The Rimfire Challenge Shooting Association (RCSA) will host its annual World Championship next month. The 2024 RCSA World Championship will take place October 19-20, 2024 at the Cavern Cove Competitive Shooting facility in Woodville, Alabama. This RCSA World Championship event will feature multiple stages with metal targets, shot with both rimfire rifle and rimfire pistol. See Rimfire Challenge action from last year’s RCSA Championship below:

Watch Action from the 2023 Rimfire Challenge Championship at Cavern Cove Range in Alabama

The RCSA promotes rimfire competition nationwide, supports beginning competitors and clubs, and solicits support for rimfire events from industry businesses. The RCSA is now an official partner of the +ONE Movement, a mentorship program organized by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). NSSF +ONE programs encourage mentorship related to firearm safety, firearm basics, shooting sports, and hunting. The +ONE program focuses on peer-to-peer development in shooting sports and hunting.

About the Rimfire Challenge Shooting Association
Designed to introduce new shooters to shooting sports in an exciting, family-friendly format, Rimfire Challenge matches focus on competition with .22 LR rifles and pistols. Matches are open to shooters of all shooting experience levels, with events conducted at ranges nationwide. The video below shows the Rimfire Challenge Shooting Association 2022 Championship.

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The CMP’s 2024 National Rimfire Sporter Match took place yesterday, July 13th, 2024 on the Viale Range at Camp Perry. Hundreds of participants took part in this major summer rimfire competition. Click HERE for 2024 Match Photos. One of the most popular events at Camp Perry, the Rimfire Sporter Match attracts hundreds of shooters from 8 to 80 years, novices as well as experienced competitors. It is a great event for shooters who want to have fun without spending a small fortune on rifle, optics, gear and ammo. Along with the major annual Camp Perry event, other Rimfire Sporter matches are held throughout the country in connection with the CMP’s Travel Games.

The CMP Rimfire Sporter discipline is for .22 LR smallbore (rimfire) rifles that weigh 7 1/2 pounds or less. Firing is done at 25 and 50 yards in prone, sitting, and standing positions, in slow and rapid-fire modes. Even with the vast number of competitors, the Rimfire Sport match proceeds efficiently. The CMP now has a special smart-phone App that helps speed up scoring. SEE 2024 Results.

Each summer, the major National Rimfire Sporter Match attracts hundreds of shooters to the shore of Lake Erie at Camp Perry. This year’s Rimfire Sporter Match at Camp Perry was held on Saturday, July 13, 2024. The CMP National Rimfire Sporter Rifle Match offers shooters a recreation-oriented competition where they use affordable, smallbore sporter rifles with either scopes or iron sights. All you need are a .22 LR rifle, sling, and ammo. Competitors will need a total of 60 rounds to fire the Rimfire Sporter Match plus any sighters or range alibis.

FREE GUIDE: 48-Page CMP Guide to Rimfire Sporter Shooting »

Three Classes for Rimfire Sporter
Rimfire Sporter competitors can fire in three different rifle classes. The O-Class rifles must have open sights. T-Class rifles have 6-power max scopes or receiver sights. The third class is TU Rimfire Class (Tactical and Unlimited). Competitors may enter in Single or Double Entry options and then select the rifle class(es) in which they will fire. Firing is done at 25 and 50 yards in prone, sitting and standing positions, in slow and rapid-fire modes. For each Class, awards are offered to High Juniors, High Seniors, and High Women as well as Overall Winners.

Rifles used during the competition may be manually operated or semi-automatic, shot hand-held with sling allowed. Competitors will complete slow fire prone, rapid fire prone, slow fire sitting or kneeling, rapid fire sitting or kneeling, slow fire standing and rapid fire standing shot sequences. Firing is done at 25 and 50 yards on a target with a 1.78″ ten-ring. The target is simple enough for a beginner to hit, yet challenging enough. See explanation of course of fire below. Competitors must supply their own quality ammunition for this match. For more info about the Rimfire Sporter Match, CLICK HERE.

The CMP Rimfire Sporter Rifle Match is an inexpensive, fun-oriented competition using .22 caliber sporter rifles (plinking and small game rifles). To compete, all you need is a basic rifle, safety gear, and ammunition. No fancy, high-dollar rifles are required. Many junior and senior clubs make the National Rimfire Sporter Match an annual tradition — bringing together marksmen of all ages. SEE 2024 CMP Games Rules PDF.

If there is a single CMP event at Camp Perry every summer that offers the highest level of shooter satisfaction, the most diverse group of competitors, and the lowest cost of entry, that would have to be the annual Rimfire Sporter Match. Shooters run a huge range of ages from young juniors to seniors in their 70s and 80s. And persons with disabilities can compete as well, with Adaptive Shooting Programs for physically-challenged competitors.

Each year, the Rimfire Sporter Match attracts hundreds of shooters to the shore of Lake Erie at Camp Perry. The CMP National Rimfire Sporter Rifle Match offers shooters a recreation-oriented competition where they use affordable, smallbore sporter rifles with either scopes or iron sights. All you need are a .22 LR rifle, sling, and ammo.

Rifles may be manually operated or semi-automatic, in three classes: the standard “O Class” for open-sighted rifles, “T-Class” for telescope-sighted rifles, and the “TU Class” for Tactical and unlimited rifles.

Rimfire Sporter Course of Fire

Competitors will complete slow fire prone, rapid fire prone, slow fire sitting or kneeling, rapid fire sitting or kneeling, slow fire standing, and rapid fire standing shot sequences. To learn more about the National Rimfire Sporter Match, CLICK HERE.

Rimfire Sporter Match Basics
The CMP Rimfire Sporter Rifle Match is an inexpensive, fun-oriented competition using .22 caliber sporter rifles (plinking and small game rifles) commonly owned by most gun enthusiasts. To compete, all you need is a basic rifle, safety gear, and ammunition. No fancy, high-dollar rifles are required.

The event is shot with standard sporter-type, rimfire rifles weighing no more than 7 ½ lbs, with sights and sling. Rifles may be manually-operated or semi-automatic. Shooters with manually-operated actions are given extra time in the rapid-fire stage to compensate for the difference.

There are three classes of competition — the standard “O Class” for open-sighted rifles, “T-Class” for telescope-sighted and rear aperture-sighted rifles and “Tactical Rimfire” class, which is a .22 caliber A4 or AR15 style rifle. Firing for all classes is done at 25 and 50 yards on a target with a 1.78″ ten-ring and an 18″ outer one-ring. Even new shooters can get hits on this target, but it’s still tough enough that a perfect 600×600 score has only been accomplished once as far as we know (Go to 2024 Results).

The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) has a CMP Guide to Rimfire Sporter Shooting. This FREE, 48-page digital publication covers equipment, positions, course of fire, rules, scoring and much more. You’ll find helpful “how-to” sections on aiming, sight picture, hold control, and trigger control. Reading these instructional sections can benefit any prone or three-position competitive shooter.

PRS and NRL tactical matches are now among the most popular competitive rifle disciplines in the USA. And rimfire tactical disciplines are actually growing faster than centerfire PRS/NRL because .22 LR ammo is way cheaper than centerfire ammo, and there are many more ranges where rimfire matches can be held. NRL22 and PRS Rimfire offers the same kind of fun without the high cost of centerfire ammo and the time-consuming burden of hand-loading. You can compete successfully in .22 LR rimfire precision disciplines with affordable rifles, which also offer a whole lot less recoil than centerfire rigs. To learn more, we recommend you read All About Precision Rimfire Competition, by Shooting Sports USA Editor John Parker.

Interview with NRL22 Founder Travis Ishida

This Vortex Nation video features an 80-minute interview with Travis Ishida, one of the original founders of the NRL22 and NRL22-X disciplines. Travis told us that the NRL now runs 7-8 times as many rimfire matches as centerfire matches.

The NRL22 2023 World Championship — Biggest Match of Its Kind

The NRL22 Championship took place in North Carolina in July 2023 and was the biggest match of its kind to date, with over 230 competitors from all over the world. Watch this video to see the latest and greatest equipment, and to see top competitors in action. NOTE: This match also included an AIR RIFLE division. You can see one of these precision air rifles below:

Getting Starting in PRS/NRL Rimfire Competition — The Rifle

Interested in getting started in PRS/NRL Rimfire competition? This MDT video explains the components you’ll need for a top-level .22 LR PRS rig. While you can spend many thousands on a top-tier rig, you can also do very well with a used rifle costing under $800 before optics. Rimfire barrels tend to last a very long time, so an older rig can still be quite competitive with over 4000 rounds through the barrel.

Cleaning Rimfire Barrels — How Often Should This Be Done?

Some say never clean a rimfire, others scrub their bore after every shooting session. So, who’s right? Like so much in life, the answer falls somewhere in between. Michael Shae, author of Rimfire Revolution, explains when to break out the jags/solvent and how to efficiently clean your barrel to restore peak performance. We have found that, with some .22 LR barrels, you may want to clean every 200-300 rounds, with others every 1000. Much depends on the ammo you use and the rate of fire. When cleaning, be careful with the muzzle crown. Damage to the crown can definitely harm accuracy.

How to Get Started in Rimfire Tactical Competition

This video offers plenty of smart tips for folks getting started in NRL22 and PRS rimfire competition. The host explains the rifle, optics, and other essential gear. The video also explains how to mentally prepare yourself for your first match and before each stage. We do recommend you do some target work before the first match to understand the challenge of .22 LR ballistics. This relatively slow, low-BC cartridge has very significant drop at longer ranges (100 yards and beyond).

PRS Rimfire 2023 Finale — Over 200 Competitors

Want to see how a top-tier rimfire tactical match actually runs? Then check our this video from the 2023 PRS Rimfire Series Finale hosted last October by MKM Precision in Kennerdell, Pennsylvania. This PRS Rimfire Finale Match drew over 200 competitors. PRS Rimfire offers similiar shooting challenges to PRS centerfire, but at shorter ranges at a much lower cost per round.

BONUS Rimfire Practice Targets

SPECIAL BONUS–Rimfire Tactical Precision Targets These FREE targets by DesertFrog are offered in Adobe Acrobat format for easy printing. CLICK HERE to download all six targets as a .ZIP archive.