Western CMP Games Shooters Set New Attendance Record
October 31, 2014
Civilian Marksmanship Program▸The First Shot▸Western CMP Games Shooters Set New Attendance RecordBy Steve Cooper, CMP Marketing Manager
PHOENIX, AZ – A record group of 231 competitors were rewarded with five days of blue skies at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility north of the city for the 2014 Western CMP Games. It was the largest Western Games turnout dating back to the event’s inception in 2004 at Camp Pendleton, CA.
Those in attendance had plenty of events to choose from including the Small Arms Firing School, New Shooter Clinic, Garand Master Instructor Course, merchandise sales, multiple vintage military rifle matches and the always popular Rimfire Sporter Match, 10-14 October. The Creedmoor Cup Matches, presented by Creedmoor Sports, Inc. followed with its own set of service rifle matches spanning another five days.
The CMP Small Arms Firing School kicked off the activities, with 65 students participating in classroom and range instruction. After being briefed on the basics of marksmanship and the safe handling and operation of the M16/AR15 service rifle, students received a primer on shooting positions and live fire in the afternoon session.
On the firing line, the class was given an opportunity to fire 10 practice shots prior to rolling into an Excellence-In-Competition match – a 40-round, 400-points-possible event. Shooters fired five sighters and 10 rounds each in prone slow-fire and rapid-fire, sitting rapid-fire and standing.
CMP Director of Civilian Marksmanship Emeritus, Gary Anderson conducted a New Shooter Clinic and a GSM Master Instructor Course at the outset of the Western Games. The New Shooter clinic takes beginners through all phases of firing vintage rifles in CMP Games events and the Master Instructor Course is designed for veteran competitors who wish to instruct marksmanship at their CMP-affiliated club or CMP events as needed.
SAFS M16/EIC Match Results
Six eligible competitors earned their introductory 4-point legs during the match toward their 30-point Distinguished Rifle Badge following the SAFS Excellence-In-Competition match. Their EIC points will be posted on CMP’s Competition Tracker once match results and EIC eligibility are verified.
Nelson Green, 45, of Claremont, CA, was the overall winner of the SAFS M16 rifle match with an aggregate score of 377-7X. Mark Muraoka, 41, of Phoenix, AZ, placed second with a total score of 374-2X and Paul Schultz, 43, of Simi Valley, CA, placed third with a combined score of 373-5X. The M16 EIC match consists of four stages: prone slow-fire, prone rapid-fire, sitting rapid-fire and standing, for a total of 400 points possible, all fired at 200 yards.
4 & 3 Gun Aggregate Results
The four CMP Games Garand/Springfield/Military Bolt and Modern Military (GSMM) matches are totally inclusive, allowing shooters to bring any of their four guns to the matches in the order they wish. It is common to see four shooters in a row firing an M1, an AR15, a British Enfield and a Springfield 1903A3. The course of fire is the same for all matches in the series fired at 200 yards. To recognize achievement with each gun type, CMP awards medals and plaques accordingly.
Dennis DeMille, 49, of Anniston, AL, captured both the 4-gun aggregate championship and the 3-gun aggregate (GSM) as well. He won all three GSM matches outright and finished third in the Modern Military rifle category. DeMille strung together scores of 288-6X, 288-6X, 290-8X and 286-9X in the 4-gun, respectively, to post an overall aggregate score of 1152-29X.
The top three shooters in the 4-gun matched their place finishes in the 3-gun competition as well. Finishing second in both was William Ellis, 49, of Langley, England with an overall aggregate score of 1151-26X. Ellis fired 284-8X, 287-5X, 288-7X and 292-6X in the GSMM series, respectively
Kent Stonecipher, 62, of Ada, OK, placed third in the multi-gun aggregates with an overall score of 1120-28X, posting scores of 282-5X, 275-7X, 279-7X and 284-9X, respectively.
David Geyer, 39, of Phoenix, AZ, placed fourth in the 4-gun aggregate (1119-19X) and Lyle Drenth, 61, of Apple Valley, CA, placed fourth in the 3-gun aggregate (835-12X).
John C. Garand Match Results
Dennis DeMille’s 288-6X earned him the winner’s plaque in the John C. Garand category. He fired 97-4X, 96-2X and 95-0X in prone, prone rapid and offhand en route to winning the match. Michael Miller, 67, of Downey, CA, placed second via tiebreaker with an aggregate score of 286-8X and was also the high senior. James Denovchek, 60, of Tucson, AZ, placed third at 286-3X. Don Rutherford, 62, of Tallapoosa, GA, was the high Garand Unlimited competitor with a score of 279-3X. A total of 140 competitors fired M1 Garand rifles in the match series.
Springfield Rifle Match Results
Dennis DeMille’s 288-6X took top honors in the Springfield Rifle category. He fired 100-5X, 94-1X and 94-0X in prone, prone-rapid and offhand stages. William Ellis placed second with a total score of 287-5X and Don Rutherford placed third with a 287-2X after a tiebreaker and earned the high senior award. A total of 82 competitors fired 1903 and 1903A3 rifles in the match series.
Vintage Military Bolt Match Results
In his three-gun sweep, Dennis DeMille won the Vintage Military Bolt match with an aggregate score of 290-8X, firing stages of 97-4X, 99-4X, and 94-0X, respectively. William Ellis placed second with a 288-7X and Lyle Drenth finished third with a 283-6X and was also high senior. The match series was fired by 60 competitors using a variety of vintage bolt rifles from various nations.
Modern Military Match Results
William Ellis posted an impressive 292-6X in earning the top spot in the Modern Military rifle match. He fired a 99-1X in prone, 97-3X in prone rapid and a 96-2X in the standing position. Nelson Green fired a 99-3X, 99-2X and 91-1X series, netting him an overall score of 289-6X, capturing second place. Dennis DeMille’s 286-9X earned him third place. Kent Stonecipher took top senior honors with a solid 284-9X. A total of 53 shooters fired Modern Military rifles in the match series.
M1 Carbine Match Results
Robert Spurrier, 53, of Lakewood, CO, won the M1 Carbine Match, firing an aggregate score of 363-3X. In the four-stage match fired at 100 yards, he scored a 94-0X prone, 82-1X prone rapid, 96-1X sitting rapid and 91-1X offhand.
William Aten, 62, of Kingwood, TX, placed second and was high senior with a combined score of 360-4X. Jeffery Ramadan, 50, of Woodland Hills, CA, finished third with a total score of 359-3X. A total of 45 competitors participated in the match.
Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match Results
The “Blind Squirrels” team of Edward Traxler, 59, of Payson, AZ, and Dennis Pownall, 63, also of Payson, fired 198 points each en route to winning the manually operated rifle division of the Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match with an overall score of 396-15X out of a possible 400 points. Traxler’s scores were 99-4X at both 300 and 600 while Pownall cleaned the 300 with a 100-4X and finished with a 98-3X at 600.
Traxler and Pownall placed second in last year’s Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match, improving by eight points this year.
The match, fired in teams of two shooters, starts at the 300-yard line where each member fires 10 shots while the other serves as spotter. Targets are exposed for 20 seconds and held in the pits for 20 seconds after each shot. Teams move back to 600 yards and repeat the process to complete the match. Each team member must pull pit duty while the other scores for different relay sharing the same firing point.
Team “Creedmoor” placed second with a score of 390-15X. Dennis DeMille (198-9X) and Robert Schanen, 66, of Brookfield, WI, edged third place finishers, “Don & Mike,” who fired a team aggregate of 388-15X. Mike Miller fired a 195-8X and Don Rutherford posted a 193-7X.
A total of 30 two-person teams fired the Vintage Sniper Rifle Team Match in the manually-operated rifle classification.
In the semi-automatic rifle class, comprised of four teams, “Two Dollar Bills” fired a team aggregate score of 367-10X. William Fairless, 60, of Vienna, IL, fired a 185-4X (97-3X/88-1X) and William Ellis followed with a 182-6X (94-3X/88-3X).
Rimfire Sporter Match Results
Junior rimfire competitor Samuel Payne, 15, of Kingston, GA, fired a 593-37X aggregate score to win the Telescopic sights (T-Class) in the Rimfire Sporter Match. Payne won the match overall and was also the high junior. He is the reigning junior T-Class national champion (2013) and reigning 4-H national Open sights (O) class champion. The 2014 National Rimfire Sporter championship at Camp Perry was cancelled due to inclement weather.
The six-stage match is fired at two distances – 50 yards for prone and sitting slow and rapid-fire strings and 25 yards for standing slow and rapid-fire strings. Competitors may choose O-Class, T-Class and Tactical Class categories, and if sufficient relays are available, competitors may fire more than one class during the match.
Payne fired the following scores in the order described above: 100-8X, 100-6X, 99-7X, 98-7X, 97-3X and 99-6X. Gordon Payne, 47, of Euharlee, GA, placed second in the T-Class competition with an aggregate of 581-23X. David Geyer placed third with an aggregate of 581-20X, yielding to the elder Payne via X-count tiebreaker.
The high senior in T-Class was John Hoffman, 71, of Green Valley, AZ, who finished with an aggregate score of 576-21X. The high woman in T-Class was Alexandrea Provine, 20, of Oro Valley, AZ, who fired a 522-16X.
In O-Class, Brian Mathews, 48, of Antioch, CA, led all shooters with an aggregate score of 555-14X. He fired a series of 94-3X, 95-3X, 94-3X, 87-1X, 90-2X and 95-2X. William Aten was bumped to second place in an X-count tiebreaker, firing a score of 555-9X. Philip Mansell, 61, of Ashford, Middlesex, England, placed third with a total score of 546-7X. Sharon Anderson, 62, of Las Vegas, NV, was the high woman in O-class with a total score of 519-3X.
The Tactical Class winner was William “Keith” Schachle, 56, of Brooks, GA, who fired an aggregate score of 582-34X. Schachle’s stage scores were 100-8X, 99-8X, 98-9X, 98-3X, 94-4X and 93-2X. William Ellis placed second with a combined score of 578-14X and third place in the class went to Jeffrey Schneider, 67, of Tucson, AZ, who tallied a score of 572-22X.
The high junior in the tactical class was Wyatt Kokoszka, 19, of Escondido, CA, who fired an aggregate score of 321-0X.