Camp Perry 2008 Newsletter
Alex Belt and Mike Hawkins Clean Up
Edited Sunday, August 10, Hearst Doubles commentary.
Edited Friday, August 8 to add links to interesting sites.
- CMP match scores can be found here.
- NRA scores (the M1A match) can be found here. You’ll need to scroll down to the highpower section.
- The NRA’s blogger picked up this newletter somehow and referenced it here. But he called us the Orange County Sharpshooters. Guess it’s too much to expect someone who writes for publication to also be able to read and understand. Sigh. I sent him a nastygram. Maybe we should affiliate with the NRA so that they can get our name right.
President’s and NTI
At 7am on Sunday, August 3, my truck’s climate control turned on the heater as I left my mother’s house in Thiensville, Wisconsin. It was all of 60°. At 5pm the same day, when I got out of the truck, it was 98º in Springfield, and the transition from the low to high seemed an apt analogy for the Osage Orange Sharpshooters trip to Camp Perry. We started in the dumper but improved as the week went on. And when it was all over, the various members of our team had distinguished themselves beyond compare. Truly. I ain’t making that up.
The first match is called The President’s Match, and finishing in the top 100 (out of about 1100 shooters this year) is a prestigious accomplishment earning the shooter a special pin, shoulder patch, and certificate. As the attached table will tell you by the absence of a column for awards or medals, none of us made it. Alex Belt shot the best, but his score only placed him 397th. Many of us simply shot as if we had never held a rifle before. It was truly embarrassing.
But the second day changed all that. The National Trophy Individual match (or NTI or leg match) is probably the biggest draw for serious service rifle shooters. Finishing in the top 10 percent of non-Distinguished shooters earns 10 points towards the Distinguished Rifleman’s Badge, and for those who are already Distinguished, medals are awarded based on the leg point cutoffs for the non-Distinguished shooters. See the CMP rulebook for more info, but the process basically works like this: the top 10 percent of non-Distinguished shooters get medals. The top sixth (of the 10 percent) gets a gold, the next two sixths get silver, and the bottom 3 sixths get bronze. Distinguished shooters get the same medal as the non-distinguished shooter with the same score. Anyway, Alex Belt set a new Osage Orange Sharpshooters National Match record with a 483 12X. (Les Welch held the old record of 482, set last year.) Alex finished 8th among non-Distinguished competitors and 80th overall. (Bill Corcoran finished 118th overall). Most importantly, the 10 leg points Alex gained put him over the top for the Distinguished Rifleman’s Badge. Alex Belt is now a Distinguished Rifleman!!!
Achieving this award requires hard work, dedication to task, and the ability to shoot well under pressure. Alex put on a blitz this year, scoring leg points in 3 matches including the NTI. Consistency in shooting is a very desirable thing, and somewhere along the way Alex has found the exact formula for winning matches; those of us in the club would do well to pay attention to this formula. Since Alex will be moving to Springfield later this year, we may have more opportunities to tap into his knowledge and find out some of his secrets. I’m guessing we can impose on him to share his experiences at our clinic next spring.
Heart Doubles
The third day of matches at Camp Perry included both the Hearst Doubles (a team match) and the Carbine match. Three Sharpshooters teams participated—each team is simply two people—and we didn’t really distinguish ourselves. Alex Belt and Les Welch did fairly well, finishing 90th overall out of 236 teams. (For those of you who attend the matches outside of Springfield, Major John Schwent and Corporal Emily Windmassinger (nee Perez) of the USMC finished 18th in this match.).
The Hearst Doubles was a big disappointment for me on a number of levels (as was the President’s match), and since the Hearst Doubles is generally a fun time, the emotional descent was a bit much. It’s a given that a guy will shoot poorly when he least wants to; OK, we can all tolerate that however much we hate it. But then the Marines pulling targets on our firing point couldn’t find one of my bullet holes at 300 yards, and so I had to eat a miss even though my partner, Larry Ailor, the match director from the St. Louis Benchrest Club, watched through the scope and saw all 10 shots go into the center of the target while he coached me. Then at 600 yards we first had an argument with the range management about shooting right after humping 600 yards from the pits without time for a potty stop. And the Marines pulling our target this time decided that they’d eat their lunch or discuss the dating habits of okapi between shots, or something. (Knowing the names of these Marines made it triply irksome this week to watch them finish extremely high up in the NRA matches at Camp Perry. They weren’t newbies to the sport.) Poor target service in a wind switching between 1 minute and 5 minutes worth of windage has never helped anyone shoot well. Then, to top it all off, Larry relied on me to make the wind calls at 600 yards. Believe me when I tell you that Larry Ailor is a super, trusting, guy. Also believe me when I tell you I can’t read the wind. The result wasn’t very good. Anybody want to shoot the doubles with me next year? I’m sure my old partner would be happy to give up his position.
Edited 8/10/08: The Marines we shot with were some of the nicest, easy-going folks you’d ever want on your firing point. After the 600 yard stage I asked for advice on reading the wind from one of their best shooters (who was scoring us), and he freely volunteered his time and expertise to explain what I was doing wrong as well as how to do it right. This Marine finished 5th in the NRA Service Rifle Championship. That’s the great thing about Camp Perry: you can get advice from the very best shooters in the world. And the men and women in uniform, no matter which branch of the service, no matter whether they’re on one of the teams or paid their own way or are simply there because it’s duty, are consistently polite, deferential, respectful, and focused. It’s a great pleasure to be among them for the week.
Carbine
As the Hearst Doubles were being conducted on Viale Range, a couple of Sharpshooters were over on Rodriguez Range participating in the Carbine match. And both of these guys have a story to tell. First, Pat Worley eschewed the matches on the first 2 days in order to go fishing. He was so successful that he treated all 7 of us to a perch dinner on Tuesday night, and fresh-caught Lake Erie perch are sublime, whether broiled, batter-fried, or blackened. This is the second year in a row that Pat has provided us with a fish dinner. And if you’re on the edge thinking about going to Camp Perry, think about this—you can get the finest fish dinner in the finest restaurant for $10 only if you go to Camp Perry. Consider that for next year. And by the way, his fishing trip cost approximately $50-60, which is less than it would cost you to trail a boat to Stockton, buy bait, fuel, etc, and fish for a day. >Maybe you want to come to Camp Perry and go fishing with Pat.
Mike Thorn had a particularly difficult time at Camp Perry because of some skin problems on his hands. The cracking and soreness brought on by some chemicals at his workplace were so painful that he withdrew from the first two days of matches and didn’t even go fishing, although reliable sources say he got some candid photographs of some fisherperson allegedly trying to swim. And rumor has it Lake Erie is now home to a heinous monster dwarfing even that of Loch Ness. But I could be mistaken. By the way, Mike came back to win a Bronze medal in the Carbine match, as did Nessie, er, Pat.
Team, Springfield, and Vintage
Someplace in the back of my mind as I prepared for Camp Perry I had assumed we would be able to piece together a team for the National Trophy Team match (NTT) and the National Trophy Infantry Team match (NTIT or rattle battle). We were short of manpower, though, and so the Osage Orange Sharpshooters did not field a team in either event. (Les Welch shot with the Kansas Rifle Association in both events and did very well.)
Since we weren’t fielding a team, I decided to cut short my stay at Camp Perry, and head for the cooler environs in Wisconsin. I left Camp Perry early Thursday morning, and so the following write-ups are based on hearsay and reading the match bulletins.
The Springfield match and the Vintage (Foreign Military Bolt Rifles) are conducted concurrently. Competitors shoot the same course of fire and may even shoot in both matches if they register twice. Four Sharpshooters shot in the Springfield match, and as I understand it, there were significant problems with the ammunition issued (HXP-77 I believe). There were numerous reports of hang fires, short rounds, excessive pressure causing problems with bolt lift, and even one tracer round mixed in (that must have been fun). A week before the match, on the AR-15 Competition forum a gentleman had commented on the ammunition saying that it was loaded with over 60 grains of some unidentifiable powder, the bullets were of awful quality (non-concentric), and the ammunition displayed signs of high pressure in all rifles. I guess he was right. None of the Osage Orange members shot a score worth remembering. Ask them about the ammunition. Since I was registered for both the Springfield and the Garand matches but did not shoot them, I have 4 boxes of this ammo if anyone wants to try it.
Let’s cut right to the chase. Mike Hawkins won the Vintage Rifle Match. He didn’t just win a gold medal or shoot a good score. He won the match. The whole thing. Nobody at Camp Perry shot a better score. Not bad for a young up and comer. And there were some awfully good shooters in this match; one in particular, I know from 2005 and from shooting next to him this year. (You make good once-a-year friends in this game.) His name is Lynn Richter, and he made the President’s 100 this year. He also made it in 2005, shooting an AR-15 both times. But previous to that he had made the P100 three times with an M1A and once with an M1 Garand. So this man knows how to shoot, and Mike Hawkins beat him and 327 other competitors to win the whole shooting match. What can you say? We all dream of success, of being top dog. But only a few ever do it, and Mike is now the man.
Garand and M1A
Mike turned right around and shot a gold-medal score the next day in the John C. Garand match, finishing 41st out of 1049 shooters. No slouch with the old rifles either, Alex Belt finished 71st for a gold medal also.
Finally, I attend Camp Perry for the CMP week, and the week ends on Saturday with the John C. Garand match and a cook out hosted by CMP. But there’s another week of highpower competition following that. On Sunday the NRA week kicks off with the M1A match, and I just kind of ignored this—until this year. Mike Hawkins finished 35th out of 399 shooters, capping a three-day run of phenomenal success. If anyone in the club has an extra match-conditioned AR-15 that they can loan him, say, one that was won in a raffle, for example, please get it into his hands ASAP so he can start practicing for next year’s trip to Camp Perry. We need shooters for the team matches.
The Camp Perry Experience and 2009
Nobody, I repeat nobody, in our club has ever accomplished so much in such a short time as Mike Hawkins. You have to attend some of the larger matches to understand when people say that it’s the wind that gets you at Camp Perry. Not the wind blowing the flags, but a knee-high wind that seems to come up just as you go into the standing position. It has short-circuited the dreams of many a shooter at Camp Perry (and other big matches), and to be able to score medals in your first three matches at the National Trophy matches is an accomplishment beyond compare. With enough work, almost anyone can learn to be a good shooter (witness your Prezidente, Dictator for Life), but exceptional shooters or great shooters are born. To be sure, the exceptional shooter, like Mike, has to work every bit as hard as the good shooter—it’s just that he goes farther as a result of the work. We should be aware that we have a very special shooter in our club.
Mike Hawkins and Brad Wynes came to Camp Perry in the middle of the week and stayed by themselves, whereas the rest of us were together in a motel outside of Camp Perry, so I never got to see Mike or Brad while they were there. It was only after I started to put this newsletter together that I discovered all the good news about Mike’s shooting. So I hope he will tell us more about it at our next matches, and I look forward to Mike contributing his knowledge at the clinic next year.
Next year is something to consider this year. Planning for Camp Perry is a year-long event for some of us. In past years we have stayed on the base in prisoner of war huts, but this year we were forced to stay in a motel (a fishing lodge, really). It was quite pleasant, more so than the huts, but it required a 20 minute drive every morning and evening. The cost was $150 per person for the week—and that included bedding and towels. Mike and Brad made their own arrangements, and whatever accommodations they had must have agreed with them, that’s for sure. But it is not necessary for you to make your own reservations if you want to go. Many of us will be going back next year, and we do try to get a good deal on group accommodations, so if you wish to participate, we will make room for you.
Let me just extend the invitation—any and all Osage Orange Sharpshooters are invited to attend Camp Perry in 2009—stay with the team or stay by yourselves, that’s your choice—but start planning now.
Any questions?? Contact… Bill Corcoran (417) 862-861 or send me an email
Osage Orange Sharpshooters – Camp Perry 2008
| Name | P100 | NTI Medal |
Hearst | Carbine Medal |
SGF | Vintage Medal Award |
JCG Medal |
MIA Medal Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Larry Ailor | 272.4 | 465.5 | 264.1 | |||||
| Alex Belt | 274.5 | 483.12 Gold |
274.5 | 277.2 Gold |
||||
| Bill Corcoran | 257.0 | 479.11 Silver |
264.3 | |||||
| Mike Hawkins | 286.7 Gold Match Winner |
280.3 Gold |
436.2 Medal 35 |
|||||
| Gene Spears | 252.3 | 354.1 | 226.0 | 240.0 | 256.2 Bronze |
250.2 | 427.0
64 |
|
| Beth Spears | 254.3 | 449.6 | 259.1 | 150.0 | 240.1 | 264.0 | ||
| Mike Thorn | 200.0 | 328.0 Bronze |
204.02 | 252.1 | ||||
| Les Welch | 267.1 | 450.6 | 274.2 | 266.1 | ||||
| Pat Worley | 334.1 Bronze |
235.2 | 235.2 | 263.5 | 310.0
330 |
|||
| Brad Wynes | 217.1 | 249.1 |