CAMP PERRY, OHIO – Doug Armstrong and Glendale “Don” Rutherford took advantage of ideal shooting conditions to fire a near-perfect team score of 398-17X out of a possible 400 to win the 2012 Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match here on Wednesday, 1 August on Viale Range.
|
|
CMP Board Chairman Judith Legerski congratulates Glendale “Don” Rutherford, left, and Douglas Armstrong after winning the 2012 Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match at Camp Perry. Armstrong fired a clean 200 out of 200 points to lead his team.
|
Armstrong, 52, of Lexington, NC, fired a perfect 200 with 11 center Xs and Rutherford, 60, of Tallapoosa, GA, fired a 198-6X. Armstrong cleaned the 300-yard stage with six center shots and backed it up with another clean 600-yard stage with five Xs.
Rutherford fired a clean 300-yard target with one center shot and dropped two points at 600 yards with a 98-5X.
|
|
Don Rutherford, left, and his brother, Leon, demonstrate the scoring procedures used for the 2012 Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match during the sniper match clinic on 31 July at CMP’s Bataan Armory Welcome Center. More than 480 individuals participated in this year’s sniper match.
|
There was a hotly-contested fight for second place with Team Hardleg #2 edging Team Hardleg #1 in an X-count tiebreaker for second and third place. Hardleg #2 teammates Richard Thornley, 50, of Gaithersburg, MD, and SSG Erik Field, 30, U.S. Army, of Edgewater, MD, each fired 197’s to capture second place for a team total of 394-17X.
Hardleg #1 team member, Howard Burrill, 51, of Mt. Airy, MD, fired a perfect 200-9X on his half and his teammate Paul Patel, 52, of Damascus, MD (194-7X) shot very well, but they settled for third place in a one-point tiebreaker with a team score of 394-16X.
|
|
Enthusiastic shooters from across the U.S. participated in the 2012 Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match including this difficult-to-identify competitor who donned a sniper “Ghillie Suit” to fire the match.
|
The GM Grey Iron team of Kenneth Nichols, 69, of Bay City, MI, and Donald LaBeff, 58, of Saginaw, MI, finished in fourth place with a team total of 390-9X. The team of Steven Miller, 51, of Novi, MI, and James Leginza, 34, of Plymouth, MI, placed fifth with a team aggregate score of 389-12X
|
|
Clear communication between shooter and spotter are vital to reading and reacting to changes in wind and weather conditions when firing at long distances. Fortunately this year’s competitors enjoyed optimal conditions.
|
A total of 241 teams entered the rapidly-growing Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match, up from 143 teams last year, which was the inaugural match at Camp Perry. The format had been tested with 14 teams in 2010 at the CMP Western Games at Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, AZ, and was introduced as a new CMP Games Match with 48 teams at the CMP Eastern Games, at Camp Butner in May, 2011. At this year’s Eastern Games, 62 teams participated in the Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match.
|
|
Participants each received a CMP t-shirt for participating in the match. A total of 241 teams entered the rapidly-growing Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match, up from 143 teams last year, which was the inaugural match at Camp Perry.
|
The match consists of two-person teams firing 10 shots each at 300 yards and again at 600 yards using vintage military sniper rifles (1953 and earlier) with scopes matched for those guns, either original type or replica. Bullseye targets are exposed for 20 seconds, pulled into the pits for 20 seconds for scoring and raised again. That procedure is followed for all shots, except for five minute unlimited sighter periods prior to 300 and 600-yard firing. Teams rotate to scoring positions and target pulling as relays change.
|
|
The Springfield scout sniper rifle is a popular platform at the Vintage sniper rifle match, however; rifles from countries all over the world are common to the match. Vintage sniper rifles and appropriate scopes from 1953 and earlier are required to shoot the match. For a complete list of rifle scope combinations and details about the match can be found on the CMP website.
|
The following are the top 20 individual scorers in this year’s match:
Douglas Armstrong 200-11X
Howard Burrill 200-9X
Harley Lewin 199-9X
Glendale Rutherford 198-6X
Merton Emery 198-4X
Michael Hawkins 197-12X
Richard Thornley 197-9X
SSG Erik Feild, USA 197-8X
William Fairless 196-8X
GySgt James Otto, USMC 196-6X
Jeffery Haneline 196-5X
Kenneth Nichols 196-4X
Richard Kussman 196-3X
Mark Looney 195-8X
Thomas Box Sr. 195-7X
Robert Menuet 195-6X
Nick Till 195-6X
John Hefner 195-6X
Robert Pestridge 195-5X
Robert Schanen Sr. 195-5X
For complete results of the 2012 National Trophy Individual and Team Matches, log onto
http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=7982. To view, download or order photos from the event, log onto our photo Web site at
http://cmp1.zenfolio.com.
NEXT ARTICLE
|
Join Our Email List
