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2009 National CMP Games Wrap-Up

Written by Steve Cooper, CMP Writer


CAMP PERRY, OHIO - Whether you're a fan of old-school bolt actions, thumb-busters, straight-pulls or short-stroke carbines, there were plenty to see in action during the CMP's National Carbine, Springfield, Vintage Military and John C. Garand Rifle Matches 6-8 August.

Father and son duo, Zak and Tim Kalus, attended the CMP Games Events this year.

"This is fantastic," said Tim Kalus, 50, of Glen Campbell, Pennsylvania. “There's nothing like shooting old rifles and holding history in your hands," he said.

Kalus, a Springfield and Garand shooter, came to Camp Perry with his son Zak, 19, and brother Andrew, 36, an Army National Guardsman.

Since 2006 Kalus and his son have attended the Small Arms Firing School for rifle, the USMC Junior Highpower Clinic and are now building a tradition of participation in the CMP Games events. It was Andrew's first Camp Perry experience.

John Friguglietti held onto his National Carbine Match title, winning the match two years in a row. MG Greg Wayt, Adjutant General of Ohio, presents John with his trophy plaque.

On Thursday, 6 August, John J. Friguglietti, Jr., 38, of Lincolnton, North Carolina, won the 2009 National Carbine Rifle Match with an aggregate score of 370-3X. Friguglietti was the 2008 champion in the event, and it was his third visit to the medal stand in three years, having placed third in the 2007 National Carbine Rifle Match.

In the match, Friguglietti and his fellow competitors fired 10 sighting shots in 10 minutes, 10 shots for record in slow fire prone in five minutes, 10 shots prone from standing rapid fire in 60 seconds, 10 shots sitting or kneeling from standing rapid fire in 60 seconds and 10 shots slow fire standing in 10 minutes. All firing was conducted at 100 yards on the SR-1 highpower rifle target (200 yard SR target reduced for firing at 100 yards) on Rodriguez Range.

Glenn Ward, 58, of Bellevue, Nebraska placed second with a total score of 367-8X and George Wilson, 61, of Roswell, Georgia placed third with an aggregate score of 366-6X. Wilson's overall score also qualified as the highest score in the Senior Division.

In the Senior Division Clyde Hammack, Jr., 71, of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania placed second with a score of 361-2X and Jeremy Stengel of Waterford, Wisconsin placed third with an aggregate of 358-2X.

The high junior in the National Carbine Rifle Match was Stephen Tupta,17, of McMurray, Pennsylvania with an aggregate score of 340-1X. Nathan Mahaffy, 16, of Tipp City, Ohio placed second with a total of 333-2X. Kyle Mummert, 19, of Meadville, Pennsylvania captured third with an aggregate of 332-2X.

Achievement medals for the National Carbine Match were awarded according to the following cut scores: Gold: 351 and above, Silver: 338–350 and Bronze: 322–337. A total of 571 scores were recorded in this year's match, an increase of 38 over last year.

National Springfield and Vintage Rifle Match competitors were greeted by an unusually mild day at Camp Perry with sunny skies, light breezes and temperatures in the mid 70s on Friday, 7 August.

Christopher Hudock was the High Overall winner and High Junior in the Springfield Rifle Match.

Christopher Hudock, 19, of Raleigh, North Carolina took full advantage of the conditions as he soared to the top of the Overall and Junior ranks, firing an aggregate score of 293-6X. Hudock also won the inaugural CMP-USMC Highpower Junior Clinic EIC Match and the inaugural National Trophy Junior Team Match earlier in the week. To top that off he also won the M9 Pistol EIC match during pistol phase at the National Matches.

Some Springfield and Vintage Rifle competitors who fired on the remaining relays on Saturday, 8 August were not as lucky when weather conditions turned from sun and calm to rain and wind. Springfield Match achievement medals were awarded to shooters reaching the following cut scores: Gold: 276 and above, Silver: 269-275 and Bronze: 258–268.

The 200-yard John C. Garand Match Course of fire was used for the Springfield Match, with one exception, 80 seconds were allowed for the prone rapid0-fire stage, rather than the 70 seconds allowed for the Garand. This provided Springfield competitors a little extra time to manually work the bolt and load their second five rounds at the mid-point of firing.

Shooters were allowed up to five sighting shots and moved into record with ten shots in the prone position, fired in 15 minutes. This was followed by a prone rapid-fire series and capped off by ten shots standing slow fire in 10 minutes. This year, 775 competitors fired in the Springfield match.

David Ressel, 42, of Torrington, Connecticut placed second with a total score of 291-11X. Glendale Rutherford, 57, of Tallapoosa, Georgia captured third place with an aggregate score of 290-7X.

In the Junior Division, the second and third place finishers were Hannah Gaddie, 17, of Mason, Michigan, and Levi Foos, 17, of Chandler, Arizona with aggregate scores of 280-3X and 279-12X, respectively.

The Senior Division winner of the National Springfield Match was Donald Tryce, 60, of Austin, Texas with an aggregate score of 288-10X. Jan Hill, 62, of Lakewood, Ohio won second place with a total score of 287-9X and Lee McKinney, 62, of Rio Rico, Arizona placed third with an aggregate of 285-5X.

The National Vintage Military Rifle Match is a CMP Games event where competitors must fire “as-issued” U.S. Krag or M1917 rifles or manually-operated foreign military rifles. The Vintage Military Rifle Match encourages recreation-oriented target shooters to use these fascinating military rifles in target shooting events that strive to preserve military marksmanship traditions.

Competitors were given the option of firing in both the Springfield and Vintage Military Rifle Matches on the same day, or fire in one event on 7 August and one event on the afternoon of 8 August. The course of fire was the same as the National Springfield Rifle Match.

Lee McKinney, 62, of Rio Rico, Arizona, was the High Senior in the Vintage Military Rifle Match.

Justin Utley, 24, of Mineola, Texas captured first place in the National Vintage Rifle Match, firing a Swiss Straight-Pull rifle with an aggregate score of 290-9X. Sean Leighton, 46, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania finished second with an aggregate of 289-7X, firing a Swedish Mauser and Lee McKinney, who placed third in Springfield, also won third place with a total score of 288-7X, shooting a U.S. Krag. McKinney's score ranked him first in the Senior Division as well.

Christopher Hudock, winner of the Springfield match overall and high junior, was the High Junior in the Vintage Rifle Match with a total score of 248-0X (the rifle type was not listed). Josh Wayner, 19, of Holland, Michigan placed second with an aggregate score of 241-1X, firing a Mosin-Nagant, M91/30 rifle. Placing third and also firing a 241-1X was Alex Greenawalt, 17, of Reading, Pennsylvania.

David Lantz, 71, of Saginaw, Michigan placed second in the Senior Division with an aggregate score of 282-5X, firing a U.S. M1917 and George Spencer, 65, of Holt, Michigan placed third in the National Vintage Rifle match with a score of 281-5X, shooting a Swedish Mauser.

Vintage Military Match Medal award scores were: Gold: 276 and above, Silver: 267–275 and Bronze: 254–266.

Despite the rain and wind, John C. Garand Match competitors managed to enjoy the day on the range.

Compared to most days of the 2009 National Matches, Saturday, 8 August was one of the most miserable. Rain showers and buffeting winds greeted National John C. Garand Match competitors on the firing line most of day and after-effects of weather were felt throughout the day, even after skies cleared in the afternoon.

A few rain-soaked targets failed in the eighth and final relay, which prompted a restart after replacement targets were secured.

Still, a field of more than 1,200 competitors fired their As-Issued and Unlimited M1 Garand rifles with enthusiasm to close the Civilian Marksmanship Program's competition events at the 2009 matches.

Firing a 293-6X, Kurt Palmer was named the 2009 As-Issued Garand Match winner. He was awarded a trophy plaque by MG Wayt and Mr. Jim Adell, GCA representative.

Kurt Palmer, 39, of Westport, Massachusetts, placed first in the As-Issued Garand match with an aggregate score of 293-6X and was presented with the John C. Garand trophy. Palmer edged Clinton Greenwood, 49, of Tomball, Texas who shot a 291-10X for second place and U.S. Navy Aviation Technician AT1(AW) Keith Bowen, 30, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, who placed third with an aggregate of 290-8X.

New York Junior, Gallager Bobseine, captured the High Junior Garand title for the 2nd time in a row.

Gallager Bobseine, 20, of Cattaraugus, New York won the top spot in the Junior Division, firing an aggregate score of 286-4X. Rudolf Porter, 20, of Denver, Colorado placed second with a total score of 284-3X and Victoria Gaddie, 19, of Mason, Michigan captured third with an aggregate of 277-6X.

Fred Szablewski, 60, of Skippack, Pennsylvania was the top Senior Division As-Issued Garand competitor with an aggregate of 286-5X. Fellow Pennsylvanian, Leonard Lapato, 62, of Greensburg won second place with an aggregate score of 285-3X and Steve Kiernan of Washington, DC, won third place with a score of 283-7X.

Garand Match Medal award scores for competitors who fire As-Issued M1 Garands were: Gold: 276 and above, Silver: 269-275 and Bronze: 258-268.

The Unlimited Garand category, new in 2009, allowed shooters with many M1 Garands that were not previously allowed in the Garand Match to now fire those rifles in the National Matches. Competitors with National Match M1s, .308 M1s, commercial M1s or Garands with glass bedding or shims were allowed to fire those rifles in the new class.

U.S. Army National Guardsman, SSG Jonathan O'Neal, 35, of Marietta, Georgia won the first-ever Unlimited category with an aggregate score of 282-9X. John Marx, 47, of Conifer, Colorado placed second with a total score of 278-6X and Michael Brennan, 54, of Canton, Georgia won third place with a score of 276-2X.

Garand Match Medal award scores for competitors who fire Unlimited Garands were: Gold: 280 and above, Silver: 273-279 and Bronze: 260-272.

New in 2009 was the Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Aggregate Award. CWO3 Peter Burns, of Stafford, Virginia, fired an aggregate score of 858-12X to win the M1903A4 Sniper Rifle Replica, donated by Gibbs Rifle Company.

More than 40 members of the Garand Collectors Association participated in the Springfield and John C. Garand matches, according to GCA member Andy Giegold, 58, of Garrett, Indiana.

Giegold and all other fellow competitors in the Springfield and Garand matches were each provided with 40 rounds of Hornady "Garand Match" ammunition. Hornady was this year's official ammunition supplier, and provided a match round that was found to be most suitable for the chamber pressures of both rifles and target distances of each match.

Garand Collector’s Association members working in the pits during the Springfield Military Rifle Match.

Giegold was shooting with some competitors from his regional group from Indiana, Michigan, Texas, Maine and Ohio including Bruce Talbott, 56, of Galion, Ohio and Greg Foster, 61, of Readfield, Maine.

The Garand collectors group was organized to exchange information and expand knowledge of the U.S. Rifle, Caliber .30, M1; to preserve and publicize the history of the rifle and its inventor John C. Garand; to assist and encourage new collectors; to assist authors in writing new reference works; to assist members in their collecting; and to encourage competitive and recreational safe shooting of the rifle, according to its Web site at http://www.thegca.org.

"Some of us are technicians, some of us like to collect but not shoot them and some of us like to shoot them for fun and in competition," Giegold said. "When we all come together like this and share stories, it's pretty special."

A trio of computer technicians from East Carolina University (North Carolina) took the time off to shoot in this year’s Garand Match.

"Hey, even computer geeks like to shoot," said Clay Hallock, 54, of Greenville, North Carolina. Hallock and two of his colleagues from work, Jeff Kinney, 47, also of Greenville and Rich Fraboni, 37, of Farmville, North Carolina made the pilgrimage for the first time this year.

All three are computer technicians at East Carolina University. Hallock, a member of the Down East Garand Shooters, led the trio in acquiring Garands from the CMP in 2001.

"I was hooked after firing three rounds with Clay's rifle," Kinney said enthusiastically.

For complete results of the National Carbine, Springfield, Vintage and John C. Garand Rifle matches, log onto http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=4689.

The Copicut Rifle Team brought ten shooters (two not pictured) to Camp Perry to compete in the National Trophy Rifle Matches and the CMP Games events. The group traveled all the way from Massachusetts for the week of shooting.

Bill Ellis (right) traveled all the way from Slough, England to shoot the CMP Games events at Camp Perry. He initially arrived intending to shoot the M1 Garand Match, but friend Andy Sherrer of Midlothian, Virginia had a spare Springfield that he could shoot in the Springfield Match. Scorer Rick Stegeman (left) of Pewaukee, Wisconsin goes over the scorecard with Ellis between stages of the match. Despite shooting an unfamiliar rifle, Eliis finished with a 279-5 to earn a gold medal.

Paul Posze was one of three friends who have traveled to Camp Perry from Tallmadge, Ohio every year to participate in the M1 Carbine Match.

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