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Reader Comments:
I use these articles in our high power clinics and have found them very helpful for both new shooters and reinforcement of the basics for the more experienced.
Thanks, Gary M.
Thanks for the great articles on the Carbine, Springfield, Garand matches. All the articles are interesting, but the Carbine, Springfield & Garand are my favorites.
Jim H.
The September-07 on line shooting tips by SSG Tobie Tomlinson, USAMU Service Rifle Team Member, is a great article. I have reproduced 15 copies of it to hand out and discuss to our “newbie” first year air rifle shooters on our high school JROTC Air Rifle Team. Come to think about it believe I’ll hand out a copy to my advance shooters as well. His explanations are simple to understand but rich in detail. Coupled with the sight pictures this article will go a long way towards helping all our JROTC shooters obtain better sight patterns. Keep up the great work. AND…..keep the articles like this coming.
Malcolm V.
CW2 (R), US Army
It seemed good to read the article on Infantry Trophy Match. As a shooter on the Marine Corp Team way back in 1967 I participated in the Match. We were the second team for the Marines but placed second overall. One of our shooters forgot to put the windage on his rifle. I enjoyed shooting the M-1 and M-14 at Camp Perry and always wanted to go back but never seemed to find the time. The top over all shooter at that time was my team mate Lt. Bowen. I remember some of the team members carrying him from the 600 yd line back to the rest of us. It was a great time in my life and will never forget it. Thanks again for the article.
Mike A.
Thanks for the great series of articles from the USAMU – they are very readable, and usable!
Tom, AZ
Great articles. Great to identify those who are participating as well as those who are working behind the scenes to make the whole of the National Matches run so well.
David D.
Boxford, MA
This is a special note just for my friends at the CMP, I want to thank you all for your hard work and attention to details, it's a great program!
"You help our shooting dreams come true!"
Best Regards,
Tony M.
CMP,
Your review of the CMP EIC brought back good memories. My son and I usually participate in the rifle event. This was the first time we participated in the pistol event. Our experience was positive and we have decided to come back and do it again next year!
DAVE J. H.
I don't think that I have taken the time lately to thank you and the CMP for your faithfulness in keeping me updated on all of the CMP news. I thank you and your staff very much for the fine job you are all doing.
Many thanks, and keep up the great work!
Pete
Your article titled "Rifle Cleaning and Maintenance" was so timely. I am a novice rifle shooter, and the information is just what I needed. The owner's manual that came with my rifle is far too sketchy and assumes the new owner is experienced. This is concise yet detailed enough to make me comfortable cleaning my firearm.
Regards,
Jane W.
Cleaning a rifle or handgun is not a lot of fun. The article on cleaning the rifle met the K.I.S.S. principle that I can relate to and understand. To the point.
Arthur S.
Thank you for this excellent e-newsletter. The links and information are great.
Sincerely,
John B.
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2007 National Matches Were a Record Year for CMP Matches
By Gary Anderson, DCM
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Now that the 2007 “Camp Perry Centennial” National Matches are over, it is a good time to look back on the matches to assess what happened and to give accolades for the most outstanding performances. The biggest stars of the 2007 Matches may well have been the competitors because they came to the matches in record numbers. A total of 4,123 unique individuals participated in CMP events during the pistol, smallbore rifle and highpower rifle phases of the Matches. This number was up two percent over the 2006 total, which was the previous high for participation in all CMP National Matches events.
Seventeen different service pistol, smallbore, service rifle and military rifle events now comprise the CMP part of the National Matches. In addition to setting an overall attendance record, participation records were raised in eight events. Participation in the Pistol and Rifle Small Arms Firing Schools was limited this year due to an expected shortage of military coaches. Both schools had long waiting lists, but a last minute increase in military pistol competitors allowed many waitlisted and standby students to be accepted in that school. The result was a new Pistol Small Arms Firing School attendance record of 401 students. The six-year-old National Rimfire Sporter Match grew to a new high of 200 competitors and 255 event entries. In rifle, the Hearst Doubles match was well up over its inaugural year entries and the four CMP Games events, the M1 Carbine, Springfield, Vintage Military Rifle and John C. Garand Matches, all set records for competitors numbers.
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SFC Grant Singley, U. S. Army Marksmanship Unit, won the Mountain Man Trophy that honored the overall best service rifle shooter in the 2007 National Matches. In addition to the trophy, he received a Bushmaster DCM-XR competition rifle donated by Bushmaster. The presenters
are John McLaurin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army and Ms. Nancy Pool.
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Discussions about who were the top shooters are seldom settled with finality, but in service rifle, the Mountain Man Aggregate has become a very objective way to identify an overall champion. The Mountain Man Trophy is awarded to the shooter who fires the highest overall score in the President’s, National Trophy Individual and National Trophy Team Matches. In that trophy race, SFC Grant Singley from the Army Marksmanship Unit ranked first with 1281-55X. Army Reserve shooter 1SG Jack Pardy also scored 1281, but with 13 fewer Xs. Singley received a Bushmaster DCM-XR competition service rifle for winning the Mountain Man Trophy for overall service rifle excellence. If the scores from the new Hearst Doubles Match are added into a mythical national service rifle champion aggregate, Singley still heads the list with a total score of 1576-65X. GySgt Julia Watson, USMCR, would have been second on that list with a 1573-67X total.
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GySgt Brian Zins,
USMC (on left), was the highest overall service pistol shooter in the 2007 National Trophy Pistol Matches when individual scores from the President’s, NTI and NTT Matches are aggregated.
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In the National Trophy Pistol Matches, there is no such thing as an overall aggregate trophy that combines scores from the President’s, NTI and NTT Matches. However, if there were, GySgt Brian Zins would have been the winner by five points over the Army Marksmanship Unit’s SSG James Henderson, 971-30X to 966-36X. Zins, who also won the 2007 NRA 3-Gun Pistol Championship for an unprecedented eighth time, was second in the President’s Match with a 386-11X, second in the NTI with a 291-7X and had the high individual score in the Team Match with a 294-12X.
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By winning the open sight match and placing second in the scope match, Robert Elka, Willis, MI became the top overall Rimfire Sporter shooter in the 2007 Nationals.
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Top honors in the Rimfire Sporter Match would have to go to Robert Elka from Willis, Michigan. Elka won the O-Class Championship with a 575-xX and was a close second to match winner John Merges in the T-Class where he had a 582-23X total.
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Kevin Trickett, Woburn, MA, received a Compass Lake competition rifle
presented by Mail Call star Gunny Lee Ermey for being the top junior overall in the 2007 National Trophy Rifle Matches.
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The Col. Bill Deneke Trophy aggregate determines the top junior service rifle shooters. This trophy recognizes a “National Junior Team” comprised of the top six junior shooters in an aggregate that includes the President’s, National Trophy Individual and Whistler Boy Team Matches. Kevin Trickett, 18, from Woburn, Massachusetts headed this list with a 1270-41X total. Daniel Atkins from Brunswick, Georgia was second ten points behind Trickett with a 1260-38X score. Trickett received a Compass Lake Engineering AR-15 competition rifle, donated by Compass Lake, for being the high overall junior shooter in this year’s National Matches.
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Heather Deppe, who now lives and trains at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, had the highest overall score in the three junior pistol matches, the Junior President’s, Junior NTI and Junior Team Matches.
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There is also no overall junior pistol trophy, but if there were a trophy that aggregated all of the junior pistol events, Heather Deppe, 16, from Colorado Springs and San Antonio, would have forged a commanding lead over the second place junior Joe Totts, 15, from Mogadore, Ohio, 928-28X to 912-22X.
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CMP NATIONAL MATCHES EVENTS
NATIONAL TROPHY PISTOL:
NATIONAL TROPHY RIFLE:
CMP GAMES MATCHES:
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National Rimfire Sporter
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M1 Carbine
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Springfield Rifle
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Vintage Military Rifle
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John C. Garand
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In addition to these great overall individual performances, there were several National Matches records set this year. Perhaps the most impressive of these records was the 496-22X record that SSgt Jason Benedict, USMC, set in winning the National Trophy Individual Match and the Daniel Boone Trophy. The ironic thing about this record is that the previous record of 497-21X was held by SFC Grant Singley, who fired the same X count as the
new record this year, but with one less point at 496-22X.
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SGT Kristopher Friend, USAR, gets the water bucket dumped on him after winning the President’s Rifle Match in a victory celebration usually seen in sports that attract large numbers of spectators.
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One of the highlights of the 2007 Matches was the new President’s Rifle Match fourth or final stage for the top 20 competitors that succeeded in attracting several hundred spectators to a spectacular finish to a great match. SGT Kristopher Friend’s (USAR) dousing with a range water bucket by his teammates after he fired a 99-4X final stage to move from third into first place says volumes about how this new competition format can enhance the public presentation of service rifle shooting and showcase its best shooters. A Shooting USA television crew was there to cover this event and got some great footage. Having one event at the Nationals where all of the top shooters finish together in a setting where everyone knows who is leading and who has a chance to win offers an especially meaningful way to win a major competition and it has great potential for better promoting service rifle shooting to new shooters, sponsors and the media.
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GySgt R. Lee Ermey of Mail Call TV fame posed for dozens of photos with admiring shooters who came to this year’s matches.
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The National Trophy Rifle Matches also attracted a television star. GySgt R. Lee Ermey, host of the popular Mail Call TV show, spent three days at Camp Perry where he signed autographs and posed for dozens of photos with admirers. He also presented awards at the National Trophy Rifle Award Ceremony on 3 August.
An important tradition in the last few National Matches award ceremonies has become the presentation of Distinguished Badges to shooters who have gone Distinguished in the 12 months since the last National Matches or who go Distinguished during the current Matches. Badge pinning ceremonies are now staged at the beginning of both the National Trophy Pistol and Rifle Award Ceremonies. The winners of the President’s and National Trophy Individual Matches are invited to pin on the Badges because of their status as the most outstanding shooters of the matches. This year, eight shooters received their new Distinguished Pistol Shot Badges on stage, while 31 new Distinguished Rifleman Badges were presented on stage during the rifle ceremony.
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Eight new Distinguished Pistol shooters pose with President’s Match winner Steve Reiter (far left) and NTI winner SSG James Henderson (2ns from left) after Reiter and Henderson pinned on their new badges.
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The 2007 Camp Perry Centennial National Matches closed on 14 August after producing records for participation and some of the most exciting events ever witnessed in recent National Matches.
Complete results for the 2007 Matches are posted on the CMP website. Start at
http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchResultSearch.cgi?designation=NATIONAL.
An impressive collection of photos taken during these matches is posted on the CMP website. Start at the index page at
http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/05/Index.htm.
Now it is time to start making plans to attend the 2008 National Matches. Key dates are:
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7 July 2008 First Shot Ceremony
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7-8 July Pistol Small Arms Firing School
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8-12 July NRA Pistol Championships
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13 July CMP National Trophy Pistol Matches
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19-24 July NRA National Smallbore Championships
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20 July CMP National Rimfire Sporter
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25-27 July USMC Junior Highpower Camp
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26-27 July Rifle Small Arms Firing School
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28Jul-1Aug National Trophy Rifle Matches
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31Jul-2Aug CMP Games Matches
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