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Fun
Matches at Cherry Ridge
Every season there is a series of matches that are conducted to introduce
the beginning shooter to competition and have some fun. There are four
different match venues in the series. They are:
The Garand Match is centered
around the U.S. Rifle, M1 also known as the Garand. This particular match
requires that the rifle be in as-issued condition, with no modification to
enhance its accuracy. The second in the series is
Military Bolt, which
requires the use of any military bolt action rifle built in World War 2 or
earlier again in unmodified condition, with one small exception. This
exception allows the use of an aperture rear sight in place of the
original rear sight. The Infantry Trophy is a three-man, three-match team
event. The final event in the series is the Sporting Rifle competition,
which is designed to use the average deer rifle.
The Garand, Military Bolt and Sporting Rifle events are generally
structured around a modified National Match Course and are held on the
High Power Range 200 yard line. For both the Garand and Military Bolt
events the course of fire is four 10-round events preceded by five minutes
of sighting rounds. After the sighting-in period, the first event is the
prone slow fire, which consists of 10 rounds in ten minutes from the prone
position. The second event is the prone rapid fire, which is 10 rounds in
seventy seconds with a reload from the prone position. The third event is
the sitting rapid fire consisting of 10 rounds in sixty seconds again with
a reload from the sitting position. The forth and final event is the
standing or offhand event consisting of 10 rounds in ten minutes. The
Sporting Rifle match differs from this format slightly by using only 8
rounds instead of 10 due to sporting rifle magazine capacities. Since most
sporting rifles are not designed to be reloaded quickly, the rapid-fire
events are conducted as two 4-round strings of 30 seconds each.
The Infantry Trophy Match is a quasi-combat event. It mimics and is named
after a similar event conducted during the National Matches at Camp Perry.
This event originally started out as a competition between Army Infantry
Squads, but has attracted much interest and has been opened to civilian
teams. The version that is run at Cherry Ridge consists of two-man teams
rather than the six-man teams competing at Camp Perry. These two-man teams
have to engage three targets at ranges equivalent to 600 yards, 500 yards,
300 yards and 200 yards with a total of 128 rounds per team. At the 600
and 500 yard targets, the prone position is used. At the 300 yard target,
the sitting position is used and at the 200 yard distance, the position is
standing. At each range the shooters are in position when the targets come
up. Each team then tries to shoot as many rounds as they can into all
three of their targets in fifty seconds. Bonus points are awarded for the
number of targets with six or more hits. This match is conducted and
adheres to the fifteen round magazine limit imposed by the State of New
Jersey, but that doesn’t seem to limit the fun had by the competitors.
Contact: Roger Billington
(973) 827-4851
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