Top Junior No More! Chris Tilley Wins USPSA

After clinching several junior shooting titles, Chris Tilley, of Apex, N.C., is the new USPSA Open Division National Champion.

Champagne corks are popping in Apex, N.C. as Chris Tilley comes home having become the U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) “Open” National Champion.In 2005, Tilley and his American teammates won the junior world title, with Tilley finishing in the top 10 at World Shoot XIV in Guayaquil, Ecuador. That was his second world junior title, Tilley won his first in South Africa in 2002. It’s a long way from top junior to national champion, but he’s done it, and now, with the U.S. title under his belt, only the overall world title remains.

Held on the brand-new U.S. Shooting Academy (USSA) range in Tulsa, Okla, this match pitted Tilley against some of the biggest names in the practical shooting world. The USSA crew spared no expense, covering the newly-formed range surfaces and backstops with acres and acres of ready-made Bermuda grass sod.

On this virgin surface, Tilley faced down former national champion Max Michel Jr. at the head of a 239-shooter field. A member of the prestigious Army Marksmanship Unit, Michel’s name is enough to give any “Open” division shooter pause, to say nothing of the heavy talent always present in this division.

Talent was everywhere in the ladies Open category, where Desiree Van Noord of the Netherlands nearly unseated defending “Open” ladies champion Kay Miculek of Louisiana. Miculek and Van Noord turned in nearly identical scores – 1279.7 versus 1279.2 – a margin so small that had one of the 100-plus targets been scored one point differently, Van Noord would have taken the lead.

The Production Division was awash with professional talent, but Rob Leatham emerged to win the title for Springfield Armory. Shooting the new Springfield XD, Leatham out-gunned former European champion Angus Hobdell of CZ-USA. Production shooters must use a double-action or striker-fired pistol with virtually no modifications.

Already USPSA’s third-most popular division, Production has drawn a disproportionate amount of corporate interest. Companies like Springfield Armory, CZ-USA, Para-Ordnance, and Glock have begun fielding professional shooters in an effort to have their design proclaimed the “top production gun” – an obvious marketing plum. So far, no firm has managed to win more than twice in a row, and the stakes seem to rise every year.

Where historically the professionals were drawn to the prestige of Open division, “the shift of professional talent into Production this year was obvious,” says Front Sight magazine’s Roger Maier.

For example, Leatham is the most-decorated shooter ever to play the game. He faced current and former national and world champions Todd Jarrett and David Sevigny, in addition to Hobdell, followed by a host of less-well-known marksmen.

Among the ladies, Julie Goloski came out on top in her first appearance with a Production gun since signing on with Team Smith & Wesson, shooting a S&W M&P 9mm. Goloski faced former Limited title holder Carina Burns Randolph, and former Production title holder Angi Kelley, but outpaced both by a healthy margin.

Goloski easily managed the top ladies’ Limited-10 title earlier this year. A former member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, she is the only woman to win titles in Open, Limited, Limited-10, and Production divisions.

For gun and sports enthusiasts, USPSA offers action. USPSA shooters draw, negotiate obstacles, and dash through courses of fire as fast as safety and accuracy will let them (see www.hosercam.com). Scoring is based on their points-per-second score, called a “hit factor.”

More powerful guns score more points for poor shooting, but less powerful ones are easier to shoot quickly, creating a balance. It’s an exciting game that has fascinated combat handgunners since the late Jeff Cooper formalized the rules in the 1970s.

The match was conducted in Tulsa, at the USSA range.

 

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