CEO Sends Update – Spring 2026
May 29, 2026
As I write this, I’m sitting on a plane returning from the CMP Bianchi Cup, and it happens to be on Memorial Day. With so many veterans in our customers and competitor group, I’d first like to thank you all for your commitment to our country, our way of life and freedom. Whether you served in combat or not, every one of you took the oath to support and defend our Constitution. It’s a legacy of service dating back over 250 years and is further exemplified again this year with our war with Iran. On Memorial Day, remembering service members who made the ultimate sacrifice is our solemn duty.
In terms of the CMP, we have much to share with you. Our programs on the training, education and competition side of the business continue to expand, all supported by strong sales of surplus firearms and other items. It is, for sure, a unique business model, but it is one that is thriving. We plan to continue to push toward our vision to lead the nation in marksmanship with, of course, our consistent push to the future – with youth/junior competitors. We do very much appreciate the loyal and passionate support we get from so many of you!
News:
- Wyoming State Shooting Complex, Cody, WY: After a couple of years of analysis, and, frankly, some trial-and-error initiatives, we’ve decided that the best way to expand our mission to the vastness of the western U.S. is via partnerships. Therefore, we recently announced a CMP Board of Directors approved $10 million challenge grant, dedicated to the development of the new Wyoming State Shooting Complex (WSSC) in Cody, Wy., and we were happy to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony on April 25. This is not a range the CMP will own and operate, but we will hold CMP events there, and we anticipate having a CMP store on site!
- A premier destination for Marksmanship, the WSSC is currently under development on 2,000 acres of state-contributed land. The complex aims to become the nation’s premier shooting sports destination, featuring purpose-built venues for elite competitors, recreational shooters and youth programs!
- Read more about our new partnership here: https://thecmp.org/civilian-marksmanship-program-announces-10-million-challenge-grant-for-wyoming-state-shooting-complex/
- Camp Perry Expansion. We are absolutely thrilled to officially announce a major expansion project at Camp Perry. A new facility, building upon the success of the Gary Anderson CMP Competition Center, is in the works – adding a large, modern indoor range, expanded retail space, competitor support areas and gathering spaces designed to serve athletes, coaches, spectators, families, sponsors and visitors. The space will facilitate air gun, smallbore and pistol disciplines.
- Through our own established programs and new initiatives, this expansion is aimed to strengthen the future of marksmanship training, education, coaching, competitions and youth development in the United States.The project is scheduled to break ground on Aug. 3, 2026, with an estimated completion date of December 2027.
- More details to come on this significant project! Below are two renderings of the building from the outside – the competition center building and a new awards plaza.
- NRA Annual Meeting
- We were pleased to send our team to the NRA Annual Meeting & Exhibits, April 17-19 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston!
- Our foray into ensuring a strong, direct relationship with consumers and industry professionals, we were able to display a collection of Commercial and Surplus items to thousands of guests throughout the weekend.
- We were also happy to pass on exclusive sales discounts to those in attendance. We’re looking forward to meeting more of you as we continue expanding our schedule of in-person engagements.
- NEW! National Matches Inaugural Sports Desk
- The CMP will be launching a weekly news program to recap the results of the competitions held each week in a sports desk news format. We want families, friends and neighbors who cannot make the trip to Camp Perry remotely to experience and see a recap of National Matches activities.Along with highlights and scores from the week, the show will include interviews with competitors and special guests that will be attending the matches, along with entertainment events that are sprinkled in during the National Matches.The National Matches Sports Desk will be broadcast on Shooting USA and across the Outdoor Channel Platforms.
- See more on the National Matches at the end of this article.
- Jim Henderson: First Shot Speaker
- This year, we’re proud to welcome our own CMP Pistol Manager, Jim Henderson, as the honorary First Shot Speaker!
- The First Shot Ceremony will take place July 13 on the grounds of Camp Perry in Ohio and serves as the traditional opening to the month-long National Rifle and Pistol Matches season.
- The public is welcome to attend, and we encourage you to join us for the event – featuring vintage cars, World War II aircraft, distinguished guests and other spectacular displays.
- Henderson is a retired member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, where he served for over 30 years. During his marksmanship career, he reached many notable achievements, including a Distinguished Pistol Badge and several national titles. He is also a current national record holder in multiple events.
- Now, Henderson is instrumental in advancing CMP’s pistol initiatives, including the expansion of the action pistol program through the Bianchi Cup International Tournament, held in Missouri in May.
- Scholarships at $1 Million. With our Federally-chartered mission to promote marksmanship with a focus on youth, we are proud to announce that we’ve tripled our scholarship grant opportunity to $1 million per year. In addition to traditional scholarship requirements, this CMP scholarship requires that applicants have a shooting resume, and the more, the better. This new scholarship amount very visibly and demonstrably highlights our commitment to youth shooting and development.
- Importantly, this Scholarship Program is part of a $12M CMP endowment set-aside, established to support qualifying students excelling in academics and shooting sports competitions. And, yes, with $1M/year in distributions, we know we’ll need to up the set-aside amount above $12M.
- This year (right now) the CMP is awarding over 250 one-year $3,000 scholarships, 15 one-year $10,000 scholarships and one $40,000 scholarship ($10,000 each year over four years) to exemplary students and shooting sports athletes, as determined by the CMP Scholarship Committee.
- Additionally, the Garand Collectors Association presented four one-year $5,000 John C. Garand Scholarships.
- Offered to high school seniors, CMP Scholarships may be used to pursue post-secondary or vocational programs, community colleges or university educations as well as trade schools to cover a variety of interests.
- Learn more about CMP Scholarships at https://thecmp.org/cmp-scholarship-program/.
- Interested corporate partners are welcome to join the CMP in growing this endowment to reach more youth!
- CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S INAUGURAL $40,000 RECIPIENT, LUCY EVANS!
- Lucy, of Rydal, Ga., has been involved in air rifle and smallbore competition for the last five years through her local 4-H program.
- She has competed nationally in American Legion, 4-H, USA Shooting and CMP events with multiple championship titles.
- She has also earned a 3P Air Rifle Junior Distinguished Badge and is only a few points away from earning a 60-Shot Air Rifle Badge.
- She has committed to Morehead State University as a member of the rifle team and, as a talented academic, a hopeful Geoscience major.
Sales:
- 1903s Available for Purchase: With the successful rollout last year of “reclaimed” M1 Garands, we’ve recently expanded the program to M1903A3 rifles. The reclaimed “A3s” undergo the same rigorous safety protocols and testing we applied in the reclaimed M1 program. These are on sale now in our stores and via mail order. We have significant quantities of these rifles, and you can expect to see them for sale through this year and next – but wouldn’t recommend waiting – demand thus far has been strong!
- This series of rifles was originally issued during World War I, World War II and the Korean War.Reminder that customers are allowed up to 12 surplus rifles per year.
- Find ordering info and more at https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/m1903-m1903a3-rifle-information/.
- New M1 Variants: Our commercial M1 Garand roll-out continues. This spectacular gun with a commercial forged receiver is one for both competitors and collectors. We originally produced these in 30-06 and .308 variants. In the near term, we will rollout new versions to include some pretty interesting options. These include:
- A Gas Trap variant assembled with gas trap parts produced by Faxon Firearms
- M1D variant
- M1 Tanker variant
- We expect to have some of the new variants in our stores in small quantities for some of our upcoming events, to include the D-Day Matches and the National Matches. Stay tuned for more details, and be sure to subscribe to our email list at https://thecmp.org/emailarchives/email-signup/ for the most up-to-date info!
- M1911 News: First, our inventory of M1911s remains strong and will be further bolstered by the transfer of 10,000 more pistols in the June-July timeframe. And we are excited to announce that in-person weekly M1911 sales out of the M1911 Armory in Anniston will begin on May 29 and recur every Friday!
- For this year, we will only be selling the M1911s in-person out of the Anniston armory and not at Camp Perry.
- While I know this disappoints many of you, this is, frankly, a bandwidth issue for the CMP – we have a huge number of initiatives underway – some not yet public.
- We do understand how important it is for you to pick out surplus firearms in-person and will continue to strive for that in Alabama, Ohio and eventually in Wyoming (Note: We are also building new larger stores in Anniston and at Camp Perry).
- For those of you planning to come to Anniston for the in-person sales, some expectation management, please . . . while we’ll have a strong selection for you to peruse, it is not going to be the very curated selection you saw at last year’s in-person sales events.
- Reminder that the lifetime limit for surplus 1911s per individual is four.
- Find eligibility requirements, sales forms and more info at https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/1911-information/.
- For this year, we will only be selling the M1911s in-person out of the Anniston armory and not at Camp Perry.
- Shotguns: As many of you know, a one-time transfer was approved by Congress and signed into law by the President as part of last year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). While this is great news, it did also come with requirements for several preparatory and reporting requirements.
- Right now, the current status is that the military departments (Army, Navy and Air Force) are assessing what shotguns are excess to their requirements and available to transfer. Once that’s complete, a report to Congress is required.
- Given these requirements, the expected transfer and CMP sales for these shotguns is in late 2026 or early 2027. Indications are there will not be huge numbers transferred, but we have good intel that there will be some interesting and historic shotguns on the transfer list.
Programs:
- Pistol:
- Action Pistol Initiatives
- While the Bianchi Cup side of the Action Pistol program continues to spread and thrive, we have met with the U.S. Marine Corps Team to initiate a 3-Gun (shooting and moving through a stage) program, complete with our own rules and sanctioning. More to come on this as it develops!
- Additionally, we have already sanctioned more Action Pistol club matches than last year, promoting growth of the program.
- Action Pistol Initiatives
- Police Pistol Combat (PPC) Installments
- We have started talks with a group of significant individuals in the Police Pistol Combat (PPC) arena, in the hopes of starting a PPC program with our own rules and sanctioning. This is in the early stages of development, with few details to relay at this time, but we’re encouraged by the potential of this program and its part in expanding our pistol offerings.
Training and Education/Clubs
- Training:
- New Mini-Camp Program
- We are excited to announce we have reinstated our former on-demand coaching system via the CMP Mini-Camp Program!Clubs, schools and ranges are welcome to request direct coaching from CMP instructors for a short 2-3 day clinic at the location of their choice.Scheduling can be done throughout the year but is subject to coach availability. Cost is based on location and number of coaches required (we strive to maintain 5-7 athletes per coach).
- If interested in learning more, please reach out to CMP Training & Education Manager, Hank Gray, at [email protected].
- New Mini-Camp Program
- Coach Development Program
- We expect to launch our Coach Development Program (as requested by our State Directors) by late June.
- The first phase will focus primarily on the Junior Air Rifle Program, but we will expand to all CMP disciplines in the future. This program will be focused on enhancing the knowledge of the many coaches already out on the ranges and educating new coaches to further expand our reach across the shooting sports landscape.
- Modeled after other successful coach education systems, the CMP Coach Development Program will consist of multiple levels of certification. Coaches will have the opportunity to progress through the system to meet both personal and professional goals. Our first in-person course (for beginner air rifle coaches) will be held in Anniston on June 27.
- Keep an eye out for the registration link in competition tracker and on our social media channels!
- Clubs:
- Crosman Rifle Program
- As part of our new Clubs support initiative, we are finalizing a plan to offer lightly used Crosman Challenger 2009 rifles to our Affiliated Clubs looking to start junior air rifle programs or those in need of equipment.
- We are in the process of conducting inspections to ensure the rifles are in good working condition prior to offering them to clubs.
- These rifles will be deeply discounted to help our clubs promote junior marksmanship.
- Stay tuned to our social media channels and be sure to keep your club’s contact information up to date so you don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity!
- Crosman Rifle Program
Talladega Marksmanship Park
- Premier Shooting Expo – June 27
- Wrapping up June, we’re excited to host the 2026 Premier Shooting Expo – an extensive outdoor gathering of trade professionals, open completely to the public!
- The Expo will feature exhibitors from trusted marksmanship companies like Faxon Firearms, Hornady, Creedmoor, Steyr Arms, Taurus and more, all showcasing a variety of products available on the market today.
- Guests to the Expo will be able to personally interact with vendors and may even take products from the display table to the range to test upon Talladega’s Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun, Archery, Action Bay and Unknown Distance areas.
- As a bonus, we’ll be offering an exclusive look at our M1 Garand by CMP – including test-firing on the range.
- Attendees will also have an opportunity, in a drawing to win a Tisas M1911 pistol.
- Tickets are just $20, available online or for purchase within the Talladega Club House. Find more information on CMP’s Premier Shooting Expo at https://tmp.thecmp.org/cmp-premier-shooting-expo/.
ANOTHER REMINDER! We’re getting ready to host our annual National Matches, set for July 12 to Aug. 9.
- Despite being a national-level event, all experience levels are welcome to participate in the National Matches, featuring Smallbore Rifle, Air Gun, Pistol, Highpower/Vintage Rifle and Mid/Long-Range Rifle phases.
- Along with several competitive opportunities for adults and juniors, the National Matches features a variety of educational clinics for marksmen and women as well as retail opportunities from some of today’s leading industry vendors.
- Visitors to the National Matches are also encouraged to attend the many beach parties, food truck events, movie nights and more presented throughout the month!
- See more on the National Matches in its entirety at https://thecmp.org/cmp-national-matches/.
OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS: View more upcoming CMP events in your area and around the country at https://thecmp.org/competitions/upcoming-matches/.
Thank you again for your support. And, as always, view all these events and more through the CMP website at https://thecmp.org/. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon!