Wilkinson Crowned World Champion

Wilkinson Crowned World Champion in the FCSA Hunter Class Score with his Steyr HS.50

TRUSSVILLE, Ala. (July 13, 2012) — Using his out-of-the-box Steyr HS.50 long-range precision rifle, Walt Wilkinson, 56, of Edgewood, NM, bested a field of 31 competitors—most using highly customized rifles—to take the Hunter Class Score World Championship title at the Fifty Caliber Shooters’ Association World Championships at the NRA Whittington Center near Raton, NM, held July 1st and 2nd. This marks the second year in a row that a competitor with an off-the-shelf Steyr HS.50 has won the Hunter Class, as Eduardo Abril de Fontcuberta walked away with the championship title last year.
Wilkinson, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces sergeant major and current Gunsite Academy instructor, ran up a two-day aggregate score of 274-6X out of a possible 300, beating his next closest competitor, Lee Rasmussen, by two Xs. With his Nightforce NXS 5.5X-22X 56mm scope and the HS.50’s stock folding bipod in place, Wilkinson’s rifle weighed in at just about 30 lbs. in a class with a 50-lb. limit. The Hunter Class is a
1,000-yd. course of fire consisting of six, five-shot strings, with three strings shot on the first day, and three strings shot on the second day. Due to the wildly varying winds on this range, competitors who shot in the morning of the first day were required to shoot in the afternoon of the second day, and vice versa, to equal the playing field.

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