Printable Version

2010 National Trophy Rifle and Pistol Matches Now Open for Registration

By Steve Cooper, CMP Writer


It’s May and that means the 2010 National Trophy Rifle and Pistol Matches are approaching quickly! What's better yet is our official programs for the CMP National Trophy and CMP Games Matches that will be held this summer at Camp Perry, Ohio, are now posted on the CMP website and our Competition Tracker system is ready to receive on-line entries. Competitors who wish to reserve their places in this year’s matches may do so now.

Featured on the 2010 National Match logo are the 2009 National Match Champions. Starting at two o’clock (going clockwise) is MSG Jack Pardy, USAR, winner of the National Trophy Individual Rifle Match, Mark Laramie, winner of the President’s Rifle Match, SSG James Henderson, USA, winner of the President’s Pistol and National Trophy Individual Pistol Matches, and CSM Steven Slee, USAR, winner of the Rimfire Sporter O-Class Match.


The easiest way to find the programs and the matches you wish to enter is log onto the CMP home page at http://www.odcmp.com. Click on either the 2010 National Matches logo icon or the pull-down tab telling you to “Click here for 2010 National Matches Information.”

The colorful First Shot Ceremony on Monday afternoon, 12 July, will officially open the matches. This year’s First Shot Speaker is the Governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland. A live military band, Air National Guard jet fly-by and Army National Guard parachute jump are scheduled features of the program. The ceremony, which takes place at the end of the first day of the Pistol Small Arms Firing School, will be followed by the National Matches visitor reception at the Camp Perry Lodging and Conference Center. This reception is hosted by the Ohio National Guard and Ottawa County Chambers of Commerce.

The 2010 First Shot Ceremony will feature the Governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland, as the First Shot Speaker, a live military band, an Air National Guard jet fly-by and Army National Guard parachute jump.


The official program for the Pistol Small Arms Firing Schools is posted at http://www.odcmp.com/NM/safs.htm.

The Pistol Small Arms Firing School (SAFS), including the firing of the M9 EIC (Excellence In Competition) Match, will be completed in one day, on Monday, 12 July. The SAFS schedule will provide beginning pistol shooters approximately six hours of hands-on training and time on the range. Registration for the Basic Pistol SAFS will be from 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM on Sunday, 11 July. No one is permitted to register or check-in the day of the school.

The Advanced Pistol SAFS will begin at 1:00 PM on 12 July and conclude with the firing of the Service Pistol Warm-Up Match on 13 July. Only Advanced Pistol SAFS students can check in either Sunday, 11 July, 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, or Monday, 12 July, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, at the In-Processing Center (Armory) in Building #3 (CMP Headquarters) at Camp Perry.

SAFS pistol students who identify themselves as beginners or new shooters with little or no previous pistol experience will receive instruction that starts them at the very beginning with nomenclature, safe pistol handling, loading and unloading, sight alignment, the basic stance and trigger control.

School students with some pistol experience will attend a morning of bulls-eye pistol shooting instruction by the Army Service Pistol Team. After the instructional clinic, SAFS students will move to Viale Range for practice firing with U. S. Army M9 9mm pistols.

The Pistol and Small Arms Firing School offers U. S. citizens at all levels of shooting experience, from new and beginning shooters to advanced competition shooters, outstanding opportunities to receive top class marksmanship instruction from many of the country’s best instructors in one of shooting’s most historic settings.

Later that afternoon, students will fire the M9 Pistol EIC Match where the top ten percent of shooters with no pistol EIC points will earn “introductory” 4-point legs. Like last year, in order to accommodate additional entry-level students, experienced shooters were not allowed to fire their personal M1911 or M9 service pistols during the school.

The Service Pistol Warm-Up Match will be held on Tuesday, 13 July. This match offers pistol shooters who are not allowed to fire their personal service pistols in the Pistol SAFS a chance not only to gain more experience with their service pistols, but also to fire them in a major competition. The new match will also give many other National Trophy Pistol Matches competitors a great opportunity to “warm up” for the Trophy Matches that will take place at the end of the week. The difficult President’s Pistol Match course will be used to add to the challenge.

The official program for the National Trophy Pistol Matches is posted at http://www.odcmp.com/NM/pistol.htm. The 2010 Pistol National Trophy events will begin with the 40-shot President’s Pistol Match that starts at 7:30 AM on Sunday, 18 July. It will be followed by the National Trophy Individual Pistol Match and the National Trophy Pistol Team Match. Both are fired with .45 cal. or 9mm service pistols over the 30-shot National Match Course.

Junior attendance was strong again at the 2009 National Trophy Pistol Matches and is expected to grow even larger this year. The junior events use the same courses of fire as the service pistol events, except that juniors fire.22 cal. pistols. Shooters who are coming to the Nationals are strongly encouraged to consider bringing junior shooters with them. The junior team match is for two-person teams so state associations and clubs should be able to organize junior teams to compete for the Junior Pistol Team Trophy.


Two new trophies will be awarded during the 2010 CMP National Trophy Pistol Matches, the Perry DeFino Trophy and the General Patton Trophy.

Two new trophies will be awarded during the 2010 CMP National Trophy Pistol Matches. The Perry DeFino Trophy will be awarded to the High Junior who fires the Standard Smallbore Pistol in the National Trophy Individual Pistol Match. The General Patton Trophy will be awarded to the Active Army competitor who fires the highest individual aggregate score in the National Trophy Individual and National Trophy Team Matches.

National Matches Air Gun Events will take place at the Camp Perry Marksmanship Center throughout the National Matches and will offer competitors a chance to win prize money for firing the top score or best center shot.

The Third Annual National Matches Air Gun Events will take place at the Camp Perry Marksmanship Center. The NM Air Gun Events offer additional competition opportunities for National Matches pistol and rifle competitors as well as for anyone who wants to shoot in the National Matches with their air pistols or air rifles. All events will take place at the Camp Perry Marksmanship Center on MEGALink electronic targets.

During the 2009 National Matches Air Gun Events, 550 individual competitors fired nearly 1,000 event entries. Individuals interested in the NM Air Gun Events are encouraged to download the program and range schedule at http://www.odcmp.com/NM/AirEvents.htm.

NM Air Gun Events include:
• 20 Shot Standing Re-Entry Match
• 20 Shot Novice Prone Re-Entry Match
• 30 Shot Air Pistol Re-Entry Match with Top Center Shot prize pool
• 60 Shot Air Pistol Championship
• 30 Shot Air Rifle Re-Entry match with Top Center Shot prize pool
• 60 Shot Air Rifle Championship
• AiR-15 Challenge Re-Entry match with 75% of entry money distributed as prize money (over $1,000 will be given away in prize $$)
• National Match Air Rifle Full-Course (3x20) Re-Entry Match

The Ninth Annual National Rimfire Sporter Match is expected to grow again in 2010 after eight consecutive years of increased participation. In 2009, 333 individual competitors made 421 event entries. This year the range will feature a full 125 covered firing points that will accommodate 500 event entries in four relays. If early entries indicate that there will be more than 500 event entries, a fifth relay will be added. This will increase the maximum number of event entries to 625.

New in 2010 - now that several arms manufacturers are manufacturing tactical rimfire rifles that utilize modern military rifle platforms or configurations for .22 cal. rimfire cartridges, the CMP will include a new “Tactical Rimfire” class in the 2010 Rimfire Sporter Rules and the 2010 National Rimfire Sporter Championship program.

Also new in 2010, with three rifle classes and with the possibility that entries will reach range capacity, the CMP must manage the entry process carefully to ensure that everyone who enters is able to compete. However; if sufficient range capacity is available, competitors may be allowed to make a third event entry at the match.

The 2010 National Rimfire Sporter Match will feature a new Youth-Adult Partner Match. This will be a two-person team event to encourage family participation and to get more adult shooters to mentor new and younger shooters.

Lastly, a Youth-Adult Partner Match has been added which will combine an adult or older junior with a younger junior in a two-person team event. This match will be offered as a fun match to encourage family participation (parents and grandparents shooting with younger members of their families) and to get more adult shooters to mentor new and younger shooters.

Details on this event are still being developed, but the adult member of the team must be someone who is 17 years of age or older (born in 1993 or earlier) while the junior member of the team must be 16 years of age or younger (born in 1994 or later).

The CMP is considering special rules for this match that will give bonus points to teams that have both male and female members as well as to teams that have greater age differences between the two team members (bonus for younger juniors or older adults). A special award schedule for this match is being developed.

Lapua, a world-renowned ammunition manufacturer with plants in Finland and Germany, is once again the official ammunition supplier for the match and will provide 100 rounds of rimfire ammo for each competitor. Remington and Savage Arms have both agreed to be award donors in 2010. Remington is donating two M597 semi-automatic rifles and Savage is donating a Mark I or Mark II FVT (shooter's choice) to be presented to the top O and T Class Juniors in the match.

To learn more about all the exciting new Rimfire Sporter opportunities, check out the official program for the Rimfire Sporter Match which is posted at http://www.odcmp.com/Nm/rimfire.htm

The Rifle Small Arms Firing School begins with check-in Friday, 30 July, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, at the In-Processing Center at Camp Perry. No one is permitted to register or check-in the day of the school. The school begins at 7:00 AM on Saturday, 31 July, and ends at noon on Sunday, 1 August.

The rifle class begins with basic instruction and fundamentals on range safety, sighting and operating the rifle Saturday morning at Hough Auditorium. Instruction moves to the firing line in the afternoon

Rifle students fire prone, sitting and standing position slow or rapid-fire exercises. On the second day, Rifle SAFS students, while still being assisted by their coaches, have a unique opportunity to test their new marksmanship knowledge and skills by firing an M16 Rifle EIC Match that uses the course of fire practiced on the range the previous day.

The M16 Rifle EIC match will be fired on Sunday morning, 1 August. The M16 EIC match will be fired with SAFS rack grade M16 rifles that use light-recoil 5.56mm cartridges. The M16 course of fire starts with five sighters. The record course continues with10 shots for record in prone slow-fire, 10 shots rapid-fire prone in 60 seconds, 10 shots rapid-fire sitting in 60 seconds and 10 shots slow-fire prone, all at 200 yards on the SR target.

The official program for the Rifle Small Arms Firing School is posted at http://www.odcmp.com/NM/safs.htm.

Several clinics are offered during the Rifle Phase of the National Matches. The Hornady Reloading Clinics will be offered on Friday, 30 July, Saturday, 31 July and Sunday, 1 August.

Several clinics for juniors and adults will be held between Friday, 30 July through 7 August on a variety of disciplines, including the Advanced Adult Service Rifle Clinic, USMC Junior Highpower Clinic, Hornady Reloading Clinic, Infantry Trophy Clinic, M1 Carbine Clinic, As-Issued Military Clinic and John C. Garand M1 Clinic. Log onto and scroll to the bottom of the following link for detailed information about these informative clinics. Some have limited entry availability: http://www.odcmp.com/NM/rifle.htm.

On Thursday, 29 July, team members and Advanced Clinic attendees (both Adult and Juniors) will be able to check in from Noon to 6:00 PM. This should decrease the amount of competitors registering on Friday, 30 July. Please note that if you are attending Rifle Small Arms Firing School, you will not be able to check in until Friday, 30 July.

Service rifle squadded practice is offered for all National Trophy Rifle competitors who wish to confirm their zeroes for the Camp Perry ranges. Squadded practice will take place on Rodriguez Range on Sunday, 1 August, from 11:00 – 16:30. The course of fire for the squadded practice will be five minutes slow-fire prone at the 300-yard line followed by 10 minutes of slow-fire prone from the 600-yard line. Shooters may fire as many rounds as they wish within these time limits.

On Monday, 2 August, the President’s Rifle Match shoot-off among the top 20 competitors that was added in 2007 will continue. The top 100 competitors in the first 30 shots make the President’s 100, but the top 20 of those shooters carry their 30-shot totals forward to a fourth and final stage. Having a final stage assures that the shooters who contend for first place all finish the match together on the same range at the same time, shooting under the same conditions. Show-casing the top shooters in this match in a highly visible, high-pressure shoot-off is designed to bring excitement and attention to service rifle shooting.

The President's Rifle Final Shoot-off will include the top twenty shooters.  The Final will consist of ten shots prone at 600 yards.

The 2010 President’s Rifle Final scores were shown live on the CMP website and has become a crowd favorite - live scoring will continue online this year. The shoot-off also gives several hundred of the other 1300 or so competitors in this match a chance to see the country’s best shooters perform by viewing the match from behind the 600-yard line on Rodriguez Range.

The CMP National Trophy Individual Match will be fired Tuesday, 3 August, followed by the National Junior Team and Hearst Doubles matches on Wednesday, 4 August. The National Trophy Team Match will be fired Thursday, and the National Trophy Infantry Team Match, or Rattle Battle, will be fired Friday, 6 August.

The CMP Games Matches at the end of National Trophy week offer a full three-day series of events beginning with the M1 Carbine Match on Thursday, 5 August. The Springfield and Vintage Military Rifle matches on Friday, 6 August and the John C. Garand Match on Saturday, 7 August. The range configuration and schedule that will be used should assure that all shooters who want to compete in all four of these popular and fast-growing matches will be able to fire.

The official program for the National Trophy Rifle Matches and CMP Games Events is posted at http://www.odcmp.com/NM/rifle.htm.

Competitors seeking to make housing arrangements will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis. Please review the following information to make arrangements: Camp Perry Housing - Reservations can be requested on the following schedule:

• Pistol Phase Competitor Lodging Call In-Dates: April 20 to April 24, 2010.
• Smallbore Phase Competitor Lodging Call In-Dates: April 20 to April 24, 2010.
• Highpower Phase Competitor Lodging Call In-Dates: April 27 to May 1, 2010.
• All Phases Competitor Call In-Dates: After May 4, 2010.

To request a reservation by telephone please call the Camp Perry Lodging Office at 1-888-889-7010 between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. Tuesday through Saturday

There is a high demand for Camp Perry housing during National Trophy Rifle week so it is essential to call early. Many competitors also make housing arrangements in the local Port Clinton, Fremont or Sandusky areas. Visit http://www.odcmp.com/Lodging.htm for more lodging information.

While CMP policy prohibits endorsement of any company product or service, we would like to recognize the following companies that will award their own separate products to the top shooters of the 2010 National Trophy Rifle and Pistol Matches. If you would like to become an award donor, please contact Lue Contreras, lcontreras@odcmp.com or (419) 635-2141, ext. 1107.

• Pistol Phase – Caspian Arms, Schuemann Barrels, Springfield Armory Inc., Colt Manufacturing Co. LLC, Glock
• Rimfire Phase – Remington, Savage Arms, Lapua
• Rifle Phase – Arrington, Krieger Barrels, Bushmaster, Rock River, Creedmoor Sports, National Match Armory, Compass Lake, Gibbs Rifle Company, Armalite, Criterion Barrel, Hornady, Dupage Trading

The NRA is also accepting entries for the NRA National Championships at Camp Perry. Visit http://www.nmentry.com to view their Official Programs and to register on-line.

The Ohio National Guard will give History Tours of Camp Perry during the Matches.  Visit http://www.odcmp.com/NM/EventsCal.pdf to download a schedule of special events.

The Ohio National Guard and the CMP sponsors a full schedule of Special Events during the National Matches. Special events include a Shooters’ Reception on Monday, July 12th after the First Shot Ceremony, Camp Perry Tours, Chicken Dinners, Pizza Parties, Movie Nights and Beach Parties.  Download the complete calendar at http://www.odcmp.com/NM/EventsCal.pdf

Enter all CMP schools, clinics or competition events through the CMP Competition Tracker at http://clubs.odcmp.com/matches. For more information, contact CMP Competitions at 419-635-2141, ext. 1101 or 1114.

We look forward to welcoming you to the 2010 National Matches at the Camp Perry!

NEXT ARTICLE