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Sedro-Woolley, WA — The United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) Area 6 Championships gets underway today in Covington, Georgia, with the help of Georgia-based firearms maker Glock and 44 other corporate sponsors.
“The Area 6 Championship is going to be a great match thanks to the generous support from the industry. We are particularly thankful for the continued support from Glock which is this year’s overall Match Sponsor,” said Charles Bond, USPSA Area 6 Director.
Up to 350 top shooters from across America are expected to battle their way through 12 challenging stages at the South River Gun Club. This year’s match will also host shooters from Canada, Germany, Ecuador and Jamaica. The strong support from shooters is due in no small part to the continued growth in industry sponsorship.
“Area 6 is always a challenging match drawing most of the top shooters and our sponsors have been a big part of making this a ‘must shoot’ event. We have a dedicated core group of sponsors such as Atlanta Arms & Ammo, Brazos Custom, Competitive Edge Dynamics, Montana Gold Bullets, Shooter’s Connection, Springfield Armory, STI International, SVI/Infinity Firearms and Pro-Tech who have been with us a long time,” explained match director Cindy Noyes.
“We have also benefitted from the hometown support of several Georgia companies. American Shooters Edge, Antler Printing, Atlanta Arms & Ammo, CPWSA, Glock, Saw Custom, Sevigny Performance and Speed Shooter Specialties have all graciously supported our match recognizing the importance of growing the shooting sports right here in Georgia,” added Noyes.
Additional sponsors include: Accurate Edge, AmeriGlo, Bar-Sto Precision Machine, Blackhawk, Blade Tech, Brownells, C-More Systems, Dawson Precision, Doctor-USA, DPMS, Get’n Grip, GrayGuns, Hornady, Mike Gibson Manufacturing, Millennium Custom, PhotoMotion Photography, Precision Bullets, Precision Delta, Red Dot Shooting, Redding Reloading, Roze Distribution, Rugged Gear, Safariland, Starline, Surefire, Tactical Solutions, Techwear USA, Trijicon, UniqueTek and Universal Shooting Academy.
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About USPSA: The United States Practical Shooting Association is a non-profit membership association affiliated with the International Practical Shooting Confederation (I.P.S.C.), which is comprised of approximately 67 nations. USPSA’s now 16,500+ members and 350 affiliated clubs make it the largest and fastest growing Practical Shooting sport.
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79% of Practical Shooters Reload
Spending Upwards of $20 Million
Sedro-Woolley, WA — Ammunition reloading represents the single largest expense for competitors in Practical Shooting according to a survey conducted by the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA). In 2007 members spent upwards of $20.3 million on reloading, almost three times the $7.1 million they spent on factory loaded ammunition.
The survey showed that of those members that reload the average annual investment in reloading was just over $1,607. The survey also showed that fully 79% of the members reloaded their ammunition. This rate of reloading among members is almost exactly the opposite of the findings reported in The Shooting Wire from the national online survey, HunterSurvey.com, which showed that only 26% of centerfire shooters reload.
“Practical shooters go through tremendous quantities of ammo putting thousands of rounds down range each year in competition and practice; tens of thousands for some. With the rising cost of factory loaded ammunition USPSA shooters are turning to reloading more and more,” said Dave Thomas, Executive Director of USPSA.
Driving this demand is a nearly insatiable appetite to compete. An amazing 75% of USPSA members competed at least seven times last year with nearly 20% willing to travel 200 miles or more to do so. When asked if they are shooting more than the previous year 39% said yes; more than two years ago 47% said yes; and almost 60% indicated they are shooting more than they did five years ago.
The trend toward greater participation remains strong as 59% of the members intend to shoot even more in 2008. The impact will be even further participation in reloading.
“Our survey showed that in 2008 we can expect 83% of our members to reload their own ammunition,” added Thomas.
The USPSA survey was conducted in 2007 between October 29 and November 26 with 1,630 responses or approximately 10% of the USPSA membership.
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USPSA recently partnered with several gun manufacturers to create the 'USPSA Guns of Production Division' poster. Dave Thomas, Executive Director, presented the poster to each company at the 2007 SHOT show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The poster will be distributed to dealers across the country to help drive gun sales and new USPSA memberships. USPSA would like to thank everyone who participated in this exciting partnership.
Left to Right: Dave Thomas of USPSA, Vincent DeNiro of Beretta
Left to Right: Dave Thomas of USPSA, Angus Hobdell of CZ-USA
Left to Right: Randi Rogers of Glock, Dave Thomas, Dave Sevigny and Jessie Abbate of Glock
Left to Right: Eric VonBosse of Sig Sauer, Dave Thomas of USPSA
Left to Right: Jerry Miculek of Smith&Wesson, Dave Thomas of USPSA, Doug Koenig of Smith&Wesson
Left to Right: Peggy Hickenbottom of Springfield Armory, Dave Thomas of USPSA, Dave Williams of Springfield Armory
Left to Right: Dave Thomas of USPSA, Bob Morrison of Taurus
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