Western CMP Games competitors firing the standing stage of the John C. Garand Match course of fire.

The Ben Avery Shooting Facility north of Phoenix hosted the 2007 Western CMP Games Matches on 20-23 October.

Wind was a dominating factor in the 2007 Western CMP Games that took place at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility north of Phoenix, Arizona on 20-23 October. The matches began with a clinic attended by over 70 new shooters on 20 October. When the 126 competitors who checked in for the first Garand, Springfield and Vintage Military Rifle Matches returned on Sunday morning, the overnight arrival of a strong high pressure system with sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts up to 60 mph forced the cancellation of the day’s matches. Two 30-shot events were fired on Monday when strong winds of 15-30 mph prevailed. Then on Tuesday, the final day of the Western Games Matches, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and the winds were dead calm.

The horrific winds that caused the cancellation of the Western Games’ first day matches were part of the same weather system that caused the Santa Anna winds that fanned the huge fires in Southern California. When winds exceed 25-30 mph, highpower rifle targets become big sails that can be blown out of the frames or snap the 2x4 uprights that hold the targets. It is simply too dangerous to have competitors in the pits pulling targets under these conditions. Ironically, the Western Games Matches were originally scheduled to be at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, but the Marine Corps range there where the Western Games Matches would have been held had been shut down due to the fires. This meant that while one day of shooting was lost due to winds at Phoenix, all three days of the competition would have been lost if the matches had remained at Camp Pendleton.

Even though the Sunday matches were cancelled, the CMP did provide a barbecue for all competitors that afternoon and opened up its government surplus rifle and ammunition sales for competitors to enjoy. A large number of rifles including all of the CMP Special M1 Garands and ammunition that came from the CMP Distribution Center in Anniston, Alabama were sold out.

It made for a long day on Monday to squeeze two days of firing into one day, but the Arizona Rifle and Pistol Association’s highpower rifle committee volunteers had the range in great functioning shape and Chief Range Officer Richard Whiting of Buckhannon, West Virginia kept the range moving so well that all firing was completed by 4:00 PM.

Scores were quite a bit lower than normal, so the cut scores for CMP Achievement Medals were “graded on a curve” to compensate for the difficult conditions. At the award ceremony that afternoon, Ms. Judy Legerski, Vice Chair of the CMP Board of Directors, presented 24 bronze, 18 silver and 6 gold Achievement Medals for the John C. Garand Match; 8 bronze, 6 silver and 1 gold medals for the Springfield Rifle Match and 3 bronze and 1 silver for the Vintage Military Rifle Match.

The John C. Garand course of fire is used for the three matches. It begins with five sighters and 10 shots for record in prone slow-fire firing. That is followed by 10 shots rapid fire in the prone position where competitors must stand, load two or five rounds and then get into position to fire those rounds, reload and complete the ten shots within the time limit. An 80 second time limit was used for all competitors since Garand and manually operated rifles were mixed on all relays. All rifles must be “as-issued” military rifles and all competitors except Vintage Military Rifle shooters must fire ammunition issued on the line. CMP Greek HXP .30-06 ammunition was issued for this match.

James Denovchek of Tucson, Arizona fired the Match Winner score in the Garand Match with 283-5X total that included a 95 standing in strong winds. Pete Orebaugh, who traveled from Vero Beach, Florida, to shoot in the Western Games Matches, was the High Senior with a 276-5X total. 15-year-old Jim Minturn from Temecula, California was the High Junior with a 243-1X score.

In the Springfield Rifle Match, Mike Miller from Downey, California was the Match Winner, for the third time in the four years that the Western Games have been staged, with a 278-2X total. Miller was also the High Senior, while Minturn was the High Junior with a 264-1X.

In the Vintage Military Rifle Match, William Poole, from Scottsdale, Arizona used a Swedish 6.5x55mm Mauser to top all competitors with a 274-4X. Poole is the Chairman of the Arizona Rifle & Pistol Association Highpower Committee.

Competitors who did not shoot different rifles in the two matches had the option of firing the same rifle in a Reentry Match. Maury Krupp, from Tucson, Arizona fired a second Garand score in the Reentry Match where he had the day’s Overall High Score with a 285-5X.

The Western CMP Games Matches concluded on 23 October with a Special As-Issued M1 Garand EIC Match. In that match, the top 10 percent of all competitors who have not previously earned any Rifle EIC points received 4-point legs. The course of fire in this match varies from the 30-shot Garand course by including a 10-shot rapid-fire sitting stage. 70-second time limits are used in both rapid-fire stages.

Krupp was also the Match Winner in this match with a 378-5X total. However, since Krupp earned a 4-point leg in the 2006 Western CMP Games As-Issued EIC Match, he was not eligible to earn points in this match. Pete Orebaugh, who is a Distinguished Rifleman, fired a 375-3X score to take the High Senior plaque in this match. Alejandro Stephas, 18, from Zillah, Washington, was the High Junior. There were 44 eligible competitors in this match so four shooters, Peter Wolf from Benson, Arizona, 367-4X; Michael Carlo from Santa Rosa, California, 362-5X; Arthur Merrill from Prescott, Arizona, 358-4X and Dennis Santiago from Hawthorne, California, 354-5X all earned their first 4-point legs.

In addition to the Sunday afternoon barbecue and the CMP Rifle Sales opportunity, another special feature of the Regional CMP Games Matches is the new shooter clinic that starts it all. The clinic offered three hours of classroom instruction, a printed student guide and a dry fire session on the range where CMP Master Instructors provided coaching. A group of eleven new GSM (Garand-Springfield-Military Rifle) Master Instructors who attended a Master Instructor training workshop just prior to the Western Games acted as coaches.

Complete results for the 2007 Western CMP Games events are posted at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=2516. The Western CMP Games are followed by the Creedmoor Cup Matches that take place on 24-28 October. Results for those matches will be posted on a daily basis at the same site during those days.

Photos can be viewed at http://www.odcmp.com/Photos.htm.

Jim Minturn, 15, Temecula, California, was the High Junior in both the Garand and Springfield Matches.	The Ben Avery Shooting Facility is sited in the Sonora Desert where the Saguaro Cactus has its home. Several of these impressive cactuses are found on the Ben Avery range. They can live to 200 years of age and grow to 75 feet in height. The Saguaro Cactus flower is the Arizona state flower.
Pete Orebaugh, Vero Beach, Florida, was the High Senior competitor in the John C. Garand and As-Issued EIC Matches.

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