One of skeet shooting's top stars lets the NRA peek in his bag

Fairfax, Virginia - Four years ago US Army sergeant Vincent Hancock won Olympic gold in Beijing at the age of 19. This past summer he took home another gold and became the first skeet shooter to win consecutive Olympic titles. Now 23, Hancock is still substantially younger than the average medal-round qualifier and looks to have a bright future ahead of him.

Barbara Baird of Women's Outdoor News recently caught up with Vincent to ask a very important question for this month's issue of Shooting Sports USA: What's in your range bag?

Vincent Hancock is the first skeet shooter to win consecutive gold medals in the Olympics, winning in Beijing in 2008 and London this year. Hancock, also a sergeant in the United States Army and a member of the Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, GA, packs a very small range bag. He keeps spare parts for his Beretta DT10 Trident shotgun in his gun case. He says he has been shooting this Beretta for 10 years and has never had any problems with it. He is so trusting of this gun that he does not even carry a back-up gun to competitions.

More on what's inside Vincent Hancock's range bag...

One week remains in the challenge period of the National Open Indoor Rifle Championships. Although results are not yet final, some shooters might receive something a little extra depending on their preliminary scores.

USA Shooting is getting involved with the Indoor Championship by partnering with the NRA to help foster American shooting talent. Always on the lookout for the best shooters in the country, USA Shooting is offering free entry to their National Championships to the Indoor Rifle Championships' top shooters - as long as they meet a certain condition.

The top fifteen shooters in each of the international disciplines of both the Open and Junior championships will have their admission fees waived ... as long as they haven't received such an offer before. Considering this is the first year they made such an offer, none of the shooters should had a problem and all 60 available invitations were sent out.

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