Update 2023 - CMP New England Games at Camp Ethan Allen

Mountain

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Edit 4/30/2023- Scroll down for update. I will bump when registration opens for this series of matches at the awesome Camp Ethan Allen base in Vermont. Something for everyone: various vintage and modern rifle matches, high power, vintage sniper, pistol, 22's, etc.

Had a great time at the New England Games and I thought the CMP and host Vermont State Rifle Assoc. did a great job with the match. I made the decision to go a bit last minute, but CMP is pretty responsive to emails & a couple days before the event I had confirmation I was GTG for SAFS, the M16 EIC match, and the regular EIC Service Rifle Match. Time to try AR's while my shoulder isn't quite ready for the big boys.

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Camp Ethan Allen made a beautiful site for the match, with the typical mountains, rolling hills, and farms in the local area. Periodic firing of miniguns at some distant range added some fun to the day- quite an impressive sound when one is running.

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We had some rain on day one, but not so bad that running the match was a problem. Most of the morning we were in the classroom for SAFS. Even though SAFS is oriented to the new shooter, there were many discussions helpful to all plus we had some Q&A time with CMP's CEO. Actually, the majority of attendees were experienced competitors who were likely attending SAFS in order to participate in the M16 Match. Actually, there were quite a few in attendance who were active military. $50 for several hours of classroom instruction plus a full match with rifles and ammo provided is an unbelievable deal.

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We were able to park right behind the 200 yard position for the M16 match. Normally the club would park cars behind the pits but CMP opted to keep the cars out. Pits and stands were really nice, with nice wide positions that made it easy to know when your shooter put one through the target.

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The guys I was squadded with and I seemed to have the hot target of the day. Easy to pull for folks putting 'em in the 10-ring. The four of us covered 1st, 3rd, 4th (me) and 5th place for the match. 2nd place to an active duty guy. 1st and 3rd were a couple of fun characters and great shooters who came all the way from Oklahoma. They were making a big road trip and catching several matches along the way. 5th was a nice guy from the local club. I was pretty happy with my scores except for offhand. First time shooting an AR in a sanctioned match, and a well attended one at that. Depending upon how CMP rounds the numbers, I might get some leg points.

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On the next day, the morning fog that obscured the course burned off to a perfect day. My shooting was pretty abysmal, mostly due to a bone-headed mistake I made. I decide to go with a scope to help with my first time at 600 yards and sighted it in the day I drove to Vermont. Though it seemed ok from the bench, the mount I used was too high and did not allow me to move the scope far enough forward to be in its relief when I was in positions. Darn near impossible to keep a good sighting and proper cheek weld. Too late to switch back to irons as there were no sighters. Rapids were particularly ugly, despite scoring in the 90's (great for me) the previous day. Live and learn.

However, given the ample amount of time for 600 prone I was able to work out a position to see and was in the black on my first shot. I shot factory Norma Match 77 ammo, and it performed according to its data which had my come-ups right on target. This time I had fair scores in offhand and at 600, just the stages in which I was expecting to really suck. I had a great time regardless of my across the course hot mess and will definitely be back next year.
 
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Nice..... ahh yes the scope needs to go a bit forward in prone. Some say scopes are easier than irons

See I warned you .....you only find these things out at a match!
 
Nice..... ahh yes the scope needs to go a bit forward in prone. Some say scopes are easier than irons

See I warned you .....you only find these things out at a match!

LOL like my loose Garand sight. Had to happen in a match.

Hoping to make the October Pembroke.
 
Damn time flies. I started this thread in 2016 and have attended every CMP Games match at Camp Ethan Allen since (no 2020 due to Wu flu BS). Have not scored any golds yet but have picked up eight silvers and bronzes combined. My fat ass even made the CMP New England Games home page. That's me sitting and scoring at center of pic:

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Speaking of scoring, spotting scopes are no longer necessary unless you want one to see mirage from the 600 yard line. The rifle matches are all electronic now, which makes the relays finish much more quickly as nobody is needed in the pits. I'll post an electronic target below once I find the pic.

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Of course I'm going to post a good one. ;) Shots 1-5 are sighters, 6-15 for score.

I always preferred to tent camp for this event and had permission to set up a short hike up from the barracks. I'll be camping just off base now, as they built a new training facility over 'Camp Mountain'. In honor of my shooting, skiing, and camping prowess, they named it after me [rofl] [rofl] [rofl] : Army Mountain Warfare School to Open New Vt. Training Facility
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See? There's my name, front and center. LOL that pine tree to the right of the building is literally one of my old tent sites. I know a NESer or two who compete in these matches- I hope we can rope in a few more. I will be competing in these matches: Modern Military, John C. Garand, Springfield, Vintage Military, and Vintage Sniper. The EIC High Power match isn't until the following Sunday after the other matches, so I'll be skipping that one this time. Please check in on this thread if you are going.

I don't know if the CMP still has enough M1 Garands to sell any at this event, but in years past they would bring a few pallets of rifles to sell to competitors.

Here's the link:

New England CMP Games & CMP HP Rifle Matches - Civilian Marksmanship Program
 
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Here's the 2023 bump for CMP New England Games at Camp Ethan Allen, Jericho VT, plus a recap of 2022 as I never came back to this thread until now. This year the matches are September 16 - 24. New England CMP Games & CMP HP Rifle Matches - Civilian Marksmanship Program

I've had many years of mostly great weather, but the 2022 match was a complete washout. No matter, we shot our matches anyway. The rain was insanely heavy during my Springfield match. I dumped water off my shooting mat before the first stage, but by the end of that stage I was laying in 2" of water. By the end of that match I was shaking water out of my 03A3. I stayed at a nearby rental with a half dozen friends and most evenings the dining table and counters were covered in disassembled rifle parts.

Only 2 medals this year, but I skipped the vintage rifle match as I did not want to get my K31 soaked. It has some old Schutzenfest tags on it and a matching troop tag for the officer who was issued this rifle and continued to compete with it after his service. Picked up a bronze in the M1 Garand match, will post slow prone target below.

With a pair of USMC 1941 sniper clones , my teammate and I won a silver in the vintage sniper competition, shooting at 300 yards and 600 yards in rain and fog. We only dropped a couple points outside a 12" 10-ring at 600 yards. First cold shots each were 10's. We hit quite a few X's, which is a 6" circle.

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Another successful trip to the New England CMP Games at CEATS with a medal in all 4 events I entered- 2 silvers and 2 bronzes. There were 9 of us who are either members or show up regularly at CMP matches held at Old Colony. For the various events, the 9 of us won 16 medals. Besides the vintage and modern military stuff there are EIC high power and pistol matches.

Beautiful scenery, an interesting base, electronic targets, and a well run event- what more could one ask for? They have clinics, so a complete newb can actually go and have a great time.
 
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