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Author Archive for Hap Rocketto

Hap Rocketto is a Distinguished Rifleman with service and smallbore rifle, member of The Presidents Hundred, and the National Guard’s Chief’s 50. He is a National Smallbore Record holder, a member of the 1600 Club and the Connecticut Shooters’ Hall Of fame. He was the 2002 Intermediate Senior Three Position National Smallbore Rifle Champion, a member of the 2007 National Four Position Indoor Championship team, coach and captain of the US Drew Cup Team, and adjutant of the 2009 Robert Team. Rocketto is very active in coaching juniors. A historian of the shooting sports, his work regularly appears in Shooting Sports USA, Precision Shooting, The Outdoor Message, the American Rifleman, the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s website, and most recently, the apogee of his literary career, pronematch.com.

He Ain’t Heavy

He Ain’t Heavy

by Hap Rocketto, pmdc staff This article is available for download in a printable PDF format by clicking here. If you find this downloadable PDF useful, leave us a comment. We are evaluating whether or not to continue this service. Want to update to the latest version of Acrobat Reader? . Everyone thinks that is [...]

The 100 yard line at Appleton, where the Brits shoot the Dewar.

2010 Dewar Team Results (British and US)

Recent shooter spotlight Dennis Lindenbaum stumbled across what appears to be the 2010 British Dewar Team Results on an internet forum. If the results are official, it looks like the British beat us by nearly 50 points this year. Congratulations to the Brits for some great shooting! You can see larger versions of both the Great [...]

Charlie McCarthy Isn’t The Only Dummy

Charlie McCarthy Isn’t The Only Dummy

In general I would say that shooters are a very ethical group of people…

Chalk It Up to Knowing the Rules

by Hap Rocketto For some years the NRA has been including a rulebook in the competitor’s packet for high power. This year smallbore shooters began receiving one. This was as a result of the actions of the Smallbore Rifle Committee’s acting upon the request of the competitors. While this is a great idea the day [...]

The Royal Touch

by Hap Rocketto In an earlier era sovereigns ruled with absolute power through a principle known as the Divine Right of Kings. Essentially this meant that the power of the king was derived directly from the throne of God, no mean claim in a time when religion was a most powerful influence. Because of the [...]

Diving for National Records

by Hap Rocketto The first cold snap of autumn had come, and with it a new television season. As is our practice I stoked up the woodstove, the bride popped a bowl of popcorn, and we cuddled up on the couch to watch the season premier of Crime Scene Investigator, the Las Vegas one-not one [...]

Bristol Update, 8/20/10

The first US National Metric Metallic Sight National Championship is in the book and the Great Scorer in the Sky has inscribed Kevin Nevius in the champion’s spot. Kevin shot an 1170 using Lapua Xact, a Walter action, his own handmade wooden stock and a lija barrel. It was an overcast day which promised, but [...]

A general view of the range

Bristol Update, 8/19/10

It was a quiet day at the Wa-Ka’Da Range today…

Bristol Update, 6/18/10

Bristol Update, 6/18/10

after 12 hours and 40 minutes of total travel time we have arrived…

The Brothers Rocketto

PMDC Sunday Morning Post

The clock had barely finished striking four…

NH: Conventional 3P Regional/State Champ Results

submitted by Keith Jylkka We dodged the rain showers and thunder storms and somehow got the NRA Conventional 3P match complete without interruption. Nineteen shooters from NH and MA made the trip to Hudson on Saturday, 7/10 for the NH NRA Conventional 3P Regional and State Championship. Squirrelly winds ruled the day, often seeing the [...]

Cousin Stan would be Proud

Cousin Stan would be Proud

At the end of the iron sight phase of Camp Perry in 2006 I threw together a trip…

Photo of the Week

Photo of the Week

With Camp Perry only a few weeks away, we’re focusing our Photos-of-the-Week on Camp Perry images…

Malthus, Carlyle, the NRA, and Me

by Hap Rocketto The recent national economic distress has brought to mind my carefree days as an undergraduate. College was an orchard with many delights ripe for the picking. Much to the distress of my parents my delights in the pursuit of a liberal arts education lagged significantly behind my delight of the pursuit of [...]

Bill and I Set the Record Straight

Bill and I Set the Record Straight

During the course of my shooting career I have managed to bag a couple of National Records…

And you thought Rattle Battle was Exciting

And you thought Rattle Battle was Exciting

Personally, I think that I am a collector of rare and historically important shooting ephemera…

Shelby Burdick, who lives in Waterford, is the top senior in the Electrical Trade program at Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School and is an all-state rifle team member at the Groton school. She is shown on a job site in Waterford.

CT: Grasso Tech Student’s Aim is True

She went from never firing a rifle to top gun…

Shooting’s Village Green

Shooting’s Village Green

During the summer months shooting and baseball absorbs the bulk of my sports budget…

Prisoners in Paradise

Prisoners in Paradise

I live in a town with a heavy leavening of Italo-Americans…

A Shooting Theory that won’t Bohr You

A Shooting Theory that won’t Bohr You

In another life I was a high school science teacher and my favorite subject was physics…

The Art of Shooting

The Art of Shooting by Hap Rocketto The Elusive Art Jackson and Me As a young lad in the early 1950s I became interested in rifle shooting when my brother Steve was a member of the New London High School Rifle Team. Our father had done some shooting in his youth and passed the interest [...]