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The following article appeared in the January/February 2009 issue of USA Shooting News, and it is displayed here with the permission of USA Shooting.

Q&A with Stan and Lisa Pace of Gold Medal Shooting, LLC

In the last issue, it was announced that USA Shooting reached an agreement with Gold Medal Shooting, LLC of Hampton, Va. to provide officially licensed, high quality competition targets for USAS clubs and members. The following Q&A with Stan and Lisa Pace of Gold Medal Shooting should help answer some questions you may have regarding Gold Medal Shooting targets. USA Shooting recommends members and clubs consider purchasing the high quality targets offered by Gold Medal Shooting.

Q: How did Gold Medal Shooting, LLC (GMS) get started?

A: It all started with us trying to develop a better 10 meter target for training rapid fire pistol with an air pistol. At the time, no one in the USA offered such a target. During that process, we put a large amount of effort into improving the performance of the target. Eventually, we had discussions with USA Shooting which led to us pursuing a solution for all of their official targets. We then formalized the relationship with USAS using a License Agreement.

Q: Can you describe Gold Medal Shooting's relationship with USA Shooting?

A: The relationship has been terrific. Everyone we've worked closely with there, including Bob Mitchell and Wanda Jewell, have been great. We couldn't ask for a better relationship.

Q: What is the purpose of the License Agreement?

A: The License Agreement does a number of things. But, there are two very important items in it. First, we are allowed to sell official targets for USA Shooting. And secondly, we are required to pay a royalty fee to USAS for every target we sell to customers in the USA. To our knowledge, no other company has ever paid royalties to USAS for their targets.

Q: How did you select Krüger Targets as your source for targets?

A: We put nearly two years of effort into finding the best solution for these targets. As a part of that process, we evaluated Krüger's targets. They are ISSF-approved and are well established in the international shooting community. We considered other options, but the overall relationship offered by Krüger, along with their superior targets, was the deciding factor.

Q: How do the targets from Krüger compare to other targets?

A: We had several criteria that had to be met in order to gain approval from USAS. But, the two most critical criteria are the performance of the paper and the quality of the printed image. The paper that Krüger uses is approved by the ISSF, and you can easily test their targets and see how cleanly they cut. In terms of print quality, we think their targets have the sharpest images we could find. They are far better than any current USA-made target.

Q: When do you expect to have all of the USAS targets available?

A: We are working on filling out our inventory of USAS targets now, and we will be adding them in the coming months. The art for every target has to be created and verified for accuracy. Then pre-production proofs are sent for approval. Once they are approved, they go into production and are shipped to us. We expect that, at some point in 2009, all of the USAS targets will be in stock.

Q: What are you future plans for GMS?

A: Our company is focused now on providing top quality targets for USAS as their official supplier, but there are other shooting-related opportunities for us to pursue. We will move in those directions, too.

Q: Are GMS targets required at USAS sanctioned competitions?

A: No, targets from other manufacturers may be used that meet the specifications in USA Shooting rules. However, USA Shooting feels our clubs and members will be very satisfied with these high quality targets that make both an excellent visual appearance and score very easily and accurately as well.

Additional information and updates regarding the availability of targets can be found at: www.goldmedalshooting.com.