Stonecipher Wins GSMM Four-Gun Aggregate at Western CMP Games

By Steve Cooper, CMP Marketing Manager

Kent Stonecipher, of Ada, Oklahoma, strung together second, third, eighth and ninth place finishes to capture the Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Bolt-Modern Military Rifle aggregate championship at the Western CMP Games, posting an aggregate score of 1131-30X.

PHOENIX, AZ – Kent Stonecipher, 61, of Ada, OK, demonstrated once again at the 2013 Western CMP Games that you don’t have to sweep all the matches in the Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Bolt-Modern Military aggregate to be the top four-gun competitor, but you need to be consistent.

Bill Ellis, of Langley, England, captured second place in the four-gun aggregate with an overall score of 1114-18X. Ellis lives overseas and travels to CMP Games Matches at least three times each year. Here his is presented his GSMM award by Bill Willoughby, a member of the CMP Board of Directors.

Entering all four matches is the primary requirement, but once you’re there, you need to shoot very well in each match to have a chance to finish at or near the top. The GSMM puts the shooters’ skills to the test with both as-issued old-school and contemporary military rifles in four 300-point games matches with 1,200 points possible.

Stonecipher strung together second, third, eighth and ninth place finishes yet still out-distanced GSMM second-place finisher William Ellis, 48, of Langley, England, by 17 points overall. The Oklahoman was consistently very good in each match, averaging 282.75 points to post an aggregate of 1131-30X.

Bill Aten, of Kingwood, Texas, captured fifth place in the GSMM event, posting an overall score of 1111-22X.

Stonecipher fired a 285-8x in placing second in the Vintage Military Bolt Match, a 282-10X to place third in the Springfield Match, a 282-4X to place eighth in Modern Military and a 282-8X to place ninth in the Garand Match.

Ellis captured second place in the four-gun aggregate with an overall score of 1114-18X, a 278.5 average. Cpl. James Minturn, 21, USMC Reserve, of Temecula, CA, placed third with an aggregate score of 1112-20X.  Mike Miller, 66, of Downey, CA, placed fourth (1111-23X) and William Aten, 61, of Kingwood, TX, finished fifth (1111-22X) in the narrowest of tiebreakers with Aten.

Dennis Caviness, of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, was the winner of the Modern Military Rifle Match with an aggregate score of 286-3X. He fired the match for record and re-entered for practice in the three remaining GSMM matches.

All four matches are fired at 200 yards using the same course of fire – 10 shots prone slow-fire, 10 shots prone rapid-fire and 10 shots standing slow-fire. The M1 Garand and Springfield 1903/1903A3 rifles are the backbone of the GSMM. From there, competitors can mix in their favorite combination of bolt and contemporary guns.

Cpl. James Minturn, USMCR, 21, of Temecula, California, placed third in the GSMM with an aggregate score of 1112-20X. He is congratulated by CMP Board Member, Bill Willoughby.

The Vintage Military Bolt rifle can be any as-issued military bolt or straight-pull long gun from any country in its original configuration. The Modern Military rifle category is reserved for bare-bones as-issued semi-auto service rifles from any nation, as long as it hasn’t been accurized for National Match competition (see rules for complete descriptions).

Mike Miller, of Downey, California, placed fourth in the GSMM four-gun aggregate with an overall score of 1111-23X.

At total of 24 competitors fired in all four GSMM matches and 148 shooters shot in at least one or more of the competitions. The next GSMM games competition will be fired at the CMP Games – Oklahoma at the Oklahoma City Gun Club in April 2014.       

For complete match results, log onto CMP’s Competition Tracker at http://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php?do=match&task=edit&match=10405. To view photos from the Western Games, log onto http://cmp1.zenfolio.com/.