U.S. International Final Tryouts
Fort Benning, Georgia

125 Marksmen Here For Olympic Tryouts

Some 125 of the nation's crack marksmen will arrive this weekend intent upon winning membership on the U.S. Olympic Team which will compete in the 1960 Games to be held in Rome this summer.

Competitors from civilian shooting circles, the military services and federal law enforcement agencies will take to The Infantry Center's International range beginning July 17 to shoot for the coveted slots.

Shooting will be conducted with five weapons including the 300-meter International free rifle, the 50-meter International free rifle, the International free pistol, the International rapid fire pistol and over the International trap-shooting course. The final eliminations will continue until July 31.

Leading contestants for U.S team slots will include the Army's runner-up to the 1958 world 300-meter rifle champion, 1st Lt. Daniel B. Puckel, and the present holder of the world's record for the 300-meter rifle prone course of 40 shots, Pfc. Gary Anderson.

Heading free pistol competitors will be MSgt Nelson H. Lincoln, , MSgt. Roy L. Sutherland, Sfc Lloyd Burchett.

First Lt. David Cartes and MSgt Richard Stineman, will be competing on the International Rapid Fire Pistol Range against an entry list headed by Capt. William W. McMillan, Marine Corps, and ex-world champion over the exacting handgun course. The Navy's TPM-1 Gasper DeFino, is also scheduled to shoot in this event.

Top competitors for International trap slots will be Lt. Col. Wyeth Everhart, USAF and 2nd Lt. James B. Clark.

Lt. Puckel and Pfc Anderson, 300-meter rifle aces will also shoot over the 50-meter rifle course to make competition doubly difficult for their opposition.

The 1960 Olympic Team will carry two shooters from each of the five categories to provide a total of 10 positions for America's rifle, pistol and shotgun experts.

The Bayonet, Friday, July 14, 1960

8 Openings Remain

Two Olympic Marksmen Berths Up for Grabs in Free Pistol

The first two of 10 Olympic marksmen team berths will be decided at Fort Benning's International ranges July 20-22.

Fifteen out of the 21 precision pistol marksmen invited to compete in the Olympic free pistol tryouts have arrived and are practicing for the matches. The top two free pistol firers in the elimination matches will fill two positions on the Olympic team. The other eight berths will go to the top marksmen in the other four divisions of the elimination tryouts.

Among the free pistol competitors are the Navy's Torpedoman First Class Gasper DeFino, the 1960 Interservice pistol champion and WO (Ret.) Offutt Pinion, Army MSgt Nelson Lincoln and Roy Sutherland, Air Force SSgt Thomas M. Hardgrave, Patrolman John W. Hurst of the Los Angeles (Calif) Police Department, hold of two national records with the center-fire pistol and civilian Adrian T. Myers.

"The competition there is tremendous," Myers said. "My goal is to break the national civilian record for the course, which is 541 out of a possible 600. I do not expect to score as well as the military competitors because my practice time has been limited."

The Olympic hopefuls will have two days of practice at the International ranges before actual competition starts.

They are firing the course three times, once on each of three successive days.

The Olympic team berths will go to the two competitors having the highest composite of the three-day matches.

The Olympic free pistol slow fire course, long one of the most precise types of competitive shooting, consists of 60 shots fired at a target at 50 meters (54 yards). Firers have a time limit of three hours in which to complete the course. The target has a bull's-eye approximately the size of a silver dollar.

The Olympic free pistol, built especially for this match is a precise and delicate handgun. The mere touch of a feather can set off its hair trigger.

The record for the exacting course is held by a Russian with the score of 566. This mark has been exceeded by many of the International shooters of the Army's Advanced Marksmanship Unit.

Following the free pistol eliminations will be the rapid fire pistol and smallbore rifle finals July 25-31. The International trapshooting finals will be held July 29 to Aug. 1. The last of the Olympic tryouts will be in the big bore rifle eliminations Aug. 1 to 7.

The Bayonet, Friday, July 21, 1960

Top 14 Advanced Shooters

Sfc Lincoln, John Hurst Are U.S. Olympic Pistol Entries

Sfc Nelson H. Lincoln and Los Angeles policeman John W. Hurst shot their way to positions on the U.S. 1960 Olympic Team here last week.

Shooting against 14 of the nation's most advanced pistol marksmen the pair weathered all opposition encountered during the three-day eliminations held at The Infantry Center's 50-meter International Free Pistol Range.

Sgt. Lincoln posted a final score of 1667 out of a possible 1800 points in firing daily scores of 553, 559 and 555 over the 60-shot slow fire course. The only competitor to crack the 550 mark in all three matches, the Army's leading International free pistol shooter left little doubt of his right to represent the U.S. on Italian ranges this summer.

Hurst, however, gained the second of the two authorized slots for free pistol shooters after a three-day struggle against the onslaughts of Massachusetts civilian, Robert A. Baxter.

Both shooters went in to the last day's match with identical scores of 1092. The outcome of deciding match remained doubtful until the last of the 60 shots were fired. Hurst emerged the victor with a 544 out of 600 to win Olympic shooter slot by a scant three points.

Baxter, a New England medical service representative, won the position of 1960 team alternate.

Hurst's win was a definite upset and one which he himself could scarcely believe.

"I came into the finals with no idea that I could shoot out a place on the '60 team," he said, "but with the intent to shoot a creditable score."

His "creditable" 1636 averaged 546 points per match, despite the fact that he has had little or no experience in the field of Olympic free pistol competition.

Team alternate Baxter also shared Hurt's unfamiliarity with the type of weapon and course of fire utilized in world-level competition. He stated that he'd borrowed an Olympic-type weapon from a friend with which to enter Olympic preliminary competition held in the New England area last May.

Baxter was bested only by Lincoln, veteran of much world competitive experience, and Hurst, holder a a series of national pistol records.

Competitors in the free pistol finals included shooters from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Army Reserve and police and civilian circles.

The 50-meter International free pistol course is considered to be the most arduous and exacting slow-fire match in existence.

The "10-ring" of the plate size bull's-eye is little larger than a silver dollar, and is fired upon at a distance of approximately 54 yards.

"A premium is placed upon concentration and precision and both are of the utmost importance if the shooter wishes to qualify for world-level competition," Sgt. Lincoln said in crediting the efforts of both Hurst and Baxter.

The crack Army handgunner pointed out that both had accomplished tremendous feats in maintaining paces worthy of world-level match competition, despite the heavy pressures exerted and the lack of experience with weapons which are literally "hair-triggered."

The slow-fire pistol eliminations are the first to be completed in the series of five 1960 Olympic finals scheduled on The Infantry Center ranges, the last of which will be completed August 8.

The Bayonet, Friday, July 28, 1960

For Olympics

2 Slots Remain On Firing Team

Six more positions were filled on the 1960 U.S. Olympic shooting team last week, following final elimination matches in three weapon classes, the rapid-fire pistol, 50-meter free rifle and trapshooting.

The winners in the rapid-fire pistol division were Capt. William McMillan, Marine Corps and Sfc Lawrence Mosley. Capt. McMillan added a score of 592 in the final round to his previous scores of 591 and 593 which gave him a grand total of 1,776 out of 1,800 possible points. His average for three matches, 592, is equal to the world record.

Sfc Mosley edged 1st Lt. Dave Cartes for the second position on the rapid-fire pistol event. Sfc Mosley's three scores of 584, 585 and 588 gave him a total of 1,757, two points better than Lt. Cartes' 1,755.

In the 50-meter free rifle division, 1st Lt. Daniel Puckel and Gunnery Sgt. James Hill, Marine Corps, collected the first and second slots.

Lt. Puckel grabbed the lead in the first round of firing and never relinquished it throughout the three-day matches. His daily scores were 1,146, 1,142 and 1,133 for a grand total of 3,421 out of a possible 3,600 points.

Sgt. Hill copped the second slot with scores of 1,128, 1,135 and 1,143 for a 3,406 total, a mere two points ahead of third place winner, 1st Lt. John R. Foster who fired a total of 3,404 points.

In the Olympic trapshooting division, Arnold Riegger and 1st Lt. James R. Clark won the top two spots.

Riegger, who took the title last year, broke 293 of 300 clay pigeons in the finals of the elimination event to take top honors.

The Bayonet, Friday, August 4, 1960

Lt. Foster, Cpl. Anderson Earn Final 2 Olympic Berths

A lieutenant and a 20-year-old corporal won the last two positions on the 1960 U.S. Olympic shooting team when 300-meter free-rifle elimination ended on the post's International Parks Range Friday.

The 10-man team comprised of two shooters each in five weapons: shotgun, slow-fire free pistol, rapid-fire pistol, smallbore (.22 caliber) rifle at 50 meters and the 30-meter rifle, which will represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games at Rome, Italy, from August 25 through September 11, is now complete.

Scoring first place over the two new team members, 1st Lt. Daniel B. Puckel of the Advanced Marksmanship Unit, referred to by International marksmanship officials as the "greatest rifle shooting in the world," had already earned a slot on the Olympic team with the 50-meter smallbore rifle last week. Lt. Puckel fired an aggregate three-day score of 3435 out of a possible 3600 points in the 300-meter matches. He may represent the U.S. in both Rome events.

At the close of the shooting in 90-degree plus heat and an average humidity of 50 percent, the last two positions on the team went to 1st Lt. John R. Foster of Ohio and 20-year-old Cpl. Gary L. Anderson.

Lt. Foster fired scores of 1130, 1146 and 1132 to amass a total of 3408 points just seven above the aggregate of Anderson, who scored 1137, 1140 and 1124 for the three days.

The International record for the three-stage course which was fired on Parks Range each day during the eliminations is 1147, shot by Lt. Puckel at the Pan-American Games in Waukegan, Ill., last year.

The Bayonet, Friday, August 12, 1960