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Having been a member of the Junior NRA during the late '50's where I achieved the rating of Sharpshooter 6th Bar, I am honestly able to state that I was pleasantly surprised and very pleased to see that you're still actively pursuing today's youth to continue the interest of sport shooting (which I still love).  Thank you and warm regards.
Ted K., SCPO, USN Retired
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J. B.
I shot high expert in the Marine Corps in the 60's with the venerable Garand and hope someday to own one again. I like reading TFS and their informative articles. Thanks for the excellent site.
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I attended the Houston Gun Collectors January Show, and truthfully, the CMP display was the high point of the show for me. I'm still trying to decide about buying a Greek Collector Grade M-1 rifle (I have too many Garands already), but when all is said and done, I think the decision to take the CMP to such major gun shows is a real winner.
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PS Great revitalization and up grade of the old DCM.
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Hi,the Western CMP games sounds like a GREAT idea. I hope it works out as well as your matches do. I am hoping to shoot the Springfield Match along with the Garand Match this year. Again, I Thank all of you for being there for us shooters!
Warren W.
WONDERFUL IDEAS THESE WESTERN GARAND MATCHES , KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
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Paul D., Lt Col, IN ANG, BSC
I think it is great. Keep it up
Don E.




Printable Version

Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club Takes a Field Trip…
and Brings Home a Few Rifles

By Dale Miles, CMP Writer


Don Williams (left) and Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club President Tom Daily (right) pose for the CMP camera. Mr. Williams was instrumental in organizing the March 16th trip to the CMP Store.
When Don Williams of the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club in Anderson, Indiana visited the CMP Store at Camp Perry, Ohio in September 2004, he knew right away the other members of his club would be interested. Heading home with his rifle, he made plans to bring it up at the next meeting.

Don did bring it up at the next club meeting, excitedly telling the other members about the CMP Store and how you can actually pick out the government surplus rifles you want to buy.

Club Members look over the rifles available for sale at the CMP Store. As a rifle is selected and taken from the rack, a replacement is brought out from storeroom stock. This way the CMP assures customers that there is always something of value for them to see at the CMP Store.
“After I reported on my trip to Camp Perry, interest was high,” Williams said, “in fact the club president asked me to see about putting together a club trip to the CMP Store. So I arranged for a bus and here we are. In fact, plans are in the works for another trip in September.”

The “we” that Mr. Williams is referring to are himself and 35 other members of the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club who chartered a bus and drove from Anderson, Indiana to Camp Perry on the morning of March 16th. The Fall Creek Club is a large club, boasting programs in trap, pistol, smallbore, highpower, air rifle and archery on its menu of club shooting sports activities. They are actively involved in recruiting junior shooters. One of their junior trap teams placed third in the state of Indiana trap championship in 2004.

CMP Store Manager Art Royster passes out CMP caps to the members of the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club who chartered a bus to drive from Anderson, Indiana to shop at the CMP Store.
"Getting more youth into shooting is a priority for our club," says club President Tom Daily. “The one thing I’ve promoted since I’ve been involved with the club is the get young people involved. It used to be a good ol’ boys club, but now we have shooters of all ages.”

Their dedication to introducing young people to the shooting sports was one aspect of the club’s activities that earned them the coveted NRA Club of the Year Award in 2002. However, since the field trip to the CMP Store took place on a weekday when kids are in school, there were few in attendance. But the adults were there and they were interested in buying guns. “Those busses have huge cargo areas,” Williams said, so we plan on bringing home a few guns.” From the looks of things, more than a few M1 Garands, 1903 and 1903-A3 Springfields as well as .22 rifles were going to find new homes in Indiana and see plenty of time on the Fall Creek ranges.

CMP employee Terry “Peewee” Meyer (left)and CMP volunteer George Ball (middle) assist a customer in assuring that their paperwork and qualifications for purchase are in order. Employees and volunteers like Peewee and George are always on hand to help customers through the sometimes confusing process of qualifying to buy a rifle.
The CMP staff busily prepared the necessary paperwork for each of the Fall Creek members as they selected their prized rifles while sporting CMP caps given to them as they walked in the door. CMP volunteers Dan Aleshire, Al Sorokin, George Ball, Chuck M., Gene Schwochow and Gino Barna were on-hand to assist the shoppers to make sure they could return home with the rifles they selected. These volunteers are some of the behind the scenes people at the CMP who stand ready to help the CMP Store and Store Manager Art Royster whenever it gets especially busy.

The chartered bus idles in the parking lot as the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club members buy plenty of rifles and ammunition to fill its cargo space for the trip back to Anderson, Indiana.
If you are a member of a club and think you might want to arrange a trip to Camp Perry for your members, Don Williams has some advice, “Try to get more than one club involved. Advertise at least three months in advance to your own club and some neighboring clubs to help keep the cost down. You can’t get the word out too soon. And be sure to let the CMP know you are coming!”

One of six volunteers on hand for the day assists a Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club member in his selection of a rifle for purchase. The CMP wants to thank such volunteers as this who give willingly of their personal time to assist us.
If you live in the Anderson, Indiana area (about thirty miles northeast of Indianapolis) and are looking for a CMP affiliated club to join, the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club just may be the club for you. They offer active programs in nearly every shooting discipline, including several CMP-sanctioned matches each year. They are in the process of setting up a rivalry match with another nearby club. For more information about the Fall Creek Valley Conservation Club, go to http://www.fcvcc.org/maininfo.htm for complete information on this outstanding club.

For more information on the CMP Store, including hours of operation, go to http://www.odcmp.com/Store.htm. And in case you were wondering, when rifles are sold at the CMP Store, volunteers and staff replace them with rifles from the back to always make sure there is a fresh supply of rifles to choose from. The guys from the Fall Creek Club didn’t get all the good ones. Come up and see for yourself!

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