The NRA/Springfields Armory M1A Match will make its debut August 5 at the NRA National Rifle and Pistol Matches held at Camp Perry, Ohio. Springfield Armory has put up a total of $25,000 in cash and merchandise awards for the match. Said Mike Krei, director of NRAs Competitive shooting Division, “Springfield wanted to encourage more use of the M1A, and they were willing to sponsor all of the needed cash and product awards to make it happen at Camp Perry.” 288 Any configuration of the M1A will be allowed in the new match. The course of fire will be 50 shots for record at 300 yards on the new MR-65F target, as follows: 5 sighters, 20 shots slow-fire, prone; 10 shots rapid-fire, prone; 10 shots rapid-fire, kneeling or sitting; 10 shots slow-fire, standing. The top prize is $2,500 in cash. The top 50 shooters will receive M1A match medallions. Theres also a special drawing: “Beat Rob Leathams Score.” All competitors who shoot a score better than Rob Leatham will have their name entered in a drawing for a Springfield TGO pistol valued at $3,000. All competitors are eligible for a drawing that awards three Springfield rifles and three Springfield pistols. Bushmaster Makes 100th Anniversary Rifle Bushmaster Firearms built 100 rifles to mark the 100th anniversary of the Camp Perry National Matches. Bushmasters DCM-XR series rifles featured commemorative laser-engraved markings and sold for $960. Bushmaster will donate $100 from the proceeds of each rifle sold to support the Civilian Marksmanship Programs Junior High Power Support Program. Team Smith & Wesson Wins STC Mens Division for Fourth Consecutive Year 288 Team Smith & Wesson, composed of Doug Koenig, Jerry Miculek, and Mike Plaxco, won the Industry Open Class for the fourth consecutive year during the 2007 Sportsmans Team Challenge held June 8-10, 2007 at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas. “Winning the Sportsmans Team Challenge requires a wide range of skill and teamwork,” said Plaxco. The 2007 Sportsmans Team challenge featured more than 60 three-person teams vying for the title. During the competition, each member of every team is required to shoot three firearms – rifle, pistol and shotgun. Facing off in six events, all shots by every team member are used to calculate the final score. The events for the Sportsmans Team challenge include: Rifle, Combo, Handgun, Mixed Bag, Flush and Flurry. The first event, Rifle, requires shooters to use a .22 rifle while firing at 46 steel targets that vary in size, distance and point value. The next event, Combo, requires teams to use one .22 rifle and two .22 handguns as they shoot 50 targets ranging in distance from 25 to 80 yards. The last metallic event is Handgun, in which shooters compete in a relay, firing at 48 total targets with restricted time limits. The final three events take competitors to the shotgun course where they engage in three unique 50-bird sporting clay style matches. Soldiers Win Shooting Matches 288 Soldiers of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit scored major victories recently. At the USA Shooting National Rifle Championships held at Fort Benning, Ga., June 17-24, USAMU international rifle shooter Sgt. 1st Class Jason A. Parker won the gold medal in the mens three position free rifle. Also, Sgt. 1st Class Thomas A. Tamas won the mens free rifle prone match. At the USA Shooting National Shotgun Championships held in Kerrville, Texas, June 16-24, USAMU shotgun shooter Spc. Joshua M. Richmond won the mens double trap competition. Sgt. 1st Class Shawn C. Dulohery won the skeet championship, and Sgt. 1st Class Joetta R. Dement won womens trap. At the USA Shooting National Pistol Championships at Fort Benning, Ga., June 17-4, USAMU international pistol shooter Sgt. 1st Class Thomas A. Rose won the mens standard pistol national championship. Staff Sgt. John C. Ennis won the mens rapid fire pistol national championship. At the 48th Annual Interservice Pistol Championships held at Fort Benning, Ga., June 8-15, the USAMU service pistol team of Sgt. 1st Class Eric G. Daniels, Staff Sgt. James M. Henderson, Staff Sgt. Robert S. Park II, Staff Sgt. Adam E. Sokolowski, Staff Sgt. Gregory S. Wilson and Sgt. Michael S. Gasser, won the interservice pistol team championship. Henderson also won the Interservice pistol individual championship. At the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Lonato, Italy, June 6-15, Spc. Joshua M. Richmond won the gold medal and an Olympic quota slot in mens double trap. Pvt. 2 Vincent C. Hancock won the gold medal and set a worlds record with a perfect score in the mens skeet competition. Range Development Conference Upcoming 288 Want to learn more about range building? Then plan to attend the NRA Shooting Range Services Range Development and Operations Conference to be held in Reno on October 13-17, 2007. The Conference is a five-day seminar focusing on fundamental aspects of building and maintaining a shooting facility. Major topics include development, construction, business planning, design, and operations. The conference location is John Ascuagas Nugget in Sparks, Nevada. Cost is $450. To register, contact Jason Smith at jsmith@nrahq.org. Leatham Wins “Limited-10” National Championship Rob Leatham beat out 375 competitors from around the globe to win the USPSA Limited-10 National Championship held in June at the Deer Creek Range in Missoula, Montana. Leatham took his 20th USPSA title using a 6-inch Springfield single-stack 1911 with iron sights. Among the ladies, Julie Goloski came out on top in her first appearance with a 1911 since signing on with Team Smith & Wesson. A former member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, she is the only woman to win titles in Open, Limited, Limited-10, and Production divisions. Goloski used a Smith & Wesson Performance Center 1911 pistol. The stainless steel pistol, chambered in .45 ACP, features a 5-inch barrel and has 8+1 magazine capacity. USPSA shooters draw, negotiate obstacles, and dash through courses of fire as fast as safety and accuracy will let them. Scoring is based on points-per-second. More powerful guns score more points for poor shooting, but less powerful ones are easier to shoot quickly. Limited 10 division rules require a shooter to use a conventional service pistol loaded with no more than 10 rounds in the magazine. The guns are still relatively high-tech, but scopes, recoil compensators, and exotic calibers are not allowed. Appellate Court Affirms Bushmaster Trademark Win 288 The First District of the United States Court of Appeals has ruled against Colt Defense, L.L.C. in a case Colt had brought against Bushmaster Firearms. In the ruling, the Court upheld an earlier ruling from U.S. District Court in Maine granting summary judgment to Bushmaster in a trademark case. Colt Defense L.L.C. claimed in the original suit that Bushmaster had infringed on the trademark and trade dress of Colt Defense in use of the designation “M4.” Colt claimed ownership “to the exclusion of others in the industry.” Trade dress is “the non-functional physical detail and design of a product or its packaging, which indicates or identifies the products source and distinguishes it from the products of others. It includes color schemes, textures, sizes, designs, shapes, and placements of words, graphics, and decorations on a product or its packaging.” At the time the original case was brought, the Maine court determined “the right to use the M4 term and to sell firearms that look like the M4 type, are rights that belong to the industry, not just Colt.” Recently, that AR-style platform has been one of the firearms types generally credited with the majority of sales increases across the long-gun category of the firearms industry. Today, many companies either manufacture or assemble semi-auto rifles that are virtually identical to the Colt models. The appellate Court affirmed the earlier judgment due to the fact that the consumer marketplace “continues to associate M4 with the military designation for a carbine.” The earlier judgment also said Colt had failed to provide “no more than a scintilla of evidence” to support their position that the “relevant public” (consumers) had come to understand M4 as an identifier of a Colt-made product. Other firearms companies have for some time used the term “M4” to describe a rifle that shared certain characteristics, including collapsible buttstocks and shortened barrels. John DeSantis, CEO of Bushmaster, said “this decision reaffirms a position we have held for many years, that Bushmaster has the right to use the term M4 when describing a rifle with certain characteristics such as military-style carbines with collapsible buttstocks and shortened barrels.” Notes 288 National gun rights leaders and activists will discuss and plan pro-gun rights strategies for the coming year at the 22nd Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Cincinnati October 5-7, 2007… Brownells has acquired Sinclair International, Inc., the manufacturer and supplier of reloading tools and shooting accessories. Sinclair, located in Indiana, is in its 22nd year. 
