NRA Expands Competitive Shooting at Camp Atterbury, Indiana

In 2020, Camp Atterbury will host Smallbore, High Power, and Pistol National Matches.

Big changes are coming to Indiana. First, all the major NRA National Match Championships — Smallbore (.22 LR) Rifle, High Power Rifle, and Precision Pistol — will be consolidated at Camp Atterbury, IN, starting in 2020. In addition, the NRA plans to create a major competition center at this National Guard facility, a “brand new, competitive shooting Mecca in Indiana.” This was revealed in an NRA-TV interview with Cole McCulloch, NRA Director of Competitive Shooting.

McCullough declared: “This is a great opportunity to establish a state-of-the-art facility at Camp Atterbury in cooperation with the Indiana National Guard[.]” As reported by John Parker, Editor of Shooting Sports USA, major upgrades are coming to Camp Atterbury in the upcoming months:

“State-of-the-art facility is an understatement…. For example, the pistol range will feature a mind-boggling, 300 individual points of fire, all of them covered. There will be two, 1000-yard High Power rifle ranges, which will include the proper pit/target systems and parking that will operate on one area of the base. Pistol and smallbore will be located on a totally separate part of the base, meaning they won’t have to split range time. This provides more flexibility for scheduling matches.”

The NRA has big plans for Camp Atterbury, envisioning that it will host other popular shooting disciplines, beyond the traditional NRA Smallbore and High Power events. According to Shooting Sports USA, in the future Camp Atterbury may host Precision Rifle Series (PRS) competitions, 3-Gun Events, America’s Rifle Challenge matches and more. “The possibilities are limitless.”

As part of the development of Camp Atterbury as a central hub for firearms competition, the current Camp Atterbury welcome center will be converted to a training center with “multiple training simulators” open to the public. At this training facility, jointly leased by the NRA and the Indiana National guard, visitors will be able to learn about a variety of shooting disciplines.

All Major Disciplines at Camp Atterbury in 2020
Starting in the summer of 2020, Camp Atterbury will host the NRA National Matches for Smallbore Rifle, High Power Rifle, and Precision Pistol. It will also continue to host the NRA Long Range Championship. This will consolidate multiple major National Championships all in one location.

How is Camp Atterbury as a match venue? Very good. Here is a report from a 2017 Nat’l Match competitor, as posted on Facebook:

Just got back from U.S. Nationals at Camp Atterbury … Here are my observations:

1. The range was outstanding. Facing the south wasn’t a problem.
2. On-base accommodations were great and inexpensive.
3. The base is only 45 minutes from Indianapolis International Airport.
4. The base is close to towns with restaurants and shopping.
5. The transportation to and from the pits [was in] air conditioned vans.
6. By all accounts the event ran smoothly.