2025 CMP Regional Spring Matches

A full agenda of rifles to shoot:

Tuesday - M1 and No. 4 Mk 1/3 in 35 round Vintage Service Rifle Match (200 yds)

Wednesday - 1903a3 in Vintage Service Rifle Match, No. 4 (T) in Vintage Sniper Rifle Match (300 and 600 yds)

Thursday - AR-15 in 80 round Service Rifle Match (200, 300 and 600 yds)

Friday - AR-15 in 80 round Service Rifle Match (200, 300 and 600 yds)

Saturday - No. 4 DCRA 7.62 in 40 round 2x600 Match (600 yds)

I cancelled one of the 600 yd and 80 Shot Service Rifle matches, didn’t think my back could handle that much prone shooting, that would have made for long days on Friday and Saturday. 

WX is looking good, a few warm days, winds 10 to 20 mph on a few of the days which will make things interesting. 

 I’m set up at the campground and enjoying the sun. The wind has finally settled down. Tomorrow’s weather looks perfect for shooting. Wednesday will be fairly windy for the vintage sniper match.  

That's a decent start!

I always found the first day the worst day!

Just relax  remember its the next shot you worry about only.

Today was an interesting shoot! I don’t think I’ve ever shot is winds this bad. 

In the morning, I shot the in the 1903 Springfield 30 round Match (10 prone slow, 10 prone rapid and 10 standing slow, all at 200 yds). Dropped a few points in prone slow, not bad. Prone rapid was interesting. On the magazine reload with the second five round clip (yes, this is a “clip”), I could not get the cartridges to push out of the clip into the magazine. They all ended up all over the shooting mat and one got jammed into the magazine. Panic set in as I tried to pick them up and get them into the magazine. Finally, with 20 seconds left on the clock, I closed the bolt on the 6th round and proceeded with a very fast rapid fire. Amazing I only threw off one shot into the 7 ring, one 9 and three 10’s for a score of 96. 

Standing slow fire went well, a 92 for a total score of 286.  Fairly good, but not enough to win. Then while completing the score card for the standing stage, 10 points suddenly disappeared from the monitor on the prone rapid sub-total. We questioned the RO’s and they looked it up on the computer. Apparently, the last shot hit the target at 4/10ths of a second after the time limit, even though it was before the “cease fire”command was given.  Oh well, that’s how the cookie crumbles as my Mom would say. 

Well, looking at the competition tracker now, it’s showing those 10 points got added back in. Go figure. So, this puts me in 2nd place for the overall 3 Gun Aggregate, one point behind the guy in first place. I’ll get bumped a few places down tomorrow as there are two more relays yet to fire. 

I’m still holding 1st place with the M1, now out of 68 shooters, but still two relays to go, so that could change. 

After this match, a few of us helped coach a new group of shooters shooting their first Excellence in Competition (EIC) match with the AR-15. This was a simplified version, 40 rounds in 4 positions all at 200 yds. It was fun, enjoyed helping the new shooters, important for the future of our sport. 

But the real challenge was the Vintage Sniper Match. I shot my rebarrelled No. 4 T. I’ve never shot in winds like this before. Sustained winds of 20 mph with gusts over 30 mph. Instantly changing direction from about 2 O’Clock to 11 O’Clock. My 300 yard stage started out sloppy, shots around the 9 ring, then it settled in to shooting 10’s and X’s for a score of 96. Decent, but not good. Then 600 was really interesting trying to watch for the wind shifts. Everyone was having trouble. Many couldn’t hold shots in the 8 ring, multiple 7’s. I somehow managed a score of 92, which was third highest at 600.  Our team ended up 4th place, my partner had a bit more difficulty than I did at 600x shooting his USMC 1903A1 Sniper.  I’m happy with how the T is now shooting, and I was worried about letting him down. We are now looking forward to the D-Day Sniper Match. 

Tomorrow is back to the black gun, an 80 round Service Rifle Match. Hadn’t shot it since early December. Gotta look up my notes to figure out what the elevation settings are for the three different ranges. 

Shaun, I really appreciate that, thanks so much for the suggestion!

Oh, how I wish I could have shared this experience with my Dad. He will enjoy the phone conversation we will have about it later…