2012 Bianchi Cup Results and Wrapup
Lewis Creek Shooting School 05.29.12
The 2012 Bianchi Cup is over, and as we were leaving the Saturday night awards banquet, I felt a weight of sadness. There are a lot of shooting competitions available to shooters of all disciplines but none I can think of offer the aspects of tough competition in both accuracy and speed combined with a fun, social event like the Bianchi Cup.
Once again, Doug Koenig established himself the Master of the Cup, winning for an unprecedented 14th time. His score of 192-182 x reflected an incredible level of precision and speed. The X ring of the Bianchi target is just four inches across and is fired at ranges as far as half a football field. Koenig only allowed ten shots to stray outside that tiny black circle and those shots stayed within the eight inch ten ring. Only one other competitor, Richard Siebert, managed to clean the course.
While Koenig’s accomplishment is amazing, the way the match runs like clockwork is just as impressive. This year, we were blessed with great weather with only a few minutes of rain during the shooting on Friday. Most of the time, we had partly cloudy skies and cooling breezes. In his first year as Match Director, Damien Orsinger did a great job of keeping the match running smooth and somehow managing to seem calm and collected with time to chat or answer questions at any time. His performance is a credit to his boss, Tom Hughes, NRA Pistol Director, and recently installed Competitions Director, Dennis Willing. Truly, the NRA has the right people running their competition programs. Willing was the first ever NRA Competitions Director to shoot the match. Using borrowed equipment, Willing posted a very respectable score of 1757-103, not surprising since he is Distinguished in Rifle, Pistol, PPC Revolver and PPC Semi Auto.
As for my performance in my second Bianchi Cup and first in Production Class: I still have lots of room for improvement but I improved considerably over last year’s performance. Until I came to the line for the Colt Celebrity Steel Challenge, I managed to keep my match nerves under control and even then, I had fun and won one of the three runs.
My equipment performed flawlessly. The Springfield XDM 5.25 was both accurate and easy to shoot. The Bladetech holster worked perfectly, and everyone I talked to said the Zero Bullet ammunition I was shooting was the best out-of-the-box ammunition you could buy for the Bianchi.
There is no adequate way to express enough gratitude for the folks who make an event like this happen. The Potterfields of Midway USA, the Patriarch of the event, John Bianchi, the wonderful NRA staff, the dozens of other sponsors, the NRA volunteers and members of the Green Valley Club, and the folks at the Holiday Inn Select in Columbia, all did a wonderful job of putting together as near perfect shooting a competition as I’ve ever attended.
It’s a sad it’s over but there’s always next year.
2012 Bianchi Cup NRA National Action Pistol Championship Results
- Winner: Doug Koenig 1920-182x
- Women: Julie Golob 1907-144x
- Junior: Tiffany Piper 1879-143
- Metallic: Robert Vadasz 1878-135x
- Production: Vance Schmid 1887-118x
- Service: Kevin Worrell 1842-122
- Newcomer: Geoffrey Matthews 1902-151
- Senior: Adam Lennert 1900-140
- International: Richard Siebert 1920-159
- Lawmen: Jay Dellabella 1914-152
- Revolver: Bernard Geppert 1902-145
- Grand Senior: Thomas Blizzard 1885-127
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.
