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The Bianchi Cup is the NRA National Action Pistol Championship, a major Action Pistol tournament held over three days in late May, in Columbia, Missouri at the Green Valley Rifle & Pistol Club. It has the largest purse of any tournament on the action pistol calendar and is the premier action pistol championship tournament in the world. The Bianchi Cup is the only major shooting tournament that has retained its original course of fire since its inception. It is one of the most prestigious events in shooting, with the best shooters in the world in competition each May in Missouri. Due to the high accuracy required in each stage, the tournament is widely considered one of the most difficult championships in all of the shooting sports. == NRA Bianchi Cup == The Bianchi Cup is traditionally held the week before Memorial Day weekend every year since its inception in 1979. It is the first tournament that turns the sport of competition shooting as a whole from amateur to professional status by offering the winner a large cash prize in addition to trophies. Before NRA took control in 1984 the overall winner took home the entire cash purse of $30,000 in addition to the Bianchi Cup itself. It has its origins in the law enforcement shooting community. Recently, with the creation of the Production Division, it has become one of the fastest growing disciplines in the action shooting community. The Bianchi Cup is one of the three championships of action shooting's triple crown, along with the IPSC U.S. Nationals, and the Steel Challenge.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rob Leatham wins triple crown in 1985 )〕 Since its inception in 1979, 1985 championship year being the exception, the Bianchi Cup has retained its original courses of fire, consisting of four matches known as the "Events": Practical, Barricade, Moving Target and Falling Plates. Speed, accuracy, and precision, all three are equaling important factors and are considered fundamentals that form the core of the match, but most importantly, strong mental discipline on match days is the ultimate key to winning the Championship. Such is the case in the open division, where the top finishers are known to shoot perfect scores of 1920 separated by x-counts and one bad shot out of 192 can easily put a potential winner down 10–15 places in the rankings. Each event is timed and is worth 480 points, equaling a total of 1920 possible points plus 192 tie-breaking x's. In 1985 Practical Event was temporarily replaced by the 60-shot, 600 points International Rapid Fire Event, almost identical to that of the ISSF 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol Match. The main differences for the Bianchi Cup/NRA Action Pistol version was that it must be fired from a standing, hands-over-shoulder starting position, gun holstered, on five Bianchi D-1 "Tombstone" cardboard targets placed 25 yards downrange, using center fire handguns, with the option of using the ground as support if one can make the time limit without incurring any late shot penalties. The total possible score for that year was 2040 points plus 204 x's. This sudden deviation from the original format proved unpopular so the organizers dropped it and re-instated the Practical Event the following year since. Action pistol competitors are permitted to use a two-handed grip (except for the 8 second 10-yard weak-hand series in the Practical Event), and in most cases competitors must start from standing position with their guns holstered and hands above the shoulders. One exception being the Barricade Event, where competitors start with gun in holster and both hands on the barricade. During the course of the match, participants fire at turning or moving cardboard silhouette targets – known as the D-1 (or AP-1 as of 2007) "Tombstones", and steel plates that must be knocked down to count as hits. The NRA National Action Shooting Tournament is a money-winning event. For his victory in 2008, Doug Koenig took home the 2008 Bianchi Cup trophy, plus total cash awards of over $8,000. Robert Vadasz Metallic Sight win netted him over $5000. For 2009, total prize money awarded increased over 30% from the previous year. NRA continues to improve the Cup in the original spirit of John Bianchi's vision. The already generous awards schedule has added additional prizes over the years for Newcomers, Juniors, & new for 2010 the Grand Senior category. Sponsorship from major corporations such as MidwayUSA, Safariland, Smith & Wesson, Colt, & Sig Sauer have helped make this possible. From 2009 30th Anniversary onwards, the NRA Bianchi Cup offers an Open Division, Metallic Division and the new Production Division to bring more shooters to the sport. Recent years have also introduced a Celebrity Pro-Am as a Saturday Event. This fan favorite spectacle has included participants from the music, film, and television branches of the entertainment industry including Mark Wills, Michael Peterson, Marshall Teague, & Michael Talbott. Cowboy Mounted Shooting sensation Kenda Lenseigne made her first appearance at the Celebrity Pro-AM in 2010 and won. This event draws shooters from all over the world. In 2008, international competitors hailed from Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and the United States. The Bianchi Cup is unique in that a newcomer's orientation is always held at the Competitor's meeting. Former & current Champions as well as the Match Staff are usually in attendance to help new shooters in their first attempt at the National Action Pistol Championship. Class awards are awarded to various categories to include High Law Enforcement, High Woman, High Junior, High International, High Newcomer, High Senior, High Service, High Semi-Auto, High Revolver, and Aggregate. NRA has re-instituted a few measures to lower entry fee cost. One was to "bring a buddy". If a competitor were to bring a friend who had never competed at the NRA Bianchi Cup, both competitors would have a reduced entry fee. NRA also offers reduced fees for Juniors, Production Firearms, Active Duty Military and those that register early. 〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NRA Bianchi Cup homepage )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Bianchi Cup」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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