After a sweltering summer, it’s finally starting to look like fall here in Tennessee. The trees that gave us welcome shade during hundred-degree days are paying us back with leaves by the barrel full, the fig tree is down to its last pieces of fruit and the grass is getting ready to go dormant.

Cooler weather finally arrived this week, but the real signs of fall are seen in the changing leaves and the last of the summer fruits and vegetables.

Ordinarily, I’d be reluctant to see the changes. This year, I’m eager cooler weather. Brisk (not cold) temperatures make the air taste better, the skies seem more vibrant, and the contrasts as the leaves slow chlorophyll production while evergreens stay green make for a great, albeit short, color palette.

Next week, I’ll be attending the NRA’s World Shooting Championships at Camp Atterbury outside Edinburg, Indiana. Not as a competitor, but as a spectator watching to see if a new generation of shooters is emerging.

The NRA’s World Shooting Championship is designed to identify the best all-around shooter in the competition world.

There will be five amateur shooters there via scholarships. Scholarships earned because of their prowess in youth competitions. Don’t know if you’ve been to youth competitions lately, but the young shooters today are far better than most of us can imagine. And I’ve heard there’s a possibility that one of the amateurs might be good enough to take the top prize- despite their amateur status.

Everyone’s competing for their share of $250,000 in cash and prizes. First through third places win cash, along with High Lady and High Amateur Junior. And there are prize tables for both the amateur and pro competitors.

In the last WSC, competitors included Indiana’s then First Lady (and certified NRA instructor) Janet Holcomb.

This competition is different from most. It’s contested across 12-stages, using supplied guns and ammunition. For a professional shooter with gun, ammo and accessory sponsors, that’s a somewhat dicey proposition. Sure, winning is always good. But not every sponsor is so magnanimous to be pleased to see you’ve done a title using someone else’s equipment.

The event’s past champions are familiar names: Daniel Horner, Bruce Piatt, Doug Koenig, Greg Jordan, Tim Yackley, and Brian Shanholtz. As good as they all are, no one has ever repeated as match champion. And there’s always the outside chance an “unknown” will get hot and walk away with the title.

That’s what makes this competition interesting. Everyone will step to the line using unfamiliar guns, from precision air pistols to shotguns, practical defensive pistols and single action six-guns, as well as rimfire rifles and long-range rifles. Having participated (what I did couldn’t be considered “competing”) in the first WSC, I remember just how difficult it was to compete with unfamiliar guns.

There are also side matches and Saturday will feature a team competition. The top three finishers in the pro and amateur categories will choose two other shooters from their group to compete in a six-way team shoot. They’ll be using a Walther PDP pistol, Mossberg JM940 Pro shotgun and a FosTecH Stealth Raptor Mach 2 rifle in a timed competition. Like the Colt Speed Challenge of the Bianchi Cup, it should be a high-speed match that will be fun to watch.

If you’re in the area, you should consider swinging by and checking it out.

We’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd