First Shot Ceremony to Inaugurate 2005 National Matches - The Adjutant General of the State of Ohio, Major General Gregory Wayt, will be the guest of honor at the 2005 National Matches First Shot Ceremony. The First Shot Ceremony has become the traditional opening ceremony for the annual competitions at Camp Perry, Ohio that attract over 5,000 competitors and school students from all over the United States and several foreign countries.

Dan Jordan is UAF’s New Head Rifle Coach - A University of Alaska Fairbanks alumnus who earned All-American honors as a shooter is the new head rifle coach at UAF.  Dan Jordan, a 2001 UAF grad who was an All-American at UAF and won the silver medal in men's three-position rifle at the 2004 Paralympics, will replace Glenn Dubis, who led the UAF rifle team to two NCAA championships in three seasons.

2005 NYSRPA Small Arms Firing School (SAFS) - 2005 celebrated the 15th year that the NYSRPA has been holding Small Arms Firing Schools in the Spring. Created by SGM Joseph Considine USA SF, Retired, the program was originally held at the Peconic River Sportsman’s Club on Long Island and continues to be held there as well as at Camp Smith in Peekskill, NY for the past 10 years. Fondly known as the “SAFS,” the NYSRPA program annually runs a total of from 225-275 participants through the two events each spring. The program is open to all and approximately one-third of the participants are juniors.

TNSSA Announces All-State High School Rifle Teams -  The Tennessee Shooting Sports Association (TNSSA) has announced the 2005 All-State High School Rifle Teams and recognized them at the organization’s Awards Banquet on Saturday, May 21st, 2005. The event was held at Montgomery Bell State Park Lodge in Dickson. This is the eighth year that an All-State High School Rifle Team has been recognized by TNSSA.

Successful Start for First Western CMP Games - 198 shooters, a majority of whom were firing in their first competition, reported to Camp Pendleton, California’s Wilcox Range firing line on 14 or 15 May to inaugurate the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s first Western CMP Games. This new national-level competition event marked a historic step forward for CMP competition programs. The CMP sanctions several hundred highpower rifle matches each year and it is well known for its role in conducting the National Trophy Rifle and Pistol Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, but until the Western CMP Games took place, the CMP had never conducted a highpower rifle competition outside of Camp Perry and the National Matches.

Civilian Instructors to Support Army Marksmanship Training - The U. S. Army Marksmanship Unit and the Civilian Marksmanship Program are developing a new program that utilizes outstanding civilian service rifle marksmen to assist USAMU instructors as they train Soldiers in advanced service rifle marksmanship skills. Highly qualified civilian marksmanship experts will be selected for training and service as CMP Military Rifle Instructors. The USAMU will train these instructors who will then be assigned duties with USAMU Mobile Training Teams conducting ‘Train-the-Trainer’ courses throughout the United States.

2005 JROTC Nationals - With professional baseball returning to Washington D.C., hearing people talk about “The Nationals” has come to mean a little more these days. However, for young shooters who belong to JROTC rifle teams, “The Nationals” means something entirely different and the weight of the phrase has not changed. It is a big deal for them to qualify for “The Nationals” – the National JROTC Air Rifle Championship, that is. The 2005 event took place on 22-23 April at the Pool Shooting Range Complex at Ft. Benning, Georgia, the home of the Army Marksmanship Unit.

Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia Students Victorious in Navy JROTC Championship - The winning teams in the 2005 Navy JROTC Championship at Fort Benning, Georgia hailed from Georgia and North Carolina. The individual sporter and precision class champions represented NJROTC units at schools in Florida and North Carolina. 160 NJROTC cadets from as far away as California and Washington state were selected to represent their schools and JROTC units at the Fort Benning competition on 18-19 April and the top finishers in this championship now advance to the National JROTC Championship, which also takes place at Fort Benning during the same week, on 22-23 April.