2008 Creedmoor Cup, Texas State Service Rifle Road Trip...

Fly out       Monday 13^th October 2008 from Syd to San Fran.

Return       Tuesday 28^th October 2008 from Houston to Dallas, LA, Sydney.

Mon 13 October – Fly to San Francisco.  We land locally 13^th because fly back 1 day.

Mon 13 October – Drive to Lone Pine via Yosemite National Park and Mammoth Lakes

Tue 14 October – Drive to Las Vegas via Death Valley and Shoshone (spend night in LV)

Wed 15 October – Drive to Ben Avery range (Phoenix) via GRAND CANYON!

Thu 16 Oct – Sun 19 Oct - Shoot Creedmoor matches.

            - Thu 16 Oct – 80 shot practice match

            - Fri 17 Oct – 50 shot CMP Leg match

            - Sat 18 Oct – 80 shot NRA regional match

            - Sun 19 Oct – 50 shot team match

            - While at Phoenix, we can shoot IPSC/Steel plate pistol matches.

We need to contact our friends in the US who offered to let us borrow their guns.  May need to organise and pay for ammo in advance, otherwise pay on the day.

Mon 20 October – Drive to Roswell.  Leave very early morning for Roswell.  Long drive to Houston, so not much sight seeing.

            While in Roswell:

                        - Bottomless Lakes State Park

                        - International UFO Museum & Research Centre

                        - Alien Zone

                        - Enigma UFO Museum

Tuesday 21 October – Drive to Houston via Braunfels “Natural Bridge Park”.

A Naturally Incredible Attraction

Located in the beautiful Texas Hill Country just north of San Antonio and southwest of New Braunfels, Texas, is one of the world's premiere show caves.

View more than 10,000 different formations in underground chambers. Texas' largest natural attraction, U.S. Natural Landmark, tours daily. Adventure tour, mining sluice, gift shop, snack bar, picnic areas, group rates. IH-35 near San Antonio.

Wednesday 22 October – Practice at Tomball range.

Thursday 23 October – Practice at Tomball in morning.  Mid afternoon, leave for Austin (Texas State Champs).

Friday 24 Oct – Sun 26 Oct, shoot Texas State Titles – Camp Swift in Bastrop.

            - Fri 24 Oct – 50 shot 4-man team match

            - Sat 25 Oct – 80 shot NRA regional match

            - Sun 26 Oct – 50 shot CMP Leg match

Monday 27or28 October – Fly home from Austin.  Will need to check with car hire company for Austin drop-off.

Leave from range to Inner Space cavern just north of Austin before travel to airport.

20 miles north of Austin – under Interstate Hwy 35

Creedmoor Cup and Texas State Service Rifle trip, 2008

By David Waters

We organised for shooters from Australia to visit the USA to travel around the south/west coast to see some of the sites we always hear about, perhaps discover some new sites, and shoot the 2 big matches we have wanted to shoot for some time – The Creedmoor Cup and Texas State Service Rifle Championships.

The Texas State has always held a place in my mind to definitely attend.  Texas was the first state I made true shooting friends in, and being that Texas feels so much like home, I consider the Texas State a match I must shoot.

The Creedmoor Cup and Western CMP Games used to be held in California.  We had plans to attend a Creedmoor and WCMPG 2 years ago, but things didn’t eventuate.  Now the Creedmoor Cup and WCMPG are held at the Ben Avery range just north of Phoenix Arizona, it adds extra attraction for us travellers.  This makes travel a little more expensive but gives us a good excuse to see the sites and explore the country side along the way.

The exchange rate was the best during 2008 for some 30+ years to plan this trip.  While the planning was taking place, the A$1 was at US$0.96.  This trip was to cost less than we ever imagined.  However, this did not stay the case, as just 3 weeks before the trip, the Aussie dollar started to plummet to US$0.58.  We had no idea where the dollar would fall to while away, but it was a concern.

Only 2 Australian’s made the pilgrimage to the US for these 2 matches.  We both have many stories to tell.  It would be impossible to write everything down that even remotely explains the details of our trip.  Here are some of the highlights.

We flew out of Sydney on Monday the 13^th October, bound for San Francisco.  We landed the same date due to crossing the International Date Line.  First stop was the hire care place which turning into a fiasco to say the least.

After the car was sorted, we finally hit the road, and headed for Yosemite National Park.  This was one of the most amazing National Parks I have ever visited.  There are many similar formations and sites at Yosemite that are similar to many Australian parks.  What we found makes Yosemite unique is the scale and diversity in such a small area.  It is all in this park – valleys, mountains, snow, water, rivers, rocks…it has the lot.  A must see.

Spending the night in the Sierra Mountains offered an incredible view to wake to in the morning.  Just 6 weeks out from summer, the mountains were covered snow and offered some of the most amazing mountain views I have ever seen.

Day 2, we headed for Las Vegas, via Death Valley.  Death Valley is an open park range of nothing.  But, this “nothing” was the scenery highlight of my trip.  The sites were breathtaking, yet very unique…like nothing I have ever seen before, reminding me of pictures showing the moon lunar surface

Las Vegas was bright, active, expensive and very busy.  We didn’t arrive until late Tuesday, so we called into “Practical To Tactical” (our first gun shop stop) before deciding to simply drive up and down “the strip” and make tracks for a place to spend the night on the road to Phoenix.

Before spending the night at Golden Valley, we had a brief night viewing of the Hoover Dam.  After hearing so much about this dam, and seeing it in many movies, we had to see it in real life.  It was a bit dark, so we will have to get back there during daylight for a look one day.  The night time just doesn’t do it justice.  The funny thing was, unlike dams in Australia that are fenced off and almost inaccessible, this dam also forms part of the main road that joins Nevada to Arizona.  Rather amazing.

The plan was to be at Phoenix by Wednesday night, so we left early Wednesday morning for the Grand Canyon via “Williams” that offered some nice picture opportunities on the famous Rout 66.

The Grand Canyon is very similar to our own Blue Mountains, only the scale is much, MUCH, bigger – perhaps a factor of 10.  It was amazing, but from a personal perspective, Yosemite, the Sierra Mountains and Death Valley were still the highlight of the trip so far.

After half a day at the Canyon, it was time to hit the road and learn about the desert state, Arizona.  Is it a desert state?  Well, it isn’t the sort of desert we have in Australia or that I imagined, but it is desert from a sense that it isn’t covered in trees, there is a lot of baron land, and cactus growing everywhere.  It is very similar to the mid central Western Australia regions.  During our drive, we were surprised about the extreme changes in altitude through the different areas of the state.  Flagstaff is so high, that we rolled most of the way from Flagstaff to Phoenix...which is almost 100 miles.

Around 9pm, Josh and I finally got to our Phoenix destination – Noble Hathaway’s place.  We were drained from the travel, but were excited to get out and enjoy ourselves.  Noble and his wife, Cynthia, were sensational hosts.  We were made very welcome, and we were treated to some very warm hospitality.  Noble is the editor for the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol newsletter.  We have corresponded a lot in the past, and it was because of him that we could make the trip to Arizona possible.

The Creedmoor Cup was the first of our matches during the 2 week trip.  This match was headed up by Creedmoor’s, and multiple National Champion, Dennis Demille.

It was an amazing 4 days.  The schedule for each day was:

            - Thu 16 Oct – 50 shot practice match

            - Fri 17 Oct – 50 shot team match

            - Sat 18 Oct – 80 shot NRA regional match

            - Sun 19 Oct – 50 shot CMP Leg match

Thur 16^th, we rolled into the range early for the start of the practice day.  The number of familiar faces was amazing.  After 4 trips to Perry, we have made a lot of US friends around the south-west of USA.  There were smiles, hugs and handshakes everywhere.

Josh and myself joined 2 Californian’s, Dennis and Dave, as “Team Vegimite” for the 4 man team shoot.  It was a fun day, and good practice for the next 2 days.

Saturday was the 80 shot NRA Regional Match Course, for “The Creedmoor Cup”.  There were 149 shooters, and it felt as large as Camp Perry.  It was the most amount of fun I could have on a range shooting an AR.  What a great event.  The presentation for the CC was held directly after the shoot, and there was THOUSANDS of dollars of prizes on the table to be won in a door draw.  It was hard to believe this was a 1 day shoot…

Sunday was the CMP Leg Match, and this was the start of my 2^nd chance in 2008 to earn some leg points.  I was sitting on 14 since 2007, and desperately wanted to add to the account after an expensive and disastrous effort at Perry just over 2 months earlier.

I shot the leg match very well.  I was off to a bad start standing, shooting a low 90, with the odd 8 and 10, which is not good for me, but there was a long way to go.  I managed to squeeze a good 98 sitting rapid, considering the wind started to blow.

We were off to the pits for our duty, and could feel the heat coming on strong.  It was like an Australian summer.  Getting very hot early/mid morning, and very dry.  The temp for the day reached 100 but I hardly broke a sweat because it was so dry.  Thankfully, organisers made sure there was plenty of water available, which I certainly drank a lot of.

When we got out of the pits to shoot the 300 & 600, it was stifling hot, and the wind was really blowing.  There were a lot of long faces during the pit change-over, because the wind was certainly stopping shooters posting good scores.

The 300 rapid fire was first string after our pit duty, and I had to crank the windage knob dope on because the wind so strong…remembering there are no sighters in this match.  I must have guessed something correct, because it came up a 98.  Not bad, not great, but not bad.

600 was the final string, and the wind was up and switching.  It was very tough, and probably about the hardest I’ve had to shoot in for a long time…anywhere.  I was constantly on the scope, cranking the dope on, taking it off, from shot to shot.  I finished with a 193, which was one of the top 600 scores for the day, and my saving grace.  This 600 score was want ranked me number 1 in the match aggregate earning 10 leg points, taking my total to 24 points, and getting my hard leg out of the way.  I was ecstatic.

The results for the Creedmoor Cup matches are available on the CMP website http://clubs.odcmp.com/cgi-bin/report_matchResult.cgi?matchID=3773

While in Phoenix, we spent lots of time shooting, shopping, experiencing some new foods, and relaxing with great company.  We must give many thanks to Noble Hathaway and his wife Cynthia, Dennis Demille, Creedmoor Sports, the CMP and the CMP staff (Christie and Laurie), the handful of tireless and wonderful volunteers (Leigh, Wayne, Myles, Emil, Dick), and all those involved in the Creedmoor Cup and Western CMP Games.  It was the best shoot I, and we, have ever been to.

We left Noble’s Monday morning, 20^th October, for Texas.  This was going to be a long drive.  Estimates from locals was around 22 hours to Houston.  That is 22 hours of solid driving, plus stopping to enjoy the sites planned along the way, such as Tombstone and Roswell, etc.

First stop was Tombstone and to walk around the OK Corral.  This was amazing.  To think we actually stood on the grounds where one of the most famous gun fights in American, or world, history took place had a very calming affect on us.  The town was still living, and catering for the surrounding residents, while also doubling as a major tourist site.  All the original buildings are still standing, and occupied with businesses (bars, café, restaurants, museums, souvenir shops, etc).  Next stop was Houston, to spend some time with my great friends Clint and Glenn, after lots of driving and general site seeing along the way.

We rolled into Houston around 1pm Wednesday 22^nd October.  Glenn put us up at his place and looked after us, as he always does.

After a few days practice at a range local to Glenn, we made our way to Clint’s place as a meeting point before heading on to Bastrop for the Texas State titles being held at Camp Swift.

We were ready for 3 days of shooting:

            - Fri 24 Oct – 50 shot 4-man team match

            - Sat 25 Oct – 80 shot NRA regional match

            - Sun 26 Oct – 50 shot CMP Leg match

Texas State was a shoot I have wanted to attend since first meeting Glenn and Clint back in 2005, and after having spent so much time in Houston Texas shooting.  I was finally here, and was going to make the most of it.  Josh was buzzing, after shooting some good scores in Arizona.  It was going to be a good finale to the trip.

Josh and I stayed in barracks, which were first class.  They were very clean, well presented, and very cheap.  We couldn’t ask for anything more.

The range was well presented.  It was similar to our home range in Sydney, including the tricky wind, which would work out to an advantage.

First day of competition was great fun.  Although we shot only 1 week ago, it seemed a lot longer because we spent so much awake time on the road and sight seeing.  The excitement perhaps showed in the results.  I shot the highest score of the Friday in the XC components.  Then I shot the pairs teams at 600 with my good Texan mate Clint, where I cross fired costing our team badly.  This is something I have only done a couple of times in my life, and each time was while shooting standing.  I was shocked when I was told of the news that I cross fired with my last shot.  I shot, I saw the target go down, and when asked if the target when down, of course I said “yes”.  Obviously, I saw the target I shot at go down, which was not the target I was supposed to be shooting at.  So, it was a clear case of mistake and bad practice on my part.  Fingers crossed, I have a cross fire out of my system, and there will be no more of them.

Second day of competition was the Texas State Service Rifle Championships, shooting an 80 shot NRA Regional Match Course.  The day couldn’t end quick enough.  I did everything wrong.  I shot horrible all day.  It was shades of my disaster at Camp Perry a few months ago.  Perhaps I had already peaked, and this was the beginning of a downhill slide.  Time would tell.

Josh left Texas to head for California at the end of this Saturday match.  Josh had to be in LA for departure back to Australia in 3 days time, and it was almost a 2 and a half solid days of driving.  So, as soon as the match was finished, Josh packed up his kit into the car, and headed for LA.  I spent the evening thinking where it went so wrong Saturday and hopefully think how to improve my form for Sunday’s Leg Match.

Sunday, third day of the meet, was the CMP Leg Match.  This was the day I was waiting for, and needed to do well to “leg out” to become a Distinguished Rifleman.  It is not like I could forget the significance of this day, as my fellow Texan mates certainly didn’t hold back constantly reminding me.

I was focused for a good result.  I made a point to put the last 2 days behind me, and make this day a whole new shoot.  Standing 200 was first and I shot a 95.  Nothing was outside the black, which is the first thing I like to achieve.  Fortunately, 5 of them were in the 10 ring or better, so I was pretty happy, considering I was squadded in relay 4 and shot with the most wind during the 200 standing strings.

200 Sitting rapid fire was next, and I shot a 98 with my group slightly high left, putting 2 shots just into the 9 ring.  It was a very good group, but knowing I usually clean sitting, my pet event with an AR, I was disappointed with the score.  I kept my sights set on the big picture.

300 Prone rapid fire, the wind was starting to howl right to left, with short switches to the opposite direction.  It was going to be tough, and after watching some of the previous shooters and seeing the scores, I was concerned about shooting a “good score”.  To my surprise, I shot another 98, with 9x 10’s and 1x 8.  All shots were left, in a very tight group, which the tight group saved me from a lot more 9’s.  At this point, I am 291 (9 points down) going into the 600, which is usually no concern to me, given my experience in Fullbore (Palma) etc, and my feeling at home with the range conditions.  I was keen to shoot a High Master (485+) score.

The 600 prone slow was the last string for the match.  The wind was up, the mirage was telling lies, and there were only 2 wind flags, which weren’t telling much.  I started well, with all X’s and 10’s.  Then, I fired, but the target didn’t go down.  I thought nothing of it.  I looked at my scorer, he called for a mark.  The target was down for the dreaded “extended” time.  It came up a miss.  WHAT!  I asked for a remark, and it still came up a miss.  I was in shock, and all my worst nightmares came at once to haunt me.  Could I have cross fired prone AGAIN?  Yep, I sure could….3 targets away.  I guess I was too busy watching conditions to watch my target.  I was furious with myself.  Instead of cooling off, I shot again, without thinking clearly, and scored a 6 (from memory).  This didn’t help my composure.  What was I doing?  I put the gun down, took some deep breaths, and started to read the conditions again.  I could not get the stupid mistake out of my mind, but I wanted to soldier on and see what happens.  I finished ok, with some disappointing 9’s in the string.

Being one of the first relays down at 600, I had to go to the pits after firing.  There were a lot of shooters to follow.  I had no idea how I would finish, but the feeling wasn’t good, and I was not feeling confident.

By the finish of the day, Glenn Edgard, a great Texan friend, came down to the pits to help packup.  He said “well, you made it!  Congratulations!”.  I was very surprised given the mistake, but very happy that the hard work and travel had paid off.

Full results available from: http://www.tsra.com/codepages/shoot-events.html

Dave Wright delivered a good presentation, after all his tireless hard work during the event as RO, etc.  There were a lot of trophies on offer, and plenty of prizes from shooting industry vendors.  It was great to see.  It was something we have not had here for some 20 years.  Also, the extra attention given to the juniors was fantastic.  There were plenty of them.  I even learnt a new term – “first leather”…which I believe is the first place after the medal allocations.

Special thanks to Clint Greenwood, Glenn Edgard, Dave Write, Rick Crawford, and all the Texan fella’s, as well as my fellow Australian shooter Josh Coughran.