National Rifle & Pistol Championships
San Francisco, California

United States Marine Corps Pistol Team

Scioto Outdoors

By PAUL L. DOYLE

National Rifle And Pistol Championships

Rifle and pistol shooters all over the country are oiling up their pet shooting irons and making last-minute adjustments on triggers and sights, preparing for the first National Rifle and Pistol Championships ever held on the Pacific Coast.

From Sept. 26 to Oct. 6 over 2,500 of the country's best civilian and military marksmen will fire for the three championships at stake, the national .30-caliber rifle championship, (Sept. 27-30), the national small-bore championship, .22-caliber rifles, (Oct. 3-6) and the national pistol championship (Sept. 30-Oct 6).

The .30-caliber title race will be held at Camp Mathews, Calif., under the sponsorship of the U.S. Marine Corps, and the small-bore rifle and pistol classes in San Francisco. It will mark the 66th renewal of the National Rifle Association events, which outdate the World Series by 30 years, and the Kentucky Derby by two.

While the national small-bore and pistol championships have been held in several sections of the country since World War II, the .30 caliber shooting returns to the American shooting scene for the first time since 1940. It is expected that more than 1,000 marine, army, navy and civilian shooters will compete in the revived matches that were last held on the world-famous Camp Perry, O., Ranges.

In the pistol championship race, Sgt. Huelet Benner of the Armored School, Fort Knox, Ky., will defend the title he won from Harry Reeves of Detroit, Mich., in 1949 at Ft. Sheridan, Ill. No championships were staged last year because of the outbreak of the Korean War. Benner and Reeves are the outstanding pistol shooters in the United States

Since 1946 they have met four times in the national championships and have shared the title twice each, Benner winning in 1947 and 1949. If the pattern set in 1946 is followed in San Francisco Reeves should again become the United States champion.

There is a chance that an outsider will upset the pair in the October shooting classic, but neither man has been beaten by anyone else in the last five years.

If a new champion is to come from the field of 750 who will compete for the crown, the men most likely to pull the upset will be Maj. Thurman Barrier, U.S.M.C., and Lt. Col. Walter, Walsh, U.S.M.C., both of Washington, D.C.; Charles Logie of Lansing, Mich.; W. T. Toney of El Paso, Tex., or Earle Farrant of Los Angeles. However, like golf's Ben Hogan, Huelet Benner and Harry Reeves dominate the pistol-shooting sport.

Portsmouth Times, September 1, 1951

Local Shooters Enter National Pistol Matches

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Oct. 2) - The NRA National Pistol Championship matches got under way here at the San Francisco Police Range today. The nation's top pistol shooters are vieing for both individual and team honors and among them are the Marine Corps' 'cream of the crop' captained by Lieutenant Colonel Walter R. Walsh of Washington, D. C., one of the country's top pistol shots.

Of the team Major Thurman Barrier of Washington, D. C., won this year's Southeastern Regional matches at Jacksonville, Fla.; and Second Lieutenant T. R. Mitchell of Quantico, Va., winner of the Eastern Regional at Harrisburg, Penna.

These three are expected to give Army Sgt. First Class Huelet Benner of Fort Knox, Ky., present holder of the title, a good run for the championship. Benner won in 1947 and 1949. Detroit Policeman Harry Reeves, a Reserve Marine Major, took it in 1946 and 1948. It is expected Reeves will also shoot in the matches.

Benner and Reeves, it is said, are in a class by themselves in the pistol field.

Other members of the Marines' team are Captain J. M. Jagoda, Quantico, Va.; Commissioned Warrant Officer Mark Billing, Quantico, Va.; Master Sergeant J. Fowler, Parris Island, S. C.; Master Sergeant W. Fietcher, Seattle, Wash.; Technical Sergeant W. Devine, Parris Island, S.C., and Sgt. W. McMillan, Quantico, Va.

San Francisco Marines of the Department of the Pacific and the Marine Corps Depot of Supplies along with Marines from Cherry Point, N.C., are also entered.

Quantico Sentry, October 4, 1951

Marine Major Wins; El Pasoan Has 276

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 3 - U.S. Marine Major Thurman E. Barrier, of Statesville, N.C., and Washington, D.C., today won the Department of Defense national pistol match with a score of 285 out of a possible 300. His score broke the old record set in 1949.

National Pistol Champion Huelet Benner of Fort Knox, Ky., was second with 284, and Oscar Weinmeister, also of Fort Knox, shooting 279, took third.

Top individual winners in the Defense Department match:

Barrier, 285; Benner, 284; Weinmeister, 279; Walter Walsh, Arlington, Va., 279; W. W. McMillan, Quantico, Va., 277; Horace J. Brown, Hollywood, 277; Jeff Fell, Derby Line, Vt., 277; Mark Billing, Quantico, Va., 277; William J. Toney, El Paso, 276; Jewell C. Palmer, San Francisco, 275.

El Paseo Herald Post, October 1, 1951

Marines Win Top Honors In Matches

WASHINGTON, D. C. - The Marine Corps has made a clean sweep of first place honors in the 1951 National Rifle and Pistol matches.

Major Thurman E. Barrier of Marine Corps Headquarters, coach for the Corps' pistol team, won the National Individual Pistol Championship at San Francisco with a new world record with the .45 caliber service pistol and service ammunition. He beat the 12-year record of former champion Joe Ward of the Los Angeles Police Department by scoring 285 out of a possible 300.

Major Barrier's team also won the National Pistol Team Match at San Francisco with a total score of 1087, surpassing the previous score of 1085 held by the Marine Corps Schools team, set in 1949. Major Barrier led his team with an individual score of 279 and was followed by Technical Sergeant Walter Devine, Parris Island, with 277; Lieutenant Colonel Walter Walsh, Marine Corps Headquarters, 266; and Master Sergeant John Fowler, Parris Island, 265.

Rifle Matches

In the NRA National High Power Rifle Championship held September 27-30 at the Camp Matthews Rifle Range near San Diego, Marines swept all matches in the Service Rifle Class.

First place honors went to Second Lieutenant Remes E. De LaHunt, Parris Island, (The NRA Service Rifle National Championship). Technical Sergeant Russell J. Beilfuss, Camp Lejeune, (Members Trophy Match); Master Sergeant Maxin R. Beabe, Camp Pendleton, (The Navy Cup Match); Technical Sergeant Frank S. Hoffman, Camp Lejeune, (Wimbledon Cup Match); Private First Class Gay H. Lambert, Camp Lejeune, (Marine Corps Cup Match); First Lieutenant Robert M. Winter, Marine Barracks, Naval Air Station, Moffet Field, (Scott Trophy Match); and Technical Sergeant Morris C. Owens, Camp Pendleton, (President's Match.)

The 1951 matches at Camp Matthews, sponsored by the National Rifle Association and conducted by the Marine Corps, saw the revival of high power rifle matches on a national scale for the first time since the program was discontinued in 1940.

Quantico Sentry, October 11, 1951