If Karl can shoot his .45 accurately at 600 yards without aiming it at the moon you can read this entire press release. Pictures of the blessed event? Video? Independent scientific adjudication. Uh no. (There’s just no pleasing you people.) Hey Michael! Michael Bane! Is this for real? C’mon Buddy. Spill.
On September 22, 2012, master gun maker Karl Lippard, President of Karl Lippard Designs in Colorado Springs, Colorado, along with George Wright, President of Ben Lomond Gun Club, Denver and Colorado Springs; Steve Davis, Monument, Colorado Chapter Director of Ben Lomond Gun Club; Randall Crumrine, President of Copper Crow Design and Consulting in Denver, and Scott McIntyre, President of McIntyre Corporation of Colorado Springs, as well as yours truly, Charles W. Henderson, writer and retired U. S. Marine, participated in a day of making firearms history at the NRA Whittington Center, Raton, New Mexico. On that day, we established several World Records with the .45 ACP semi-automatic handgun . . .
Joining us at NRA Whittington Center, to document our World Record efforts, were Michael Bane and his television crew from his Outdoor Channel television show, Shooting Gallery, the most widely watch shooting sports show on television. Also there was retired U. S. Army Green Beret Lieutenant Colonel Robert Brown, publisher and editor of Soldier of Fortune magazine, along with members of his editorial staff. Colonel Brown is also a member of the NRA Board of Directors and served double duty at the event, writing coverage for NRA magazines, American Rifleman and American Hunter. I am also writing a feature about the Lippard 1911 A2 .45 ACP handguns and upgrades for Soldier of Fortune, which follows up a feature published in the SOF October edition.
Michael Bane will feature the Lippard 600 Yard World Record .45 ACP shooting event on his new season of Shooting Gallery, which we expect to see in early February. Currently Bane has told of the Extreme Range Pistol Shooting and World Records on his Down Range Radio podcast, which can be heard by clicking here.
Karl Lippard established the .45 ACP 600 Yard World Record, shooting from a seated position at a shooting table, his hands and pistol rested atop a small sandbag rest, putting 8 of 10 shots on target. Karl used his Lippard model 1911 A2 .45 ACP Combat NCO pistol with fixed, open sights, and shot Black Hills +P .230 grain jacketed hollow point, off-the-shelf ammunition.
Karl began the day of firing with fewer than 10 shots to establish his target hold (since he was using fixed, open sights), and in that “dope shooting” he shot one round in the X ring and two in the 10-ring, both at 12 o’clock. Then he shot for World Record, shooting 8 of 10 shots on target at 600 yards with the .45 ACP handgun, shooting with fixed, open sights, and recording a score of 38 points out of a possible 100 on the NRA MR-1 600 Yard High Power Rifle Competition Target.
After shooting for Record, Karl then repeatedly and consistently fired shots on target at 600 yards. He fired approximately 50 rounds at 600 yards, shooting numerous shots within the targets 36-inch black bull’s eye, and the vast majority of all shots striking on the six foot by six foot MR-1 NRA 600 yard 10X high power rifle competition target. While 38 points out of a 100-10X possible is a poor score for high power rifle competitors using powerful scope sights and full-stocked rifles with bull barrels shooting high power rifle ammunition, consider that Karl Lippard shot off-the-shelf .230 grain jacketed hollow point +P ammunition (moving at less than half the speed of most .30 caliber rifle bullets, thus doubly affected by windage and drift) from a 1911 A2 handgun with fixed, open sights with a sight radius of only 5-inches. And Karl is just a better-than-average pistol shot with 66 year old eyes, shaky hands and creaking joints. Therefore, the credit goes to the Lippard 1911 A2 new generation .45 ACP pistol, manufactured by Karl Lippard Designs in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The new generation Lippard 1911 A2 .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun system holds a total of 22 U. S. Patents (7 patents now published and 15 patents pending), one of which is a full Handgun System Patent. The Lippard guns, which come in the Combat NCO, Close Quarters Battle Pistol and Combat Officer (conceal-carry) models, as well as all Lippard parts and components and Lippard Upgrade parts and components, are all made of Hammer Forged, S7 Vacuum-Arc, Remelt Tool Steel, composed of a special Lippard alloy that is the hardest, most durable steel made today. This steel does not warp or lose shape under changing temperatures, thus all Lippard parts are fully interchangeable, and merely “drop in” the gun. There is no grinding, honing or hand fitting. And all parts are made to exact precision space-age specifications. There is zero deviation from tolerances. Thus the Lippard A2 guns operate from extreme heat to extreme cold without stoppage, and even operate without lubrication. They literally eat sand and debris. The only time a Lippard pistol has stopped is when out-of-specification (too large) ammunition was attempted to be used in them, or a defective magazine was used and failed to properly feed.
The morning of September 22 was perfect for shooting. Wind was light and variable, predominately quartering from the right to the left. I called his windage for Lippard as he shot from the 600 yard line on the NRA Whittington Center 1,000 Yard Range.
The greatest problem that Karl encountered was the variance in the ammunition. Some rounds would shoot quite high and others quite low, grouping his shots at 11 and 12 0’clock high on the target and at 6 and 7 o’clock. The two shots that missed paper were due to this high variance in the ammunition. The Black Hills +P 230 grain JHP ammunition chronographed in our preliminary testing at as low as 948 feet per second and as fast as 1,100 feet per second, while on the box, it was advertised at 950 feet per second. Thus at 600 yards, which is 200 yards beyond the Lippard Combat NCO pistol’s published maximum effective range, that variance in ammunition speed resulted in shots going quite high and quite low on the target. However, the exercise demonstrated without question that the Lippard 1911 A2 new generation pistol technology is solid, and enables effective suppression fire at 600 yards, while also proving itself as an effective combat weapon at battlefield ranges of 500 yards, 400 yards, 300 yards, and 200 yards.
We also tested Hornady Custom +P 230 grain Jacketed Hollow Point .45 ACP ammunition, which was also advertised at 950 feet per second but chronographed at 907 feet per second to 921 feet per second. We did not find any Hornady ammunition that fired anywhere close to 950 feet per second. Because the Hornady ammunition lacked sufficient speed to allow the fixed, open sights on the handguns to establish a consistent target hold at 600 yards, we did not attempt shooting for record with it. However, we did use the Hornady +P ammunition at 200 yards and found it quite consistent and very effective.
Needless to say, the media covering the 600 yard handgun shooting were quite impressed. Then we moved to 200 yards to demonstrate the real accuracy of the Lippard new generation technology in the .45 ACP handgun.
Karl Lippard shot a consistent group of 10 shots for 10 shots on target at 200 yards, grouping at 12 o’clock on the black and at 7 o’clock on the black. He shot from the same bench rest platform that he had used at 600 yards, and used the Hornady Custom .230 grain JHP +P off-the-shelf ammunition. Karl used his same Lippard model 1911 A2 .45 ACP Combat NCO pistol that he had used at 600 yards.
Then to demonstrate for the media how the Lippard A2/A3 upgrade vastly improves other makes of pistols, I used my own Colt Series 70, Mark IV US Government Model .45 ACP pistol in shooting Standing Off-Hand from 200 yards. To take this to the extreme, I stood in a recorded 17 mile per hour quartering cross-wind, Standing with One Hand holding the pistol, the other in my pocket, using the NRA National Match Pistol Stance, and shot on a 20 inch wide by 30 inch high silhouette target. My Colt pistol had a full Lippard Upgrade, which employed the Lippard A2 Military Link, Lippard A2 Barrel and Lippard A2 Bushing, as well as the Lippard A3 Sear and Hammer system, along with the Lippard A3 Ambidextrous Safety, Lippard A2 Combat NCO Fixed, Open Sights, Lippard A2 Grip Safety, Lippard A2 Disconnector and Spring, Lippard A2 Ejector, and Lippard A2 Extended Slide Release.
For World Record, .45 ACP Pistol, 200 Yard Standing Off-Hand, National Match (one hand) Stance, Open, Fixed Sights, I shot 10 for 10 shots on target, scoring the first shot just off the black on the right side of the silhouette at lower abdomen level, scoring a 4, then the next shot, again adjusting for wind, hit just off the black on the left side. I corrected for wind again with my target hold (shooting fixed, open sights) and began putting shots in a group in the black, lower abdomen, favoring slightly left of center in the bull’s eye. I adjusted one shot up, trying to center, but that shot hit in the silhouette head. Still a shot in the black, but not center. Thus I adjusted back to my earlier target hold and finished my 10 shots. At the end of the string of 10 shots for record, I had shot 7 shots in a 10 inch group in the abdomen, one shot in the head (close to the ear), one shot just off the black on the left, but still could be considered part of the 10 inch group (giving a total of 8 shots in a 10 inch group at 200 yards) and one shot just off the black on the right. Thus, 8 of 10 shots in the black and all 10 for 10 on target at 200 yards!
Again, this was one hand, standing off-hand, shooting with a 17 mph quartering crosswind.
What is very important to appreciate is that I am not a Distinguished Pistol Shot, just a better than average pistol shot. Karl is likewise just a better than average pistol shot.
I would be extremely interested in seeing a Distinguished Pistol Shot, High Expert, shoot the Lippard 1911 A2 .45 ACP pistol and the Lippard A2/A3 Upgraded pistol of other brands at all distances, from 25 yards out to 500 yards.
Karl Lippard has designed Lippard A3 Adjustable Competition Pistol Sights. They were not yet finished at the fabricating plant in time for our NRA Whittington Center shoot, thus we had to shoot for record with fixed, open sights. However, a High Expert with Adjustable Sights—capable of adjusting out to 600 Yards—shooting the Lippard 1911 A2 pistol should be able to shoot a most impressive score at 600 yards and closer ranges.
With this gun and equipment, I can foresee a most entertaining new shooting sport—Extreme Range Pistol. Once you have taken up the challenge of Extreme Range Pistol, you will understand the fun that we experience with this shooting.
What we need now is more consistent .45 ACP ammunition to go with the gun.
Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas
Charles W. “Bill” Henderson