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Camp Perry
by Jim Owens
Planning on going to Camp Perry for the National
High-Power Rifle Matches for the first time? Here is
some useful information to get started. If you have
not shot Camp Perry before, you must contact the NRA
competition division and ask them to put you on the
list for a "packet." Call 1-800-672-3888, push
option six, then extension 1475 and the pound (#)
sign. NRA will send the packets out about June 1st,
make sure you fill it out and send it back right
away. One year I waited till just before the date on
which you have to pay a late fee and I found myself
on the waiting list. I almost didn't get to shoot
that year.
You must first decide what you want to do. Some
people:
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Go to Camp Perry just to look around.
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Go just to shop on commercial row. Building
after building of shooting supplies. Things you
never knew existed, and once you know they
exist, you can't live without them.
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Volunteer. The NRA desperately needs the
volunteers to run the matches. You can volunteer
yourself and kind of get the feel of the matches
or better yet you can shoot the matches and sell
your wife and kids into slavery. NRA pays the
volunteers $20 a day and gives them a lunch.
Best of all, they give them a hut. You can live
with them in the hut, more on the housing
shortage later. If you or the family want to
volunteer, called Grace Lee at 1-800-672-3888,
push option 6, extension 1485 and the pound (#)
sign. The NRA will give them a two-day training
class, the first week. The adults are usually
made line or pit block officials. The kids are
usually made field phone operators, teenagers
are usually on the maitenace crews. There are
other jobs around the camp the volunteers can
do. Usually they want the kids to be 12 years
and older. But they will take younger ones and
if they are mature.
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Shooting. Let's first define our terms. Do you
want to shoot the first week or the second week?
The first week is the CMP matches or also known
as the "Board Matches." The first week is for
Service Rifles ONLY (M-1 Garands, M-14/M-1A or
M-16/AR-15s). There are no separate
classifications the first week, the Marksman
shoot against the Masters and High Masters.
Because the entry fees are so much cheaper, you
pay less and you shoot less than the second
week, therefore a far greater # of competitors.
Saturday, July 31st of 1999 is the check-in day for
the first week. On Sunday August 1st and Monday
August 2nd, the volunteers attend their training
class. The shooters attend the "Small Arms Firing
School put on by the Army and the Marine Corps. The
shooters gather in the bleachers and attend the
morning school. In the afternoon of Sunday and on
Monday you shoot the M-16 off sandbags at 200 and
300 yds. You get a certificate of completion; the
cost of the SAFS is $20.
On Tuesday, August 3rd the shooters will fire the
Presidents Hundred. They will shoot 10 rounds Off
Hand, 10 rounds 300 yds rapid fire, and 10 round
600-yd slow fire. The top one hundred shooter's make
the President's Hundred. Again High Masters and
Marksmen are together. The costs of the Presidents
Hundred is $30, without ammo ($20.00 for juniors).
It will take all day to shoot the 30 rounds. There
will be at least six relays, three relays on the
line and three in the pits. Sometimes they may have
as many as eight relays.
On Wednesday August 4th you shoot the National
Trophy Individual Rifle Match or better known as the
"Leg Match." This match is the one in which you try
to win points toward Distinguished Rifleman.
Normally a Gold medal is worth 10 points, a Silver
medal is worth 8 points and Bronze medal is worth 6
points. A total of 30 points are needed to go
Distinguished. For civilians at the Natural Matches,
ANY medal, Gold, Silver or Bronze is worth 10
points. Again, no classifications are used.
Generally an Expert or Higher has a good chance of
placing in the medal category. There may be a
thousand or more shooters and with a hundred or more
medals given. The top 10% of the Non-Distinguish
shooters will place. You shoot a National Match
Course; 10 rounds Off Hand, 10 rounds two
hundred-yard rapid-fire, 10 rounds three hundred
yard rapid fire and 20 rounds are fired at six
hundred yards slow fire. No sighters are given in
this match. Again it will take all day to shoot the
50 rounds. The cost is $30, without ammo ($20.00 for
juniors)
On Thursday, August 5th, the adults have the day
off. I would advise the adults to stay and help the
juniors; they need pit pullers and coaches. The
juniors shoot the "Whistler Boy" Match. That is a
two-man team, National Match Course (50 Shot). The
cost is $30.00
On Friday on August 6th, the Military, the State
Teams and Club Teams shoot the National Trophy Team
Match, that also is a National Match Course (50
Shot). That match is the 6-man team, fired on one
target. All the slow fire, (off hand and 600 yds),
are fired by two shooters, pair firing. They
alternate shots on the same target. There is a total
team time. There will be no pit change; your team
has to have a couple of pit pullers. The cost is
$75.00 without ammo; the juniors get free ammo.
On Saturday August 7th, the Military, the State
Teams and the Club Teams will shoot the Combat
Infantry Trophy Match or better known as the "Rattle
Battle." It is a 6-man team shooting rapid-fire on
eight targets from 600, 500, 300 and 200 yds. The
cost is $75.00 without ammo; the juniors get free
ammo.
After the team matches on Friday and Saturday, the
John Garand, M-1, "As-issued" match will be held.
The cost is $30.00
Saturday evening is the Awards Ceremony for the
first week, in the Base Theater. It is a show well
worth attending.
If you want to shoot on the team matches, try to get
on your state team. They usually have a fundraiser
to help pay your cost.
The Second Week
The second week cost a lot more, so there are fewer
people shooting, but you get to shoot a lot more.
The second week is broken down, by both
classification and type of rifles used. A Marksman
Service rifle does not shoot against a marksman with
a Match Rifle. The Marksmen do not shoot against
Sharpshooters or Masters.
First you have to decide if you want to:1) Shoot the
NRA Championships, across the course, ONLY, cost is
$221.00, $111.00 for juniors. 2) Shoot the
Long-Range Championships, 600,1,000 yds and the
Palma Match, ONLY, the cost is $135.00 or 3) Shoot
BOTH the Across the Course and Long Range Matches,
the cost is $281.00.
The people who shoot second week, usually drive down
on Saturday and check-in. There is a match on Sunday
called the "Rumbold Team" Match; it is a good
warm-up match for the National Championships. This
match is a 50 shot Natural Match Course with
sighters; you can use a Match Rifle or Service
Rifle. The Rumbold is a four-man team, usually Local
Clubs or State Associations. The cost is $60.00 per
team. You can have one member from an adjoining
state fire on your team. You can form a team with
members from states that are not adjoining, but you
must enter in the RNDC Match, it is held at the same
time as the Rumbold. You have a snowball's chance in
hell of winning; there is only one winner given and
High Master teams from across the country shoot it.
Guess who wins.
The NRA Championships are held on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday. August 9th, 10th, 11th and
12th. You shoot three 800 aggregate matches, but it
takes four days to do it. You will shoot two
sighters and 20 rounds Off Hand Slow Fire, that is a
match in itself. Then you shoot two sighters and
two, ten shot strings of sitting rapid fire, that is
also a match by itself. You then shoot two sighters
and two, ten shot strings of 300 yard rapid fire. No
600-yd slow fire is shot on the first day. Each day
you shoot three stages of the 800 aggregate.
The Long-Range Championship, only shooters start on
Tuesday, August 10th and shoot Wednesday and
Thursday at 600 yds. They are the 5th relay. They
have to come down to the pits on the last pit change
to help pull the targets.
Thursday evening is the Awards Ceremony for the
second week, again in the Base Theater.
On Friday August 13th, if you are a long
range only shooter or are shooting both the
Championships and long-range, you shoot 1,000 yds
Iron Sights, Individual in the morning and a four
man team in the afternoon. On Saturday August 14th
you shoot 1,000 yds. Scopes may be used on the rifle
if you have one, Individual matches in the morning
and four-man team matches in the afternoon. Team
Matches cost $60.00.
On Friday and Saturday the High Shooters on each
relay in the Individual Matches will be in the
"Shoot Off" for the Championship.
On Sunday, Aug. 15th they shoot the Palma
Matches; 800, 900, and 1,000 yds. Most people use
that Sunday as a day of travel and head back home
and return to work on Monday. NRA squads that
morning, on the line, so they know how many shooters
they have.
NRA has a long-range Firing School held the next few
days after the Long-Range Championships. The 13th,
14th and 15th are classroom
instructions and the 16th and 17th
are range time. The cost is $150.00
Weather
Camp Perry is right on Lake Erie; in fact, the
bullets go right into the lake. It can be freezing
cold first thing in the morning and hot as hell and
the afternoon, so be prepared. Storms can pop-up any
time. Leaving your rain gear on the 200-yd line
while you are soaking wet in the pits will not
enhance your reputation as "being smart."
Housing
Camp Perry is a World War 2 prisoner of war camp.
The "Huts" are a 14-ft. by 14-ft. concrete slab with
a building on it; there is a door, three windows,
one on each side, one light bulb in the center, four
military racks or beds with a shelf and a rod for
hanging things above each bed. Bring cleaning
supplies, you'll want to clean the huts out before
using them. Do not bring an air conditioner to use
in the huts, the electrical outlets will not handle
the load, it's a fire hazard, and the MPs will
confiscate them.
You do not want the "double letter" huts. They are
in the South 40, far from the Ranges, Commercial Row
and they are in the poorest condition. Worst of all
is the bathrooms. You can sit on the toilet and
shake hands with the guy next to you. The showers
are one large room with showerheads (if they work)
around the room. Ask for the huts between the Mess
Hall and Commercial Row. The Huts themselves aren't
that much better, but the bathrooms sure are. They
have individual stalls for both the toilets and
showers. The huts used to cost $8 a day per bed.
They now cost $2 a day per bed, the trick is to get
them. The other housing they have is the modules.
They are a two-man Room with their own bathroom, and
they have air-conditioning. You better like the
person you are living with because with all your
gear you are very close. $38.15 a day for both beds,
again they are hard to get.
They do have some beds in the barracks. The cost is
$5.45 per bed per night. You don’t have to walk to
the bathroom in the rain like you do if you are in
the huts. Housing office telephone number is
614-336-6214.
Food
A tornado has torn the roof off the Mess Hall and it
is no longer usable. The Army use to run the Mess
Hall and you could eat there. They no longer run the
Mess Hall. IGA Supermarket ran a lunch and dinner
last year; I ate there once. There are a lot of good
restaurants in town, and several have all you can
eat dinners.
Some people bring a small refrigerator. Most people
have one or two ice chests. Milk and cereal will do
for Breakfast in the morning, Lunchables and a drink
to take with you on the range for there are no lunch
breaks. You have to get ice every day to keep things
from spoiling. You can get the ice at the PX or at
the snack bar. Most people pick up the ice right
after they have supper in town.
Commercial Row
After you have spent all your money on Commercial
Row, you'll soon realize that Commercial Row is a
social event. People will walk up and down
Commercial Row, running into their friends and talk
about the day's events. One of the other meeting
places is the building that houses the Wailing Wall.
People gathered to look at the day's scores and talk
about how well they "could have" shot.
Swap Meet
On Tuesday Aug. 3rd and Monday Aug. 9th
there are competitor swap meets; you get to sell
your junk to some one else and buy their wonderful
stuff from them.
Competitor Meeting
On Thursday Aug. 5th there is a meeting
for the competitors with both the CMP and the NRA
about the rules. A lot of rule changes have come out
of this meeting.
Location
Camp Perry is about 40 miles East of Toledo right on
Lake Erie. It is on Ohio Route 2 four miles west of
Port Clinton. To reach Camp Perry from the East use
Route 2 or Ohio Turnpike I-80 & 90. From Ohio
Turnpike exit gate 7, travel North on Route 250,
then west on Route 2. From the West use Route 2 or
exit Ohio Turnpike exit gate 6, travel North on
Route 53, then west on Route 2.
Equipment to bring
Stewart Leech, better known as the Colorado Gray
Fox, has made an equipment list of items to bring to
Camp Perry for the Nationals; it is printed in here
for your use. Click
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