Early in his shooting career at the 2000 NRA National High Power Championships, James Fox won the Erdman Trophy and Crescent Cup. He followed that up by winning the Andrus, Aitken and Sierra Trophy matches at the 2003 NRA National Long-Range Championship, and became the youngest person and first civilian to win the NRA High Power Service Rifle title in 2004. Fox recently returned to High Power and Palma rifle competition after a 12-year break, and to date he has 31 state and regional championship wins under his belt. Learn what he keeps in his range bag.
What are your first memories of handling a firearm?
My father taught me how to shoot a 1911 at age six to learn how to safely handle a firearm. I recall that it was not a pleasant experience, given that .45s kick quite a lot for a kid. However, that didn’t keep me from continuing to shoot as the years went on.
Tell us how you began in competition shooting.
My parents thought it would be a good idea to get me started in a sport that would allow me to compete over my entire lifetime, unlike football, baseball, etc., where your body starts to limit you. I was around eight years old when I started shooting competitively in NRA Four-Position Smallbore Rifle in a local winter league. The Smallbore coach was a High Power Rifle shooter. He would convince junior shooters to join the High Power program.
Back then, CMP would loan out M1 Garands and M14s through the state shooting association for new shooters to borrow. Because of the M1 and M14’s caliber, you had to be of a specific size before you could reasonably shoot that discipline, so once I was 10, I started shooting High Power with an M1 Garand. That rifle was longer than I was tall for many years and would punish my shoulder while shooting. It was a regular occurrence in the 300-yard rapidfire stage, where you shoot 10 shots in 70 seconds with a reload after the first two rounds, that we had to use Firm Grip to glue me to the shooting mat to prevent me from getting pushed around.
When I was 13, I took my first trip to the NRA and CMP National Matches held at Camp Perry in Ohio with an M1 Garand. Then at 14, I started shooting the AR-15. By age 15, I became the youngest person to win the Erdman Trophy.
Please share with us some of your major shooting accomplishments.
The greatest accomplishment in my life was meeting and convincing my wife that I was the best option for taking this life journey together. But shooting related, there have been a few. My first big accomplishments were winning both the Erdman Trophy and Crescent Cup (both standing position awards) in the 2000 NRA National Championships; next would be winning the Edward D. Andrus, Herb “Doc” Aitken and Sierra trophies (all three are Palma Rifle specific trophies) all in the same year at the 2003 NRA National Long-Range Championships. After that, I became the youngest person and first civilian to win the NRA High Power Service Rifle championships in 2004. I placed second the following year.
I also became the first civilian to win the CMP National Service Rifle Cup and first civilian to win the CMP Board Week Championships with the Mountain Man Trophy in 2019. Additionally, I have won at different times all currently existing CMP Cup matches (National, Eastern, Western and New England). In 2021, I became the first civilian to shoot a perfect score (800 points) with a service rifle in a full-distance course match (out to 600 yards) and I became the unofficial record holder of the highest score shot with a service rifle in a full-distance match (800-35X). To date, I have 31 state and regional championship victories.
What firearms and other gear do you use for competition?
My service rifle is an AR-15 with whatever lower I have around at the time, with a UBR Gen1 stock and a good trigger. I focus on having the best upper possible, as that contributes the most to accuracy and precision. Presently, I am shooting a White Oak Armament finished and chambered 1:7-inch twist Krieger Barrel. In 2024, I moved to the new PWD Engineered Solutions handguard with my service rifle, and it has been a game changer in helping reduce any slipping of my support hand while shooting sitting. Additionally, it has improved my comfort in both standing and prone positions. The PWD handguard is mounted to whatever blem upper receiver that was a good deal, with a service rifle sling from Eric Hollis Slings.
My Palma rifles are both Barnard actions mounted inside an Eliseo Chassis, one in .308 Win. and the other in .223 Rem. Both have Kreiger barrels, PWD Engineered Solutions rear sight bases, either a Mudcat or LRA rear sight and soon the PWD Engineered Solutions front sight. All my rifles are fed exclusively Berger Bullets, on top of Vihtavuori Powder inside Lapua Cases. A few years ago, I also started shooting Berger loaded ammunition for my service rifle. For many years, I thought factory ammo couldn’t be accurate enough to compete with, but I was pleasantly proven wrong. Some of my best scores have come from shooting Berger’s .223 Rem. 77-grain OTM Tactical Rifle Ammunition at 200 and 300 yards. I still handload for 600, 800, 900 and 1,000 yards.
Tell us about your range bag and what you carry in it besides your firearms.
In High Power competition, we have a lot of gear to carry around; some people say too much gear (although I know people that carry pillows with their faces on them to the range), so many people use a shooting cart. Mine is a Creedmoor Sports shooting stool in bright orange with a Hic-Tec.com shooting cart conversion. I like this setup due to the lightweight and easy breakdown of the cart, which is helpful for someone living in the Pacific Northwest and having to travel to the East Coast for most of the big matches. One day, I would like to try the Peterson Machine range cart as they seem to be the most stable option.
In my shooting stool/cart for High Power service rifle there are five magazines, a BobSled, a pair of prescription shooting glasses, pens, extra ear plugs, a pair of ear muffs, a Creedmoor Sports blinder shooting hat, one randomly used data book and another one that is correct for my current rifle, and four different shooting gloves because I like to tinker with things and try new combinations. Additionally, I have a countdown timer, sweat rag, anemometer and a compact tool set for the rifle. Completing the loadout is enough ammo to shoot the match twice that day. Most of the time this is unnecessary, but sometimes you need extra rounds in case of a range alibi, or you might need to loan someone some extra ammo. For Palma, I remove the magazines and add a match rifle sling from Eric Hollis Slings. Additionally, I always make sure I have wet weather gear, including a waterproof clipboard, shooting cart cover, rain pants and a raincoat.
What do you do in your free time?
My other hobbies include gravel cycling because who doesn’t want to go 35 m.p.h. down a dusty, loose gravel road on 45 mm tires? Cycling (in addition to clearing my head) has the added benefit of helping my shooting. Good cardiovascular health and flexibility help more than most want to admit in the High Power community. I also try to find time for camping, going to concerts, petting random cats, coming up with random baseless theories for fun and traveling as much as my schedule permits. Unfortunately, the peak shooting season is also the peak season for my other hobbies, so my summers become quite busy. I have found that having a variety of hobbies is a must so as not to burn out. I ended up taking 12 years off from shooting due to burnout at the end of my junior career—to avoid that happening again, I like to spice things up.
What would you tell someone interested in finding out more about your sport?
Check your local state shooting association and local clubs and visit the Shooting Sports USA Coming Events section to find High Power programs listed in your area. One reason I love High Power is that everyone is willing to help others. Even at the top level, people are eager to help their main competitors improve.
Any tips for new shooters?
Once you have mastered the fundamentals of shooting, sight alignment, trigger control and follow-through, many new shooters start to work on improving their position for greater stability and learning how to deal with atmospheric conditions. When it comes to positional improvements, remember that you should not be holding the rifle up in a standing, sitting or prone position with your muscles. Instead, your bones should support the rifle entirely, and you should be completely relaxed in all three positions. When it comes to wind, particularly when it’s getting faster, you need to take your shots quickly so there is less time between your assessment of the conditions and when you fire your shot. That should reduce the possibility of the wind changing significantly enough in that time.
Competitive shooting should be fun. I lost sight of that and became too focused on my performance. This caused me to stop enjoying my time on the range and forget why I got back into this sport after a 12-year hiatus. At the start of the 2024 season, I made a conscious effort to either start having fun again or to put the rifle down to pursue other things. I am happy to report that I am having fun again and my scores have improved.
Follow James Fox on Instagram: @rifleman_fox
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