Because the targets are flatter and thicker than standard clays in order to withstand rolling on the ground without shattering, the clays often require a little harder hit before shooters can prove they are masters of “rascally rabbits.”

All Mossberg autoloaders available are gas operated. Each bleeds a set amount of gas from the ignition of the shotshell, down through a port in the barrel to function the action. The oldest of these guns, the Model 5500, requires the shooter to change barrels when switching from non-Magnum to Magnum loads. Two updated 5500s—the new Model 6000 and the Maverick 60—will continue to do so. A totally new Mossberg, the Model 9200, allows free interchange of ammunition without changing barrels.

For the past five years, the National Shooting Sports Foundation has surveyed federally licensed firearms retailers across the country to find out what products are the biggest sellers and who is buying. NSSF has just issued the latest version of that report from an online survey conducted last month. The data shows which types of firearms and ammunition were most popular in 2012, and at the same time allows retailers to compare their businesses to that of other gun stores across the country.

Newly-released data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) proves that more guns in private hands do not lead to more murders, and a Pew Research study showing widespread ignorance of this fact suggests that the public has been misled, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says.

News - Competitive

Manufacturers Offer Discounts
On Steel Targets

Soon after the National Shooting Sports Foundation announced a Steel Target Grant Program to provide support for shooting ranges that plan to begin or expand Ruger Rimfire Challenge target-shooting events, a flood of applications poured in, forcing closure of new grant applications. The submitted applications were for a total of 26 steel target grant packages worth $30,000, for targets suitable for both indoor and outdoor target shooting ranges.

Local Boy Scouts Councils
Apply for Grants from NSSF

For the third year, the National Shooting Sports Foundation will make available a total of $100,000 in challenge grants to encourage local Boy Scouts of America Councils to develop or expand their activities in target shooting and marksmanship.

National Junior Olympic
Shooting Championships
Continue with Women’s Rifle

The celebration of youth competitive shooting presses on into its second week Tuesday with the start of the Women’s Air Rifle competition for the 2013 National Junior Olympic Shooting Championships (NJOSC) at the United States Olympic Training Center, April 9-12 in Colorado Springs.

FNH USA Partners with Peacemaker National Training Center

FNH USA will partner with Peacemaker National Training Center (PNTC), one of the largest competitive shooting facilities in the U.S., to support enhancements to Peacemaker’s main shooting complex, Liberty Range located in Gerrardstown, West Virginia, and a separate 250-acre area used for 3-gun competition.

New Finals Format:
'Zero-Start' Shakes up Rifle Shooting

The game of competitive shooting changed at the 2013 Rocky Mountain Rifle Championships in Colorado Springs.

California Guardsman claims top honors
at Small Arms Championship

A California National Guardsman needed an extra suitcase to haul away the hardware he collected at this year's U.S. Army Small Arms Championship held at Fort Benning, Ga., Feb. 9-10.

Mossberg Sponsoring Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor Nationals

The International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) announced that O.F. Mossberg & Sons, Inc., will be one of the major sponsors of the Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor National Championship. The 2013 Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor National Championship will take place February 21-23 on the indoor ranges of the Smith & Wesson Shooting Sports Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Eight Assistant Coaches Added to USA Shooting’s Re-Structured Shotgun Program

USA Shooting’s National Shotgun Coach Todd Graves (Hamilton, Ga.) has assigned eight highly-respected coaches to assist and participate in the formation of USA Shooting’s re-structured Shotgun program.

U.S. Army Small Arms Championships Slated for January

The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, in conjunction with the Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning, will host the 2013 U.S. Army Small Arms Championships Jan 28-Feb. 8.

CMP Develops New Competition Tracker

The Civilian Marksmanship Program recently rolled out elements of its new Competition Tracker database program, which will allows competitors and clubs to update their own information, enter matches, get results, view historic match records and more.

Del-Ton Introduces
New Rifle for 2013

Elizabethtown, NC-based Del-Ton has introduced a new rifle 2013 designed for the sport shooter. The DTI Evolution, $1300, weighs 6.5 pounds and is built for sporting applications, but in particular 3-gun competition. The DTI Evolution will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2013.

Combat-wounded vet ready
to make Paralympic history

Years of determination, hard work and resiliency have led Sgt. 1st Class Josh Olson on the cusp of making history at the 2012 London Paralympic Games.

NSSF Offers Colleges $300,000 in Grants To Expand Collegiate Shooting Programs

(GunReports.com) — To encourage collegiate target shooting at both varsity and club levels, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) is inviting schools to apply for a total of $300,000 in grants to be awarded through its Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative. NSSF, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry, has awarded more than $650,000 to 75 colleges to help establish, expand and sustain shooting clubs and teams. Grant applications are available at…

Bernosky wins 10th NRA National High Power Rifle Championship

Carl Bernosky of Ashland, Pennsylvania, won the 2012 National Rifle Association High Power Rifle Championship held at Camp Perry, Ohio, August 5-10. His second consecutive win, this year marked Bernosky's tenth National High Power title.

$5K+ prizes available
in Youth Wildlife Art Contest

The National Rifle Association is now accepting entries for the 2012 George Montgomery/NRA Youth Wildlife Art Contest. Running annually since 1987, the contest is open to students in grades 1 through 12, including home-schooled children. NRA membership is not required. The deadline to enter is November 5, 2012.

Anti-Hunting Twitter Mob
Urges Olympic Shotgunner
Corey Cogdell to Shoot Herself

Corey Cogdell is a Trap Shooter who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and competed in the 2012 Olympic Games in London, placing 11th in Women’s Trap. She also hunts wild game. After Cogdell published photos on Facebook of herself posing alongside animals she killed, anti-hunting activists took to Twitter to threaten and insult her, the political website Twitchy.com

Emmons Takes Bronze in Men’s 50-meter 3-Position-Rifle Event

New Jersey resident Matt Emmons finished third in the men’s 50-meter 3-position-rifle event earlier this week.

Current London 2012 Olympic Shooting Results

Here are current 2012 shooting-event results from the London Olympic Games, with finishes for U.S. shooters.

Double trap shooters
ambushed in London

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit shotgun shooters Staff Sgt. Josh Richmond and Sgt. Glenn Eller fell short of their lofty expectations in Olympic double trap Wednesday at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

USA's Vincent Hancock wins gold
in men's skeet shooting

Ignoring rain during the final, the USA's Vincent Hancock won his second gold medal in in men’s skeet shooting. His score of 148 broke the Olympic skeet record of 145 he set en route to his first Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008.

American Gray finishes fifth in Olympics first medal event

Jamie Gray, wife of a U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Soldier, finished in fifth place overall in the 10-meter air rifle after scoring a 499.7 in the first of her two Olympic events.

Olympic Shooting Sports
on the Rise, But Not in the UK

The shooting sports are more popular than ever across the globe. With the lineups for the 2012 London Olympics set, there are a total of 390 shooters from 108 countries competing at the games. The number of competitors places shooting in the top four sports at the Olympics and the total countries represented is up from the two previous games, according to NRA-ILA.

A Look at America's
Olympic Shotgun Shooters

Twenty U.S. Olympic Team shooters have begun their journeys to the 2012 Olympic Games in London. With just days left until the Opening Ceremony, here's a brief look at the shotgun shooters.

Matarese Claims
US Open Sporting Clays Title

Anthony Matarese, Jr., beat out Bill McGuire and Wendell Cherry for top honors at the 2012 U.S. Open Sporting Clays Championships held July 17-22 at Caribou Gun Club in LeSueur, MN.

Kim Rhode Chases History in London

As she stood on the podium at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, a gold medal around her neck, 17-year-old Kim Rhode never dreamed that 16 years later, she’d be chasing history across the Atlantic Ocean in London.

Gun Club of America’s ‘GunStock’
Event Raises More Than $13K

The Gun Club of America (GCA) recently presented a check for $13,049.50 to The Pathway Home.

Streamlight to Field
All-Female Shooting Team

Streamlight will sponsor the only all-female shooting team at the 10th Annual Shooting Industry Masters competition July 20-21 at the Rockcastle Shooting Center, Park Mammoth Resort, Park City, KY.

Sinclair International To Sponsor
NRA High-Power Rifle Championships

Sinclair International will sponsor the upcoming NRA National High-Power Rifle Championships taking place August 6-10, 2012, at Camp Perry, Ohio.

2012 NRA Youth Education Summit
awards college scholarships

The National Rifle Association awarded $15,000 in college scholarships to attendees of the 2012 Youth Education Summit (Y.E.S.), a seven-day expense paid educational experience in Washington, DC for rising high school juniors and seniors.

Brian Zins wins 11th
NRA National Pistol Championship

Brian 'Gunny' Zins of Poland, Ohio, won his 11th National Pistol title this weekend during the NRA's National Rifle & Pistol Championships in Camp Perry, Ohio. Shooting an aggregate score of 2649-142x, Zins finished three points ahead of his nearest competitor.

Wilkinson Crowned Champion
in the FCSA Hunter Class Score
with his Steyr HS.50

Using an out-of-the-box Steyr HS.50 long-range precision rifle, Walter Wilkinson, 56, of Edgewood, NM, bested a field of 31competitors to take the Hunter Class Score World Championship title at the Fifty Caliber Shooters’ Association World Championships at the NRA Whittington Center near Raton, NM, held July 1st and 2nd.

Marksmanship Unit Soldier
reinvents career, set to make history

Nine years after losing his leg in a rocket-propelled grenade attack while on patrol in Iraq, Sgt. 1st Class Josh Olson has reinvented his Army career. Going from an Infantry squad leader to a wounded warrior, he is now a Paralympic shooter.

Smallbore Champs Get
Benchmade Knives, Benelli Shotguns

Benchmade Knife Company is supplying knives for the winners and second-place finishers in the Smallbore 3-Position and Prone Championships, held at the NRA's National Pistol and Rifle Championships in Camp Perry, which began this week.

Metric Matches Kick off
Smallbore Summer Action

Is there just not enough competition going on for you even with Camp Perry? Can't wait until Camp Perry's rifle phases? Good, because NRA's third annual Metric National Championship is about to start, according to NRA's GOblog.

NRA's Facebook Page
Reaches 1,500,000 Likes

NRA's Facebook page has exploded in popularity, and this week reached its latest milestone of 1,500,000 likes.

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit
Welcomes New Commander

(GunReports.com) -- Soldiers, civilians, friends and family members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit welcomed a new commander on Wednesday to the Home of Champions in Fort Benning, Ga.

Remington and Bushmaster
Sponsor Major Rifle Matches

(GunReports.com) – Remington and Bushmaster recently sponsored two of the biggest long range and high-power rifle competitions of the year at the Remington-Bushmaster Open-Long-Range Regional Championship and the Freedom Group Classic- High-Power Regional Championship.

NRA Pistol Trainers
Offer Two New Courses

NRA's Education & Training Department will offer two new courses this summer: Defensive Pistol and Certified Advanced Pistol Instructor.

Shoot For Gold Fundraiser to Benefit
USA Shooting Team Headed to London

The Lone Star State will be the center of a shooting-style send-off for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team for Shooting, June 15-16. Pioneer Natural Resources, the independent exploration and production company based in Irving, Texas, alongside Fayez Sarofim & Co. will host the “Shoot for Gold” Sporting Clays Fundraiser event with monies raised set to support the USA Shooting Team’s participation in London.

Szarenski and Mowrer
to Represent USA
in Men’s 50m Free Pistol
in London

Sergeant First Class Daryl Szarenski (WCAP/Seale, Ala.) finished the Men’s 50m Free Pistol match in the same place he began it—first. Szarenski overcame a broken pistol and finished the match with his back up trigger. He finished nearly 12 points ahead of the competition in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Smallbore in Fort Benning, Ga.

Shikar Safari Club International Foundation
Builds Trap Bunker & Skeet Field
to Support USA Shooting Team

On Friday, June 1, representatives of the Shikar Safari Club International Foundation joined with the USA Shooting National Team Members for Shotgun to officially fire the ceremonial first shots from the new international trap bunker the club helped construct.

Shooter targets Olympic Trials
after gold medal performance
in Italy

Untying a bag of experience that comes from being a three-time Olympian, Sgt. 1st Class Jason Parker, U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, used some of that knowledge and claimed a gold medal at the Italy Rifle and Pistol World Cup May 17 in Milan.

High Drama in the Desert
to Close 2012 U.S. Olympic
Team Trials for Shotgun

The 525 targets thrown in Men’s Skeet during the two-part U.S. Olympic Team Trials weren’t nearly enough to decide one of the nominees for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Sunday in Tucson, Ariz. For three worthy adversaries, Olympic fate would go to sudden-death with a 25-target shoot-out.