Headlees zero in on state rimfire shooting titles

• Austin and Brian Headlee

Austin and Brian Headlee are shown with the plaques they received in the state rimfire shooting championships. Competitors received a plaque for each top three finish.

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The father-son duo of Brian and Austin Headlee proved to be precision marksmen again this year in the 2012 United States Rimfire Association IR 50-50 Wisconsin State Championships, held at the Willow River Rod and Gun Club near New Richmond on July 7.

Rimfire shooting is conducted with highly modified .22 rifles. There are two areas of competition, shooting in distances measured in yards and meters. Eighteen competitors from four states took part in the July 7 event.

There are three weight classes in which competitors can compete, based on the weight of their rifle. The sporter class is for guns weighing 7.5 pounds or less with a six-power scope. There are also classes for guns weighing up to 10.5 pounds and 13.5 pounds.

Each of the Headlees won a state championship in the 2012 state competition.

Austin Headlee, who will be a sophomore at Somerset High School, won the state championship in the sporter division. He won the class with a perfect score of 250, the only 250 shot in the class.

Brian Headlee won the state championship in the 13.5 class at 50 yards. He shot a 250 with 17 bullseye hits. Three shooters shot 250 at 17X. Headlee won the tie-breaker as the last shooter to completely miss a bullseye, which is a one-millimeter dot at the center of the target. Headlee won the overall championship in the yardage category.

Doug Bell of Somerset also competed in the national tournament and won the overall championship for the competition in meters and he won the 50-meter state title.

Northwest Wisconsin has some of the top rimfire shooters in the nation. Fred and Lou Wickstrom, a married couple from Cumberland, are ranked first and second in the nation. Bell is ranked fourth in the nation and Brian Headlee is ranked sixth among the 700 shooters who compete on a national scale.

The Headlees won’t be competing in the national tournaments this year. They are extremely active in a number of outdoor activities. The regional championships will be held in Illinois. Instead of competing there, the Headlees will be biking across Iowa in the annual RAGBRAI (the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa). The seven-day bike ride averages 468 miles.

Tags: sports, outdoors