Author Archives: Hap Rocketto

About 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, the 2012 Senior Three Position National Smallbore Rifle Champion a member of the 2007 and 2012 National Four Position Indoor Championship team, coach and captain of the US Drew Cup Team, and adjutant of the United States 2009 Roberts and 2013 Pershing Teams. Rocketto is very active in coaching juniors. He is, along with his brother Steve, a cofounder of the Corporal Digby Hand Schützenverein. A historian of the shooting sports, his work appears in Shooting Sports USA, the late Precision Shooting Magazine, The Outdoor Message, the American Rifleman, the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s website, and most recently, the apogee of his literary career, pronematch.com.

A Shooting Theory that won’t Bohr You

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

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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 … Continue reading

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A Short History of the Presidents Hundred

As the sun slants in from three o’clock and glints off of the brass cartridge cases… Continue reading

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What was Good for the Canucks was Good for Us

Twenty days before Christmas of 1956 the rifleman who had survived the qualifying round… Continue reading

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TX: Texas Smallbore Championship Results

Former Keystone State standout Ken Benyo has roped, thrown, and placed his brand on the 2010 Texas Smallbore Championship shot in San Antonio on April 24th and 25th. In a head on head shootout with New Mexico’s Ginger McLemore Benyo … Continue reading

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Upcoming Series on 3P Shooting

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What We Learn from the Past

My two favorite sports are shooting and baseball… Continue reading

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A Short History of the Distinguished Shooter Program

Hap Rocketto provides a detailed history of the Distinguished Shooter Program… Continue reading

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A Brass Cup, A Pinch Of Powder, and A Lump Of Lead

A Short History of the .22 Rimfire Cartridge in the United States… Continue reading

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“Four-Gun” Hap Rocketto

by Hap Rocketto Each year I never miss shooting the Abe Rocketto Memorial Service Pistol Match. Run by Steve Schady, the match requires the use of a fixed sight service pistol of any era. My brother and I always shoot … Continue reading

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I Was A Farr Way From Being Accurate

It is always a great pleasure to see one of your juniors develop and do well… Continue reading

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NCAA Rifle Championship Wrap-up

Texas Christian University enters the history books as the first all female team to win the NCAA Rifle Championship. Continue reading

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All American Smallbore and Air Rifle Shooters and Olympic Gold

The National Rifle Association first distributed “Golden Bullets” to honor All-Americans in the sport of rifle shooting in 1936… Continue reading

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CT: 10th Annual Constitution State Rifle Tournament Results

Quaker Hill Rod and Gun Club hosted the tenth annual Constitution State Conference Rifle Tournament on March 5, 2010. Five teams from the Connecticut Technical High School System met to see if the regular season champion, Vinal Tech, of Middletown, … Continue reading

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Three Generations

by Hap Rocketto I am getting a little long in the tooth but I work to stay in competitive shape for position shooting. I shoot two winter position leagues and specialize in prone during the summer months, with a little … Continue reading

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A Shooting Character Straight out of Shakespeare

A couple of weeks ago I was idly leafing through some Shakespeare when a line from King Henry IV Part I leapt from the page and stirred my memory… Continue reading

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An Embarrassment of Riches

Hap Rocketto remarks about NRA National Records and how some are “good” and others are…well…not so good Continue reading

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In Second Place, I am Second to None

by Hap Rocketto [Editor’s Note] This is a Gallery Match primer! I have just arrived home after shooting the Connecticut Gallery Championship, a match I first shot as a high school freshman in 1962. Way back then The Gallery Match … Continue reading

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Dizzy Paul, Jeff, and Me

by Hap Rocketto Those who are familiar with Yankee Stadium know about Monument Park, a collection of monuments, plaques, and retired numbers honoring distinguished members of the New York Yankees. It was built during a renovation of “The House That … Continue reading

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RI: 2010 Open Metric Sectional Results

The 2010 Rhode Island NRA Metric Position Sectional by Digby Hand Nearly three dozen competitors converged on the Massasoit Gun Club for what they thought would be the 2010 Rhode Island NRA Three Position Sectional. In a period of change in … Continue reading

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The Socioeconomic Origins of the Angle Police

by Hap Rocketto The collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall combined to touch off a chain of events that threatened to change the face of American Conventional Prone Shooting forever. Why events in Europe … Continue reading

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