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NRA Highpower National Matches Moving


BarryinIN

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The NRA has not been exactly secretive about wanting to move the National Matches out of Camp Perry, OH.  The Smallbore National Championship Haas been at Bristol, IN in recent years.    The Highpower Rifle portion is probably the big event, and the location, if not the match's future, has been in question. 

 

The National Matches were first held in 1903 at Sea Girt, NJ.  They moved to Camp Perry in 1907 and stayed there until the present.  

It looks like 2016 may be the last year at Perry for Highpower.  At least, for a while.  

 

I got the following email email this evening from the Central Indiana HighPower Rifle Shooters (CIHPRS) of which I'm a member.  They run the Highpower and Long Range Matches at Camp Atterbury, near Edinburgh, IN.  

 

 

There is some VERY BIG news taking place at Camp Atterbury starting with the 2017 shooting season.  The NRA this weekend has decided to move the National Championship Highpower matches from Camp Perry to Camp Atterbury.  The CMP matches will stay at Camp Perry.  

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2016/11/16/nra-moving-national-high-power-rifle-championships-from-camp-perry/

This is a very big change for the United States shooting community, but it is a change for the better.  I will say from a match director standpoint Camp Atterbury is much easier to deal with than Camp Perry and the fact that we have 4 KD ranges that can all be operable at the same time the format of the National Matches for 2017 will be very much improved and will allow for more possibilities.  I wanted to email all of you who are club members and who are non-members but attend or have attended our matches to let you know how this change affects CIHRPS. 

CIHPRS will not be running or in charge of the National Championship matches.  We have worked with the NRA in doing some leg work in helping them bring the matches to Camp Atterbury but the NRA will run these matches.  Because of the change they will be looking for people to fill positions but they are not expecting CIHPRS to fill or provide workers. 

 

Camp Atterbury Command is VERY ENTHUSIASTIC about these matches coming and they are offering all services available for this.  I personally had a discussion with Lt. Col. Gardner shortly after the conclusion of the matches at Camp Perry about this move.  I can tell you he was very aware of what the National Matches are, their significance, and wants to bring them to Camp Atterbury and to Central Indiana.  The NRA has been to the ranges and all the necessary repairs will be done so the ranges are in a condition to host a National Championship.  In our conversation this was one thing that the Lt. Col. stressed that would be done.  

 

From a club standpoint there will be some positive impact of these matches now being at Camp Atterbury.  The ranges will be improved, permanent flag mounting points will be installed, number boards repaired, etc.  Also since we host monthly club matches at Camp Atterbury our match attendance will probably increase due to people wanting to get some range time on the range where the National Matches will be shot.  There are other improvements that have been talked about also.  Current match cap is at 42 shooters and this brings us to the next change that will happen eventually.  So with this possibly happening it is very important that you get registered ahead of time for matches online.  

 

As far as impacting our schedule the only scheduled match it will impact is the Mid-Range regional as that was scheduled for the weekend of July 8-9 as that is the opening weekend of the NRA Across the Course championship.  We will be moving this match and adjusting our schedule.  Other than this the 2017 and 2018 dates that were submitted last May are still good and will mirror the 2016 schedule with a couple minor changes.   

 

If you have any questions please let me know.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've spoken with shooters that were competing at Camp Perry back to the early 1960's and a lot of them are disgusted with the way the NRA, over the years, has been  handling the matches at Camp Perry. The turn out for the HP matches has really dropped off. Metallic Silhouette Rifle Competition is fading. I don't know. Seems like everyone just wants to play video games now a days.  

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I've long thought the reason I was so interested to shoot Highpower was due to how it was portrayed in the shooting press when I was growing up.   From the old gunwriters like Whelen to the newer ones  (at the time) like Jim Carmichael, they acted as if Highpower was the top of the food chain. If you shot any competition, Highpower was what you aspired to.   The American Rifleman coverage acted as if it was the only game that mattered.  Everything else merely served as preparation to get there.  Even as recently as 25 years ago, the Service Rifle and Match Rifle champions from the previous year's matches were introduced at the NRA convention like they were rock stars. 

Not anymore. And we are kind of lucky it's doing as well as it is.  If not for the number of clubs holding reduced-course matches and the popularity of F-Class, I think it would be even more dead.  

Now, I'm hearing you'll hardly see a shooter on the line under age 30 aside from a father/son duo.  I'm 51, and if I were to go, might be one of the youngest at matches around here.  

 

Cost is some of it.  When I last shot Highpower seriously, if you bought a Colt MT6600 (20" A2 type), added a free-float tube under the handguards, and maybe did some trigger tuning or added some weight, you had a rifle capable of winning.  I even shot in Match Rifle class with little more: a Colt 6724 24" flat top with a set of Anschutz sights in homemade mounts won me a few matches.  I didn't have $1100 in it. 

Now, they allow optics and other crap that drives the cost up.  You couldn't buy the scopes I see for the money I had in my complete rifle.  

 

We are losing too many ranges, too.  Ranges capable of hosting a 600 yard match never were too plentiful, but there are even fewer now. 

 

Programs like 4-H Shooting Sports are doing well if not booming. Thats not really feeding people into the competitive ranks, though.  Now that I've been involved with 4-H a few years, I see there is a clear distance between there and serious competition.  They want to teach basic skills and don't really encourage competition. I don't know; I guess they don't want anyone's feelings getting hurt.   

There needs to be a link there.  A gap filler. Some sort of stepping stone between basic safe gunhandling and sport/competition/defense use.  

We get the kids, but then we lose them.  We're screwing up. 

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