Arizona's Trip to Camp Perry for High Power 2001

Arizona Rifle Teams

Camp Perry
National Championships 2001
http://arizona.rifleshooting.com/

Perry results seem to be appearing here

Arizona Shooters!

The Arizona State Junior Rifle Team member Leanna B.
at Camp Perry 2001, Aug, 2001

A fitting tribute to a great shooter who came up through the Junior ranks to
achieve a dream of being selected by the US Army to shoot with the AMU team.
We'll be seeing her again since her AIT will be in Arizona. . - Tom K.

Arizona Adult team at NTT match, Larry W r, Tom K l, Steve M coaching

The Arizona State Junior Rifle Team (junior team that is) is sponsored by:
Sierra (Bullets)
Accuracy Speaks (AR 'smith, coach and inspiration)
The Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association

AZ Adults in a photo op at Perry in front of a train car, one of 50 that France sent as thanks to the US, which toured the country after WWI then were placed in each state.
I think the Arizona one is in Scottsdale McCormick Park.

The Arizona State Rifle Team (adult team that is) is sponsored by:
Hornady (Bullets)
Alliant (Powder)
Accuracy Speaks (AR 'smith, coach and inspiration)
The Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association

As well as the team members themselves.

Pcitures (by Tom K):

Photo's by Bill P

Many of the above were won by Arizonans.

An Article on the Arizona Trip to Camp Perry 2001
Bill Poole – 13-Aug-01

The Arizona Rifle shooters at the 2001 National Championship Rifle Matches.

Arriving at Camp Perry on the last Saturday in July after a red-eye flight, just walking around, I realized again how much I love that place. This was my 3rd year, and the first time I tried to fly instead of drive! A number of us high power rifle shooters decided nearly 12 months ago to make a serious attempt to improve on our team score from last year, so we put together one of the most aggressive training plans in recent memory. After more than a dozen practice sessions at Ben Avery under the blazing summer sun, its finally game time!

As most readers of this publication know, the National Championships are held at the Ohio National Guard Base “Camp Perry” on the shores of Lake Erie every summer. The championships includes muzzleloading, pistol, smallbore rifle and highpower rifle. The matches last from early July through mid August, I don’t know that any of us has THAT much vacation time! My AR-15 service rifle and I spent “CMP week” there.

Numerous shooters representing Arizona competed in the matches, including pistol shooters, both junior and adult rifle shooters in the Smallbore, CMP service rifle, NRA highpower rifle and Long Range stages.

During Smallbore week in the “Whistler Boy”, a match for junior teams of two, one of our teams “Arizona Gold”, consisting of Beau Goff & Chris LaMarca, coached by Allen Elliot, won with 1803-36X.

After the smallbore shooters go away, or at least put their .22’s back in the cases and take out their .223’s…. CMP week starts. The matches this week are sponsored by the Civilian Marksmanship Program, (http://www.odcmp.com), best known for promoting high power rifle shooting through the sales of the surplus M1 rifles that so many of us started our competitive careers with (they have surplus smallbore rifles too now!).

In order to make it to Perry in time to sign in on the Saturday that starts CMP week, five of us Arizona highpower shooters got the cheapest flight we could find 2 months earlier. Leaving Friday after work, with a 4 hour layover in Las Vegas, we’d head east at midnight, arriving in the morning, our numerous cases and bags checked all the way through to Detroit. It was at Vegas that the first of our mishaps with a happy ending occurred. After finding a locker for our carry-on bags (funny, the x-ray guy never asked why I had a spotting scope, binoculars, camera and 4 pairs of glasses in there!), we made our way to the exit to catch a cab into town for a nice non-airport dinner, this took us through the baggage claim area. Sitting there, unclaimed, on the carousel was a great big blue UplandUSA High Power Range bag! Well, there’s only one guy in our group that uses that bag! Larry went over and sure enough, the airline routing tag to Detroit had fallen off, so when they took it off the plane at Vegas, they had nowhere to route it except to baggage claim. Larry’s Arizona address name tag was still attached, which no-doubt is where the airline would have delivered it if no-one claimed it in several days, but more than half the shooting gear and clothes he’d need at Camp Perry was in that bag! If he had not spotted it sitting there and gotten it checked back onto the flight, his stay at Perry would not have been nearly as pleasant!

That first Saturday of high power week is the day you sign up for the army’s basic “Small Arms Firing School”, recommended for first time attendees. The junior teams attend a more advanced 3-day clinic put on by the Marine Corps every year.

Several of the Arizona Shooters attended an NRA Coaches School for three long evenings. What was learned should be directly applicable to the ongoing beginner’s clinics and planned intermediate high power rifle classes at Rio Salado as well as coaching new juniors and coaching team practices and matches.

Monday afternoon is a squadded practice session at 200 yds. Then the official matches begin with the 30-shot, 1330-competitor “President’s Match” on Tuesday. It is at this one match per year that the esteemed “President’s Hundred” ribbon is awarded to the top 100 shooters, the lowest of whom shot a 287-9X out of 300! Among that list this year, which reads like a who’s who of service rifle shooting, is Arizona’s junior Jake Quamme in 75th place with a 289-6X!

The following day is the National Trophy Individual Match, more commonly called the “LEG” match. It is in “LEG” matches that the top 10% of the non-distinguished shooters earn points towards their own Distinguished Rifleman’s badge, a journey that takes several “legs”, hence the name. Of the over 1200 shooters this year, about 1000 were non-distinguished, Arizonan Bill Poole shot a 482-13X for his last leg and “went distinguished”! Several distinguished Arizona shooters also made the 478-12X “cut”.

On Thursday, the adults head to the pits or the coaches chairs and work while the juniors shoot the Whistler Boy Match. Like the smallbore match of the same name, they are competing for a trophy consisting of a statue of a boy who appears to be whistling.

Arizona fielded 4 highpower teams. The Phoenix Rod & Gun Club team of Liana Bombardier and Jay Jose was our top state team. Adults John Wilder and Steve Merritt contributed to coaching the teams.

Next is the National Trophy Team Match, commonly called the 6-man team match. Team members each fire the full 50-shot National Match course, same as the LEG match, no sighter shots!, but in a team match coaching is allowed and pair firing is mandated for the slow fire matches. This means two shooters on the line, firing one after the other in sequence. A block of time is allocated for all 6 shooters rather than the fixed time per shooter as in an individual match. This gives the coach some flexibility to wait out difficult conditions.

The State Association entered both an adult team and a junior team. But shooting on the winning Marine Corps Reserve team, it was Glendale AZ resident USMCR SSgt Ron Fuchs who had the high individual score, 495-20X, in this match.

The National Trophy Infantry Team match is a different kind of shooting. Instead of round bulls eyes, the military rectangular “silhouette” target is used and all the shooting is rapid fire, its called “Rattle Battle”. It was for this match that the Arizona team put in so much training effort. Our 2000 score was 828, in a match won with a 1432! We had almost nowhere to go but up! Well, after putting 4000 match bullets, graciously provided by adult team sponsor Hornady, into Ben Avery’s impact area, we were ready!

And the training paid off, our score improved significantly, our 1072 beat the first place Arizona Juniors’ 964 for the first time in years. We adults still need more work, (the winning adult Oklahoma team had an 1166), before we can join the teenagers on the stage at awards ceremony, but we’re on our way.

Saturday afternoon, after Rattle Battle and before the CMP award ceremony is the very popular John C. Garand match. Named after the famous inventor, over 1360 shooters competed, almost all of whom shoot the M1 Garand rifle in as-issued condition. Of the four Arizonans, Bill Poole, Tom Albanito and Tom Kirby all won gold medals.

The following week is NRA week, with 4 days of conventional highpower and 3 days of long range. Many of the Arizona team members who shot in the service rifle matches went back home to work, but other Arizonans, many of them shooting NRA match rifles, had skipped CMP week but were here in force.

Camp Perry is the culmination of a year of competitive shooting, even for someone shooting relatively low scores, just being among a thousand other shooters, trolling the numerous shops on “commercial row”, shooting a match nearly a century old, is a great experience. The Arizona Rifle Team is always looking for new members, adult and junior to shoot with us and join us for the coming season. More information and photos can be found at http://arizona.rifleshooting.com .

“All Ready on the Firing Line!”

My 1999 write up pics won't link well
Comment on Rifles at Camp Perry

Larry W.'s Article on Team Shooting

High Power Team Match

High Power is usually an individual sport. However, there is an opportunity
a couple of times a year when you can form a team of local club shooters,
co-workers, or even family and compete. Team matches offer the opportunity
to build camaraderie, share techniques, and have fun. Here in Arizona there
is the State Service Rifle, the George Washington Birthday Match, the
Regional, and the State High Power Match. Most State championships have a
team match if you travel outside the state and if you do not travel, there
with a team you can form a pick-up team at the range. It is a great way to
make friends. At Camp Perry the Juniors shoot a two man team match called
the Whistler Boy. Camp Perry ends the first week with a 6-man team match and
starts the second week with a 4-man team match.

Team organization is not complicated. Somebody has to be the captain, flip a
coin, draw straws, or even volunteer, however you do it there has to be a
Captain. The captain is responsible for signing up the team, making sure
everyone is in the right place at the right time, verifying the scores,
shooting, and even coaching. The shooting and coaching are optional.
Someone has to score while the others are shooting. The scorer is one of the
shooters unless you bring a friend or family. Your team will usually score
for the team on the right or left. The same is true of the target puller.
Select one of the shooters to head to the pits for the first relay or hire a
puller. Half way through the match another team member goes to the pits.

There are two courses of fire for a team match, The National Match (50 round)
and the Presidents Match (30 round) are the two most common courses of fire.
Some matches include sighters and others do not.

The team fires two shooters in a block time of twenty-seven or forty seven
minutes depending on the course of fire during the standing and prone slow
fire stages. The shooters pair fire or fire individually as long as both
shooters complete firing within the time limit. Remember that someone has to
keep score for another team during the block time. That can be the one of
the shooters, the team captain, or someone else.

Calling the shot is important. After breaking the shot, the shooter informs
the coach or the other shooter where the shot broke. Based on the call, the
wind, and the location of the shot the coach may make a wind correction.

The rapid-fire stages are fired in the same manner as an individual match
except you coach the shooter. Scoping the target and coaching is part of the
team match. The coach lines up the scope above the shooter and watches the
trace of the bullet. If lighting is optimum, you can see the bullet holes.
While firing the coach yells out corrections as required. During the
magazine change the coach may move up to the shooter and indicate where the
bullets hit and make corrections. The coach then returns to the scope and
observes the remaining eight shots and yelling corrections and providing the
shooter feedback. The key is communication. The team agrees on terminology
for calling the shots: "Good" for 10s and Xs, go right, go left, go up, go
down; or favor right, favor left, take white, take black. If you shoot to
fast, the coach has a hard time providing correction.

One word of note is when you are scoring or pulling targets you are not
looking at your team's target. That being said there is a potential of
negative habit transfer. When it is your turn to shoot what target number is
fresh in your brain? One way to overcome the potential for crossfiring is to
have the coach remind the shooter of the target number.

With all being said the only thing left to do is find a couple of guys or
gals that want to have some fun and shoot a team match. You may want to get
a team shirt with a logo and even a hat.

Hold hard.

Last modified by: Bill Poole (26-Feb-04, 26-Sep-01). ©
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