Team Hornady® members, Max Michel and Blake Miguez, kicked off the season with two division title wins at the 15th annual 2013 Florida Open, February 14-17, 2013, at the Universal Shooting Academy in Frostproof, Florida. The USPSA sanctioned Level 2 match is considered the shooting season's opening event, and drew approximately 400 competitors from 32 states and 14 countries.

Michel took the Open Division, winning six stages shooting Hornady® 125 grain HAP® bullets. "Having won this match several times, I knew the accuracy and reliability of Hornady 125 grain bullets were going to be critical," Michel said. "The Florida Open is truly the only event in the U.S. that prepares us for world-level competition."

Winning five stages, Miguez won the Limited Division shooting Hornady® 200 grain FMJ bullets in his 40 caliber pistol. "I like that the FMJ bullets are consistent weights at the chrono and feed very well in my limited division gun," Miguez said. "The match had some very difficult no-shoot covered swings that were definitely challenging."

Match Director Frank Garcia's course of fire for the manmade 10-stage berms included IPSC targets, steel poppers, swingers and pendulums set as close as two yards and out to 30 yards. Every stage required 28-30 rounds for a total round count of 298, and incorporated Comstock scoring. Garcia's signature design style included international style moving targets with partial no shoots that demanded speed and accuracy from the competitors.