The Ben Avery Shooting Facility will once again host the Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches on 17-25 October.

The 2009 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches will take place at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility North of Phoenix, Arizona on 17-25 October. Shooters who want detailed information about the events on the program should examine the match program at http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions/WesternGames.htm. Shooters can now register on-line at http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchInfo.cgi?matchID=4969. 

The 2009 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches are the sixth in a series that started at Camp Pendleton, California in 2005. The fourth Western Games Matches were moved to the Ben Avery Shooting Facility near Phoenix, Arizona in October 2007. This year’s matches will be the third Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches to be held at Phoenix. Together with the Eastern CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches that now take place at Camp Butner, North Carolina, these competitions were established to give the nation’s best highpower rifle shooters two prestigious national-level competitions and to give recreation-oriented riflemen in other areas of the country more opportunities to experience the kind of competitions that competitors in the National CMP Games Matches at Camp Perry regard so highly.

The 6th Western CMP Games will kick off with a New Shooter Clinic on the morning of Saturday, 17 October. After the clinic, a 200-yard Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Match will be fired that afternoon.

A CMP Master Instructor Training Course will take place at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility prior to the Western CMP Games. This workshop is open to all experienced rifle marksmanship instructors and shooters who want advanced training and certification to teach CMP-sanctioned GSM or Rimfire Sporter Clinics. Visit http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions/GSMClinic.htm for more information or to apply for a workshop.

On Sunday, 18 October, there will be a CMP Special As-Issued M1 Garand EIC Match in the morning. Shooters who do not have any EIC points can earn introductory “4-point legs.” As a further incentive to participation in this match, Bushmaster will provide a Bushmaster DCM-XR competition service rifle to be awarded to the highest ranking shooter who is eligible to win the 4-point legs (no previous EIC points). Sunday matches will continue with a Rimfire Sporter Match held at 1:00PM. This should give other shooters in the Southwest a chance to try the steadily growing Rimfire Sporter game. That afternoon, the CMP government-surplus rifle and ammunition sales will open, followed by a barbecue for all attendees.

Shooting opportunities on the third day, Monday, 19 October, include a second Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Match that morning followed by an M1 Carbine Match that afternoon. The Carbine Match will give shooters in that part of the country an opportunity to fire that challenging and relatively new event.

The Western CMP Games Matches conclude on Tuesday, 20 October, with third Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle. With three days of Garand-Springfield-Vintage Military Rifle Matches, shooters will be able to fire all three events. Again this year, there will be awards for the top shooters in a special aggregate of all three As-Issued Military Rifle Matches. Special awards will also be presented for the top ranking competitors in the Handicap Rankings for the Garand, Springfield and VMR Matches.

Both the Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches begin with clinics. The CMP clinic on Saturday morning, 17 October, focuses on the needs of new As-Issued Military Rifle shooters. The Creedmoor Cup Clinic on Wednesday, 21 October, is a comprehensive clinic with lots of advanced information for service and match rifle highpower shooters.

The 2009 Western Creedmoor Cup Matches begin with a highpower rifle clinic on Wednesday, 21 October, and then offer four days of matches for service rifles and match rifles on 22-25 October. Members of the U. S. Army and U. S. Marine Corps Service Rifle Teams and Team Bushmaster will be on hand to assist with the clinic and subsequently compete in the matches. The matches include a 50-shot National Match Course practice match on Thursday, a 4-person team match on Friday, the 80-shot Creedmoor Cup Match on Saturday and a 50-shot EIC/Match Rifle course on Sunday. Creedmoor Sports will host a barbecue and prize drawing with many thousands of dollars worth of prizes on Saturday, 18 October.

The CMP South staff from Anniston, Alabama will be at the match with a supply of Carbines, Kimber .22 cal rifles and M1 Garands. CMP Sales will start on 17 October and conclude on 21 October.

Registration for the 2009 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Match is now open.

The CMP and Creedmoor Sports of Oceanside, California, together with the Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association, will host the 2009 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches. Sign up today and plan to be apart of this exciting event!

The Ben Avery Shooting Facility (formerly Black Canyon Range) is one of the largest and most complete range facilities in the U. S. It was selected as the venue for the CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Matches because of its size, location near a major western city and interest in hosting this fast-growing major rifle competition. The Ben Avery Range hosted the 1970 World Shooting Championship and several national championships. It continues to host numerous regional and local competitions in a variety of shooting disciplines every year. The Arizona Game and Fish Department now operates the facility; it is the largest public shooting facility in the country.

On-line registration for both the CMP and Creedmoor Matches is now open. Click on http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/matchInfo.cgi?matchID=4969 to register. The official match program is posted at http://www.odcmp.com/Competitions/WesternGames.htm.

An extensive collection of photos taken at the 2008 Western CMP Games and Creedmoor Cup Match can be viewed at http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/08/WesternCMPGames/index.htm and http://www.odcmp.com/Photos/08/WesternCreedmoor/index.htm.

More information about Creedmoor Sports, Inc. is available from their website at http://www.creedmoorsports.com/store/home.php.

Information about the Ben Avery Shooting Facility is available at http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/ben_avery.shtml.