Camp Perry
Made my trip to Camp Perry to attend their annual combat pistol pop up shoot. I didn't visit the CMP North Store, but on the way out I stopped and took photos of some of the displays.
For your viewing pleasure.
For your viewing pleasure.
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Nice.
Looks wet there.0 -
Nice job. Enjoyed the pics. 0 -
My first summer at Camp Perry I was 12 years old - we would go as a team and stay in the white huts and essentially shoot full course practice matches 5 days a week with a half match on Saturday (4 position or 3 position 50 yd smallbore rifle / prone and sitting and kneeling and offhand - 1600 point full length match shoots)
We were broken up into ranked groups and assigned coaches and teachers who would work on your technique and pacing and how to optimize your gear and get the most out of it. There was also classroom lectures and organized school work on shooting and sports philosophy and fitness and the history of the sport...
We would do that for 3 weeks and then culminating with the nationals - the national championship course of match fire for record - qualifiers for national rank or for consideration to make the national team or the Olympic squad - college recruiters would pay attention.
And of course other disciplines and age groups and weapon types had training and match course of fire for record shoots going on at the same time - military match shoots so you got to meet or interact with others in an interdisciplinary manner with cross training and a flow of knowledge back and forth...
I got my introduction to biathlon and long range prone shoots and silhouette and indoor 50 foot "postal" course of fire and DCM / CMP high power.
For me this went on from 12 to 19 and included a month spent at Blue Trail Range shooting school in wallingford CT run by Dave and Debbie Lyman - which ended with the northeastern regional championship. We stayed on campus in the dorms of Wesleyan university while training...
For a while there was a 2 week training program that took place at the DuPont country club in Delaware that included trap and skeet programs and we would compete in the Delaware and NJ and Pennsylvania State championships.
3 years I was lucky enough to be invited to the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs for training and for record match shoots. They also had the national coaches conferences for class C and class B collegiate coaches and they would use us kids as training tools to try out new ideas and equipment and some super high tech training and monitoring and medical equipment designed to enhance performance.
I did double duty two years - once I turned 18 I not only played test dummy but signed up for and received credit for attending the classes and received actual coach status.
I spent quite a bit of time with the teams (coaches and athletes) from Bangladesh and south Africa and south Korea - as well as a bunch of folk from France.
Art cook and lones wigger and Mike anti and Carlos hathcock and Nicole panko and tons of notable figures whom I only much later learned about their history and achievements.
Making the president's 100 3 years running and receiving my presidential sports award and distinguished expert ratings - trying out for the national team and Olympic squad and having my personal best results ever and being a miserable failure ranked almost dead last and not even making the practice squad or alternate team (they were just so much better and more dedicated and invested).
I still remember beating the national junior champion and shooting possibles (perfect scores) in prone and tying a prone world record and feeling fantastic - then finding out I was ranked 92 out of 100 and that my best was not close to being acceptable.
Humbling experience.
Hanging out with the team from hofstra university (I roomed with them for awhile).
My off time spent earning some spending money in the gunshop - doing the east coast show circuit...
Thanks for sparking some memories and recollections of those days.
They were the pinnacle of my youthful achievements and meant a lot to me even though they pale in comparison to others.
Again thanks - sorry if I rambled or thread jacked your post.
Mike0 -
Thanks for the pictures great memories 0 -
MrMike & others, please feel free to add more if you like. I'm lucky to live about an hour from there and I learn something new every visit. Amazing place full of history.
And yes, it was very wet! Soaked by the time I finished shooting 3 relays but totally worth it.0 -
When I think of Camp Perry I think of my favorite story from there about Dad Farr. He was an incredible shooter.
George Farr had fired 71 consecutive bulls-eyes at 1,000 yards using an unfamiliar rifle taken from an ordnance rack earlier that day using government issue ammo with no scope. He didn't miss until it was completely dark.
https://www.nrablog.com/articles/2017/7/dad-farrs-golden-afternoon-at-camp-perry/0 -
Very cool post,thanks. 0 -
Nice pictures and the equipment looks to be well maintained with excellent paint. Although it might not look as good if the equipment was "dry". 0 -
Some more from a previous visit. 0 -
Thanks for the pictures. 0
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