CAMP PERRY, OHIO – While some shooters dealt with a driving rain, wildly-fluctuating crosswinds and the accompanying delays, others enjoyed bright sun and calm conditions during the ninth annual Rimfire Sporter Match on Sunday, 25 July. Chalk it all up to “The Camp Perry Experience.” As veteran shooters know, the weather is almost always a factor here and first-time shooters received a classic introduction to it Sunday.

Young and Old Alike Enjoy the Challenges of 2010 Rimfire Sporter Match

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – Now more than ten times larger in the number of event entries compared to the first Camp Perry Rimfire Sporter Match in 2002, hundreds fledgling and veteran shooters are still finding the “introductory” event an enjoyable challenge. The very first CMP Rimfire Sporter match was held at the Wolf Creek Gun Club in Atlanta, Georgia, in April of that year. Eleven competitors fired in the Atlanta test match and the match winner fired an aggregate score of 550. As it was in 2002, the Rimfire Sporter Match was designed to accommodate a beginning shooter with nothing more than a store-bought .22 caliber rifle bearing no precision competition gear.

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – A pair of junior shooters from the state of New York made history on 18 July at the 2010 National Trophy Team Pistol Match by being the first junior team from their state to participate in the National Matches at Camp Perry, according to their coaches, Peter Militello and Paul Korn.“You’re watching history in the making,” echoed Militello, 71, of Orchard Park, and Korn, 42, of Elma. “It happened thanks to the new law in the state of New York,” Militello said. 

ANNISTON, ALABAMA – In a pair of tightly-contested finals in the 2010 National Three-Position Air Rifle Junior Olympics Championships in both precision and sporter classes, Matthew Martin topped Catherine Green and Hannah Weatherford edged Thomas Wheeless to capture national titles in precision and sporter classes, respectively. Martin, 17, of Eagle River, Alaska, squeaked by Green, 18, of Coventry, Rhode Island, in Precision Air Rifle overall by eight-tenths of a point, 1280.4 to 1279.6 for the victory. Trailing by one point after 120 shots in the two-day match, Green outshot Martin in the final 10 by two-tenths of a point, 99.6 to 99.4, but it wasn’t enough as Martin’s pre-final margin held up.

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – The CMP Marksmanship Center airgun range was a popular stop on the June junior camp trail, giving cadets an opportunity to fire sporter air rifles on the state-of-the-art electronic range. Two groups paid a visit to the center the week of 20 June as 25 law enforcement “master at arms” cadets from the Columbus, Ohio division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps and 85 members of the Air Force Junior ROTC Summer Leadership School fired sporter air rifles at the Marksmanship Center as part of the curriculum of both programs. In each case, cadets were given an opportunity to test their marksmanship skills as part of their overall missions to build individual and team skills and responsibilities in a variety of disciplines.

BIGGEST WORLD SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP EVER

The Football (soccer) World Cup in South Africa dominated world sports news during the past two months, but for shooting sports enthusiasts, another world championship, the World Shooting Championship, is far more important. The 50th World Shooting Championship will open in Munich, Germany on the 30th of July with a festive Opening Ceremony on Munich’s iconic Marienplatz. When the World Championship closes on the 10th of August, 2,460 shooters from 103 countries will have competed for 324 gold, silver and bronze individual and team medals in 54 events. World Championship athletes will also compete for 69 Olympic Games Quotas for the 2012 Games in London. This will be the largest World Shooting Championship ever and all indications are that it will also be the best ever.

U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit dominates National Trophy Pistol Matches

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – Members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit took top honors once again in the President’s Pistol Trophy Match, National Trophy Individual Pistol Match and National Trophy Team Pistol Match at the 2010 CMP National Trophy Pistol Matches, Sunday, 18 July.

CMP’s Air Gun Events Draw Record Number of National Match Competitors

CAMP PERRY, OHIO – A record number of air gun pistol competitors entered the National Matches Air Gun Events at the Camp Perry Marksmanship Training Center during pistol week, according to Brad Donoho, Program Coordinator. Several shooters participated in the National Match Air Pistol Competition for the first time in the re-entry matches and 60-shot Air Pistol Championship Match at the three-year-old venue. The Overall Match Winner in the air pistol championship and defending 2009 champion with a score of 575 was John Zurek Jr. of Chandler, Arizona. Zurek, who also participated in the National Trophy Pistol Matches, was this year’s high-scoring civilian in the President’s Pistol Trophy Match.