For those of you that may not know, there is a very coveted accomplishment you can earn in CMP Rifle competitions. It is the Distinguished Rifleman Badge. Started in the late 1800s in the military, it was opened up to civilians in 1926. Basically you shoot certain matches called Excellence in Competition (EIC) matches, and the top 10% earn points towards going Distinguished. It is a tough challenge, and only about 40 civilians make it each year. In nearly 100 years, the latest civilian badge number is only 2694. In these matches, the more shooters you have, the more people make the cut (top 10%). And only current Non-Distinguished shooters count toward these numbers
On June 21 and 22, 2025 we held a double EIC weekend, shooting an EIC match on both Saturday and Sunday, with our largest turn out ever. On Saturday we had 39 shooters, with 32 Non-Distinguished, and on Sunday we had 30 shooters, with 26 Non-Distinguished. Each day, we also had 9 juniors as young as 12 years old. Based on CMP rules, this allowed us to award (pending CMP certification) 3 shooters with leg points each day. When we have 3 legs, the top shooter will be awarded 8 points, and 2nd and 3rd will be awarded 6 points.
This match can be summed up by one word. HOT!! It was 94 on Saturday and 96 on Sunday. Again, pending CMP certification, Congratulations go to Saturday’s points winners, Meghann Beaver-8 points (who legs out and will become the latest Distinguished Rifleman), Michael Carey-6 points, and Junior Logan Becker-6 points. And Congratulations to Sunday’s points winners, Paul Cain-8 points, Gary Mabis-6 points, and Junior Marshall Rohrbach-6 points.
We also had 30 people join us for our cookout Saturday evening after the match, and thank goodness we had a nice pavilion that kept us shaded!
In spite of the heat, this was a great weekend and lots of shooters, so put ISRPA Highpower on your 2026 EIC calendar and come get some leg points! Tentative date for next year’s EIC matches will be June 13-14, 2026.
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