 400-31X, under switching wind conditions and changing light.

At the end of the day DelCotto emerged the winner with the only clean score, a 1200-98X. Hot on his heels were Uptagrafft, at 1199-112X, and Lisette Grunwell Lacey, 1198-87X. The competitors will hit the line today for the final day of the metallic sight championship.

NRA officials also conducted a Competitors’ Meeting. The fruitful give and take saw many positive ideas floated.

• Metric and Grand Aggregate Position Round Up
• Gallery: 2018 Smallbore Conventional 3-Position Championships
• NRA Junior Smallbore Camp Helps Shooters Reach New Personal Best Scores
• Teenage Competitor Displays Extraordinary Act Of Sportsmanship