Like vintage wine that gets better with age, so too has Doug Koenig's shooting ability.

Koenig, a professional competitive shooter formerly of Alburtis and now residing in Hamburg, recently won his 15th Bianchi Cup shooting title at the Green Valley Rifle & Pistol Club range in Columbia, Missouri.

Koenig shot an overall score of 1920-183x to take his fourth consecutive Bianchi Cup title and 15th overall Bianchi win. No other professional shooter has won more Bianchi Cups than Koenig. He adds this latest win to his 19th Open Division Masters International Shooting Championships and his third European Bianchi Cup win held in 2011 in Germany.

The Bianchi Cup is made of four separate events; Practical, Barricade, Falling Plates and Moving Target. The latter is where many shooters have trouble keeping their hits in the bulls-eye as the target moves at a pretty quick clip.

According to AmmoLand.com who was reporting on the shoot, there were three shooters in the final day with a chance of reaching that level of perfection; Koenig, Carl Bernosky and Brice Piatt, a New Jersey police officer. All three had one event left – the dreaded Moving Target.

The Moving Target is a four-stage event shot at 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards. Competitors have six seconds to fire six shots at the moving target that runs along a 60 foot run – two runs per stage.

Piatt was first up and who had a perfect points total when the day began, but then he dropped two points for a final score of 1918-176x. Shooting a 1019 is a score that generally increases you chance to take it all.

Bernosky was next and as a 10-time NRA National Shooting Champ, recorded a 480-43x on the Moving Target.

Doug was up and now had to shoot 48 for 48 but he also had to at least score 39x's to win the crown. Finishing with 480-42x, he did it and the required number of x's to win his 15th MidwayUSA/NRA Bianchi Cup title.

I had the privilege to watch Koenig practice at his fenced off area at Topton F&G Association where I'm also a member. He takes his practicing seriously and is all concentration, just like he would when he's shooting at Bianchi. And in a column I did on him a few years back, Doug explained to me that he trains like a professional athlete in that he works out daily, rides bike throughout Berks County's beautiful agricultural areas and watches his diet.

For this win, Doug used a Smith & Wessson Performance Center 1911DK, .38 Special semi-auto pistol with a Kart precision barrel in place of the stock S&W barrel. That, plus a few other minor modifications were made to include a Leupold LG35 red dot scope.

Koenig is a longtime hunter who also has his own TV show on the Sportsmen's Channel (Doug Koenig's Championship Season). In addition to this, he can be seen in a variety of "shooting tips" series on the National Shooting Sports Foundation's (NSSF) website.

To view one of his YouTube tips check www.youtube.org/watch?v=VsGCYgM42SE.