camp Perry huts

First topic message reminder :

staying first time in huts.
What recommendation to bring?

Do they offer continental breakfast catered?
Are soft pillows, clean sheets and good mattresses available?

Coffee pots? Microwave? Nite lites?
Refrigerator and freezer?
A.C ?

Jim C

The mess hall was OK, I suppose. But I think most went for nostalgia for “Army food” from their mis-spent youth.

It was the first prefab building in the US. 1906.

never ate in the mess hall, 

there was a restaurant in, I think, the same building?  the large building  in the complex where you checked in and near or attached to the PX,
cannot remember the name of it but they had good hamburgers,  and the AC barely worked, 
it was hot inside, but not as hot as outside, and good inexpensive food, 

been closed a good while I was told, but it was 2007 when I was there last

There's no mess hall for the shooters anymore.  You're on your own for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We bring a small fridge, grill, electric skillet, coffee pot and microwave.

I never ate at the mess hall. It was closed after a tornado damaged the building in the late 90s(?). 2004 was my first year, and until 2 years ago they had the "shooter's mess" supplied by the same catering company that supplies breakfast for service personnel. It was in a separate building and for $5-6 you could get a basic breakfast. They also offered lunch, dinner and box lunches, but apparently couldn't make enough money to justify it, so they weren't open to the public in 2016 or 2017. 

Typically 1 or 2 of the food trailers offer breakfast and there are restaurants in Port Clinton and nearby.

Just the same, I always bring enough oatmeal, bars and bananas just in case there is no breakfast available.

Good photo chronology of Camp Perry housing from Mel & Jim Chapman. My first trip in 1981, Military Police station at the main gate stopped you and asked for your entry---pre-Internet, paper applications that you filled out & mailed and NRA mailed your entry which you needed for entry on the base. Next, another MP asked you to step over to a brown wooden building to collect your billet, which consisted of a thin cot mattress, with numerous urine stains secured with a length of bailer twine, a pillow that needed its oil changed and a green wool GI blanket (really in July?) and a key to a Master padlock for your hut, which at that time with the Vietnam War fresh in everyone's mind, they were more commonly referred to as hooches.
Next, an MP asked if you had an air conditioner---a definite no-no at Perry. How about a fan? Yes, can I see it? Yes. It was approved because you were allowed a fan that required a limited number amps. There was a single 25 watt light bulb in the center of the ceiling, a fuse box, with 25 amp glass fuses. At that time mosquitos were so bad off Lake Erie that the NG came around every evening at dusk with tractors equipped with boom sprayers, dispersing insecticide. It may have been 90 degrees, but you learned after the first evening's spraying to close up your hooch's windows & door, go to the parade grounds or into town for an hour to avoid inhaling the insecticide. Typically, it was so hot and humid in your hooch that sleep was almost impossible until 3-4:00a.m. then, after a few scant hours of shut-eye, the cannon fired and presentation of colors.
The Mess Hall was operational then and from my perspective the food was both good and cheap. Meals were all you wanted to eat and to the best of my recollection, breakfast was $1.25, lunch $1.50 & dinner $2.00. Then, a tornado destroyed the Mess Hall.
Fast forward to recently and food vendors on the base. Selections and portions were good and one could carry out a drink or snack with no problem. Then, the food vendor changed and I had one meal there and that was it. Smaller portions and selection, everything was an extra charge and the food was terrible.
Now, after several decades  of coming away from Camp Perry feeling as though one just survived a fraternity initiation, it offers 5 star accommodations to competitors fortunate enough to score a hut, but unfortunately, the food service sucks and now those of the willing will make this their last NRA Matches at Perry. I hold some great memories of Camp Perry and made friendships there that have lasted 38 years. The NRA National Championships at Camp Perry began with a bang and now it is ending with a whimper.

Does anyone know of an age limit for the huts/squad bays?  I'm coming out with my 13-year old son who is just about ready for 2-hand junior provisional and I want him to get the full experience.  Which means no hotel out in Sandusky this time.

KB2MBC wrote:Mayflies, MILLIONS of Mayflies...

They call them "June Bugs" in that part of Ohio.

I shot a late June rifle match there a couple of times. At night the light polls were moving from all of the May Flies. On the range they were crawling everywhere, I had to brush them off my glasses, face, rifle, clothes, etc etc.

adminbot1911 wrote:Does anyone know of an age limit for the huts/squad bays?  I'm coming out with my 13-year old son who is just about ready for 2-hand junior provisional and I want him to get the full experience.  Which means no hotel out in Sandusky this time.

I am 99% certain there is no age limit for the huts. There are families and junior shooters all the time (especially for rifle).

SteveT wrote:

adminbot1911 wrote:Does anyone know of an age limit for the huts/squad bays?  I'm coming out with my 13-year old son who is just about ready for 2-hand junior provisional and I want him to get the full experience.  Which means no hotel out in Sandusky this time.

I am 99% certain there is no age limit for the huts. There are families and junior shooters all the time (especially for rifle).

Thank you sir!