ISRPA at Camp Perry 2008

The Road to the National Team Trophy (NTT)
By Bob Winding

I began Service Rifle competition in 2006. To date, one of the most rewarding experiences I have had was to shoot on the 2008 Indiana State Service Rifle Team in the National Trophy Team Match NTT at Camp Perry.  It was rewarding, because of the experience itself, the people involved in the team (shooters and non-shooters), and the preparation that got me there.

The Indiana State Rifle and Pistol Association (ISRPA) fields a Service Rifle team for the NTT.  The team typically consists of eleven or twelve people.  Six are shooting members, one of whom must not have shot the NTT before.  This person is the designated “new shooter”.  In addition to shooting members, there are coaches, scorekeepers and verifiers, target pullers, and the team captain.  Individuals are selected from Service Rifle competitors across the State.  In 2008 there were members from Monticello, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, South Bend, Monroe county, and Lowell.  The selection process includes a review of your regular season scores and your performance in the Presidents (P100) and National Trophy Individual (NTI) matches.  The P100 and NTI are held the Monday and Tuesday prior to the NTT.  These two matches are important since the Nationals at Camp Perry are quite a bit different from local and regional matches.  It takes some experience to perform well at Camp Perry.


The Adult High Power Team members included (front row L to R) Phil Beaver, Matthew Beaver (holding State Flag), Wayne Faatz, Joe Rainwater Bob Winding and Noel Mortier.  (Back row L to R) are Eric Becker, Brian Decker, Roger Henderson, Sue Mogle and Lynn Richter.

In Indiana, we are fortunate that the ISRPA has a training program to help develop service rifle shooters.  The program has been taught at both Camp Atterbury, in Edinburg, by the Central Indiana High Power Rifle Shooters (CIHPRS) and at Wildcat Valley Rifle and Pistol Club in Lafayette.  It’s a seminar style course where shooters work through a structured program of studying service rifle shooting, doing live drills to improve scores and identify problems, and sharing experiences.  I do not think I could have advanced my shooting enough to make the team without this class.  I have taken it two years in a row and plan to take it next year as well.  I took the course at Wildcat, taught by Dave Schnelle.  Dave is both a fantastic shot and instructor.  It is rare to find someone with his level of expertise that can also share their knowledge.  Dave creates an environment for everyone to add their views and incorporate the class material in their own way.  He is truly a gifted teacher and shooter.  I highly recommend his class.

Of course, you will want to shoot all the matches you can.  I cannot say enough good things about the high power rifle shooting community in Indiana.  I have experienced friendly, welcoming, and helpful people at Wildcat, Atterbury, and Fall Creek.  There is probably no bad place to shoot, but you will want to get some matches fired on full distance courses like Camp Atterbury and Camp Perry.

The NTT presents a unique and exciting experience.  First, as you begin to pursue shooting on the team, you will become acquainted with shooters who have been there as you fire your regular season matches.  These people are typically very experienced shooters and eager to share their knowledge.  Keep in mind that the NTT is a team event.  From this perspective, it is important to think about committing to team for a given year.  This just means that you want to be on the team, you’ll be at Camp Perry for the NTT, and you are willing to be on the team as a firing or non-firing member.  Either way, firing or non-firing, you are going to have a great time, meet some of the best shooters in Indiana, and be a part of supporting Indiana in the National Matches.  It is really quite an honor.

The match itself is a 300 shot aggregate with each member firing a 50 shot NMC.  However, being a team event, there are some unique aspects.  In the slow fire stages of the match, the team fires block time with two members at a time “pair firing”.  Standing slow fire (200-yard) is done in a block time of 68 minutes and (600-yard) prone in a 136-minute block.  In slow fire stages, the six firing members are split into three pairs.  Each pair fires on the same target, alternating who shoots.  This is the “pair firing” aspect.  Firing out of sequence scores a miss, so it is important to keep aware of your teammate and coach.  Unlike the NTI, the coach can watch your shots (even in rapid fire) and provide you with windage correction.  Actually, windage is the responsibility of the coach.  The shooter puts wind on the rifle at the coaches’ direction.  The primary responsibility of the shooter is to hold elevation, fire in sequence, and not burn too much time.  It is a unique experience because you really do develop the feeling of a team effort.  This was a little hard for me to understand before I did it.  Most of shooting is an individual effort and I often “zone out” everything while on the line.  So, I did not really know what to expect, but to my surprise, there was a real team spirit feeling.  I think everyone on the team had that.

If you have been thinking about service rifle competition or becoming a member of the Indiana State Service Rifle Team, I highly recommend it.  I suspect it will be one of your most memorable shooting experiences.  For additional information, or to learn about High Power rifle training opportunities in Indiana, checkout http://www.wvrpc.org and http://www.cihprs.org.  To see how we did at the National Matches, check out the NTT results (we were 39th) at http://clubs.odcmp.com.  With more shooters, like you, we are hopeful to climb the list.