Many Rifle Silhouette shooters had the pleasure of shooting with Lones W. Wigger, Jr. over the years. While Rifle Silhouette was not his primary focus, he did love our game and was a two-time winner of the NRA High Power Silhouette National Championships. He was also a four-time Olympian and the most decorated shooter in the history of shooting sports. We all were very sad to hear Lones “left the range” in 2017.
To honor Lones W. Wigger, Jr. and and his family, NASSA is proud our Technical Library will carry his name. We will strive to hold ourselves in developing this resource over time to the same standards Lones held for himself –
“There are no secrets. It takes hours and hours of hard work, commitment, dedication, sacrifice and desire. Maybe desire is the most important. Everyone can be a winner,. It just depends on how bad you want it. Never forget to dream. Dreams can and do come true.”
Lt. Col Lones W. Wigger, Jr. – US Army Marksmanship Unit
To read more about the shooting exploits of Lones W. Wigger, Jr., click on the button below!
Lones W. Wigger Technical Library Objective
NASSA’s mission is to help promote Rifle Silhouette competition. Providing valuable technical training material to help our Rifle Silhouette community is therefore one of our top priorities. We intend to significantly focus on developing The Lones Wigger Technical Library over time so that it becomes an indispensable reference source.
Whether you are a new shooter, trying to break into AAA/Master Class or training to excel to the top of your game, hopefully you will find something within this library to help you in your journey. If excelling in this sport was easy, the journey would not be worth it.
NASSA Blogs
A critical role of NASSA is to help develop the Rifle Silhouette shooting skillsets within our shooting community. One of the most effective ways we can do that is to tap into the knowledge of our Rifle Silhouette gunsmiths, our Master Shooters and our Industry Partners and disburse this technical information through our NASSA Blog Program. This will include both regular and guest authors with relevant knowledge in the (6) categories of Inspiration, The Mental Game, The Physical Game, Rifles & Sights, Ammo & Ballistics and At the Range.
NASSA Blog Benefits:
- Authors are free to express their current views for consideration.
- NASSA Forum “registered” shooters can ask questions for back-and-forth dialogue and discussions.
- This dialogue is visible by all who visit the NASSA Forum.
- The number of blogs will grow over time and with it the value of visiting this resource!
Recommended Shooting Books
NASSA has prepared a list of Recommended Shooting Books for your review. If you are a new Rifle Silhouette shooter, many of these books can help you improve your scores through teaching critical basic fundamentals and help prevent beginner mistakes. If your desire is to make Master Class in Rifle Silhouette, many of these books can help refine your fundamentals and bring structure to your training regimen to get you there. If your goal is to reach the top of our Rifle Silhouette sport and win championships, absorbing the knowledge of these champion authors to formulate and refine your own path to success is critical!
We are fortunate these days that many new and great books on sports motivation, mental training, the physical aspects of shooting, rifles, ammunition, ballistics, wind doping, etc., are now being published everyday and included here for your review.
Bill Pullum, appointed in 1962 as Head Coach of the newly formed US Army Marksmanship Training Unit (USAMTU), was a pioneer in developing modern coaching techniques. Bill Pullum and Frank T. Hanenkrat, a USAMTU shooter and fellow instructor, would write a ground breaking book entitled Position Rifle Shooting that would set the bar for coaching championship shooters such as Lones Wigger to great achievements. Two later books by Bill and Frank are included on our recommended reading list as must reading.
Our other authors of Recommended Shooting Books also have strong and diverse shooting backgrounds in complementary shooting sports such as ISSF Prone/3-P/Air Rifle, NRA High Power/Service Rifle, Long Distance Shooting or Shooting Sports Psychology. Their knowledge is directly applicable to our Rifle Silhouette sport or it would not have been included!
Silhouette Training Program
The NASSA Implementation Team is fully committed to developing a NASSA Silhouette Training Program as one of our critical long-term projects. We have previously stated that a key success component of our NASSA Youth Programs is the ability to conduct seminars and provide coaching for the junior shooters. This can be in the form of:
- Youth Training Seminars/Schools – Seminars/schools conducted by some of NASSA’s best Rifle Silhouette shooters to introduce and get juniors started in our sport.
- Youth Individualized Coaching – For those serious about Rifle Silhouette, a more structured individualized coaching/mentoring training program to compete on a state/regional/national level.
The ability to offer seminars/coaching brings something of value to the table for juniors, the parents of juniors as well as the kindred youth shooting organizations we wish to collaborate with. Obviously, there is a benefit to the entire Rifle Silhouette community and we would make available the NASSA Silhouette Training Program to all that wished to participate.
To achieve a successful NASSA Silhouette Training Program, we must and will develop superior Rifle Silhouette training material that meets the needs of our community. We will benchmark what has already been created through our Kindred Organizations such as USA Shooting, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), the NRA, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) and other organizations.
Please use the link below to to learn more about the NASSA Silhouette Training Program
Starting a Silhouette Program
NASSA’s charter is all about the promotion and expansion of Rifle Silhouette throughout all of the NASSA Regions. One way NASSA can do this is by providing useful information on how to start or optimize a Rifle Silhouette program in gun clubs across North America.
We are starting to collect various content including building/maintaining a Silhouette range, developing the Silhouette infrastructure, buying the needed supplies, conducting a Silhouette match and other logistics to get you up and running. This is an ongoing work in process and will be added to as we can collect and add new material worthy of posting.
Please use the link below to check out the Starting a Silhouette Program content we have added so far!
Championship Equipment Surveys
NASSA has plans to expand and enhance Championship Equipment Surveys for several different reasons:
- Many Rifle Silhouette shooters are interested in what rifles, sights, actions, bullets, powder and other critical components are trending and being used by Rifle Silhouette shooters across North America. New shooters might need help selecting the right equipment from the start. More experienced shooters are looking for similar recommendations to improve their performance, such as getting into Master Class or winning that Championship Match!
- Our Industry Sponsors are always looking for relevant data such as product marketshare and relative performance of their products in the Rifle Silhouette disciplines. Our Industry Sponsors contribute to our prize tables, so it is important we work with them to provide the best sources of equipment survey data.
- We could make a case that existing championship surveys fall short in addressing the (2) points noted above. Our surveys typically tally a list of equipment/components all competitors are using in a given championship match. From this data, you can calculate total brand marketshare within a given equipment/component category. What is missing is the performance data. For example, surveys do not indicate what the top (10) shooters are using so our Industry Sponsors are not getting optimum product performance data. Adding some categories such as barrel brand for High Power Silhouette could also lead to better performance metrics.
Over the course of 2023, the NASSA Implementation Team will be working with our Industry Sponsors, NASSA Regional Directors and Championship Match Directors to optimize and expand on the equipment survey process that better serves the needs of our NASSA Membership. This will result in the eventual buildout of a Championship Match Survey Database to be posted within this website.
In the meantime, click on the link below to view the latest NRA National Silhouette Championship Surveys: