The Column, No. 59:

The U.S. Nationals at Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, Sloughhouse, California, were concluded on Sunday, March 28^th and we have two new champions. We have a particular pride, in that the new F-Open champion is Derek Rodgers from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Derek is an old friend, being a member of both Zia Rifle and Pistol Club and Del Norte Gun Club in Albuquerque (our home town).

Derek Rogers.

Derek went into the Sunday afternoon finals six points down, but his .300 WSM and 210 grain allowed him to power through the wind for a final score of 1,330 – 57x and the F-Open National Championship. He gave all of the other shooters who were using 6.5mm - 284 and an assortment of 7mm magnums a lesson on “how it’s done”. WAY TO GO, DEREK - CONGRATULATIONS!

We also noticed in the picture that Derek was wearing a Score High Gunsmithing hat from Charley Robertson’s shop in Albuquerque. Charley’s custom-made rifles are legendary.  Derek’s winning score attests to the superb quality of Charley’s rifles. I’d like to point out that he also made Mary’s 6BR F-Class rifle which will shoot 10-shot groups at 200 yards measuring ¼” center-to-center. That pretty much says it all, except he also installs custom muzzle brakes which completely tame down the most powerful magnum hunting rifle.   Suffice it to say, Charley Robertson is a superb gunsmith.

The 2010 F-TR National Champion is Lane Buxton of Orangevale, California. Lane cleaned up with both high score and high x-count at 1,302 – 42x. He was shooting a .308 Winchester Palma rifle and Sierra 155-grain MatchKing bullets. The Sierra #2156 bullet was created specifically for Palma and long range shooters. No wonder Lane is wearing a Sierra hat. I would too with that kind of success.

Photo courtesy AccurateShooter.com.

It is obvious that the Sierra MatchKing was a perfect fit to Lane’s rifle, as he “smoked” the competition in both points and Xs. As one might expect, Lane is an avid hunter who loads his own ammunition. CONGRATULATIONS LANE!

For the record, both of these men are not only superb shooters, but also great sportsmen and truly nice guys. Who ever said that nice guys finish last? Not us.