The National Rifle Association held their annual National Air Gun Championship this year in Bloomington, Illinois. For two days, the best of the best of America's air gun shooters came to Central Illinois Precision Shooting range to battle it out on May 27-28th.
Nineteen shooters made it through a series of local and regional championships to earn the right to shoot in the National Air Gun Championships. Shooters rolled into town from Alaska, Montana, Hawaii, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington, Oregon…and from right here in Illinois to compete at the CIPS range, one of America's very few certified Olympic training centers.
2017 marked the first year all ages could compete in the championships. However, juniors (under 21) topped all of this year' shooters making it through local and sectional matches.
Deziree McBee from Colorado came out on top as the match winner, shooting an 1175/1200. Not far behind, Jonna Warnken took 2nd place at 1164 and Christina Holden shot 1162 for 3rd. Here are the complete list of results from Day One and Day Two.
In the "Sporter" division (in layman's terms, these people use the more affordable equipment suitable for entry level participation), Elizabeth Carson brought home the winner's trophy with a 1061/1200. Becky Lei from Hawaii was 2nd with 1050 and Ruby Pozorski took 3rd with a 1038.
Prepping to shoot…
Parents play card games and pass the time while the competitors shoot.
They the also help…
Shooters who shoot a perfect score of 100/100 during a sanctioned tournament are offered the chance to "climb the ladder" at the CIPS facility to post their signed target on the ceiling. As you might expect, it's quite an honor.
Jaden Thompson of Bloomington, IL has her own row going.
The competitors seemed pretty relaxed and easy-going. Surprising, given the intensity of shooting in a national championship match.
More photos of the action…
Inevitably, some parents would occasionally look to check the targets.
Editor's note: These are all the photos I have of the event after a catastrophic hard disk failure.