The GMC's NRA-Benefit Sweepstakes

Last year's Searcy .470 is back up for grabs.

At the Vintage Cup banquet last September, NRA President Kayne Robinson drew sweepstakes ticket No. 0563 for the Searcy double rifle that had been donated to raise funds for the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. Gold Medal Concours founders Roger Sanger and Silvio Calabi immediately phoned the winning ticket holder, Dr. Richard A. Gilman, of Chula Vista, California, to tell him of his good fortune. He was, of course, delighted. When the rifle, in its fitted Dan Walter case, arrived, he bought two boxes of cartridges for it.

Sadly, Dr. Gilman passed away without ever shooting the rifle. We learned this from his wife, Dr. Janet S. Gilman, who very generously has donated the rifle back to the GMC and asked that it be given away a second time on behalf of the NRA-ILA and in memory of her husband.

And so the Concours has created another sweepstakes to benefit the ILA, the NRA's lobbying arm that fights for our Second Amendment rights on Capitol Hill and in state houses across America. And the prize is the Gilman rifle-Searcy boxlock ejector double rifle No. BL85, in .470 Nitro Express, housed in a beautiful alloy travel case by Dan Walter. The rifle is an upgraded, engraved version of Searcy's PH model, so the retail value of the package is about $12,000. Every shooter should be grateful to Butch Searcy and to Dan Walter (and Dakota Arms, new owner of Dan Walter Cases) for their generous donations to the cause, and now especially to Mrs. Gilman as well.

The sweepstakes will kick off at GMC IX, in Haines-ville, Illinois, on May 14; continue through the summer; and finish up at Concours X, on September 24. To improve the odds, tickets for the Gil-man rifle have been limited to just 749 (less than half of last year's 1,500 maximum). By law, no purchase is necessary to win, but the suggested donation is $25 per ticket, and a donation of $100 gets five tickets. Staff of the Concours are ineligible, but the sweepstakes is open to NRA employees. The winning ticket again will be drawn at the Vintage Cup banquet, and the holder of the ticket need not be present to win.

To date, the rifle has been fired only by the maker, Butch Searcy, for regulation, and by NRA President Robinson, who last fall confessed that he had never shot a .470 and would like to give it a go. (Thanks to Concours VIII entrant and NRA member Lena Gershenov, who handed over a fistful of .470 cartridges, and to the Vintagers, who opened their Stopping Rifle course to Robinson for his initiation into elephant guns.)

Tickets may be ordered by contacting Jeff Dodge of the Gold Medal Concours: 207-594-9544, jdodge@downeast.com.

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