Right now Francis Colon took 1st place on the 2024 Armageddon Gear Cup, successful the $20,000 prize!
The AG Cup is a novel, 3-day precision rifle match that includes $50,000+ of money payouts, which is probably the most for any PRS match of the 12 months. Tom Fuller, proprietor of Armageddon Gear, has designed the AG Cup to run very totally different than different Precision Rifle Collection (PRS) matches all year long. The AG Cup solely consists of round 25 shooters who need to qualify for the occasion through AG Cup qualifying PRS matches all year long. They characterize the perfect of the perfect, so the course of fireplace for this match is designed completely with that top-tier skilled competitor in thoughts. Additionally, the entire massive, national-level, pro-series PRS matches are 2-day matches, however the AG Cup is a 3-day match. The match begins with round 25 shooters who compete over the primary 2 days of competitors. After Day 1 and a pair of, all of the shooters are ranked, and solely 16 shooters advance to Day 3.
The massive kicker is that each one scores reset to zero for Day 3. The scores from Day 1 and a pair of don’t carry over, so the $20,000 prize may very well be anybody’s. It positively provides a little bit of drama to the match!
The placement of the match modifications, however in the previous two years, the AG Cup was held on the Clinton Home Plantation gun vary in Clinton, South Carolina.
Shooter’s Mindset was on location and live-streamed the occasion on Fb (view movies). Commentators mentioned phases on Day 1 and a pair of had been all shot in a single location, however on Day 3, they moved to 3-4 distinct areas. These had been far sufficient that you just needed to drive to them, and the winds had been somewhat totally different at every location – which added much more drama to Day 3.
After all of the photographs had been fired, Francis Colon had the very best rating on Day 3 by 3 factors. Ben Gossett took 2nd place, which was a formidable follow-up end after he received the 2024 PRS Finale and was topped the 2024 PRS Season Champ just some weeks earlier. Ben was additionally a earlier AG Cup winner again in 2022. Behind these two had been Matt Curaso, Clay Blackketter, and Ken Sanoski, who rounded out the highest 5.
Here’s a chart exhibiting the outcomes of Day 3, which is the ultimate rating for the match:
The desk under offers a breakdown of Day 3, but additionally gives the Day 1 & 2 scores:
You may see that Clay Blackketter was the winner of Day 1 & 2. Clay was the chief by a couple of factors after Day 1 & 2 final 12 months on the AG Cup as properly. Francis Colon and Ben Gossett had been additionally on the prime of the leaderboard on the finish of Day 1 & 2 as properly. All 3 of these guys shot extraordinarily constantly over all 3 days! In actual fact, even in the event you counted impacts over all 3 days – Francis Colon would have nonetheless come out on prime by 1 level over Clay Blackketter.
Nice taking pictures, fellas! Congrats!
The Consistency Of The Execs At The Very High
It’s a must to be one of many perfect shooters on the earth to qualify for the AG Cup. And even then, round 10 shooters are minimize after Day 2 – and solely 15 or 16 shooters advance to Day 3. 12 of these shooters who certified for Day 3 had been the identical in 2023 and 2024!
Meaning 75% of the names taking pictures Day 3 had been the identical as final 12 months! That simply reveals how constant these 12 shooters are. They’ll carry out on-demand when the stakes are the very best!
I believed it’d be attention-grabbing to complete up the variety of impacts every shooter acquired over all 6 days of competitors from the previous two AG Cups. Listed here are the outcomes:
I’ve at all times heard that there are many guys who may win a one-day match, however it takes one other stage of shooter to win a two-day match. And I’ve heard a few professional shooters say that if matches had been determined by the cumulative rating over 3 days, you’d actually know who the perfect shooter was. The totals above are based mostly on 6 days on the highest payout match on the earth, so it’s attention-grabbing to see the way it all provides up.
Clay Blackketter has a cumulative 12-point lead over the remainder of the sphere! Wow! Clay had stellar performances on the AG Cup each years, taking a reasonably commanding lead in Days 1 & 2 in 2023 and 2024 – however sadly, in each years, he shot very properly on Day 3 however didn’t declare the highest spot. Clay completed 2nd general in 2023 and 4th in 2024.
You may see Francis Colon is ranked 2nd general over all 6 days of AG Cup taking pictures prior to now two years. Clearly, Francis can carry out very properly below strain. Francis acquired seventh in 2023 earlier than taking 1st in 2024.
Proper on the heels of Francis is Andy Slade, who received the 2023 AG Cup. Andy took seventh place in 2024 – so he and Francis swapped ends in 2023/2024.
Ben Gossett is 4th over the previous two years – and he received the 12 months earlier than that, so if we’d have added up the earlier 3 years, he would have been ranked even larger. Particularly since Ben cleaned Day 3 of the 2022 AG Cup (watch the motion on this TV episode).
The entire names on that listing are the whos-who of precision rifle taking pictures. It truly is nuts to me that 12 of the 16 shooters who made it to Day 3 had been the identical guys because the earlier 12 months. It simply goes to point out that this isn’t about luck! These dozen opponents are completely the perfect of the perfect in relation to precision rifle taking pictures.
About Francis Colon
Francis is a veteran professional PRS shooter from Michigan who actually wants no introduction. He’s the co-host of the Miles to Matches podcast alongside 2021 AG Cup Champion Chad Heckler. Chad additionally was one of many Day 3 qualifiers on the 2024 AG Cup. When you haven’t listened to that podcast, you must! These two excellent shooters principally unpack all the things they learn about precision rifles and taking pictures. It’s full of actually 1000’s of suggestions – and so they put all of it on the market without cost to attempt to assist profit the taking pictures neighborhood. That tells you a large number about who these guys are.
Francis labored at Utilized Ballistics for the previous few years as their Enterprise Growth Supervisor, which he mentioned was principally advertising and marketing and lab tasks. However in August 2024, he left AB to affix MDT Sporting Items full-time as a Particular Undertaking Supervisor. Francis had been a sponsored shooter on Staff MDT earlier than that, however now he’s a full-time worker, too. I guess we will stay up for much more innovation from MDT with Francis’s enter on product growth.
Francis was additionally a aggressive golfer earlier than he turned that aggressive spirit in the direction of precision marksmanship. Francis first grew to become a member of the PRS in 2019. In line with the PRS web site, Francis shot 8 matches in his rookie season, and he received 4 of these, completed 2nd in 3, and acquired fifth in a single. I’m undecided I’ve ever seen as robust of a begin as that! He received two of his first 3 professional matches! Clearly, Francis had the mindset and psychological recreation of an elite competitor earlier than the buzzer went off on his first stage at a match.
I’ve heard that Francis shoots 15,000+ rounds per 12 months out of a precision bolt-action rifle! He’s completely one of many quickest shooters within the sport – if not THE quickest PRS shooter. He held the report for the quickest clear on the usual PRS Abilities stage, which was 25.9 seconds! That was for the 8-shot model earlier than it was modified earlier this 12 months. You may watch Francis’s record-breaking barricade run within the video under – it is going to solely take 25 seconds!
Here’s a story I heard that I really feel tells you a large number about Francis’ character:
Francis has certified for the PRS finale yearly since his inaugural 12 months in 2019. In 2021, he had racked up a ton of factors by way of 11 pro-series, two-day, common season matches and was once more competing on the PRS Finale. As Francis closed his bolt to take a shot on a stage, his rifle went off. Francis froze after which instantly referred to as himself for a negligent discharge (ND). I heard that the ROs on the stage and all of his squadmates informed Francis he nearly hit the goal he was aiming at, and the bullet completely hit the berm behind the goal. They wouldn’t have even recognized something occurred if Francis hadn’t referred to as it on himself – so that they didn’t assume it needs to be thought of an ND. However Francis mentioned the reality was he didn’t intend for the rifle to go off when it did – so it was an ND, and in response to the PRS guidelines, he needs to be disqualified from the match for that. So Francis went and put his rifle in his automotive after which requested the match director if he wanted an additional RO or wanted him to assist with the match in any means.
Perceive that Francis knew he was throwing away the 2021 season when he referred to as that ND on himself. How many individuals are you aware that will have the integrity to name that on themselves?! Francis mentioned he discovered a robust lesson by way of that. He at all times knew he ran a lightweight set off, however when he acquired residence, he truly measured the load of his set off, and it was even decrease than he thought it was set at. Right now, he runs a 15-ounce set off pull weight in order that doesn’t occur once more.
When you’ve listened to the Miles to Matches podcast, you’ve heard Francis’s catchphrase: “Personal It Each Day.” That’s the sort of possession he’s speaking about right here – which is past what lots of people are able to – however offers you a glimpse into who Francis is.
Congratulations once more, Francis! I do know turning into the 2024 AG Cup Champion is the end result of loads of work that you just’ve been placing in over time.
Francis Colon’s Rifle Setup
Listed here are all the main points about Francis Colon’s competitors rifle, which I pulled from my “What The Execs Use” survey, which Francis crammed out simply earlier than the 2024 PRS Finale final month:
Francis handloads his match ammo, and right here is all of his load knowledge and specs:
Necessary: You need to at all times reference complete reloading manuals, begin with the minimal advisable hundreds, and work your means up. Simply because this load is protected in Ben’s rifle doesn’t imply it is going to be in yours. There are a ton of things that modify from them to you, together with actual chamber/barrel dimensions, brass specs, reloading scales, powder tons, and so on., so it’s crucial to observe security precautions. Failure to observe protected loading practices might lead to gun injury or extreme private harm (together with demise) to the person or bystanders. The creator has not independently verified the accuracy of the info and can’t be answerable for errors in printed load knowledge. PrecisionRifleBlog.com and Francis Colon assume no duty for using this knowledge. The knowledge is for use on the sole discretion of the person, and the person assumes all dangers.
Beneath are a few of his different taking pictures equipment that Francis makes use of at matches:
When you’d wish to study extra about Francis, I’d go straight to the Miles to Matches podcast. You actually can hearken to Francis and Chad discuss rifles and competitions for actually lots of of hours. I’ve personally listened to nearly all of them, so clearly, I believe it’s well worth the time.
Lastly, under are a couple of extra useful movies from Francis about his rifle setup, psychological mindset, and different matters that he filmed with MDT:
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