11 minute read
PRS PROFILE: ROUNDS DOWNRANGE
ROUNDS DOWNRANGE
Chris Rounds isn’t looking back after moving from benchrest shooting to the Precision Rifle Series.
PHOTOS BY CHRIS ROUNDS
Chris Rounds recently marked the first anniversary of his involvement in the Precision Rifle Series by – how else? – shooting in a match in Rocky Mount, Virginia. In September, he came in 14th out of 75 shooters at the VPRC Rifleman’s Revival to claim his best finish yet in a Pro Series competition.
Rounds is a longtime hunter, having gone on whitetail and turkey treks with his father and brother from a young age, but he is relatively new to the long-range shooting game, and PRS in particular.
“I started shooting benchrest matches two years ago in the tactical class, shooting a .300 Win. Mag. at 1,000 yards and shooting a few mile matches,” he explains. “I wanted to get into something a little more challenging, so I expressed interest in PRS and a good friend of mine that most people know, Patrick Youngs, helped me transition into PRS and I haven’t looked back since!”
Since his initial foray into competition, Rounds has shot in a number of Atlantic regional matches, as well as pro-level national matches. As a new competitor, there were bound
“I haven’t looked back since,” says Chris Rounds about moving from benchrest shooting to competing in the Precision Rifle Series.
“The industry is full of so many great people who are here to help anyone that wants to get into the industry,” says Rounds. He also credits his wife for supporting his participation in the sport. to be some hiccups along the way, but he is gaining steam quickly.
“This year has had its ups and downs, especially being new to PRS, but I did manage to get a third-place finish at a regional match a few weeks ago,” he says. “What made that special is it was the first place I shot my first-ever PRS match almost a year prior.”
And with the recent 14th place finish in Rocky Mount, Rounds is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the PRS world.
Who does he credit for his success? There are two answers to that question: his wife and his fellow competitors.
“I have an amazing wife that lets me travel the country doing what I love – shooting a lot of matches – while managing four of our beautiful kids at home!” he enthuses.
As far as his shooting peers, Rounds says, “The industry is full of so many great people who are here to help anyone that wants to get into the industry.” Editor’s note: For more information on the Precision Rifle Series, visit precisionrifleseries.com.
Rounds comes from a hunting background, having chased whitetails and turkeys from a young age with his dad and brother.
CHRIS ROUNDS’ RIFLE & GEAR
• MPA Matrix Pro Chassis chambered in 6mm Dasher • Impact Precision action • TriggerTech Diamond trigger • Bartlein barrel • Nightforce Optics ATACR scope
SCATTERGUN ALLEY
Ohio's early goose season a prime chance to run some Fiocchi Golden Waterfowl Bismuth shotshells through Stoeger M3500 shotguns.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY LARRY CASE
Soaked to the skin and watching the rain, I can’t help but think about the three rain jackets I left in the truck this morning. Our party is crouched in a brushy drainage ditch with water about midcalf in depth. This level would change as the day wore on and, no, it didn’t go down. Still, with water running down my back and dripping off the bill of my hat, I am happy. It is early goose season in northern Ohio and things are about to get lively.
I’m here with, among others, Keith Heinlein, product manager with Stoeger Industries; Christian Hogg, director of marketing and new product development at Fiocchi Ammunition; and Jim McConville, a national sales manager for the Outdoor Sportsman Group.
Jim is a mountain of a man who is well known in this area and the outdoor industry. He played college football for Ohio State and is an avid sportsman. If Jim is not pursuing waterfowl, he may be found hunting those big Ohio whitetails or fishing on Lake Erie.
But right now Jim’s working his goose call with gusto and it seems to be working. Peering out from under my soggy hat brim, I see a string of about a dozen honkers turn and plow their way toward us through the fog and rain.
Adam Trawick, an editor with Sporting Classics magazine, brings in a pair of honkers during an early-season hunt in northern Ohio.
With a bird in hand, author Larry Case looks to the skies for more. The September goose season held in Ohio and other parts of the country is meant to thin overpopulated flocks that have taken up local residence rather than migrate, leading to agricultural and property damage issues.
“They’re comin’!” someone hisses. “Stay down!” This seems obvious, but we all obey.
Now the geese are close and you can hear the soft goose chatter in the flock. The tension of the eight or so gunners in our waterlogged blind is thick and you can almost hear it crackle like static electricity up and down the ditch. Hold, I tell myself, wait for the call from the guide to stand and shoot.
We rise as one, the Stoeger shotguns roar and geese fall from the heavy September sky. This, I mumble to no one in particular, is goose huntin’!
TOO MANY RESIDENT GEESE The Canada goose situation here in northern Ohio, like many places east of the Big Muddy, is something of a quandary. While everyone wants more waterfowl, resident geese – that is, geese that seem to stay in the same area and do not migrate – can soon wear out their welcome.
The Canada goose population in Ohio, and specifically around the shores of Lake Erie, has been an increasing problem since the 1960s. If these geese find enough food, water and roosting places in the area, they are likely to never leave; they will nest and raise new geese every year, and the population continues to grow.
The sudden increase in their population has led to issues such as degraded water quality, agricultural damage and property damage. According to The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, hunting is the single best strategy for eliminating the problems caused by these geese while still allowing for a healthy, controlled population. That was what we were here for that September day – to experience the early-season goose hunt and maybe whittle down the numbers of geese.
USE ENOUGH GUN As I have said many times before, no shotgun gets the level of use and abuse as one that’s used for duck and goose hunting. Rain, snow, mud, ice and Labrador retriever
The expert calling of Jim McConville, a national sales manager for Outdoor Sportsman Group, helped keep the shotguns warm and shells flying for himself and (below, left to right) Brayden Cole, Landen Walker and Bob Kois.
Case inspects a goose decoy while holding a Stoeger M3500, an inertia- rather than gas-powered shotgun. He managed to dunk it in a ditch, but despite pouring a “few cups of water” out of it, it worked as good as before.
“With a muzzle velocity of 1,450 feet per second, it is a screamer and these shells performed well,” says the author of Fiocchi’s Golden Waterfowl Bismuth 3-inch shotshells loaded with 13/8 ounces of No. 4 shot. slobber are what this shotgun has to endure. Being dunked in dirty water or being used for a boat paddle are also in the realm of possibility. (I dropped the M3500 I was using in the aforementioned ditch; I opened the action, unloaded, and poured a few cups of water out of it before reloading and continuing to fire the shotgun.)
The M3500 Stoeger shotgun has been around a few years and has a well-established reputation as a workhorse. The M3500 is an inertiapowered semiautomatic shotgun, which means it can go a long time without cleaning (unlike many gaspowered guns) and will stand up to the abuse that a duck and goose hunter will dish out. The actual number of rounds fired without cleaning, reported to me by some shooters I know, is astounding – I am talking about in the thousands of rounds. Since returning home from this trip, I have put a M3500 Waterfowl model through the wringer and experienced no problems.
The first thing a shotgun (or any firearm) has to do is go bang when you pull the trigger. In the case of a semiauto shotgun, it needs to go bang every time – whether in rapid succession or slow, and with any kind
The author considers the M3500’s oversize controls, including the bolt handle, “all very handy – especially with gloves.”
Brad Fitzpatrick, an outdoor writer, holds an M3500, which features a 28-inch barrel and is chambered for 2¾-, 3- and 3½-inch shells. of ammo, be it 2¾-inch low-brass, lower-powered shotshells or the most nuclear-powered 3½-inch ammo you can find.
I like to use several different types of ammo for these tests and load them randomly; for example, some tame 2¾-inch field or target loads may be followed by a 3½-inch turkey or waterfowl load. The M3500 handled them all with no malfunctions. As I have noted before, a 3½-inch magnum load following a 2¾-inch trap load will certainly get your attention.
As for the shotgun’s oversize controls, bolt release and bolt handle, they are all very handy – especially with gloves – as is the contoured loading port for easy loading.
The Stoeger M3500 Waterfowl model has a 28-inch barrel. The receiver and barrel are finished in Cerakote flat earth (practically indestructible) and the stock and forearm are Realtree Max-5 camo. This shotgun shoots 2¾-, 3- and 3½-inch shells; has a recoil reducer inserted in the stock; includes shims to adjust drop and cast on the stock; and ships with three chokes and a paracord sling.
Maybe best of all, the M3500 won’t break your bank. MSRP is $849.00. For more, see stoegerindustries.com.
ABOUT THAT AMMO You duck and goose hunters know that the ammo you use is as important as the shotgun. Fiocchi ammunition makes a wide array of shotgun shells (as well as pistol, centerfire and rimfire ammo), and on this trip we used the Fiocchi Golden Waterfowl Bismuth shotshells. Waterfowlers know that bismuth shot is much denser than steel – about 24 percent more – and is also nontoxic, meeting federal requirements. In a nutshell, bismuth has better terminal performance (it kills cleaner) and is not as expensive as the next step up the pellet material ladder, which would be tungsten.
The Fiocchi Golden Waterfowl Bismuth loads we used were 12-gauge, 3-inchers with 1⅜ ounces of No. 4 shot. With a muzzle velocity of 1,450 feet per second, it is a screamer and these shells performed well. I watched other members of the party crumple geese at
September’s season comes and goes fast, a tease for fall’s and winter’s much meatier goose opportunities.
The hunters gather for a posthunt pic. In the back row (from left to right) are Keith Heinlein, Adam Trawick, Brad Fitzpatrick, Larry Case, Bob Kois, Chris Cleary and Christian Hogg, while in front are Braden Cole, Jim McConville and Landen Walker. the outer limits of shotgun range.
If you are unfamiliar with Fiocchi ammo (fiocchiusa.com), you may want to check up on them a bit. You may be surprised to learn that Fiocchi has been making ammunition right here in America, in Ozark, Missouri, since the 1980s, and now has an additional plant in Little Rock, Arkansas. Editor’s note: Larry Case has been a devoted outdoorsman since he was a child. He will admit to an addiction to turkey hunting (spring and fall), but refuses any treatment. He enjoys the company of gobblers and cur dogs that are loud and people who speak the truth softly. Case served 36 years as a game warden in West Virginia and retired with the rank of district captain. You can check out his podcast and other stories at gunsandcornbred.com.
