Announcing Team Kulak
by Bob Hess
Team Kulak was formed in late July of 2020. It was the desire of Kulak Arms owner, Richard Kulak II, to sponsor a small team of just regular shooters – unspectacular participants in the shooting sports, the “backbone” of the sport, like those that make up the majority of competition shooters today.
This is a diverse team that spans 40 years in age and represents 110 years of shooting experience. The youngest member of the team is 29 year old Zack Becker, with Ed Jackowski at 51 years old holding down the middle spot and, yours truly, bringing up the rear at 69.
The three of us participate in the three main handgun practical shooting disciplines, those being: the International Confederation of Revolver Enthusiasts (ICORE), the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) and the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA). The majority of the matches we attend are local, club level matches made up primarily of shooters much like ourselves.
Zack is the shining star of this small team and the one that, should he decide to pursue it, stands the greatest chance of being ranked among the top echelon of shooters. He consistently places highly overall and within his division. Zack has only been shooting handguns for eight years, many of those years with the only handgun he owned at the time, a Walther PPQ M1. He is the epitome of the cliché: Beware of the man that only owns one gun – chances are that he shoots it very well. While Zack has expanded his battery to include a CZ P10F that he uses for the Carry Optics divisions in both IDPA and USPSA, he also has a new S&W Model 686 that he uses for ICORE. Zack is in tooling sales in the packaging industry and recently moved to Besalem, PA.
Ed owns and runs a very busy nursery and landscape business (Jack’s Nursery). It is sometimes tough for him to get out to matches during his busy seasons, but he always makes the effort. Ed was an active duty Marine from 1990 to 1997, playing with decidedly larger guns – 155 Howitzers. Ed is probably the fastest of the three of us, but is often undone by Zack’s good, if not blinding, speed and unsurpassed accuracy. It is often a tough battle between these two teammates. Ed resides with his wife, two daughters and two Dalmatians in Hopewell Township.
And then there’s me – the dinosaur of the group. I’ve been shooting since I was nine. My father was a shooter and hunter and I literally grew-up around guns. I shot some informal bullseye, but my first venture into real competitive shooting came with the advent of handgun metallic silhouette in the late 70’s. I shot that for about 8 years before getting involved in practical shooting with a club out of Target World in Chalfont, PA. I took a fairly long hiatus from organized shooting, but discovered IDPA about 10 years ago – and subsequently USPSA. Most recently I’ve started shooting ICORE, which is contested only with revolvers. However, I choose to shoot revolvers in all three disciplines, just because I enjoy them. While I have competed mainly with S&W’s I have started to work a Ruger GP100 Match Champion into the rotation. I also collect S&W revolvers. I am retired after 35 years in the automotive industry, which is probably why I’m captain of this little team – it certainly isn’t because of my shooting prowess. It seems that, at this age, any advancement I make in the shooting skills department is usually offset by some physical infirmity. I live in Hopewell Township with my girlfriend of 34 years and our German Shorthair Pointer.
We all look forward to representing the regular “anyman” shooter in these club level competitions.
Team Kulak
Sponsored by:
Kulak Arms
450 Lawrence Rd.
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
609-695-1043