MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016   ■   SHOOTING COMPETITIONS

CMP to Introduce New 'Legacy Series' at 2016 National Matches

By Ashley Brugnone, CMP Writer
After receiving many suggestions on how best to fill our recently-added competition week at the end of the National Matches in August, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) has created a schedule of events.

The final week of competition is called the "CMP Legacy Series," and will include the following matches:

· CMP Heritage Match (Aug. 10) – 800 Aggregate event, 20 shots standing and 20 shots sitting at the 200-yard line, 20 shots rapid fire at the 300-yard line and 20 shots prone slow fire at the 600-yard line

· CMP Viale Memorial Match (Aug. 11) – 50-shot National Match Course of Fire

· CMP Critchfield 2-Man Team Match (Aug. 12) – 50-shot National Match Course of Fire

· CMP Modern Military Rifle Match (Aug. 13) – 55-shot match fired at the 200-yard line

· CMP Roosevelt Commemorative Match (Aug. 14) – Krag/1903 only, 30-shot match fired at the 200-yard line

The schedule above was chosen by an overwhelming majority of respondents to a recent survey sent to all CMP competitors. Of the 1,595 responses, 1,051 selected the new CMP Legacy Series of matches for the conclusion of the 2016 National Matches.

The series of rifle events was created to provide shooters with additional fun and challenging matches to round out the long gun portion of the schedule normally occupied by fullbore rifle matches.

The theme "Legacy Series" was chosen to honor both Camp Perry, home to the National Matches since 1907, and those individuals who have helped shape the nation's longest-running series of championship and recreational rifle events in America.

The CMP Heritage Match is typical of the National Match Course service rifle events fired at Camp Perry for more than 100 years. The CMP Viale Memorial Match celebrates the memory of 2LT Robert M. Viale, namesake of Camp Perry's 1,000-yard range. Viale was killed in combat in the Philippines in World War II. Viale Range is one of four ranges at Camp Perry named in honor of Ohio veterans who perished in combat in service to their country.

Team matches are very popular events, and the CMP Critchfield 2-Man Team Match will be no exception. The CMP Critchfield match is named in honor of Ammon B. Critchfield, Adjutant General of Ohio and founder of Camp Perry. It was Critchfield's vision of a range that could handle the "new" 1903 Springfield rifle with its .30-06 cartridge. It became the largest rifle range in the nation and made Camp Perry the mecca of the competitive shooting world for more than a century.

Critchfield would also be pleased to see those 1903 Springfields in action more than a century later on his range at the CMP Roosevelt Commemorative Match, open only to the Springfield and its predecessor, the Krag-Jorgensen rifle – chambered in U.S. caliber .30-40 Krag. All versions and variants were manufactured under license by the Springfield Armory between 1892 and 1903 and served as the long arm during the Spanish-American War.

The CMP Modern Military Rifle Match brings back Camp Perry memories from the 1960s to current day with a match open to semi-automatic military style rifles like the non-accurized M14/M1A, the original lightweight AR15 and many foreign military semi-autos and commercial equivalents.

If you have questions regarding the CMP Legacy Series, please contact Christina Roguski at croguski@thecmp.org, Shannon Hand at shand@thecmp.org or Kim Filipiak at kfilipiak@thecmp.org. We hope to see you there!

For more information on the 2016 National Matches, visithttp://thecmp.org/competitions/cmp-national-matches/.

The Civilian Marksmanship Program is a federally chartered 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation. It is dedicated to firearm safety and marksmanship training and to the promotion of marksmanship competition for citizens of the United States. For more information about the CMP and its programs, log ont www.TheCMP.org.