The firing line at the 7th National Rimfire Match was full as a new record was set.

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – Sun and a light breeze chased away the morning rain as a record crop of shooters stepped to the firing line at the seventh annual CMP National Rimfire Sporter Match on Sunday, 20 July.

Rimfire Sporter is an informal games match that introduces shooters to a course of fire akin to match competition yet conducted at a pace conducive to new shooters. The match is fired with off-the-rack bolt-action or semi-automatic .22 caliber rifles which bear no specialized target shooting equipment such as heavy fluted barrels, thumbhole stocks or match-grade sights and must meet weight and trigger-pull restrictions.

Divided into Open (O-Class) and Telescopic (T-Class) sight classifications, shooters of all ages compete in either or both classes in separate relays, giving participants an optimal opportunity to shoot their favorite plinking rifles for scores and medals in what has become an extremely popular CMP match.

With some shooters firing both in open and telescopic sights classification, a total of 296 scores were recorded in this year’s match, the largest participation since the event’s inception in 2002. A total of 114 scores were logged in O-Class and 182 in T-Class.

Prior to the match on Saturday, 19 July, the CMP’s Chief Range Officer Duane Tallman conducted the Rimfire Sporter Match Clinic which covered safety and the basics of three-position shooting. CMP Director Gary Anderson taught the part of the clinic dealing with the shooting positions and firing techniques.

Robert Elka, firing a bolt-action CZ shot an aggregate score of 582-17X out of a possible 600 in the 60-shot match to win the O-Class. Elka scored 98-4X in prone slow fire, 99-2X in prone rapid fire, 96-4X in sitting/kneeling slow fire, 92-3X in sitting/kneeling rapid fire, 98-3X in standing slow fire and 99-1X in standing rapid fire. Elka of Willis, Michigan, also won the O-Class and placed second overall in the T-Class in 2007.

All prone and sitting/kneeling shots are fired from 50 yards while standing stages are shot from 25 yards.

High Junior O-Class shooter, Charles Opalewski, of Vicksburg, Michigan, fired an aggregate score of 570-16X with his CZ 452 bolt gun, based on scores of 96-2X, 91-1X, 95-1X, 93-2X, 98-6X and 97-4X in the same stages, respectively. Opalewski was also the high 4-H junior shooter. Opalewski, a member of the St. Joseph County 4-H Straight Shooters, also won the High Junior and High 4-H O-Class award at the 2007 National Rimfire Match.

In O-Class Senior, Jan Hill, of Lakewood, Ohio, took high honors with a 567-9X aggregate score using a Remington Model 597. Hill fired a 96-3X, 98-1X, 89-0X, 95-3X, 95-1X and 94-1X in the same stages, respectively.

The winner of T-Class was Warren Westphal Jr., of Manteo, North Carolina, who fired a 587-23X in a tie-breaker over perennial contender Ronald Springsteen, who scored a 587-20X. Westphal used a bolt-action Sako P94S Finnfire while Springsteen shot a Thompson Center Classic semiautomatic. Westphal poured seven rounds into the X-ring in prone slow fire and five more in prone rapid fire to edge Springsteen.

Westphal fired a 99-7X, 97-5X, 98-3X, 98-2X, 97-3X and 98-3X, respectively, to hold off Springsteen.

Springsteen’s score was good enough however to win the Senior division in T-Class with his 100-6X, 98-3X, 97-4X, 96-0X, 100-4X and 96-3X, respectively.

The high Junior shooter in T-Class was Eric Curavo, of Northwood, Ohio, who guided his bolt-action CZ 453 to an aggregate score of 585-24X. Curavo posted a 100-6X, 98-4X, 99-4X, 97-2X, 96-3X and 95-5X, respectively to win. Colin Vander Veen fired an aggregate score of 583-20X to post the high score in 4-H Junior with a break-out of 99-4X, 98-2X, 98-2X, 95-2X 97-6X and 96-4X, respectively. Vander Veen, of Galesburg, Michigan, is a member of the Cooper Shooters 4-H.

The 2008 program brought out an increasingly broader base of younger and older shooters alike. Senior and 4-H club teams from as far away as Florida and Georgia made the trip to Camp Perry for a taste of the National Matches atmosphere.

A southwestern Pennsylvania group brought along a very special and high-scoring shooter.

Keith Stich, 17, of Portersville, Pennsylvania scored well enough to place seventh among junior shooters, but he scored even higher points in the eyes of his fellow shooters just by participating.

Keith is paralyzed from his chest down due to birth defect known as congenital spinal stenosis, or narrowing of the spinal column. His family and several green-shirted members of the Koppel-Big Beaver Sportsmen’s Association were one of the larger contingents at the match with nine shooters.

His disability has not dampened his sense of competition or desire to improve his shooting skills.

“I love it,” Keith said regarding the Camp Perry experience. “I’ve always liked shooting guns and I like the competition and being able to improve,” he said.

“Plus, up here I get to compete with the big boys,” he said. Keith has been a participant in organized shooting sports since he was a 10-year-old Cub Scout.

He earned a silver achievement medal last year and again this year, scoring a 570-11X, just seven points shy of gold.

Keith’s parents, Cheryl and Rickie Stich said Keith’s condition hasn’t affected his desire to shoot.

“His condition is very rare,” Rickie said. “He’s grouped with the same people who suffer from Spina Bifida, but his condition is just the opposite. With Spina Bifida, the spinal column never closes – in Keith’s case, it closed too much.”

Rickie and Keith’s brother Scott, 14, also competed in the match. Neither scored as well as Keith, but it didn’t detract from the fun – they all enjoyed the match.

“We shoot every Monday night as a family outing,” Cheryl said. “I think the boys’ self-esteem is really boosted by coming here.”

Gary Newyear, 56, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio fired in his third Rimfire Sporter Match this year and said he likes coming to the matches to “be with this own kind.”

“I feel very comfortable out here because I know I’m going to be around other people like me,” Newyear said.

“The match is challenging. The limitations on the rifle are a challenge, but I like that,” he added. Newyear also shoots a much heavier Springfield M1A, so the switch to a lightweight .22 with a heavier trigger is an adjustment.

Junior shooter Emily Bartlett, 15, of Mason, Michigan came to Camp Perry with her 12-year-old sister Erica to shoot in Rimfire Sporter for the first time with their great-grandfather Art Bush, 77, and family friend Jack Huntoon, 73. They are members of the Capitol City Rifle Club in Lansing.

“It’s a fun and great experience,” Emily said. “It’s kind of cool to see all the stuff on Commercial Row and everyone is so welcoming.”

“Plus my great grandpa is pretty happy we’re here,” Emily added.

An accomplished air gun silhouette shooter back in Michigan, Emily also plays soccer, basketball and likes to fish, but has plans to return to Camp Perry.

“After shooting this year I definitely want to come back,” she said.

Charles Fritz, 68, of Cape Coral, Florida and three of his buddies drove up from the Sunshine State to meet up with a couple of Florida “snow birds” from Pennsylvania and Ohio at Camp Perry for the Rimfire Sporter Match.

Fritz was also joined by his son Charles Fritz II and grandson Dan Fritz from Cicero, New York for the match.

They said they came to Camp Perry to experience the National Match environment.

“This is a great place,” Fritz Sr. said. It’s his first time shooting the Rimfire Sporter, but he said it takes him back to his days as an eight-year-old when he learned to shoot his .22 rifle in the basement of his parent’s home in the 1940s.

“I shot from the playroom, through the kitchen, into the workshop where I had a cigar box as a target backed up by sandbags and two-by-fours,” he recalled.

“Yep, I shot through two doorways.”

Also joining the Fritz clan from Florida were Dave Mommaerts, 49, of North Port, and Larry Teegarden, 66, of Cape Coral along with John Lerda, 65, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and John Gibson, 63, of Brimfield, Ohio.

Chuck Welch, 40, and his wife Lee Ann, 36, of Wampum, Pennsylvania may have entered the two youngest shooters in Sunday’s match. Tommy, 10, and his sister Caroline, 12, shot alongside dad in the family’s first Rimfire Sporter match.

Tommy shot his Romanian target .22 with a cut-down stock so he could shoulder it better.

“It’s a little front-heavy, but he’s handling it pretty well,” Lee Ann Welch said.

“Tommy has a new CZ Scout waiting for him at home,” she said. Young Tommy has a scrap metal collecting business and has earned enough money to buy his own new rifle, his mom said. They just didn’t have enough time to get the Scout sighted in before they left home.

Caroline, who is left eye dominant, but is right-handed, is learning to shoot left-handed to take advantage of her left side dominance, Lee Ann Welch said.

“This is a great experience for the kids – I just wish it’s something they could talk about in school,” she added.

The Welch family is part of the Koppel-Big Beaver team from Pennsylvania, coached by Rex Walter, 48, who has attended all seven Rimfire Sporter matches.

The Laurens County Georgia 4-H Club made a colorful entrance to the match dressed in pink. Even coaches Frankie Mathis, 45, and Donnie Upshaw donned the team colors, which Mathis referred to as the “Pepto-Bismol” group.

Team member Natalie Harper, 16, even sported a pink Ruger 10-22 semiautomatic rifle for the match.

Mathis and Upshaw have been coaching the Laurens County team for 15 years, staying with the group even after their own children were graduated from the program. In all, nine members of the team participated in this year’s match.

At the conclusion of the firing portion of the program, the CMP hosted a cookout for all participants and Gary Anderson, Director of Civilian Marksmanship presented achievement medals to the winners. Cut scores to receive medals were 520, 542 and 552 for bronze, silver and gold, respectively, in O-Class and 548, 564 and 577 in T-Class.

For complete results of the Rimfire Sporter Match on the CMP Web site, click on the following link http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=3420.

Photos of the event can be viewed at the following link http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/08/Rimfire/index.htm.

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