National Match Proposal

Every year, there are bunches of people that would like to, but are unable to attend the CMP pistol matches at Perry. Whether it is health, distance, expense, work, or other commitments, there can be things that stop people from making it.

It would be great for these people to be able to compete as well. This could help all those shooters that just cannot ever get enough people to a match to ever give away more than a bronze medal. Looking over the scores on the CMP website, it is quite difficult to leg out in certain areas of the country given the inability to give out a silver or gold medal.

My proposal is to allow remote entry into a "national" match. In college rifle, all teams fire a match on a certain weekend. The scores are aggregated to give a national ranking. If this could be done for service pistol, it would allow a top to bottom ranking of basically all shooters. I think that could be very motivational over time.

It would also create a much larger pool of shooters for a leg match. The three guys from Maine, the four guys from NW Washington, the 7 guys from south Florida, and folks all over the country go to their local range and fire a P100 and a NMC. All the scores are aggregated to allow guys that will never be able to compete for a gold to actually be able to at least once per year.

Some people may say that this could lower attendance at Perry. I don't think so. It will always be preferable to be at Perry. The atmosphere, camaraderie, shopping and history of Perry will never be equaled. Commercial row isn't going to show up at my local range any time soon. Plus, the NRA matches will still be at Perry.

The local ranges could be run by volunteers without taking away shooters or volunteers from the national matches. Remote events would need the same witnesses as typical leg matches. It would be the responsibility of the remote shooters to coordinate their local event. I would expect overall participation to increase given the lower burden of competition. Traditionally, shooters are allowed three leg matches and Perry. If held the same day as the match at Perry, I would propose it not be counted against one of the three matches but be counted as attendance in the National Matches.

I have submitted this proposal to the CMP. I wanted to see what the people on the list think. It would be great to refine this idea into a working solution for people unable to attend Perry and/or unable to attend a leg match that routinely gives away a silver medal or more.

I will also be posting this on the e-mail list as well. I will try to add the list feedback here since I prefer this style of forum.

I like the concept and it would be nice for those that cannot attend the CMP events at Camp Perry. Heck we only have 2 matches with legs in Wisconsin, so maybe 3 - 4 people may earn some points.

I would still attend the nationals as long as I am able.

Joe, that's exactly what I and the CMP want to hear.