Well, I signed up for this thing several months ago, and reserved a “hut”. Got on the web and found info and checklists of stuff to bring. Talked to lotsa other shooters here for their advice. Figured out who’s driving and who’s flying. Attended nearly every weekly junior practice at Ben Avery in June and July (in the HEAT!!!! the AR-15 stocks were too hot to touch!) got rain gear, put wheels on the stools, loaded a bazillion rounds of .223 and .308 (more on that later), checked my triggers, found the M1A light and had adjust it, loaded the truck and drove!

I signed up for CMP week and NRA week. I did not sign up for Long Range becuz the kids had to be back at school.

This is my first trip to Perry. The plan was for Me and Billy to shoot and Mimi and Meimei to goto Atlanta to visit her sister.

I started packing bags and ammo cans weeks in advance, Mimi bought a ton of snack food for us. I set out my ammo and that for the kid in terms of what matches are going on. I had separate lots (175’s) for 600 yd, Rattle-Battle, and everything else (168’s). The kid had 55’s, 69’s, 77’s and 80’s.

I planned to use my M1A and the kid his AR-15. My AR would be the back-up. I also brought an M1 for the Garand match. I ended up bringing 4 other rifles and 2 HUGE cases of equipment and ammo for other shooters who had sense enuf to fly out!

The back of the truck was PACKED absolutely bed to the ceiling of the shell. And the rear sagged noticably.

We packed up everything Wednesday, 28-Aug and started driving around 11 am.

We took I-17 north, turned right at Flagstaff, hit real heavy rain at the NM border, and got as far as the far side of Albuquerque the first night. Second day we took I-40 to OK city and I-44 to Joplin MO. Stopped at Bass Pro Shop’s “Outdoor World” in Springfield MO. Third day we drove through St Louis, Indy, to Dayton OH. Saturday we drove up to Perry. Got there late morning. Talked to Tom on the phone, he flew in a took a cab. Found the sign in office, got our Small Arms Firing School packets and shirts. Visited Derrick at his commercial row shop, when hut rental office opened, I picked up the keys and we headed down there. We were kinda early, so not many others had yet moved in. The huts were not as bad as Alfred made them sound. As we were unloading, the guy in the next hut said hi, we walked over, he
introduced himself as George from Virginia, I said “I’m Bill Poole from Arizona” and he shouted: “You’re the guy with that Arizona Rifleshooting Web site!” That would happen more during the stay!

I left keys at Derrick’s for Tom and also the stuff for the other guys I had brought for them. Then I drove Mimi and Meimei to the airport and realized that I was coming down with a cold. Found Tom at the hut at night.

Here's some other state's Junior playing by the huts, and our own junior coach John Wilder.
 
They start off the Highpower championships at Camp Perry with “Small Arms Firing School”. This is an introduction the function of the M16 rifle and how to conduct a match, work targets etc. It is put on by the USAMTU, US Army Marksmanship Training Unit. To liven it up a bit, they put on a comedy “skit”. This year then created the “Perry Springer Show”  and brought on a shooter who was unfaithful to both his pair-firing partner and his coach by shooting with another partner and coach. Needless to say his origional partner and coach were not pleased. But “Nothing bad ever happens on the Perry Springer Show” (you had to be there).

After the lecture portion of SAFS, we went to the range, where under the direction of a coach from one of the services, (My coach, Ssgt John Chubb, US Army, went on to win the President’s 100 match!), we shot at 200 yds the first day and 300 yds the second. At the last minute, they changed the rules to allow AR shooters to use their own guns and ammo, I chose not to, since I planned to shoot the M1A. I shot an FN (South Carolina) M16, s/n 732-1089. I only made “Sharpshooter” (no coat, etc). Billy, shooting his own AR, ammo with the coat etc, made Expert!

Just before the firing portion of SAFS, we stood in line to get our triggers weighed. I was pretty confident mine would pass, it did, that hour with 600 grit back home paid off. Tom’s however was light! He had to rush back to the hut to bend springs and didn’t get it weighed till the next day.

After the second day of SAFS, they had practice at 200 yds. I figured I could use the practice. Kirby showed up but was not in SAFS, so he got squadding tickets for us all. We were alloted 10 minutes slow fire and one rapid fire string. So, I grabbed some of my spare ammo and headed to the range. Standing went off without a hitch, but in the sitting rapid, I had a round jam, (since there were no alibis) I closed it and it went “click” instead of “bang” (a very disconcerting sound - “click” when you expect “bang”), worked the action ejecting that round and loading another, and got another click, once more and I figured I would not bother trying to complete, its only practice....oh great...a broken firing pin, well, at least it happened in practice, and there’re several gunsmiths on commercial row. So, I picked up my brass and ejected live rounds and saw a loaded round with NO primer!!! (since I color my case heads, I CANNOT miss a missing primer). Now I’m REALLY worried. I have 500 rounds of one batch and 200 rounds of another! Can I trust none of it? Some of the primers seated easy in the once-fired FC brass, but both batches test-fired OK. So, when I got back to the truck, I pulled the trigger group and saw the missing primer jammed alongside the bolt, I guess that prevented the bolt from closing and hence the “click”. Firing pin looked fine, I stowed my stuff and grabbed the rifle and headed for Derrick! Caught him leaving the shop for dinner with Kevin Thomas of Sierra. He looked at the rifle and declared it good. He suggested I super-glue the primers and get NEW brass next time (I have 2000 rds of new LC on order).

Here are some pics from the line: line line pits prone standing

Got some superglue in town, and 3 boxes of M852 from CMP just in case. I figure if I have one more failure, I’ll use that for rapids in the Pres’ 100 and LEG. I worried that switching from Moly to plain might screw up my zeroes, but didn’t have a better plan, A serious disadvantage of moly: you can’t just swap ammo! I also got my allotted 1 case or M2 Ball from CMP.

That night, I looked at my lot numbers and found the failed round came from the lot of 200 (which was actually twice fired). So I decided to use the lot of 200 for standing slow only, and to glue the primers on all rapid ammo and use only from the lot of 500. I spent several subsequent evenings gluing primers for each next day’s match.

Next day, 3-Aug-99, was the first day of the CMP matches. The “President’s 100 Match”. My secondary goal at Perry was to make President’s 100. This is a 30 shot match with no sighters. I shot a 10 at 8 for my first shot, and ended up with a 88-0X standing, I was a little apprehensive after yesterday’s failure until that first “bang”. Then, I got nervous again before the 300 yd rapid, all 10 shots functioned, I had a 94-1X and at 600 yd, I had 95-3X (5-nines) which is actually better than my average at 600. Net result: my 277-4x was ranked 296 out of 1237.  I made “president’s 300”!!! Billy shot a 221-0X to get ranked 1101, not bad actually. I never could get that kid to keep a data book, so we have no idea how he did in most of the matches. Nothing special to report, wind more or less out of 12:00. Cut off was 285 -4X, results are at: http://www.Highpowerrifle.com/match104.htm .

4-Aug was the LEG match, They call it the NTI National Trophy Individual match. I have 24 of the required 30 LEG points, and have already fired my limit of 3 LEG matches this year. I REALLY wanted to LEG at Perry. This was my PRIMARY goal of the trip. Coupla 7’s hosed up standing, 90-2x is not too far below my average though. 96-1X sitting rapid, and 96-3X 300 yd, about my average. Then there’s my weak stage, 600 yds....those two 5’s didn’t help nothin’!!! Neither did all those 7’s 8’s and 9’s. 171-3X about 15 points below a good day. UGH!!! 453-9X way below the cutoff of 463-8X I think. I ranked 451 out of 1191, Billy with his 412-1X was ranked 951. It was kinda unfair, relays 1 & 2 had weather and wind getting nastier and nastier at 600, then the pit change, just as we got down there, it started raining, they called a 1 hour rain delay, we got poured on. an hour later it was sunny and calm and relays 3 & 4 had it relatively easy! But that’s the way it goes I guess. The results are at: http://www.Highpowerrifle.com/match102.htm .

Here's a pic of a New York State Shooter, Bill S. Some more scenes from the pits and a pit change. Me and a shooter from IL. A scene at Dawn on the line. Tom and Billy, zonked out in the huts. And 2 of the best young lady long range shooters in the world!

6-Aug is the 6-man team match, 50 shot, no sighters. I shot a screamin’ 97-1x standing! 95-0x  sitting rapid, 96-3x prone rapid, and, true to form, dropped’em all at 600! Another 5 at 9, and several 7’s and 8’s but putting a shot on target 47 instead of 41 really hurt! 169-3x for 457-7x. I’da been right on my average if not for that crossfire. (there are 2-types of shooters: those who have and those who will!) at: http://www.Highpowerrifle.com/match103.htm we are ARIZONA ARRINGTON ACCURACY 29 --- NT161 2680 -- 37X out of 3000 I guess. Which is about a 446, putting me above the team average anyway. another pic from the line, another, and another, it was common for the state teams to fly the flag, here you can see the FL and TX team flags.

My interest in shooting my “average” comes from my recognition that I won’t be beating Julia Watson anytime soon, and Harry Blasdale (the guy who ran the matches at Ojai when I got into this sport) advised me to “shoot my average”, rather than try to do better and get all nervous etc.

Here's the NRA Trophy Display on Commercial Row.

7-Aug, Saturday had 3 events, NTIT National Trophy Infantry Team match, “Rattle Battle”!, The John C Garand Memorial Match, and the CMP awards ceremony.

Rattle Battle is a match I had never fired before. It consist of a team of 6 shooters, 2 coaches with binoculars and 384 rounds of ammo at the 600 yard ready line, there are 8 “silhouette” style targets. The ammo is divided between the shooters, not necessarily evenly. The two end shooters shoot at 2 targets. At each distance there is 50 seconds to shoot. Only hits count and hits at longer distance count more than closer. And targets with 7 or more hits have some bonus points added based on the square of the score (I squared all my targets). Just before the targets come up at 600, coaches Derrick and Bob made sure we had our 600 elevation and told us the windage to set, they came up and we started shooting. 20 or more shots each. After scoring, we rise, walk as a group to 500 yards, upon the command “Load and be ready” we hop down for another 50 seconds, then to 300 yards (sitting) and a smaller target and only 10 rounds remaining. At 200 yards, per strategy, we had no ammo remaining for standing. We did not win, but the Arizona Juniors did! Results: http://www.Highpowerrifle.com/match105.htm we had a 964 and I have no idea what that score means. I was probably the only guy on the line with an M1A instead of an AR-15 or M16!

This was at Viale, Except for SAFS I was at Viale all week. Garand match was already going on at Rodriguez.

Then immediately afterwards, they set up Viale for the Garand match. They issued us 5 clips of ammo in a paper bag and a squadding ticket.

Only as-issued Garands (also Springfields, Enfields, Carbines and Johnsons) could be used. And the top 5 guys on each relay had their guns inspected. It was a reversed President’s course at 200 on the SR target. 5 sighters, 10 shots prone slow, 10 shots prone rapid and 10 shots standing slow, each relay shot the entire match before the next. I think they ran 7 relays on Rod and 4 on Viale, 825 shooters. Some guy from AL won it with 283-6X. I was 65th with 271-4X. I don’t remember my breakdown for the stages. It was kinda fun! Participants could buy a “Danish” M1 Garand from the CMP, and pick it up there.
Results: http://www.Highpowerrifle.com/match110.htm

The awards ceremony was pretty neat. Arizona Junior team won the rattle-battle and got paraded across the stage with their plaques, I got some photos. At this ceremony and NRA the next week, everytime an arizonan won something, I ran down to the stage and took pictures. I almost felt I shoulda hada press card. Here's 2 non-AZ teams, CA and IL I think.

Sunday, 8-Aug was the 4-man team match. I had spent some time the days before trying to dig up a team, but was getting kinda tired and looked forward to a day off. So I slept in, loaned my truck to the Juniors (I let Liana drive it!) to go to Cedar Point amusement park, and I walked to commercial row, borrowed an erosion gauge from Phil Arrington and headed off on foot to the CMP building about a  mile away, John Wilder drove by in a golf cart and drove me there. By waiting till Sunday, I missed the crowds! when I got there, they have about 10 Garands dripping in cosmoline on the counter and a cardboard box on a pallet in back that was 1 rifle-length long by 1 rifle-length wide by maybe 3 feet deep packed full of garands and cosmoline. I selected a ‘40’s Springfield Armory with a Beretta bolt that gauged “3”. Nice metal, OK wood. I parked it in Phil’s shop and proceeded to commit fire-arms related violence against my credit card on commercial row.

So here we are, Monday 9-Aug, the first of 4 days of NRA individual matches.

Into the now well-established routine get the gear and ammo and score cards ready the night before, up at 5:30 get ready and be on the line by 6:30. It seemed everyday, I ended up dragging a coupla extra kids on the tailgate from the huts to the parking lot behind the line.

NRA match packet had a score card for every match, a squadding ticket (that we all put in our name tag and pinned to our hats) telling us which range, target and relay to be on for each day.

Monday, we were scheduled to have a 200 yd standing, a 200 yd sitting rapid and a 300 yd prone rapid. I shot a 184-4x in standing, those 7’s and 8’s never help.  Liana won that standing with a 197 and some x’s. Out of maybe 850 shooters!

9-Aug sitting rapid, 97-2x and 97-3x, some stringing to 10:00.

9-Aug prone rapid, 95-1x and 95-0x

We had been scheduled for a 200 standing, 200 sitting and a 600 prone. Rain delay, at 6:30 it was looking bad, so they told us to report at 9am, at 9 they told us to report to 600 yards at noon.

10-Aug 600 yard, 600 is my worst stage these years. 176-3x a 6 at 9 and coupla 7’s to the right.

after the 600, we went to 200. 10-Aug sitting rapid 89-0x and 98-2 x, loose position that first string! By the time we were done, it was like 7:30 in the evening!

Make up day! A full 800 agg today!

11-Aug standing 187-3X only one 7, two 8’s.

11-Aug sitting, 97-3x, 96-2x, same stringing

11-Aug prone rapid, 98-1x and 98-3x, I did something right on this one, another shooter had advised me to watch the mirage in the scope during prep, be the last guy to stand, look at the scope immediately upon hitting the mat and shoot. So, I watched, saw mirage flowing to the right, when I stood up, gave it 2 clicks left of my no-wind zero, there was a slight delay until they could get all 150 firing points “ready on the right” and “ready on the left”, I hopped down, the mirage was going to the left! so, I gave it 4 clicks to the right and shot that second string, which it turns out was my best of the trip, but not my best ever.

11-Aug 600 yard, a 6 at 3:00 and a donut in the 8 and 9 ring, 179-0x! strong but relatively stable wind to the left, I had 10 clicks (5 minutes or 30 inches at 600 yards) to the right.

OK, so now its pushin’ 7pm again.

12-Aug, that’s Dad’s Birthday!

12-Aug standing 189-3X only two 8’s, I’m improving!

12-Aug prone rapid, 95-3x and 98-2x

12-Aug 600 yard. I’m getting better at this game too. 186-5x, three 7’s but no 8’s or worse. and even some X’s! I had from 1 to 3 min left.

Finished up fairly early. And that’s the end of the matches for me! My last shot of the month was a 10 at 1:00!

So my aggregates were: 744-13x, 749-9x and 761-18x. The total was 2254-40x. Not quite a Master score! I didn’t even shoot “in my card”. But that’s about my average. I just had a good summer last year.

We had more awards ceremonies that evening. I did not plan to stay for the Long Range, wish I could have, but that woulda meant yet another gun, case of ammo and more vacation days, plus, the kids needed to be in school Monday.

So, I started packing up Thursday evening, and Friday morning. Several of the guys with airplane tickets gave me equipment to haul back. I had more than I started with too, well, having eaten some of that food my wife packed for me made room for my commercial row and CMP acquisitions.

I drove in the morning to Cleveland airport to collect Mimi and Meimei. Funny observation. This 13 year old kid spent 2 weeks surrounded by adults and other kids who were expected to act like adults. Everyone had a high-power military style rifle and a case of ammunition and everyone (at least the teenagers) acted more or less as adults. The instant that kid’s sister was back in the truck those two are bickering again, I mean we hadn’t driven out of the airport terminal area!

So, we drove to somewhere in MO then through OK, we stopped at a large firearms museum,  20,000 on disply, about 10x bigger than NRA, but not as elegant, J. M. Davis Firearms Museum in Clairmore OK. http://www.state.ok.us/~jmdavis/index.html . 2nd night in Tucamcari NM and back home before dark on sunday.
 

Additional comments from around Perry: this was my first trip.

One night I attended the High Power Committee meeting. If we have rules change suggestions, we should send them in soon.

Jim Owens and a buncha marines scrounged up some money at a banquet, someone came up and MATCHed it and they bought well over $1000 worth of scopes, stools etc to LOAN for free to Juniors! http://www.jarheadtop.com/

Some of you reading this (assuming anyone ever reads this) know the place, some of you do not. Its and Ohio National Guard Base on Lake Eire, east of Toledo, west of Cleveland. A tornado last year ruined the mess hall and some other buildings. But the WWII vintage POW huts are still there. Ours had a big crack in the concrete slab running full length. There were uniformed military all over the place, a bunch of guard or reserves working for there weekend-warrior duty and a buncha shooting teams.

There was even a team visiting from Australia! (They keep there semi-auto rifles in Seattle!)

CMP: The main CMP office is right in the middle of the base in the “arcade” building next to the PX and the snack bar. You could do your paper work to buy a rifle or parts or ammo there. They also had a warehouse off the side of the base where you could pick those things up. We were permitted an allotment of so much of such and such ammo we could buy. They brought employees in from CMP south at Anniston to help out.

Huts: Ours had a big crack in the concrete slab running full length. Plywood door was starting to delaminate, cobwebs everywhere, bugs were not as bad as predicted, I never set off the indoor insect foggers becuz I was too lazy to move all our snack food out for a day. It leaked only a little along one side. We needed to stick something in the windows to hold them open, but we had working screens.

The bathrooms near the huts were not bad, the toilets had been enclosed in stalls recently, I read before leaving that they were open. The shower room, a big room with about 6 shower heads on the walls worked, but once the drain trench on the perimeter plugged up it got kinda nasty. Most of us wore flip-flops in the showers. One day I was in there and a fellow shooter came out of the shower with his towel wrapped around his waist, he had a large 1/2” silver ring pierced thru each nipple! I commented that that looks like it musta hurt, he said at first, but he’s gotten used to it.

Every night, after commercial row and dinner in town, and usually buying ICE and a few other items, we’d get our gear ready for the next day. I’d set out the needed ammo and spares in the stool, food and water and gatoraid in the backpack, fill out the appropriate page in my data book and get the correct score card out. And make sure the kid did the same. Take a shower and the usual. It was rare to get to sleep before midnight.

Every morning, we’d get up about 5:30, bathroom for the usual and install my contact lenses, dressed, get the gear to the truck, Mine, Tom’s Billy’s and usually 2 or 3 other kids’ stuff in the back, kids on the tail gate, we’d drive the ½ mile to the range. Drop Tom off to buy his coffee and maybe a sandwich at the snack bar, I usually had a canned Iced tea for my caffiene fix. We’d park in the lot behind the line, unload and walk or catch the shuttle to the line. They had a buncha “shooter shuttles” Tractors towing a train of several  small wagons to take us from the pits to the line to the parking lot.

We ended up in town every night. There’s a chinese restaurant on the road in, (Lakeshore Dr.) (China Crown?) it was good, and another next to Pizza hut right in Port Clinton, it was even better! The mexican place across the street was so so. The Porter House was great food, but disappointing service, and Tom didn’t get what he wanted, he didn’t even get the right alternate the offered him! There was a good chain buffet/steak place in Findley 18 miles south. I forget the name.

For lunch, we were on the firing line or in the pits, there is no lunch except what you bring, I think you could order from the snack bar to deliver on the line tho. Often Tom bought a sandwich and got me one too, other times, I ate those tuna fish things with a small can of tuna, and crackers in a plastic container, or sardines, I brought crackers, cookies, candy etc. Gatorade and water in a cleaned gatoraid bottle. There was water and in the morning coffee on the line and in the pits.

Commercial row: Now this was COOL!!!! WARNING this will be hazardous to the state of your personal finances. Don’t worry too much about bringing a lot of cash, if the phone lines work, everyone or nearly so takes plastic....oh now we’re in trouble. OK Weber, Champions’ Choice, Champions Shooter’s were there, several gunsmiths including all 3 from arizona. An ohio outfit called Fin & Feather had a ton of primers, powder, bullets. numerous other places. Armalite, Bushmaster, DPMS, Olympic, Fulton Armory and Springfield Armory were there. There were guns for sale, you still had to go thru the background check and fill out all the paperwork. I shoulda bought more bullets, and now that I’m back home trimming next month’s brass, I REALLY wish I’da bought that Gracey Trimmer!

There were signs up in every shop that sold guns that said “no-one under 18 may handle firearms” seemed really STUPID since there were maybe 100 or 200 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 year olds on the line every day, every one of whom had an AR-15, 3 or more 20 round magazines and about 100 rounds of ammo in his (OR HER!!!) stool and another 400 rounds or so in the hut! And NONE of whom ever shot anyone!

My SprintPCS 1800 CDMA phone did NOT work, even tho it indicated it had coverage. But Tom let me use his ATT dual mode. Camp Perry is at: 41 deg 32.235’ north and 83 deg 01.052’ west. For those who care about such things.

The NRA had a whole pile of volunteers there. There were a bunch of range officials on the line and in the pits and in offices calculating scores. Some were family of shooters or vendors others just came for the fun and to be of service!
 
Here is a picture of my stool. I could carry all the shooting gear in the and on the stool including the rifle and scope, the things in the backback went to the pits with me.
 

Poole 10-Sept-99 11-Dec-99 3-Jan-00