The Bianchi Cup Pro Shooter Clinic: Get Started on the Right Foot
Lewis Creek Shooting School 03.06.13
I’ve been teaching people how to shoot for over 30 years and no one knows the value of good instruction more than I do. It only makes sense that someone with more experience can improve your game, whether it’s guns or golf. I’ve competed in two Bianchi Cups and this year, my wife, Cherie, is competing for her first time. We’ve signed up to learn how to improve our game by taking advantage of the Pro Shooter’s Clinic at 2013 MidwayUSA/National Rifle Association (NRA) Bianchi Cup on Monday, May 20, two days before this year’s Bianchi Cup.
We’ll be getting tips from folks like Rob Leatham, Jessie Duff, Doug Koenig, Mickey Fowler, Rob Vadasz, Kyle Schmidt, and Carl Bernosky, some of the most respected names in action shooting. Though I’m a newbie at action shooting, I’ve competed in some form of competitive shooting for most of my life and I know tips from those who have winning experience are worth a lot of practice time and money spent. At just $50 for a day of shooting with some of the best names in the sport, there’s no doubt this will be money well spent.
Action shooting is a complex game that requires speed as well as accuracy. An experienced shooter can fast-forward a newer shooter to higher scores by eliminating problems that aren’t obvious to the new shooter. I spent a little time with Rob Leatham last year on Celebrity Speed Challenge Day and I’ve known Carl Bernosky for years because of our common High Power Rifle background. I’m looking forward to spending time on the range with these guys and learning more about what makes them so good.
The Bianchi Cup is being shot in its usual location, Columbia, Missouri, May 22-25. The four-day event is the National Championship of Action Pistol shooting and requires extreme accuracy and speed to excel. Not only is this a challenging match to shoot, it is the most fun of any shooting event I’ve ever attended. Tom Hughes, Pistol Competition Director for NRA, puts together a quality event reflected not only from a competitive standpoint but from the standpoint of promoting the sport. Almost every night there’s a social event that puts the new shooters in close proximity to the icons of the sport. This creates a bond that simply makes everyone feel like they’re attending a reunion of old friends.
If you haven’t shot the Bianchi, this is a good way to get your feet wet, and the Pro Shooter Clinic is the best way to go into the event prepared. It will be one of the best shooting experiences of your life, I promise. I hope I’ll see you there.
To learn more about the cup and to sign up for the Pro Shooters Clinic, go to http://bianchicup.nra.org/.
Dick Jones is an award winning outdoor writer and a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Board of Directors. He writes for four North Carolina Newspapers as well as regional and national magazines. He’s hunted and fished most of his life but shooting has been his passion. He’s a former High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, and AAA class pistol shooter. He holds four Dogs of War Medals for Team Marksmanship as shooter, captain and coach. He ran the North Carolina High Power Rifle Team for six years and the junior team two years after that. Within the last year, he’s competed in shotgun, rifle and pistol events including the National Defense Match and the Bianchi Cup. He’ll be shooting the Bianchi, the NDM, the National High Power Rifle Championship, The Rock Castle AR15.com Three Gun Championship and an undetermined sniper match this shooting season.
He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife Cherie who’s also an outdoor writer and the 2006 and 2011 Northeast Side by Side Women’s Shotgun Champion. Both Dick and Cherie are NRA pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructors and own Lewis Creek Shooting School.
