GUNS Magazine January 1960

CROWNS NEW TRAP CREA.TS
Top trap champ Arnold Riegger is praised by competitors
as having great natural reflexes; set new run record.
Grand American Champ Clyde Baily accepts congrats of
Harold Lippold whom he nosed out in close final shootoff.
THIS IS WHERE AMATEURS SHOOT FOR
CASH, PROS SHOOT FOR MEDALS, AND
AN "UNKOWN" INVARIABLY WINS
TRAPSHOOTING'S BIGGEST JACKPOT
at the 60th Grand, Riegger, who had stayed away from the
sport and its biggest tournament for a couple of years, put
his personal stamp of approval on the claims of his friends.
During the Grand itself he broke 1422 straight 16 yard
targets to set a new world's record run. This 1422 figure
included registered and non.registered targets. (Registered
are those in regular events of a shoot sanctioned by the
Amateur Trapshooting Association. Non-registered are
those fired at in a shoot-off or in non-registered competition.)
When he left the Grand he still had intact a run of 1020
registered targets. He headed West and in two more shoots
set a new registered world's record of 1434, before missing
in a club even in Los Angeles. Previous records of 1404
overall, and 1179 registered, were both set by another
"great" of trapshooting, Joe Hiestand of Hillsboro, Ohio,
more than twenty years ago in 1938.
But who is this quiet man from Castle Rock, who is so
devastating with a shotgun? Riegger would pass unnoticed
in a crowd. He's 39, stands 5' 5%", and weighs 180
pounds. He talks slowly and low, and dresses in the con·
servative olive drab clothes that you often see nowadays
on a man of the farm. And why not? Riegger came from
farm stock, although today his whole life is devoted to trapshooting.
But when you talk to Riegger and look into his eyes, you
start to get the feel and the key as to why this man is a
great shooter.
His eyes are a steely blue. They never waver. Of his
shooting he says, "It just comes natural."
D. Lee Braun of San Mateo, Cal., a professional for "a
gun company" and long-time member of Riegger's Grand
American squad, says "He has the greatest natural reflexes
I have ever seen. Just watch him shoot handicap. He does
it with the same motion as singles."
Bud Decot, who handles shooting glasses for trapshooters
and has examined Riegger's eyes many times, explains,
"He has unusual distance perception."
For Riegger, trapshooting does provide a living, but it
is also a matter of sport and pride. For instance, one of
the events for which he tied was the champion of cham.
pions race for state champions only. For the event and
shoot offs the match cost him $42.50 and all he could win
GUNS JANUARY 1960 17