8th Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches Ready for Entries

PHOENIX, ARIZONA –Registration is open for the 2011 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchInfo.cgi?matchID=6478. The CMP and Creedmoor Sports of Oceanside, California, will host the matches and festivities at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility north of Phoenix, Arizona, on 15-23 October. Sign up today and plan to be a part of this exciting event!

The Western CMP Games will be preceded by the Garand Collectors Association Convention held 13-15 Oct in Phoenix, AZ.

This year, the Garand Collectors Association Convention will be held in Phoenix, AZ prior to the start of the CMP Western Games. GCA members attending the GCA Convention will also have an opportunity to shoot in a special John C. Garand match held at Ben Avery Shooting Facility on Friday, 14 October and attend an M1 Maintenance and Garand Clinic. Please note only GCA members attending the GCA Convention will be allowed to attend the clinic and match on Friday.  GCA convention attendees are invited to register for these two special events at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchInfo.cgi?matchID=7546. If you are interested in becoming a GCA Member, please visit http://www.odcmp.com/Forms/GCAApp.pdf.

The 2011 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches are the eighth in a series that started at Camp Pendleton, California, when two separate events were fired. The event was moved to Ben Avery in October 2007, making this year’s matches the fifth Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches to be held there.

Together with the Eastern CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches that take place at Camp Butner, North Carolina, these competitions give the nation’s best CMP Games and highpower rifle shooters two prestigious national-level competitions and provide recreation-oriented riflemen in other areas of the country more opportunities to experience the kind of competitions that competitors in the National CMP Games Matches at Camp Perry regard so highly.

Individuals not shooting in the CMP Western Games are welcome to come to Ben Avery Shooting Facility during the daily rifle sales. Case lots of .30-06 M2 ball ammunition will also be available for purchase. Rifle sales will begin on Saturday, 15 October afternoon.

The 8th Western CMP Games will kick off with a Garand-Springfield-Military Rifle Clinic on the morning of Saturday, 15 October, led by Gary Anderson, Director of Civilian Marksmanship Emeritus. After the clinic, a 200-yard Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Match will be fired in the afternoon. CMP Rifles Sales will open at 4:00PM and give individuals an opportunity to inspect and select one or more rifles to purchase from the CMP.

On Sunday, 16 October, there will be a CMP Special As-Issued M1Garand EIC Match in the morning. Shooters who do not have any EIC points can earn introductory “4-point legs.” As a further incentive to participate in this match, Bushmaster will provide a Bushmaster DCM-XR competition service rifle to be awarded to the highest ranking shooter who is eligible to win the 4-point legs (no previous EIC points).

Any shooter or gun enthusiast with a .22 caliber rimfire sporter who wants some great experiences on the range shooting a challenging, enjoyable, recreation-oriented competition game should try Rimfire Sporter shooting.

Sunday events will continue with a Rimfire Sporter Match held at mid-day. This should give other shooters in the Southwest another opportunity to try the steadily growing Rimfire Sporter game. Savage Arms is donating a MK1 or MK II SVT rifle for the Best Center Shot in the standing rapid-fire stage for the O-Class, and Remington is donating a Model 597 rifle for the Best Center Shot in the standing rapid-fire stage for the T-Class. The CMP government-surplus rifle and ammunition sales will open once again, followed by a barbecue for all attendees.

Glendale Rutherford, of Tallapoosa, GA, prepares to fire in the M1 Carbine Match at the 2010 Western Games. Rutherford won the Overall Three Gun (Garand, Springfield and Vintage) Aggregate at the 2010 Western CMP Games and the 2011 National CMP Games.

Shooting opportunities on the third day, Monday, 17 October include a second Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Match that morning followed by an M1 Carbine Match that afternoon.

The Western CMP Games Matches continue on Tuesday, 18 October, with the third Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Match. At the conclusion of the final three-gun series, the high overall Three-Gun Aggregate winner will be awarded an M1903A4 Sniper Rifle Replica, donated by Gibbs Rifles Company.

The newest CMP Games Event, the Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match, will wrap-up the Western CMP Games. The match is a challenging prone slow-fire, two-person team event, fired at 300 and 600 yards using scoped vintage military rifles of the Korean War era and earlier.

The Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match will be held in the afternoon featuring two-man teams firing 10 rounds at 300 yards and 10 more at 600 yards. All firing will be done from the prone position with both team members occupying a single firing point. One will serve as the shooter while the other serves as spotter and then reverse roles. For a complete list of rifle requirements and match details, see the CMP Competitions Rulebook at http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions/Rulebook.htm.
 
With three days of Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Matches, shooters will be able to fire all three events. Again this year, there will be awards for the top shooters in a special aggregate of all three As-Issued Military Rifle Matches. Special award plaques will also be presented for the top overall competitors as well as the High Senior and High Junior.

The 2011 Western Creedmoor Cup Matches begin with a free highpower rifle clinic on Wednesday, 19 October, conducted by Ken Roxburgh of Team Bushmaster and members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) Service Rifle Team. Wednesday will also include a Zeroing Day on the range. Four days of matches for service rifles and match rifles will follow on 20-23 October. Members of the USAMU Rifle Team and Team Bushmaster will be on hand to assist with the clinic and subsequently compete in the matches.

New this year, the Creedmoor matches include a 240-shot (2400 point) aggregate match fired over three days (Thursday – Saturday), a 4-person team match on Sunday morning and a 50-shot EIC/Match Rifle course on Sunday afternoon.

The Creedmoor Cup Awards Banquet and Barbecue and prize drawing with thousands of dollars worth of prizes will be held the evening of Saturday, 22 October.

Six of the seven 2011 Western CMP Games Matches will take place on the Ben Avery Shooting Facility Highpower Rifle Range.

The Ben Avery Shooting Facility (formerly Black Canyon Range) is one of the largest and most complete range facilities in the US. It was selected as the venue for the CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches because of its size, location near a major western city and interest in hosting this fast-growing major rifle competition. The Ben Avery range hosted the 1970 World Shooting Championship and several national championships. It continues to host numerous regional and local competitions in a variety of shooting disciplines every year. The Arizona Game and Fish Department now operates the facility; it is the largest public shooting facility in the country.

Volunteers are needed to help work the matches during the Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches. You can sign up to be a volunteer by contacting Christina Roguski at croguski@odcmp.com or (419) 635-2141, ext. 1114.

Shooters who want detailed information about the events on the program can log onto http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions/WesternGames.htm. 

On-line registration for both the CMP and Creedmoor Matches is now open. Click on http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchInfo.cgi?matchID=6478 to register.

A full collection of photos from the Western Games Matches are at http://cmp1.zenfolio.com/p211638274 and from the Western Creedmoor Cup Matches at http://cmp1.zenfolio.com/p854886970. 

More information about Creedmoor Sports, Inc. is available from their website at http://www.creedmoorsports.com/store/home.php. 

Information about the Ben Avery Shooting Facility is available at http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/ben_avery.shtml.

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