2011 NRA Smallbore 3P and Prone National Championships
21-28 July 2011
The 2011 SSAA Australian Shooing Team included
Matthew Boots, back left, Trevor Gulvin, Rod Frisby,
front left, and Daniel Tarbard.
High Senior 3P Any Sight Championship winner
Rod Frisby receives the winner’s wall plaque.
Exploding targets at the Blue Trail Range.
The SSAA Australian Shooting Team departed Australia on July 15 on their way to compete in the NRA Smallbore National Championships. This was the fourth time an Australian Smallbore team has competed at Camp Perry in Ohio, USA. It was a humble beginning in 2007 when the team competed in the Any Sight 3-Position Championships. Now, in 2011, the SSAA Australian Shooting Team competed in the 3-Position Iron Sight and Any Sight Championship (aggregate 1200 points), followed by the Iron Sight and Any Sight Prone Championships (aggregate 4800 points).
The team flew direct to JFK Airport in New York, arriving after more than 30 hours of air travel. A further two hours drive north to the township of Meridan, Connecticut, and we arrived at our destination for the first week in the US. David Lyman, direct descendant of the original Lyman family, was our host for the week. David and his wife Debra are the owners of the only fully commercial shooting range in the US - Blue Trail Range. We had full use of the range to practice and begin getting used to the time difference and climate. We arrived in full northern summer, with temperatures in the 90s and some days approaching the old 100F - a dramatic difference to what we had left behind in Australia.
The hospitality and welcome we received had to be experienced to be believed - full use of the range, targets supplied and an account at the range shop for anything we needed! In the evening, other range members arrived for a meet and greet, including a barbecue with sweet corn and lobsters. We had fun at Blue Trail Range, as well as serious practice. The exploding targets were great fun, as once hit in the exact centre, the target explodes with a bang that pretty much destroys the target.
After a week at Blue Trail Range, we headed through Pennsylvania to Ohio and Camp Perry. We were able to hire a house on Lake Eire waterfront, just a stone’s throw from the nuclear power station. It does not matter much where you are in the Camp Perry area, the cooling tower from the power plant overshadows everything.
Before the competition commenced, the team had some serious financial business to do - a visit to Cabela’s Michigan store, the largest outdoor outfitters store on the planet, is a must. Camp Perry also has what is known as Trade Alley, where firearm manufacturers and accessory retailers set up their wares in a series of army huts. Practically everything for shooting is available there and yes, they all take Visa and with the Aussie dollar at around $US1.10, this was the year to buy, buy, buy!
The days went quickly and it was soon down to the serious end of the trip. Every member of the team shot well at some stage of the 10 days of competition. To give an idea of the level of competition, most days there would be 10 to 15 of the 360 competitors that would score a perfect 400/400 in each match. If you shoot just one 9, you can drop back as far as 27 places.
Congratulations to Australia’s Matthew Boots, who won the 3-Position Championship and the Prone Championship in Civilian Category in Sharpshooter classification, and also to Rod Frisby, who won the High Senior Any Sight 3-Position Championship.
The team will have many memories from this trip. If you want to be part of a future trip, this is what you have to do: the next Field Rifle and 3-Position National Championships will be held in Canberra over Easter 2012. These will be selection matches for teams to attend the 2012 Pacific Regional Shooting Championships and Camp Perry in 2013. The top-placed competitors at the Nationals are nominated for selection in the SSAA Australian Shooting Team. So, if you think a trip like this would be for you, the first step is to get to Canberra and shoot well at the National Championships. You never know if you don’t try!