2010 PRPA SERVICE PISTOL CHAMPIONSHIP
By Jeffrey Lloyd, Pistol Director
Butler, PA –-(Ammoland.com)- The 2010 Service Pistol Championship match was held at the Lewistown Pistol Club on June 18 -19, 2010.
The match was broken into 2 sections, the first being a regular 1800 point possible matches, starting with .22 pistol and then Center Fire Pistols.
The second stage was fired with Service Pistols, either 1911 .45 caliber pistols, or Beretta M9 9mm pistols. Either pistol is permitted, but they can only be altered for accuracy and the triggers must be adjusted to a 4 pound trigger pull weight.
Outwardly they must look military issue except for adjustable sights. If a person did not want to participate in the Service Pistol section, they could shoot along with a .45 pistol but their score would not be included in the Service Pistol aggregate.
There were 2 competitors in the High Master Classification, there were 7 in competition in the Master Classification, 11 competitors in the Expert Classification, 6 in the Sharpshooter Classification, and 7 in the Marksman Classification for a total of 33 shooters.
The first segment of the match was fired with .22 caliber pistols, in a regular 900 possible point match. That match was won by Lewistown‘s own Jerry Ford with a score of 880-30x. Jerry is a classified Master and led the way for all. The High Master winner was Brian Keyser of Birdsboro, PA. Brian fired a score of 877-38x.
In the Expert Class, the high score was posted by Heim Trang from Germantown, MD. Heim fired a score of 872-32x. In the Sharp-shooter Class, top honors went to Tim Burris of Mifflintown, PA. Tim fired an 850-30x. In the Marksman Class the high score was posted by Jon Caley, out of York, PA. Jon fired a score of 847-23x. These last 2 shooters should be watching the mail for their new classification cards! Both are going to move up quickly firing scores like these!
The next segment was the Center Fire match. Again the match winner came from the Mas-ter Class. Tom Mix from Ebensburg, PA was the Center Fire match winner with a score of 867-26x. The top High Master was Joe Urish, from Butler, PA. Joe fired a score of 866-30x. In the Expert Class Heim Trang again posted the top score. Heim fired 852-28x to lead all Experts. In the Sharpshooter Class, Tim Burris came out on top again with an 816-11x. In the Marksman Class top honors went to Jon Caley with a score of 812-18x.
Next came the State Service Pistol Championship. This match is fired in a 900 possible point match, just as the .22 and CF stages are fired. This match determines not only the State Champion, but also the members of the PRPA Service Pistol Team that will compete at the National Matches at Camp Perry in July. The members of the team are picked by the top 5 shooters (that are going to Perry) and the 6th shooter is the ―New Shooter.
This shooter is a member that has not been on a CMP team in the past. Every year a ―New Shooter‖ must be picked, and that shooter must fire in the Team Competition at Camp Perry. The other 3 shooters are determined by the scores fired during the individual matches fired at Camp Perry earlier on Sunday July 18th. They have much to live up to as the 2009 PRPA Service Pistol Team was the Na-tional Champion Civilian Team.
There were 21 competitors who participated in the Service Pistol Championship. After the smoke cleared and the scores were totaled up, Brian Keyser was firmly on top of the board. Brian fired a score of 836-23x to lead all shooters and claim his first PRPA State Service Pistol Cham-pionship! Second place went to Joe Urish. In third was Steve Gibbons from Lewistown, PA.
The members of the PRPA Service Pistol Team at Camp Perry as determined by the match scores are as follows. Joe Urish, Steve Gibbons, Tom Mix, Brian Dean, Dennis Kriek, and the ―New Shooter‖ is Kirk Anderson of State College, PA. It is the custom that the State Champion is named the team captain for the team. This year Brian will not be able to go to Camp Perry. Also some familiar names of shooters that will not be competing at Camp Perry in 2010 are Patrick Kelly Jr and Russ Wallander. We are going to miss all of them at Perry, both as members of the PRPA Teams and, as good friends and competitors. Here‘s hoping that they will be back in 2011!
In addition to the regular match there was a CMP EIC match fired, This match was won by Brian Keyser with a score of 283-10x. The top score by a Non-Distinguished shooter was posted by Anthony Brong from Harrisburg, PA. Tony fired a score of 259-4x. Then a Distinguished Re-volver match was conducted. The winner of this match was again Brian Keyser. Brian tops the field with a score of 273-8. The top scoring non-distinguished shooter was Steven Welsh of Stroudsburg, PA. Steve posted a score of 253-2x
Congratulations Brian Keyser, State Service Pistol Champion, and we wish you many more wins! Good luck to the shooters on the PRPA Service Pistol Team at Camp Perry!
We want to commend the Lewistown Pistol Club for their continuing support of the shooters of Pennsylvania! Not only was the match run in a very professional and cordial manner, but the club put together a nice assortment of door prizes with 2 Springfield Armory pistols as prizes!
We look forward to working with the club in the future in this and all competitions they plan! Good Shooting!
About:
Pennsylvania Rifle and Pistol Association: Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Article I, Section 21, “The right of the citi-zens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.” We uphold, promote and support the right to keep and bear arms. Visit: www.pennarifleandpistol.org