Update from Camp Perry: Today is the final day of the 2010 NRA High Power National Championship. SGT Sherri Gallagher of the USAMU remains just one point ahead of 9-time National Champion Carl Bernosky. The hardware battle is interesting — Sherri’s Tubb 2000 Bolt Gun vs. Carl’s AR-platform rifle shooting a 6mm Hagar.
Carl’s first (and perhaps best) chance to catch Sherri came in the Crescent Cup match this morning. With the entire Crescent Cup event shot standing at 200 yards, this was Carl’s great opportunity to tie Sherri, or even pull ahead. The standing position is one of Carl’s strengths — he is considered one of the best standing position shooters in history. But Sherri matched Carl shot for shot and they both finished with the same 199-4X score. So Sherri has maintained her one-point margin. If Carl and Sherri end up tied at the end of the day, Sherri will win the High Power National Championship because she has a huge X-count edge. But right now either Carl or Sherri could end up on top of the Podium.
Sherri Gallagher, the 2009 NRA National Long-Range Champion, could add a High Power Championship to her list of victories, if she stays on pace. Only one woman has ever won the National High Power Championship — Sherri’s mother, Nancy Tompkins. All of Sherri’s fans nationwide all pulling for her to be the second-ever female High Power Champ. But the competition will be tough.
Sherri Gallagher is beginning to pull away in the X-Count, but she could still be overtaken by any of the shooters close behind her in the standings. Carl Bernosky, a multi-time National High-Power Champion, is just one point behind Sherri. Stephen Culpepper and Eric Swearingen are still in striking distance. Ten-time champion David Tubb is not far behind either. Shooting against those male “all-stars”, Gallagher has been very impressive and looks to continue her pace, but this isn’t over just yet. This year’s Championship could go down to the last shot of the last relay.
On the Service Rifle front, Eric Swearingen is in the lead for the Service Rifle Championship with a 1789-86X, but both 2009 Service Rifle Champion Grant Singley (1785-97X) and Troy Lawton’s (1785-70X) are just two points back.
For the latest news from Camp Perry, including High Power Championship standings, visit the NRA Blog. Here is the “leaderboard” after the High Power Rifle Championship’s third day, with one more to go. Tomorrow’s forecast is clear and sunny with no threat of rain.
Match 400 – NRA National High Power Rifle Championship
Name
Results
Sherri Gallagher
1797-129x
Carl Bernosky
1796-109x
Stephen Culpepper
1790-91x
Eric Swearingen
1789-86x
David Tubb
1787-86x
Late-Breaking News from Camp Perry
Steve Clark Reports: Sherri missed 1st last year from a crossfire. This year so far she’s shooting 71.6% Xs, dropping only 3 points out of 1800. Norm Houle (last year’s Champion) apparently cross-fired today, putting himself back a good number.
Carl’s shooting SOLID — again — this year with his 6mm HAGAR. He’s second, by ONE POINT, after 180 shots, but he’s down 20 Xs. Carl has won the High Power Championship 9 times so far, most recently in 2008 — the first victory with an AR15-platform rifle.
What a great show! Like last year, I think it’s going to come down to the last shot fired tomorrow afternoon to decide the winner.
Report by Sommer Wood, CMP Online Magazine
The U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) rolled through the 2010 National Trophy Rifle Matches with almost complete dominance. Shooters from the USAMU finished first in the National Trophy Individual Match (NTI), the Hearst Doubles, and, for the fourth year in a row, the National Trophy Team Match (NTT). The USAMU Team also reclaimed the top spot in the National Trophy Infantry Team Match (NTIT or “rattle battle”) after a shocking fourth place finish last year behind three civilian teams, including the historic win by the California Grizzlies O’Connell Juniors.
The 2010 NTT was closely contested going in the last stage, with only a couple of points separating the top five teams, but at the 600-yard-line the USAMU finally pulled ahead to finish with a 2920-100X. The winning NTT team was comprised of Team Captain SSG Walter Craig, Team Coach SFC Emil Praslick III and firing members SSG Brandon Green, SGT Sherri Gallagher, SPC Augustus Dunfey, SFC Grant Singley, SFC Lance Dement and SGT Tryel Cooper. The USAMU Praslick Team edged out the California Rifle and Pistol Association-Coalinga civilian team, which finished with a 2910-84X.
What was the driving force behind the USAMU Praslick Team’s dominance this year? USAMU shooters SFC Lance Dement, SGT Brandon Green and SPC Tyrel Cooper all said that outstanding coaching was key to victory. This was particularly evident at the 600-yard-line where the Team pulled ahead of the pack during the 2010 National Matches.
SGT Tyrel Cooper Wins National Trophy Individual Title
After finishing a close second in 2009 National Trophy Individual Match, SGT Tyrel Cooper of the USAMU emerged victorious this year with a tough-fought, X-count win over his USAMU team-mate SFC Lance Dement. SGT Cooper finished the day with an impressive 495-23X, three Xs better than SFC Dement, who shot a 495-20X to claim second.
Entering the final stage of this year’s NTI, SGT Cooper tried not to focus on score and instead talked about wind strategy for the 600-yard-line with USAMU coach SFC Emil Praslick III: “I have lead in the past and let myself start thinking too much about scores…. I switched my focus to the strategy I wanted to use for the wind and followed my plan.” The plan worked and SGT Cooper shot a 197-9X at the 600-yard-line to secure first place.
Here are quick results from the Sunday matches at Camp Perry, Ohio. Today (Monday) at the 2010 National Matches, competitors will shoot one of three team matches. The actual High Power Rifle Championship commences Tuesday, August 10th.
Springfield M1A Match: Jack Pardy shot 483-12X to win the 4th Annual NRA Springfield M1A match, shooting 483-12X. Nick Till finished in second place, two points behind, with 481-23X. Shawn McKenna finished third with a 480-14X.
Whistler Boy Team Match: The “Gold” team of the North Carolina Rifle & Pistol Association took top honors with Robin Frazier and William McCraw shooting a combined 960-21X.
Second Amendment Match: Normal Houle and David Tubb of team Sierra Gold cleaned up the NRA 2nd Amendment match with a combined score of 997-51x.
Photos by NRA Media Relations courtesy the NRA Blog.
The NRA/Springfield M1A match takes place this Sunday, August 8. This special M1A match revives interest in the M14, and its modern derivatives. Springfield’s M1A is a commercially-produced, semi-auto version of the M14, a 7.62×51 “battle rifle” that still serves our forces deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. At one time, M14-based match rifles dominated service rifle matches, but that’s history. Now M16/AR15 platform rule the roost in the service rifle game. But many shooters loved the old wood, .30-caliber rifles, leading to the creation of a special National Match just for M1A rifles
Renewed interest in the M1A, coupled with major sponsorship from Springfield Armory, led to the the first dedicated Camp Perry M1A match in 2008. With $25,000 worth of prizes and cash awards, that first-ever match proved a huge success, drawing over 500 shooters. This year, match organizers also expect hundreds of shooters, who will compete for cash awards, as well as Springfield gun-giveaways.
Nick Till in 2009 M1A Match. Nick was the 2007 Service Rifle Nat’l Champion. Photo courtesy NRA Blog.
M1A Match Course of Fire
Equipment rules allow pretty much all types/grades of M1As in the match. The one-day course of fire consists of 50 shots at 300 yards on the NRA MR-65F target, as follows: 5 sighters; 20 shots slow-fire prone; 10 shots rapid-fire prone; 10 shots rapid-fire, kneeling or sitting; and 10 shots slow-fire standing.
Video of 2009 M1A match at Camp Perry (NOTE: Loud wind noise — turn down speakers.)
by Steve Cooper,CMP Online
The CMP Rimfire Sporter Match is now one of the most popular events at Camp Perry, drawing hundreds of entries. The Rimfire Sporter Match, first held in 2002, was designed to accommodate a novice shooter with nothing more than a store-bought .22 caliber rifle (and no fancy competition gear). The Rimfire Sporter Match is a recreation-oriented, 3-position competition using off-the-shelf .22 caliber sporter rifles. Rifles may be manually operated or semi-automatic and competitors are broken into three classes: open sights, telescopic sights, and tactical rifle. Read AccurateShooter.com’s detailed Guide to Rimfire Sporter Matches
Blustery Conditions Challenge Rimfire Sporter Shooters
While some shooters dealt with a driving rain, wildly-fluctuating crosswinds and the accompanying delays, others enjoyed bright sun and calm conditions during the 9th annual Rimfire Sporter Match on Sunday, July 25th. Chalk it all up to “The Camp Perry Experience”. Veteran shooters know that weather is almost always a factor here and newcomers received received a classic introduction to it Sunday. Nonetheless, the shooters battled through the conditions to post some fine scores.
Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Steven Slee, 46, U.S. Army Reserve, won the Open Sights class with an aggregate score of 578-23X out of 600 possible. Charles Opalewski II, 20, was second in open sights with an aggregate score of 574-14X. Opalewski was also the high ranking overall junior and 4-H junior shooter. Nick Takacs, 61, was the high senior competitor in open sights class with an aggregate score of 569-17X. In Telescopic Sights class (T-class), Lucas Boord, 20, finished first, using a Kimber Hunter to score 593-27X. Placing second in T-class was CSM Steven Slee with a 592-31X. Natalie Harper was the High Woman, High Junior and High 4-H Junior shooter in the Telescopic Sights Class with an overall score of 588-14X. The top senior shooter in T-class was Steve Gossage, 63, with an aggregate of 586-32X. READ More …
A collegiate All-American in the 1940s, Mr. Fred Cole is now 88 years old and still a Camp Perry competitor. At Thursday night’s NRA Awards Ceremony, where smallbore prone champions were awarded their medals, Match Director H.Q. Moody was excited to introduce him to the audience before the official ceremony began. “He’s been our senior perennial champion forever,” Moody said, “and he’s one of our sport’s fine gentleman.”
As Cole stood and waved at the audience, the entire auditorium joined him in a thundering standing ovation. Cole competed in both the 2010 smallbore 3-position competition and the smallbore prone competition. He ended the week with a comprehensive score of 4714-216x. Cole’s pictured above (left) shooting in the prone position from 100 yards.
“I started shooting in 1937 at Xavier High School Rifle Team,” Cole told NRAblog. “That’s 73 years of shooting. I shoot mostly smallbore position. That’s my first love.”
The Stonybrook, New York, resident reports winning a total of 6 intermediate senior championships throughout his Camp Perry career.
Why has he devoted so much of his time to competitive shooting? “It’s the greatest sport in the world,” Cole proclaimed. “It’s a character builder. It demands personal discipline. It’s a challenging sport, and one can participate individually or as a team member.”
Shooting an impressive 4790-355X, SSG Shane Barnhart earned the title of National Smallbore Rifle Prone Champion, while competing this week at Camp Perry, Ohio. Finishing second and third, respectively, were 1LT Christopher Abalo, and Charles Kemp. Abalo and Kemp had identical 4786 scores, but 1LT Abalo had the higher X count. Abalo scored 344X compared to Kemp’s 338X.
Army Shooters Top the Field Story by Danielle Sturgis, The NRA Blog
SSG Shane Barnhart has been to Camp Perry since 1992, minus two years. This year is his best smallbore rifle performance. Did he come expecting to win? “I was hoping (to place in top 3),” he said. “I knew going into Any Sight that I had Abalo and Kemp, both very fine shooters, to keep up with.” What was the biggest challenge of the week? “Battling the wind,” Shane said. When asked if he had any advice for young people thinking about shooting competitively, Barnhart responded: “You can get a free ride to college,” he said.
First Lieutenant Christopher Abalo practiced for the national smallbore prone championships for just one month, yet still managed a strong second-place finish. “I took a two-year break from competitive shooting, so this feels good,” he said. “I feels great, actually. I expected to shoot well, and I would say I met my expectations.” Below are photos from the 2010 Smallbore Prone Championships.
Gunny Zins Wins his 10th Pistol Championship
In related news, retired Gunnery Sergeant Brian Zins of Poland, Ohio, was named national champion at the NRA National Pistol Championships held July 13-17 at Camp Perry. This was Zins’ 10th National Championship. Zins shot consistently high scores throughout the event, winning the .22 Caliber Championship and placing in the top three for both the Center Fire and .45 Caliber Championships. Zins’ Aggregate score of 2650-134X placed Brian at the top of the leader board for the tenth time in his shooting career — a record number of National Pistol Championships. CLICK HERE to learn more about Zins and other pistol competitors.
High Power shooters have a bunch of gear to carry to the firing line–pad, shooting jacket, scope stand, spotting scope, ammo, log-book and rifle(s). If you’re shooting F-Class, add a heavy front rest and 15-lb sand-bag to the list. A range cart makes life much easier, particularly if the shooting area’s a long way from the parking lot. Creedmoor Sports makes a folding range cart that is very popular with the iron sights crowd. This unit features 14″ ball-bearing wheels and the frame is made from solid aluminum–not lightweight tubing that can bend or crack. Lift a simple locking lever and the cart folds. The cart can be completely dis-assembled, without tools, to fit in a suitcase (collapsed size 30″ x 17″ x 8″). The Creedmoor cart retails for $499.95, and that includes a rifle case, tray, and rain-cover. A handy side-mount rifle rack (item CRC-RACK) is a great $62.95 option that will be available in September.
If $499.95 isn’t in the budget, or you’d like to build your own range cart with a lockable storage compartment, you should look at the carts used by Cowboy Action shooters. These wooden carts are heavy, but they provide a stable platform for multiple guns and a nice, solid perch for sitting. There are many do-it-yourself designs available. One of our favorites is the GateSlinger cart shown below. This well-balanced design breaks down into two pieces for transport. Click Here for cart plans, and read this “How-to Article” for complete instructions with many photos.
Hand Dolly Conversions — Not Fancy, But Effective
The least expensive way to go is to purchase a Dolly (Hand Truck) at Harbor Freight, or a large warehouse store such as Home Depot. Make sure to get one with wheels at least 10″ in diameter, or you’ll have problems in rough terrain. The bigger the wheels the better, and solid . Normally you can find dollies for under $30.00. Just bolt a large box or milk crate to the bottom, and voilà, instant range cart. You can clamp a piece of wood at the top with slots for barrels on one side and a flat tray for ammo on the other. Use bungee cord or leather straps to hold the barrels in place. Having built a couple all-wood range carts (both collapsible and one-piece), this editor can assure you that starting with an inexpensive welded hand truck is the cheapest, simplest way to go overall. You can buy oversize, spoked wheels from NorthernTool.com. (From the Northern Tool home page, search for “spoked wheels”.)
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland Officially Opened the 2010 National Matches Monday evening at Camp Perry, Port Clinton, Ohio. Last night’s First Shot Ceremony officially kicked off the National Rifle and Pistol Matches at Camp Perry with many special guests, including Ohio National Guard parachutists, who jumped from a Blackhawk helicopter to deliver the American flag. The colors were raised by a JROTC Color Guard as the Army Band played the National Anthem.
The U.S. Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt founded the National Matches in 1903 to foster national defense preparation through marksmanship competition.
The 2010 National Matches consist of the National Trophy Rifle and Pistol Matches and the Small Arms Firing Schools, which are mandated by federal law and governed by the CMP, together with the NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championships, which are conducted by the NRA in conjunction with the National Matches. Overall, the National Matches bring over 6,000 competitors, volunteers, vendors and family members to Camp Perry each summer. All events are open to the public. NRAnews.com will be broadcasting live from Camp Perry today from 12-3 pm Eastern time.
2010 CMP National Trophy Matches Events
13 July — Warm-Up Pistol Match
18 July — National Trophy Pistol Matches
25 July — National Rimfire Sporter Match
30 July – 1 Aug — Rifle Small Arms Firing School
2-6 Aug — National Trophy Rifle Matches
5-7 Aug — CMP Games Rifle Matches
2010 NRA Rifle and Pistol Championships
13-17 July — Nat’l Pistol Championships
21-29 July — Nat’l Smallbore Rifle Championships
8-18 Aug — Nat’l High Power Rifle Championships
August 10-13: High Power Rifle
August 14-17: Long Range Rifle
Update from Camp Perry: Today is the final day of the 2010 NRA High Power National Championship. SGT Sherri Gallagher of the USAMU remains just one point ahead of 9-time National Champion Carl Bernosky. The hardware battle is interesting — Sherri’s Tubb 2000 Bolt Gun vs. Carl’s AR-platform rifle shooting a 6mm Hagar.
Sherri Gallagher, the 2009 NRA National Long-Range Champion, could add a High Power Championship to her list of victories, if she stays on pace. Only one woman has ever won the National High Power Championship — Sherri’s mother, Nancy Tompkins. All of Sherri’s fans nationwide all pulling for her to be the second-ever female High Power Champ. But the competition will be tough.
Report by Sommer Wood, 
The 2010 NTT was closely contested going in the last stage, with only a couple of points separating the top five teams, but at the 600-yard-line the USAMU finally pulled ahead to finish with a 2920-100X. The winning NTT team was comprised of Team Captain SSG Walter Craig, Team Coach SFC Emil Praslick III and firing members SSG Brandon Green, SGT Sherri Gallagher, SPC Augustus Dunfey, SFC Grant Singley, SFC Lance Dement and SGT Tryel Cooper. The USAMU Praslick Team edged out the California Rifle and Pistol Association-Coalinga civilian team, which finished with a 2910-84X.
SGT Tyrel Cooper Wins
Nick Till in 2009 M1A Match. Nick was the 2007 Service Rifle Nat’l Champion. Photo courtesy 
by Steve Cooper, 
A collegiate All-American in the 1940s, Mr. Fred Cole is now 88 years old and still a Camp Perry competitor. At Thursday night’s 
As Cole stood and waved at the audience, the entire auditorium joined him in a thundering standing ovation. Cole competed in both the 2010 smallbore 3-position competition and the smallbore prone competition. He ended the week with a comprehensive score of 4714-216x. Cole’s pictured above (left) shooting in the prone position from 100 yards.
Shooting an impressive 4790-355X, SSG Shane Barnhart earned the title of National Smallbore Rifle Prone Champion, while competing this week at Camp Perry, Ohio. Finishing second and third, respectively, were 1LT Christopher Abalo, and Charles Kemp. Abalo and Kemp had identical 4786 scores, but 1LT Abalo had the higher X count. Abalo scored 344X compared to Kemp’s 338X. 
Hand Dolly Conversions — Not Fancy, But Effective
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland Officially Opened the 2010 National Matches Monday evening at Camp Perry, Port Clinton, Ohio. Last night’s First Shot Ceremony officially kicked off the National Rifle and Pistol Matches at Camp Perry with many special guests, including Ohio National Guard parachutists, who jumped from a Blackhawk helicopter to deliver the American flag. The colors were raised by a JROTC Color Guard as the Army Band played the National Anthem.
The 2010 National Matches consist of the National Trophy Rifle and Pistol Matches and the Small Arms Firing Schools, which are mandated by federal law and governed by the CMP, together with the NRA National Rifle and Pistol Championships, which are conducted by the NRA in conjunction with the National Matches. Overall, the National Matches bring over 6,000 competitors, volunteers, vendors and family members to Camp Perry each summer. All events are open to the public. 
