First Shot Ceremony at Camp Perry Kicks Off 2025 Matches
SSG Sagen Maddalena fired the ceremonial first shot with a 1903 Springfield rifle, officially opening the CMP National Matches for the 2025 season.
On July 14, 2025 the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) hosted the annual First Shot Ceremony, the traditional start to the CMP National Matches. The CMP welcomed back an accomplished USAMU shooter who earned the Silver Medal at the Olympics. As visitors arrived, the 122nd Army Band played in the plaza. Then a wheeled cannon gave multiple blasts. Above the crowd, a U.S. Army Air Corps Mitchell B-25 bomber and a U.S. Navy Grumman TBM Avenger fighter-bomber flew overhead.
Emcee Christie Sewell, CMP Chief Programs Officer, introduced notables including CMP Director of Civilian Marksmanship Emeritus, Gary Anderson. After brief remarks from CMP’s Board Chair/CEO, Jerry O’Keefe, Sewell introduced the 2025 honorary First Shot Speaker, Staff Sgt. (SSG) Sagen Maddalena of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.
SSG Maddalena — currently the number-one-ranked 50-meter smallbore athlete in the world — had some of her earliest successes at Camp Perry as a junior before earning a Silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in the women’s 50-meter 3P rifle event. She began as a junior in a California 4-H .22 rifle program and moved on to the California Grizzlies service rifle team. As a teen with the Grizzlies she earned a Distinguished Rifleman badge in 2011.
Then she became a member of the Alaska Fairbanks rifle team. She went on to become an eight-time All-American. In 2019, she enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit.
In 2023, she earned a gold medal and set a new world record in the women’s team 50-meter rifle three-position event at the 2023 ISSF World Championships. She went on to add another two gold medals in the women’s 50-meter smallbore rifle and 10-meter air rifle events at the 2024 CAT Games in Argentina. That performance secured her place on the 2025 U.S. Olympic Team.
At the First Shot ceremony, Sagen thanked the community and all those who helped to make the National Matches a success: “Let us give it our best in competition and treat each day as a new opportunity to challenge ourselves and to excel.”
CMP National Matches Schedule and Details
The 2025 CMP National matches at Camp Perry commmenced on July 6th and run through August 9, 2025. The National Matches are open to the public and have offered a wide range of events and matches since 1907. Held annually at Camp Perry, the National Matches include a wide range of events for rimfire rifles, centerfire rifles, and pistols. Listed below are event by category. Click on each discipline below for registration information, detailed match program, and schedule.
These matches are conducted by a partnership of the CMP and Ohio National Guard. Since their inception, the National Matches have become a huge national shooting sports festival with over 4,500 annual participants including many of the world’s best marksmen.
Nat’l 3P Smallbore and Air Rifle
National Trophy Pistol Matches
National Matches Clinics and Schools
National Trophy Rifle Matches and Highpower Rifle Championship
National Mid- and Long Range Matches
Simulator Match Steel Challenge
2025 CMP National Matches Program and Calendar
The full National Match Program and National Match Calendar are available online.
Learn more about the 2025 National Matches at Thecmp.org/cmp-national-matches.
More and more folks are using Burris Signature Rings these days. These unique rings feature polymer inserts. That allows you to pre-load some elevation in your scope set-up, or you can center-up the windage. Additionally, the polymer inserts hold your scope securely without leaving marks on the tube. Lastly, some folks believe that Signature rings may offer advantages for benchrest competition. Rodney Wagner shot a world-record 600-yard group using Burris Signature Zee Rings (“Zee” denotes the Weaver-rail model). James O’Hara set multiple IBS 1000-yard records using Burris Signature Zee Rings. James will tell you he thinks “all his guns seem to shoot best with these rings”.
