When you combine the rocky, unsteady and natural terrain of Rockcastle Shooting Center in Park City, Kentucky with creative stage designer and Match Director Andy Horner, you get the 2011 DPMS-Bushnell Blue Ridge Mountain 3 Gun Match. Now in its fourth year, the BRM 3 Gun match has gained a reputation as one of the most physically and mentally demanding matches, drawing the top professional competitors of three gun events. Team Hornady members were put to the test and their outstanding performance won three of the four divisions.
Representing 37 states and Canada, 254 fearless competitors, from beginners to veterans and teens to seniors, were all determined to show they had the skill set to overcome ten challengingly designed stages. Targets were cleverly placed under the tree canopy, cloaked in shadows; another forced competitors to shoot under a wooden façade of a car with only a six-inch gap to shoot between; and one awkwardly had competitors shooting over folding table barricades placed ten yards in front of them. In keeping with tradition, every year one stage remains a mystery and this year it was stage 8, shooting in the Honaker Hole Cave, 800 feet in length, with shooters only aided by a SureFire flashlight to guide them through and engage the targets.
Andy Horner added, "This match favors the shooter who can successfully break stages down into sections, this is definitely not a speed shoot, but one that will thoroughly test their mental, physical and technical skills."
Team Hornady member Kelly Neal won the Tactical Iron Division noted; "Shooting Hornady 55-grain V-MAX™ bullets in my rifle for this match gave me the flattest and most accurate load, which assured me of winning results. For my 9 mm pistol, I used Hornady 125-grain steel match because of its accuracy and it would provide enough energy to knock down the steel targets without recoil."
Carrying on the winning momentum in the Open Division was Team Member Clint Upchurch. Shooting Hornady 75 grain match bullets in his rifle for the long range 550 yard targets and Hornady 124 grain XTP for his .38 Super Comp. Clint said, "I trained completely different for this match, working on my transition of firearms, the best way to carry and I also knew I could rely on Hornady providing the most accurate, high ballistic coefficient bullets with confidence."
Barry Dueck, won the Heavy Metal Division, shooting 125 grain SST bullets in his 308 Win and 230 grain HAP bullets in his 45 auto. Dueck is a top-level competitor in the Heavy Optics division and transitioned very well to shooting non-magnified/irons in this match.