NSCA News

Support Freedom Hunters at Benelli USA Invitational

July 23, 2017 By Sherry Kerr

Benelli USA invites the outdoors industry to join in support of Freedom Hunters at this year’s Benelli USA Invitational. Slated for September 15 at Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet in Glen Dale, Maryland, the event will raise money for Freedom Hunters through a team-based sporting clays competition, silent auction and raffle.

“We are very excited to be hosting The Benelli Invitational for the third year. It is great to see so many of our industry partners at this event and hope to see even more this year. The day combines great food, terrific auction items, friendly competition on the clays course and, ultimately, vital funds to help Freedom Hunters,” said Benelli USA Vice President of Brand Marketing Tim Joseph. “We are proud to support the work that Freedom Hunters does to honor our active duty military, combat veterans and their families. We invite those in the industry to join us in the cause by attending the event, making donations or providing a sponsorship.”

In its first two years, the Benelli USA Invitational raised more than $57,000 for Freedom Hunters. For every dollar donated to Freedom Hunters, 98 percent is used directly to take veterans and military families into the outdoors. To date, Freedom Hunters has honored more than 7,000 veterans and military families by sharing outdoor traditions and activities that help heal wounds modern medicine cannot.

Companies and individuals can support the Freedom Hunters mission by attending the event as an individual or as part of a four-person team. Additional support opportunities are available by donating goods and services to the event’s silent auction and raffle. A limited number of sponsorship stations are also available.

Attendees can register for The Benelli Invitational by going to the Eventbrite page. For those who cannot attend, monetary donations can be made here. Companies wishing to donate goods or services to the silent auction or raffle can email BenelliInvitational@benelliusa.com.

“I cannot find the proper words to express our appreciation to the team at Benelli USA for hosting the third Benelli USA Invitational. Funds from the Invitational have allowed Freedom Hunters the opportunity to honor active-duty military personnel, military families and combat veterans by taking them on outdoor adventures,” said Freedom Hunters Founder and Program Director Anthony Pace. “The Benelli USA Invitational is a one-day event, but the fine people at Benelli USA work throughout the year to honor our nation’s finest.”

Date: September 15, 2017

Location:
Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet
10400 Good Luck Road
Glen Dale, Maryland 20769

Schedule:
8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. – Registration
10 a.m. – Shoot
1 p.m. – Lunch, awards presentation and auction
Prizes will be awarded to the first-, second- and third-place teams, as well as the Top 3 shooters and a Team Uniform Prize.

Freedom Hunters is a 501(c)(3) military outreach program whose mission is to convey the outdoor community’s appreciation for the dedication and sacrifices made by the men and women of the Armed Forces. Through the support of numerous groups and companies, including Benelli USA and others within the outdoor industry, Freedom Hunters arranges outdoor adventures and opportunities for active-duty military personnel and combat veterans, as well as families of fallen heroes and children of those on deployment.

SCTP/SASP Nationals at Cardinal Center

July 22, 2017 By Sherry Kerr

Members of the Buckeye Elite Shooting Team compete at the SCTP Nationals.

The 2017 Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) National Championships brought together competitive shooters, ages 8 to 23, from 32 states to compete for national titles in the shotgun disciplines of Skeet, Skeet Doubles, Sporting Clays, American Trap, Handicap Trap, Bunker Trap, and Trap Doubles. Pistol and rifle competitors competed for action steel-shooting titles in Rimfire Pistol, Centerfire Pistol, Iron Sight Rifle and Optics Rifle divisions. The event was July 8-15 at Cardinal Shooting Center in Marengo, Ohio.

This was SCTP-SASP’s largest Nationals since the inception of its umbrella organization, the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation (SSSF) in 2007, with 213 SCTP and 49 SASP registered teams participating. With 916 registered skeet competitors and 1002 registered sporting clays competitors during the week-long event, SCTP Nationals will likely be the largest registered skeet tournament this year and among the top 5 of the NSCA registered tournaments this year.

1,043,100 Competitive rounds were fired by 2,687 shooting sports competitors from 32 states during the 8-day event. Including games and practice, approximately 1.4 million rounds were fired.
Participation in the Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) increased 19.5%, from 2013 to 2017 (from 1883 to 2251 athletes)
Participation in the Scholastic Action Shooting Program (SASP) increased 119%, from 2013 to 2017 (from 199 to 436 athletes)
Women are the fastest growing segment of the shooting sports, making up 18% of the National Championship competitors (16% of SCTP shooters, 30% of SASP shooters).
This year teams earned $425,000 (SCTP) and $84,750 (SASP) in MidwayUSA Foundation Team Endowment Funds .
With the support of many industry friends and supporting sponsors, including NSSA-NSCA, SSSF has awarded $100,000 in scholarships to SCTP and SASP member athletes this season.
SCTP and SASP make up the largest youth shooting program in the country with over 16,211 youth athletes in 45 states (14,854 in SCTP and 1,357 in SASP) participating as member athletes this year.
6.3 million clay targets were thrown during the 2016-17 SCTP competition season (based on school year cycle) as recorded by the SSSF’s team registration and event management system.

SSSF BOD Chairman Louise Terry summarized the event saying, “The SCTP/SASP Nationals, held each year in July, has grown as the programs have grown over the years, and has now become THE major event in our annual schedule. For our team coaches, student athletes and their families, it represents the culmination of all of their hard work throughout the past school year and gives them the opportunity to spend a week with their families and teams participating in the shooting sports that they love. Competition is by age category, so kids of all ages are competing against their peers from all across the country in their own age groups. There is tremendous camaraderie, and many new friendships are made while old ones are renewed.”

Immediately following the SCTP/SASP Nationals on July 24-29, the SCTP staff will host the 2017 SCTP International Shotgun Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, in conjunction with USA Shooting.

Next year’s SCTP/SASP Nationals will be July 14-21, 2018, and it will again be hosted at the Cardinal Center.

To see more pictures, visit SSSF’s and SCTP’s social media accounts listed below.

SCTP Facebook
SSSF Facebook
SSSF Instagram

Clubs: List Your Events for National Shooting Sports Month

July 18, 2017 By Sherry Kerr

Shooting ranges and firearms retailers are invited to be part of the first National Shooting Sports Month this August by listing their shooting events, programs, and promotions at www.shootingsportsmonth.org.

With a theme of #LetsGoShooting, this coast-to-coast celebration will focus the public’s attention on the fun and enjoyment of target shooting. Newcomers will be shown how they can take their first shots, and experienced shooters will be encouraged to invite someone new to the range or contact someone who hasn’t touched their shooting gear for a while to help them rediscover the fun of target shooting.

NSSF asks ranges and retailers to participate by listing their August events and sales promotions at www.shootingsportsmonth.org so that consumers can find all the information they need to take part in the celebration. Getting noticed is easy:

• Add your planned August events and/or sales promotions to the National Events Calendar.
• Utilize the Promotional Toolkit provided by NSSF to connect your event, sales promotions, classes and programs to National Shooting Sports Month in August. The kit includes promotional flyers, the National Shooting Sports Month logo for your website and print materials, and tips on promoting the celebration through social media.

Manufacturers can participate by helping to promote National Shooting Sports Month through their websites and social media, and through sponsorships, with packages designed to solidly connect your brand with the shooting public — especially the thousands of new shooters who will be heading to the range for the first time. Conservation, hunting and target shooting organizations also are encouraged to help promote National Shooting Sports Month to their members by using the logo on their websites and in their communications.

An estimated 40 million Americans participate in target shooting sports, and millions more have said they’re interested in learning about shotgun, rifle, and handgun shooting, according to research by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry. With so many eager to give shooting a try, National Shooting Sports Month is an idea whose time clearly has arrived.

Need more information or help on how to become more involved and spread the word? Contact Zach Snow, NSSF Director, Shooting Range Services, at zsnow@nssf.org; 203-426-1320 ext. 224.

Get Your Krieghoff K-80 Raffle Tickets

June 5, 2017 By Sherry Kerr

The annual Krieghoff K-80 raffle is underway, and tickets are selling fast! Krieghoff has upgraded its raffle gun this year, donating a K-80 San Remo shotgun valued at $28,495. The winner will have a choice of Pro Sporter or Standard Sporter models with 30″ or 32″ barrels.

The drawing will be held in October during the 2017 National Sporting Clays Championship at the National Shooting Complex. You do not have to be present to win.*

Tickets are $100 each, and only 600 will be sold. To buy your tickets, contact Lori Hartmann (NSCA), 210-688-3371 ext. 116 or Michelle Lee (NSSA), ext. 107.

You can also purchase tickets from the NSCA trailer at NSCA Championship Tour events. Remaining events this year are:

September 6-10, 2017 – South Central Regional, Providence Hill Farm Sporting Club, MS
September 27 – October 1, 2017 – Southeast Regional, The Fork, NC
October 21-29, 2017 – National Championship, National Shooting Complex in TX

In addition to the Krieghoff K-80 raffle, you can buy tickets for a Blaser shotgun and two E-Z-Go shooting carts.

Proceeds will benefit NSSA-NSCA All-American programs and NSCA USA Sporting Clays Team.

* Krieghoff shotgun winner must have a valid U.S. social security number, as NSSA-NSCA must collect tax and report the winning value to the IRS. We cannot ship firearms outside the U.S.

Click on any image to enlarge

Long-time Member Howard Confer Passes

October 30, 2016 By Sherry Kerr

NSSA regrets to report the death of Howard Confer, one of the association’s longest-serving active members and the person most responsible for the high-quality targets thrown at the World Skeet Championships. He died peacefully at home on October 23, 2016, at the age of 97.

Howard was an ambassador for the game of skeet in his home state of Michigan and the nation. He was inducted into the NSSA Hall of Fame in 1975 as the Ray Boller Award recipient and as a shooter in 1979. He is also in the Michigan Skeet Hall of Fame. Howard attended the World Skeet Championships 54 times, shooting in 52 consecutive World Shoots and winning a world championship in 1954. He served as NSSA president 1976-1978.

Howard Confer’s estate encourages his friends to donate to NSSA’s general fund,
youth shooting initiatives, or NSSA Museum in his memory.

Click here to donate.

As a long-time member of the Detroit Gun Club, Howard was a member of the famed Michigan Wreckers 5-man team that dominated team events in the 1960s and holds a number of team world records. Until the past few months, he was still active in the game and was still coaching at the Detroit Gun Club, as well as remaining busy designing clay target traps and installing sporting clays courses across the U.S.

Although he served his club and NSSA tirelessly in many ways, his greatest contribution was his quest for perfection in the targets thrown at the World Skeet Championships and other events. Howard wanted every target thrown to be perfect, and it especially mattered to him that the World Shoot throw targets worthy of the status of the event. That meant no broken targets from the machine and every target flying the same. To reduce the number of broken targets, he started by having referees count them, then analyzed the reason for the breakage: was it the manufacturing process, the way they were shipped and handled, the way they were loaded into the machine, a problem with the machine, or something else?

“At first he would ride on the back of the truck, watch us unload the boxes, and make sure we were handling targets correctly,” said Barney Brown, a trap expert at the National Shooting Complex and protégé of Howard’s. “He developed an 18-point checklist for every machine. If there were too many broken targets, his common phrase was ‘pull it,’ meaning we had to pull the machine and determine what the problem was.

“Howard was absolutely committed to ensuring quality in each and every target, in each and every machine and event. He certainly helped me become better at serving the industry. He revolutionized quality control and checks and balances in targets. I’m a better man for even meeting him. At first he was a mentor, making sure I was learning and doing what I should, but he evolved into an honest friend and someone I looked up to,” Brown said.

“Howard was a fixture in NSSA for over 55 years,” said Louise Terry, an NSSA past president who served with Howard in many capacities over decades. “His life was dedicated to our sport and he gave willingly of his time to the association. Howard was the primary person who dedicated years of focus to target quality, especially at the World Shoot. Anyone who has attended the World Shoot can attribute the high-quality targets to his work. Nobody loved skeet more than Howard, and this is a great loss to our association.”

Howard is survived by his wife of 71 years, Letitia; children Daniel (Debbie) and Sheri (Steve) Confer; grandchildren Carrie and Cole (Maria) Confer and Hunter and Sara Dzierbicki; and great grandson, Xavier Confer.

Funeral Service will be at Lynch & Sons Funeral Home in Clawson, Michigan, on Monday, October 31 at 11 a.m. Obituary and condolences are at lynchfuneraldirectors.com. A memorial service will be held at Detroit Gun Club on December 23 at 1 p.m.

Howard Confer’s estate wishes to encourage people to give to the NSSA in memory of Howard. At their request, we have set up a donation form for that purpose. Those who wish to remember Howard and his love of skeet shooting can click here to make a tax deductible donation online.

If you prefer to mail a donation, you may send a check to NSSA with the following on the memo line, or provide a separate letter accompanying the check:

In memory of Howard Confer to support (a) the NSSA Skeet Program, (b) NSSA Youth Skeet Shooting or (c) NSSA HOF/Museum.

For your tax records, the Federal Tax ID number of NSSA is 75-0108632.

Click on any photo to enlarge.