USA Shooting’s elite athletes will enjoy a few less overseas trips thanks to the new ELEY Testing Range that will be unveiled before team members later today. As the USA Shooting Team’s smallbore (.22 caliber) ammunition provider, ELEY recognized the need for a testing facility for America’s top Olympic shooters and thus established their third testing range in Winters, Texas.
Since 2000, ELEY has been supplying U.S. rifle and pistol teams with select batches of .22 TENEX, along with testing services to match these batches of ammunition to each athlete’s equipment. ELEY TENEX has been part of five Olympic medal-winning performances for the USA Shooting Team since 2004. With ammunition and target costs associated with each pull of the trigger, shooting is one of the most expensive Olympic sports. USA Shooting Team members fire millions of rounds of ammunition annually. They train year-round for national and international competitions such as World Cups, World and National Championships and various selection matches and team training camps, all in preparation for the Olympic Games.
“This new facility is a testament to the commitment ELEY has to not only the sport of shooting but to the USA Shooting Team,” said Buddy DuVall, Executive Director for the USA Shooting Team Foundation. “They are truly a company that understands the needs of the athletes they support and are dedicated to ensuring the perfection that this sport demands.”
On hand for today’s opening will be Olympians and ELEY shooters Jamie Gray (Lebanon, Pa.), Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.), Eric Uptagrafft (USAMU/Phenix City, Ala.) and Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala.) as well as shooting legend Lones Wigger (Colorado Springs, Colo.), a three-time Olympic medalist. Also joining them will be USA Shooting’s Director of Marketing and Communications Corrie West.
Billed as the Choice of Champions, ELEY demonstrated their success with 14 of 18 Olympic medalists from London shooting their ELEY TENEX ammunition. Those athletes comprised all but one of the gold medalists in the smallbore events including Gray.
It is a great step for smallbore shooting in the U.S. to a have a top-of-the-line facility,” said Gray. “Now all shooters will have the opportunity to select ELEY ammo that is matched to their gun. Ammo testing is a huge part of the smallbore game and hopefully having a test facility of this caliber will increase our competitiveness. It also shows the relationship ELEY has with USA Shooting and I am excited to be able to test lots more frequently.”
Emmons has shot ELEY ammunition his entire career to the tune of 47 international and three Olympic medals. As meticulous a shooter as you’ll find in the business, Emmons looks to benefit greatly from the range’s close proximity.
“I’m certainly happy that we finally have a testing facility in the western hemisphere,” said Emmons. “For ELEY, this range opening only re-affirms their position at the top of the market. For what we do, the right gun and ammo combination has always been significant. However, with the new rules being implemented and the scoring changes, it places an even greater premium on making sure that combination is perfect. That gets a lot easier now with this new facility.”
A domestic test range is an added bonus to the work ELEY already does on behalf of the team says two-time Olympian Eric Uptagrafft. “To see this come to fruition is very exciting,” he said. “It shows the level of support and dedication that ELEY has as a partner of USA Shooting. I expect this will create a huge advantage for our team and our abilities to diligently do the testing that is required being an elite-level shooter.”
For pistol athletes like 2012 Olympian Sandra Uptagrafft, the significance of the Texas-based ELEY range can’t be overstated given that there previously haven’t been facilities for pistol athletes to go to test. “This is going to be hugely beneficial to our needs and going to allow us the testing necessary to increase our abilities,” she stated.
ELEY now offers three test ranges located in Birmingham UK, Stuttgart, Germany and Winters, Texas. All three ranges have two 50 meter lanes ideal for testing .22 Rifles and Free Pistols. USA and German ranges also have the ability to test Free Pistols and Rapid Fire Pistols at 25m.
Batch testing involves shooting 10 rounds of each available batch. The shooter then choses those batches they want to continue to test and shoots an additional 30 shots through each chosen barrel. ELEY’s cutting-edge patented software allows the results to be analyzed in a simple, quick and very accurate method. The aim with batch testing is to identify the best match to your barrel to ultimately achieve maximum consistency.
Test Range features:
- Purpose built with ventilation for fume extraction at both muzzle and breech
- Equipped with two lanes set at 50 meters ( integrated 25m in the USA and Germany), plus independent electronic target systems
- Assured availability of pre-selected batches of ELEY Tenex from the factory production lines
- ELEY’s patented software shows all-in size and 10 shot score for every group. Software makes analyzing results simple, fast and very accurate.
- Bench-rests with fixed vices and slave stocks to hold most firearms make and models
- Shooters lounge with hot/cold drinks available
For more information on ELEY Range testing and their products, please visitwww.eleyammunition.com.