Category Archives: Civilian Marksmanship Program Matches

Fall Match at York Rifleman

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I took a trip back to York Rifleman for their fall Garand Match. They shoot a full 200 yard match with pits. It’s a very well run match, I very much enjoy shooting with these folks.

The weather was perfect for shooting even if it was a little warm for October (high of 86) otherwise a light wind from behind and sunny.

I worked the pits first as I have for the past few matches with pits.

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I’m ashamed to confess I pulled one too soon in my haste to provide speedy service. Lucky for us our shooter didn’t fire while we pulled and we got it right back up. It’s important to wait for a call if you can’t see the shot.

I shot first after the pit change.

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I felt great in slow prone and did fairly well 92/2x I did OK in rapid prone 74 I jerked to the right a little. But oh boy did I screw up in rapid pone, misses and 6s all over the place.

My scorer suggested I work on shooting at my natural respiratory pause with dry fire. This was good advice. I’ve stuck some white pasters with black dots around my office and I’ll work on my natural pause. I’m in decent shape for the prone stages and my Winchester is performing well. All and all this isn’t a bad place to be.

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York shoots a spring match I’ll be back for sure. Except for Camp Perry this is my favorite match to shoot.

September ’13 Garand Match

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I only made it out for the Garand match this month, a cold kept me home from the Service Rifle match. It was beautiful, sunny and in the mid 60’s for the first relay. The fall sun made for some challenging conditions. There was an significant glare off my rifle, it was a challenge to keep on target. There was a an abnormal amount of smoke on the range as well.

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Factoring the conditions I was happy with my performance, I dropped a 5 in rapid prone and a miss in off hand but I went home satisfied.

As far as the conditions go, I my opinion it’s just part of the game, sometimes it rains, sometimes it’s hot, cold, sunny, dark. I think these conditions underscore the need for a good natural point of aim. With a good NPOA it’s easier to keep rounds on target even if seeing the target is a challenging.

August Service Rife And Garand Matches: Making progress

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First home match since Camp Perry! Shot service rifle on Saturday and JCG on Sunday. For service rifle I brought my front sight down a click, as I had been just a little high on the MR-31 targets we use for slow prone. This paid off and I gained a few points. I came 5 points from making “sharpshooter” and I had one miss in off hand. So in theory, I just need to get that last one on target and I’ll be there.

For JCG I took the hard lesson I learned about slowing down in rapid prone to heart and did better. Some sloppiness in off hand hurt my score at but all and all I’m happy with my results. Excluding Perry my scores seem to be improving it’s good to see my name in the middle of the results instead of the bottom!

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2013 Camp Perry National Matches

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Early Thursday morning I took the 461 mile pilgrimage to Camp Perry for the 2013 National Matches.

This was my second time attending the matches so things made a lot more sense this time!

I shot in the morning relays this year instead of the PM relays. While it hurt to wake up so early it was a good decision. It was cooler, its done by noon so I had more time to goof off and both days we beat the afternoon showers. It was also nice to be there for colors, while I was in the pits I didn’t “see” anything but it was pretty cool to hear the countdown echo across Viale, the cannon and a live bugler. It might be corny but it got me excited for the day.

Great weather both days, only stoppage was for some low flying airplanes just before prep for slow prone. For the Garand Match we were delayed for a while waiting for the fog to burn off. I was in the pits at the time which wasn’t so bad, just lounging around drinking “pit coffee” and BSing.

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As far as my performance I made the same mistake twice in a row in rapid prone. After posting my personal best in slow prone for both rifles I rushed rapid, which is typically my best, and lost points I shouldn’t have. I learned a lesson the hard way, slow down and take your time in rapid!

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The upside is I have a good base to work with, a good rifle, a good load, and a decent position I just have to clean it up a bit. I can work with this.

Otherwise I had a great time, I can’t wait until the next match! If you are thinking about going you absolutely should check out the post below for a “step by step” on how it all works.

Camp Perry CMP Games & National Matches: How It Works

The north store was looking pretty sad when I was there. There was only 1 lonely service grade special which was gone by Friday.

I snuck a video during rapid prone. Is the line ready? The line is not ready. Skip to 3:00 for the actual shooting.


Some other pictures and highlights.

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Practice and Changes to my Slow Fire Routine

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Took my Winchester Garand and 1917 Eddystone to the range after work today for some practice. I especially wanted to fire some more of my hand loads down range just to make sure they wouldn’t give me any trouble, they worked very well. I’m still amazed how well I can shoot this rifle compared to the my Springfield. I spend so much time worrying about stance, trigger control and other “soft skills” I guess the “hardware” can improve score sometimes too.

For the 1917 I am going to use HXP because I am still having trouble cycling hand loads in it and I don’t have the time or patience to figure it out before Perry so ill just use what I know works. I found with this rifle compared to a Garand even the slightest thing wrong and my shot goes wild. So it will be important to take my time and focus on the fundamentals with every shot.

For slow fire I have been keeping the rifle on my shoulder while reloading. To look at the scope I simply rock to the left to reload I use my right hand and tuck an round into the SLED then pull back on the handle and fall back into position. This seems to help me stay in position and be a little more constant. I’m not sure how this will play out in a pit match as I “short stock” my hand gets a little fatigued after awhile.

I’m getting awful excited about Perry in a few days, hopefully the weather holds.

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