The 2006 CMP Guide to Rimfire Sporter Shooting.

The 2006 version of the CMP Guide to Rimfire Sporter Shooting is now available. The new guide includes the official 2006 CMP Rimfire Sporter Rules, detailed instructions on how to shoot Rimfire Sporter, instructions for match sponsors on how to conduct Rimfire Sporter Matches and the official match program for the 2006 National Rimfire Sporter Match at Camp Perry.

The guide is now posted on the CMP web site at http://www.odcmp.com/
Competitions/rimfire.pdf. It can be downloaded and printed from there. In addition, shooters or clubs that need printed copies of the CMP Guide to Rimfire Sporter for distribution at a club event, clinic or match may request them from the CMP. The guides are free of charge as long as requests are for reasonable quantities. Contact kwilliams@odcmp.com or 419-635-2141, ext. 1109.

The CMP Competitor Tracker on-line entry system is now open to accept entries for the 2006 National Rimfire Sporter Match that will be fired at Camp Perry on Sunday, 23 July. A Rimfire Sporter clinic will be offered on Saturday afternoon, 22 July. Already, 100 event entries have been received. More shooters this year are opting to fire in both the O-class and the T-class events.

Rimfire Sporter offers competition in two classes. In the O-class, competitors fire open-sighted rifles (left); in the T-class, they fire scope-sighted rifles. In most matches, schedules are set up so competitors can fire in the O-class on one relay and in the T-class on another relay.

If you are interested in Rimfire Sporter and have not yet submitted your entry, you can enter by starting at the CMP home page at http://www.odcmp.com where you should click on the National Matches icon or drop-down list. Or you can go directly to the National Rimfire Sporter Match information page at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchInfo.cgi?matchID=1448.

This will be the fifth year for this match, which has grown every year since its inception in 2002. There will be a special recognition this summer for any shooters who have fired in all five of these matches. The CMP expects that the 2006 match will be even bigger and better than last year.

The 2006 edition of the guide and official Rimfire Sporter rules feature some changes from the previous edition of the guide and last year’s rules. Here are some highlights:

• The official match program for the National Rimfire Sporter Match that is conducted each year at Camp Perry is now incorporated into the Guide to Rimfire Sporter Shooting.
  
  

• Official CMP Rimfire Sporter rules were taken out of the CMP Competition Rules that is otherwise published to govern service pistol and service rifle shooting. Rimfire Sporter rules are now found exclusively in the Guide to Rimfire Sporter Shooting. This makes it possible to have all documents affecting Rimfire Sporter in one publication.
  
  

  The 2006 CMP National Matches logo features images of top shooters from four 2005 National Matches events including Ron Springsteen (upper left), who fired the high score in the 2005 National Rimfire Sporter Match.

• The 2006 rules clarify that only .22 long rifle rimfire rifles may be used. .17 cal. or other magnum rimfire chamberings are not allowed. This, of course, is to keep the playing field as level as possible.
  
  

• Safety rules and procedures are expanded and clarified; this is part of an overall effort by both the CMP and NRA to make range safety procedures as effective as possible. In that regard, ECIs (Empty Chamber Indicators) are now required to be inserted in all rifles anytime they are on the range and not on a firing point during either a preparation or firing period.
  
  

• The rules clarify that actions must remain open after loading in the standing position for rapid fire and may be closed only after the shooter gets into the firing position.
  
  

• The new safety procedures also clarify how rifles should be handled when a firing sequence is completed. As soon as the last shot in a series is fired, the competitor must open the action, insert an ECI and ground the rifle. The competitor may step back from the firing line, but rifles must remain grounded on the firing line until the Range Officer confirms that they have been checked for ECIs and then gives instructions to remove them.
  
  

• The CMP developed new 50 foot Rimfire Sporter targets. There are actually two targets. One is a two-bull target that offers a reduction of the 50 yard target for prone and sitting/kneeling firing. The other is a one-bull target that offers a reduction of the 25 yard target for standing position firing. The targets are being printed now and should be available for ordering from the CMP in the next few weeks. You should definitely be able to purchase the new 50 foot Rimfire Sporter targets at the CMP Store if you come to Camp Perry for the National Rimfire Sporter Match.
  
  

  One of the special appeals of Rimfire Sporter is that shooters in this game can fire a real competition with their favorite smallbore plinking rifles.

• The new rules clarify that slow fire loading may either be done singly or from a loaded magazine.
  
  

• Fluted barrels are now excluded since these are not available on typical rimfire sporter rifles; this one was getting too close to becoming an element in an equipment race. The rules also specify that any external weights may only be concentric weights affixed to the barrel.
  
  

• Match sponsors of sanctioned club matches now have the option of dividing the T class into scope and receiver sight divisions if they determine that there are sufficient rifles with receiver sights to warrant such a division. The CMP does not plan to exercise this option for the 2006 National Rimfire Sporter Match, however.
  
  

  Rimfire Sporter is a great way to get juniors started in a shooting event where they can compete alongside their parents and other adult shooters.

• The CMP received a few requests to liberalize rifle rules by increasing the rifle weight limit or by allowing higher powered scopes. However, in querying previous National Rimfire Sporter competitors, most said leave the equipment rules alone. The CMP is taking a very conservative approach to liberalizing equipment rules, primarily because of a strong desire to prevent Rimfire Sporter from becoming an equipment race. From the beginning, the CMP has tried to provide a shooting game where shooting enthusiasts could take their favorite squirrel or plinking rifles out of the rack directly to the range and feel like there were competitive with other rifles in a match. Right now, most true “sporter” .22 rimfires weight well under 7.5 lbs., even with scopes attached. Allowing heavier rifles opens up the probability that more shooters would want to use heavy-barreled custom rifles; that would be a big step towards inaugurating the equipment race the CMP hopes to avoid.
  
  

• Any recommendations to allow higher powered telescopes are also being approached conservatively. While there are a lot of variable scopes with higher than 6X powers showing up at Rimfire Sporter matches, any increase in maximum power beyond 6X would take allowed scopes out of the true “sporter” category and open up the probability that higher powered target scopes would be used. That would definitely get into equipment race territory.
  
  

• A few Rimfire Sporter competitors recommended course of fire changes such as allowing the firing of ten rapid fire shots at a time instead of the present system of shooting 5 + 5 shots. So far, CMP Rimfire Sporter rules have stayed with the 5+5 shots system because many rifles there were coming to Rimfire Sporter matches would not allow 10 rounds to be loaded for a rapid fire series or would not facilitate rapid reloading during a rapid fire series if the highpower rapid fire system where magazine changes are required was used. The CMP remains open on this issue and will continue to evaluate it based on the kinds of rifles competitors bring to matches. In this case, the CMP wants to make sure that many common rimfire sporter rifles do not get excluded to the point where competitors are forced to buy special rifles in order to compete. In the meantime, one way to look at this, is to recognize that one of the skills being tested by the 5+5 rapid fire sequence is a competitor’s ability to quickly assume a stable firing position and begin firing.

The CMP continues to work to build the participant base in Rimfire Sporter and to encourage clubs to run their own sanctioned Rimfire Sporter matches. The development of new 50 foot Rimfire Sporter targets promises to offer more clubs with 50 foot indoor ranges the opportunity to try Rimfire Sporter. Quite a number of 4-H Shooting Sports programs are adopting Rimfire Sporter. It is now an event in the National 4-H Shooting Sports Invitational as well as in many state 4-H championships.

The CMP hopes more affiliated clubs will conduct Rimfire Sporter matches this year and that more shooters will decide to come to Camp Perry for the National Rimfire Sporter Match on 23 July.

Read the official program for the 2006 National Rimfire Sporter Match at http://www.odcmp.com/NM/rimfire.htm.

Register on-line for the 2006 match at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchInfo.cgi?matchID=1448.

Read or download the new CMP Guide to Rimfire Sporter at http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions/rimfire.pdf.