VSSA Team Wins Oglethorpe Trophy at the 2016 National Pistol Matches

Written by Michael Vincent

Photos courtesy of John Rickards

The National Pistol Matches at Camp Perry in Ohio ran from July 11th through July 17th 2016. Camp Perry is named after Commodore Oliver Perry who defeated the British on Lake Erie in 1813 just off shore from the current National Guard base. The National Matches have been held at Camp Perry since 1907. The weeklong event consists of both NRA and CMP precision pistol matches.

The week starts with a Small Arms Firing School run by the Army Marksmanship Unit. Tuesday is the start of the matches with the Harry Reeves Memorial match and the Distinguished Revolver matches along with the individual CMP EIC matches.

Wednesday is the Preliminary match day. VSSA had two 3 person teams for the Preliminary matches. Each team member shoots a different caliber pistol (22, Centerfire and 45) for a total possible score of 900 points. Stars and Stripes Forever with shooters Kent Le (45acp), Marc Wangel (Centerfire with 32 S&W Long), and Michael Vincent (22), took 12th place overall with a score of 820-25x. Two Guys and a Gal with shooters Anton Beatty (45acp), David Friedman (Centerfire 45acp), and Laura Merciez (22) took 38th place with a score of 706-11x.


Photo by John Rickards, Preliminary team Stars and Stripes Forever Left to right Kent Le, Marc Wangel, Mike Vincent  

Photo by John Rickards, Zak Vincent guards the flag while Anton Beatty goes to the target carts

The 2700 National Championships begins with the .22 Championships on Thursday followed by the Centerfire and .45 Championships Friday and Saturday.  All team members shoot the same caliber pistols on these days for a total possible team score of 1200 points each day plus a 3600-point aggregate. VSSA had two teams competing in the entire Championship and one team competing just for the 22 event. VSSA’s 4 person team Stars and Stripes Forever with shooters Anton Beatty, Kent Le, Marc Wangel, and Michael Vincent had a 3 day aggregate score of 3245-75x for a 6^th place finish in Expert class. VSSA’s 2 person team Metropolitan Pistol League with shooters David Friedman and Paul Thorn had a 3 day aggregate of 1336-13x for a 12^th place finish overall. VSSA’s 4 person 22 only team Deuces with shooters Anne Buckman, Joe Wawrzaszek, Laura Merciez, and Zak Vincent had a score of 997-14x for a 10^th place finish in Sharpshooter class.

Short Line 25 Yards

Laura Merciez

David Friedman

Left to right Laura Merciez, Marc Wangel, Anton Beatty, Anne Buckman, Joe Wawrzaszek, Zachary Vincent, David Friedman, Kneeling Kent Le, Michael Vincent, Photo courtesy of John Rickards

Sunday is CMP day with the National Trophy Individual match followed by the Presidents 100 match. The last match of the week is the National Trophy Team match. VSSA had a team of four shooters. To be eligible for awards in this match each team must have a Tyro, or new shooter that has never participated in this match before. Veteran shooters Joe Chang of Springfield VA, Kent Le of Chantilly VA, and Matt Buckman of Lovettsville VA were joined by Viesturs Lenss of Alexandria VA for his first attempt in a NTT match. This proved to be a very successful combination with a score of 1107-29x they took second place overall and first place civilian team to win the Oglethorpe Trophy.

Complete Match results can be found at:

http://competitions.nra.org/championship-results/nra-national-outdoor-rifle-pistol-championships-results.aspx

Congratulations To All!



Oglethorpe Trophy

NRAStaff Photo