Camp Perry Medals.

Hearst Doubles: 13th with Utley. M1A Match: 37th. Gold in 1903 Springfield and Silver in Vintage. Gold in the LEG match with a 484X12. Crossfired in the Garand match and only got a cotton medal, size L.

I would hesitate to estimate what these medals cost me in USD.

The cheapest item on Commercial Row.

Springfield to the left of me, Winchester to the right.

Wandering the man-haul area of Camp Perry, Commercial Row, I chanced up on a small selection of Winchester Garand front sights. 20 bucks. That's kind of a deal. I think the Winchester front sights with their much wider ears are a better sight than the normal Springfields. Went back a bit later and got the bolt to tighten it down. .86 cents. That's the cheapest thing I bought at Camp Perry. Even the Bunny Bars cost a buck.
Those wide ears make me wonder if there wasn't a gay gun designer at the Winchester works. All for diversity.

Update: To move the Garand rear sight closer to the mechanical zero you just loosen the .86 cent bolt on the front sight and move it over.

Not finding a punchmark anywhere on this sight. It's slightly more than 3/4 inches wide on top.

M1s For Vets.

Clay with his big-ass hat on the line at Panola.

M1 For Vets was at Camp Perry for the second year. We could see their yellow T-shirts all up and down the line during the CMP games weekend. Last year during the awards the audiance gave them a raucous standing ovation when they rolled up front and refused to sit down or stop clapping, whistling and yelling.
My teammate Clay Hefner watched a guy struggle to shoot a Garand out of a wheelchair during one of the events and just GAVE the guy his National Match AR, case, mags, ammo. Whole deal.
Clay makes me dang proud to be a Texan.

Brass from the National Matches.

Not including the Infantry Trophy. Lotta shooting.

Food Bag.

Food Bag on the bench at Rodriegez Range.

I ate the martini olives. I ate the Whole Foods Apple Bars. The Buffalo Jerky went quick as well as the apricots. Little boxes of raisins came and went. Wished I had more pecans to go with the block of bittersweet chocolate Katie brought from Whole Foods in Austin. One morning I finished some fresh blueberries. Had bananas but never carried them. Ate Pizza slices for a few days left over from Pizza Inn Deluxe. Took a load of raw food Larabars. Ate one. They are probably the perfect range food, but you just never work up a craving for a Larabar. Had three precious buttermilk pies from Taco Wacco. Very satisfying.

Brought about ten Larabars home along with a chunk of chocolate. Next match.

Star Spangled Banner, Viale pits.

Day four of the NRA Highpower Rifle Championships begins with the Star Spangled Banner. From the Viale Pit wall. You can hear the countdown and the cannon near the flagpole in the far treeline. On one of the CMP days they fired someones ashes from the cannon.

Rick Crawford firing the Vintage Rifle Match.

Rick and a K31. Viale Range at Camp Perry. All at 200 yards.

Carrying Rifles in.

Came back with two more than I went with, as Breda and Mike returned the Garand and Carbine I loaned them. Ammo sack is as light as a feather. Huge bag of brass though.
Five rifles in: Garand and Carbine. My Garand. NM AR. Match Rifle. 1903 Springfield. Swiss and Infantry Trophy rifle on the trailer still somewhere. Lotta rifles to clean.
Finish unpacking the truck today.

Camp Perry photos

Folks pulling pits on Rodreigez Range at Camp Perry during the NRA Championship.


More people. I just walked along and shot during a prep period.


Hibernating California Grizzly Junior shooter. Dang, these kids shot great all week.



The number 2. Shot to hell.

The hut life.

Groundhog among the abandoned huts across the road.


Camp Perrys famous Sycamores.


Children cleaning their assault rifle one row over.


My old 1903A3 in a sock on the rifle rack. 10 holes.

Used to keep 12 German POWs in here. Just Rick and I now, but we have internet and a little air conditioner humming away in the window. Someone duct taped the cracks in the concrete floor. Old rifle rack on the wall, post WWII.

The Camping life

Rick's M1A on his shooting stool, Viale Range during the Springfield Armory M1A match at Camp Perry.

Springfield M1A Match today. 50 shots, all at 300 yards on the standard 300 yard target. Borrowed Rick's rifle after he warmed it up by shooting 100X13 prone on the 3rd relay. We let the other two guys on our firing point shoot first while we started in the pits. They wanted the still air. We wanted sunlight on the target faces.
The Springfield Armory M1A Match gets major hoopla, but shrinks each year. The first year was 1200 folks in a steady rain. The next year was better but small enough to put on Viale Range and its 150 targets. Last year ran about 5-600 people and today we had 357. Not a good trend. They give away pistols, rifles, money, T-shirts, et. Just can't get it going. People love this old rifle....but not enough I guess.
The guys on the first relays didn't shoot too many misses but stayed downwind. Rick Crawford shot a decent match and was 4th. I shot a lousy match and was 37th. When I walked across the stage to get a medal hung on my neck, (top 50 folks) I told the head of Springfield Armory that I appreciated them supporting this match. "Bring a friend next year," was his reply.M1a

Monday's Pizza.

Justin Utley, Me, Troxell and Foster shooting the Vintage Match.


K31 Swiss recoil.


California Junior Team Member.


Clay Hefner and Mom Hefner before the Infantry Trophy Match.


One of the TSRA Infantry Trophy Teams.

Infantry Trophy and the CMP Games weekend. Kind of a different crowd. Our fellow Texan State Team shooters heading out. Another year over. Rick and I staying on for the NRA Championships. Traded my CMP ID tag for a new NRA hat tag. New Sheriff in town. Moved into a hut. Haven't stayed in a hut in six years. They are new and improved and there is no driving. Rough though. I remember Richard Shultz and Gary Shannon prepping the hut back in the day. Schultz strung clotheslines and stapled up curtains, put a flamingo out front so you could find it. I think there might be a story about Schultz coming back from a trip to the bathroom in the dark to the wrong hut. Used to keep 12 German POWs in here. Then the National Matches used them. Still got the old rifle rack on the wall.

Hearst Doubles.

Cat target on Commercial Row.


Rock River hot dogs on Commercial Row.


NRA Trash Can. They had an NRA hatchet at the NRA store. I gues you could use it to chop some NRA kindling for your NRA campfire.
10 shots offhand at 200, 10 shots prone rapid at 300, 10 shots prone slow fire at 600. Just like the Presidents 100 but with a two man team. Pair firing required at 200 and 600. (Two shooters alternating on one target.) Justin Utley and I shot this a couple years ago and came in 10th. 600 points would be a perfect score.
We shared our point with a National Guard team and two guys from Tennessee. The Tenn guys weren't competitive but the Guard team was very experienced. Utley and I wanted to shoot well. We were relay one and started off first standing at 200. When we got rolling I looked back and noticed the Tennesseans had torn our scorecard in half so they each could score one of us. I didn't let them live that down. We shot OK and went to the pits. Most of the Texas team had managed to be squadded together. Fun time. Good warm-up for the team match tomorrow.
We came out of the pits to shoot 300 and got to watch the Guard. They really knew their stuff. Good shooting and coaching in some tricky winds. At 600 they were just as smooth. Team shooters really can help each other out with coaching and wind calls. When I was shooting 300, (10 shots in 70 seconds with a magazine change) I shot the first two out of the first magazine into the top of the 10-ring. The first round of the second magazine went straight up into the 8-ring. Utley was coaching through the scope right behind me and said he was so shocked he nearly left. Luckily he stayed for the rest of a 97X1.
I scored the Tenn team last at 600 as a light rainstorm blew in. They struggled and ran long on time. Was ready to start kicking the soles of their boots to get things moving faster. I had their scorecard in a big ziplock with a hand inside and was starting to drip when they fired the final shot. First time to get wet this trip. Finished totaling up their score under the tent. They sucked desperately but Utley and I shot a 580X12 for 13th place. Beat the Guard by a point.

EIC/LEG Match, Camp Perry

Dead Canada Goose, Rodreigez Range, Camp Perry.


Part deux.


100 yard line.


Trampus and some Junior girl from Missouri.

Nice bunch of folks on the firing point with me, Point 12 on Rodreigez Range at Camp Perry. Six to a point and you get to work with nearly everyone during a day's time. Mix of new folks and experienced hands all around.
This was the longest day, six relays for a full 50 point match. Overcast with the wind rising and falling. I had an OK day shooting. Standing was low at 93X1. Very dim target in the overcast morning. Sitting not very good with 97X1, including an 8 I shot out the top. I saw it, of course, just couldn't do anything about it. 300 rapid was a 99X4 with a tricky wind call. Hit it just right, shot a nine out the top. 600 ran well with two minutes of windage on the rifle. 195X6. Finished in the Gold Medal bunch with a 484X12. 53rd place. Justin Utley was 50th place with more Xs. Gregg Troxell Legged out and finished his Distinguished Badge.

At 300 a flight of Canada Geese flew across the target faces the trailing bird got hit. I heard the story and set off to find the guy and see the goose. I did both. He said he never saw the geese but several other folks did. He was missing a bullet on his target. The goose was shot cleanly through the neck about four inches behind the head. I walked down to see it at the pit change. No tags on the goose, a grown juvenile.

Presidents 100.

Cousin Wallace surfing the net outside the Mar-Lu.


Justin Utley and Kim Jenkins with his target from the Top-20 shootoff after the Presidents 100.


The top 20 competitors milling around after the shootoff.


Rick Crawford marks Justin's target for the audience as he fires on the line at 600 yards during the shootoff.

Keeping a long streak alive I missed the President's 100 by a point. Absolutely still conditions early at Viale Range at Camp Perry. I was squadded with TSRA Junior shooter Clayton Rogers, one of my favorite guys on the junior team. Shot badly standing, pretty well everywhere else with perfect wind calls. Lost one point, a nine, to the wind all day. Just didn't shoot well early in the dim morning light.
Justin Utley made the top 20 shootoff but didn't win. Fun to watch. David Keys bought everyone ice cream after dinner.

Tomorrow is the EIC/LEG match. I'm on Rodriegez Range, the preferable range which back up to the parking lot behind Commercial Row on target 12. Relay one. I'll be shooting first in the dim light again.

Karl says: Get Organized!

Saturday

Been getting a Gore-chapping 13 mph pulling the trailer through the hills, 14 mph on the flats. There is enough ammo and rifles in there to break the siege of the Alamo, so its a load. Backed up the trailer doors to another truck last night for extra security. I have seven rifles with me with a couple already there that are coming home. NM AR15, Infantry Trophy AR15, Garand, Springfield 1903, Swiss K31 for the Vintage and a Match Rifle AR for the NRA Championships. Fondly remember the first time I came with one AR and a couple hundred rounds of ammo....ten years ago.

Dress has gotten a little more casual. Alan Wilson accused me of having my Dad's shirt on- a Patagonia short-sleeved that Katie bought me in Austin. The label says its hemp, though as far as I can tell its recycled grocery bags or something. I wish I had a couple of my Dad's shirts. I'd wear 'em.

Watching Jeff Lin, the cardiac surgeon botch extracting a waffle from the waffle iron. I don't think the patient is going to make it. Travel is tough.

Karl Says: Fine Dining!

They might be Rednecks.

Heavily armed diversity: We have Louisianan Tommy with us.


He might be a Redneck: Clay with six, seven, eight or ten rifles in the hotel.


Don't try this at home. Crossing the Mississippi in the rain. Worth at least one verse in a C/W song.


Rick driving and driving and driving. 800+ miles on this first day.


Traffic on the bridge between Missouri and Tennessee.

Sitting in the cab of Rick's truck crossing the Mississippi at 70 mph. The Texas team just upheld the tradition of never eating a good meal in Arkansas, turned north to cross the bootheel of Missouri, (because....it's a bootheel) and headed for the land of Davy Crockett. We aren't stopping today at Dixie Gun Works, but there it is just as we jog North to the Purchase Parkway.
Nice to travel the continent, especially when Rick insists on driving the whole way. I just navigate, talk on the radio a little and catnap. Where's my drink?

Night-time in LaQuinta land in Louisville. Dayton Ohio tomorrow for the Air Force Museum. Texans scattered all over the interstate system heading North.

Karl says: get all your gear!

Perry Packing.

I'm sure I'm taking too much. Going to do laundry a couple of times. Lotta rifles and ammo. Washing the last go-round right now. Always an ordeal (travail), to go on a trip. Glad to get packed in Ricks truck and get the wheels rolling.

One of our best team shooters, Keith Stephens, can't go. Baby nearly here. Good for the baby but bad for team, Wish them the best.

Taking a MacBook to blog from. Ought to be more active this year with photos as well as daily posts, so start watching this space.

National Match Teams leaving Texas for Camp Perry.

Cat target on Commercial Row, Camp Perry.

Vans and trucks loaded with people and guns going North. Texas Juniors are nearly through Arkansas and the Sam Houston State ROTC is rolling out shortly. I've still got two practices and 200 rounds of ammo to make. Adults leaving Friday morning.

I'll be blogging all the way through with photos and videos uploaded on the new Macbook.

Soldier of Marathon video

Video up on the Blackfork6 Channel. A little bit of video I shot of the team while we were firing the National Trophy Rifle Team match. The TSRA team won the Soldier of Marathon Trophy as the highest scoring civilian team. We were forth overall with a score of 2895X79. Texas hadn't won the trophy since the early 1960s.

I've shot on eight of these teams. (since 2001) We usually are in the top six or so with some really talented shooters. This year everything just kind of flowed. Very proud for the TSRA, Coach Curry, Directors Ken Gaby and Crawford and happy and proud for my fellow team members.