Ruger Rimfire World Championship
 by Peter Levakis

Well the rain is gone and the smoke has cleared from the 2011 Ruger Rimfire World Championships. The site of last years State match, Founders Ranch, Edgewood NM held the World match this year on August 6th and 7th.  In case you don’t know, the SASS range is where the cowboys of the world have their annual World match also. It’s a beautiful range and could easily hold 20 stages and 500 or 600 shooters. Match Director Mike Gurule, his family and his team of trusty volunteers, held another exciting two days of .22 rimfire rifles and pistols clanging away at a variety of different size steel plates set at challenging distances.

 For the uninitiated, a steel match like this is based on the classic Steel Challenge type stages. Five plates set at various distances, shot in any order, with a specific plate designated the stop plate. The difference between this match and the Steel Challenge is that the stages can change from match to match where with the latter the stages are always the same. Two of the stages this year had both a rifle and pistol stage featuring a sixth option plate. If you engaged that one before you hit the stop plate, you subtracted three seconds off your total time. In a match as close as this one, that is almost not an option.

 The match brought competitors from all over New Mexico and many nearby states and others from as far away as California to Missouri. By the time the last shot was fired, 112 of the 119  shooters entered had completed 12  courses of fire consisting of 6 separate rifle and pistol stages. The match also drew some of the best .22 shooters in the world including B. J. Norris, John Allchin, John Bagakis, Mark Itzstein and Eric Leach to name few. It was a close fought match with many places separated by less than a second. It also brought out a lot of juniors and lady shooters to fill out a diverse amount of competitors. By my count there were 30 juniors, 16 ladies and a combined 20 seniors and super seniors. That’s roughly half of those entered, which shows how wide a net this sport casts.

 The stages were titled and sponsored by the following;

Stage One Pistol - High Low sponsored by Timney Trigger

Stage Two Pistol - In The Bag sponsored by Cheaper Than Dirt

Stage Three Pistol - Out Of Range sponsored by Hogue Grips

Stage Four Pistol - Safari sponsored by Chiappa Firearms

Stage Five Pistol - Next Time sponsored by MGM Targets

Stage Six Pistol -  Surgi Surprise sponsored by Secure Firearms Products

Stage One Rifle - Greater Than sponsored by Nordic Components

Stage Two Rifle - Think Fast sponsored by Volquartsen Custom

Stage Three Rifle - No Risk sponsored by Magpul

Stage Four Rifle - Sniper 3 sponsored by Ergo Grips

Stage Five Rifle - How Far sponsored by Warne Scope Mounts

Stage Six Rifle - Arch Angel sponsored by Promag

Additional stage sponsors were Tactical Solutions, 5.11 Tactical

The prize sponsors who genously donated to large table were: Nikon. Slip 2000, Volquartsen Custom. Allchin Custom Gun parts, Manor Composite Stocks, Hearing Protection Seervices, Shorty’s Bar B Que, EMF. U.S. Optics, CED Timers, Dura Coat, Lancer Systems, Precision Arms, UniqueTek.com, Benchmade Knives, Long Hunter, Wiley X, Rigel products, Sentry Solutions, On Target Productions, and Dillon Precision.

  Shirt sponsors were BMC tactical and Warrior Steel. The awards were provided by Ergo grips as well as providing lunch for all both days. The much needed water was provided by Yvonne Oselio of Remax Realtors.

 Once the scores were recorded and entered this is how it sorted out:
Overall 1st, 2nd & 3rd in order were BJ Norris, John Allchin and John Bagakis.
Overall Limited were Dillon Ventske, Will Gurule and Ray Van Valkenburg. 
Overall Junior winners were Matt Ubl, Louis Sergi, and Rafael Bernardez in that order. 
Lady shooters were Melinda  Hennessey, Cheryl Current, and Allie Barrett. 
Cowboy finish was Travis Boggas, Heather Kresser, and Daniel Kresser. 
Senior winners were Dwight Stearns, Tim Norris (no relation), and Butch Ventzke. (Note: Writer Peter Levakis was a close 4th in Sr Division...Ed)
Top three rifle overall were John Allchin, John Bagakis, and B.J. Norris. 
Top three overall pistol were B. J. Norris, John Allchin and Damon Stanforth.

 One plus for the shooters was the help of the local Navy ROTC Sea Cadets who did the tough work of painting the plates between shooters. A thankless job and they performed like the troopers they are. If you go to the Ruger website, you can find a list of additional matches scheduled for the rest of the year. This match was recorded by the DownRange TV crew to be broadcasted on the Outdoor Channel’s “Shooting Gallery”. I was told it should air in late December or early January. Check out the link to DownRange TV on the Ruger Event  http://www.downrange.tv/blog/drtv-weekly-the-ruger-rimfire-series/11132/

For an entry level competition to introduce one to the shooting sports, you can’t go wrong with The Ruger Rimfire series. The representatives from Ruger, Ken Jorgenson, Lori Petoski and Sara Williams were at the match and they couldn’t be happier with the turnout and enthusiasm shown by both the match organizers and competitors. If you want to get involved in this sport, there are clubs all over the country hosting monthly matches that will get you started in the right direction.