The 2014 PRS season has come to a close. The season was made up of 14 season matches in 8 months, from coast to coast. This season brought in more shooters than ever (287 PRS members) and competition was tighter than ever, shooters who qualified via the Pro Series (TOP 50) had to average 72 points on their best 3 matches or 218 points combined . Making it into the Top 50 is quite the accomplishment and making it to the Top 10 is an extreme accomplishment.
This season we saw 11 different match winners of the 14 events, two events ended with a tie for 1st place.David Preston came into the Championship event with 3 wins and 300 points. Both Bryan Morgan and Ryan Kerr came into the Championship match with 2 wins and 298.540 points and 299.457 points respectively. These 3 shooters would set the stage for an ultimate battle.
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</dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">Overall Match Winners in 2014</dd></dl>
The Championship match itself may have proven to be the most difficult and unique match ever attempted. All shooters were given a "Tee Time" with lowest ranking shooter starting at 7:30 am and shooting at 7 different stations consisting of two stages at each. Shooters had 4-1/2 minutes to shoot the station then 5-1/2 minutes to transition to the next station, reload and mentally prepare for the next 2 combined courses of fire.
Each shooter would complete all 14 stages firing between 80-110 rounds in one hour and five minutes. As it worked out, shooters had just enough time to load, do a quick review of the stage and wait just a few seconds for the countdown clock and their time would begin. Those who were most prepared and studied the prior announced course of fire and had made quick interchangeable dope cards for each upcoming stage seemed to glide through the day while others obviously struggled with the format.
Day 1 stages included almost every kind of practical shooting position we could find with many mid range and long range shots. The longest shot was 1100 yards, and the nearest shot was 315 yards (at a two inch steel target). Shooters shot off rocks, trees, a helicopter, cement culverts, a ladder, a trailer, from window frames, and prone from towers and the ground.
As with almost any match, as the day goes on the conditions get tougher. The best ranking shooters unfortunately caught some bad mirage conditions and really had a tough time of spotting their impacts or misses. As day 1 ended and scores were posted, we saw the top 3 guys were all within a few points of each other and still fighting for contention but we also saw quite a few shooters who were surprisingly low and others surprisingly high. Be it what it may, the scores were in and it was time to re-focus on day 2.
While day 2 was shorter with less points available, the shooting order was reversed and the top ranking season guys caught the first crack at the early conditions. Day 2 started with a cold bore shot at a golf ball on a string at 164 yards, then a mover stage which was at a reactive head target at 500 yards at about 3mph, consequently scattered with no shoot blockers. Stage 3 was standing shot at a half ipsc reactive target..standing. Stage 4 was a long line of Diamond targets shot from a roof top. Stage 5 was shot from 4 positions off a rock pile. Stage 6 was a speed drill on 6 very challenging targets. (fastest time was ~22 seconds) Stage 7 was a line of targets from prone out to 880 yards. Stage 8 was 5 shots at small target from a bench. All completed in about 45 minutes per shooter.
PRS Championship Match results
PRS Pro Series Season Points Results
The 2014 PRS Championship also had some outstanding cash prizes and awards for shooters. The Series points winner was awarded $5000.00 from JP Enterprises, additional monies were paid out to the 2nd - 5th -$7500 combined. The event winner received $5,000.00 from the title sponsor Bushnell as well as the first place platinum sponsor award, an AX .338 fully outfitted with S&B scope, Spuhr mounts, sling, and case all donated by Euro Optic, Accuracy International, Mile High Shooting Supply with a value of over $13,500.00.
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</dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">Match Winner Ryan Kerr Wins the 1st place prize from Euro Optic, AI, and Mile High Shooting</dd></dl>
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</dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">Ryan Kerr awarded additional 1st place cash from title sponsor Bushnell.</dd></dl>
This season we also introduced the Long Range Hunting (LRH) Division, this division was created for shooters who had not made it into the Top 25 in previous seasons and allowed them to compete by only using their best 2 matches of the year and limited them to 4 matches during the season. This turned out to be a very competitive field of shooters, many of them first year shooters.
This Division was sponsored by RBros Rifles company, which was a perfect fit because they are well known for their outstanding custom long range hunting rifles. Shooters who entered this division had to be ranked in the Top 20 or a class winner. We had a Lady class, Mil/LE class, Sr. Class, Jr. Class and a Production Rifle Class. This division was outlined to compete at the Championship event for a winner take all super-bowl match-up.
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</dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">LRH Division Winner, Bradley Allen is presented a $5,000 check courtesy of RBros Rifles</dd></dl>
- Top Lady went to Sydnei Tatum
- Top Sr. went to Brian Allen
- Top Production shooter went to Nathan Berg (not pictured)
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</dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">Bushnell PRS Title Sponsor, JP Pro Series Title Sponsor, RBros Rifles LRH Title Sponsor, EuroOptic, AI, Mile High- Platinum Sponsors</dd></dl>
Here are some parting shots of the action, we will have a full production video coming soon along complete stats from the shooters.
