2009 Creedmoor Cup West

I neglected to discuss the 2009 Creedmoor Cup West which took place nearly four weeks ago, so I’m posting some thoughts now.

I attended the 2009 Creedmoor Cup and shot in the 800 Aggregate and the Creedmoor Cup EIC, just like last year. I carpooled with Charles Guzman. I ended up staying at the Hampton Inn in Anthem (AZ), which is just a mile or so North of the Ben Avery Shooting Facility.

I’d like to give a strong recommendation on behalf of the Hampton Inn in Anthem (AZ). The facility is fairly new, maybe a few years old. The rooms are very clean and larger than typical standard Las Vegas rooms. I had reserved a double just in case someone needed to room with me for the match.The room not only had two queen beds, but it also had a desk, couch, coffee table, and a kitchenette style area with a fridge, microwave, and coffee maker. The room also has decent wired ethernet. The hotel provides a good complimentary breakfast with the standard pastries, cereal, and fruit options, but also a couple of hot entrees (i.e. pancakes, sausages, biscuits and gravy). Driving back and forth from the hotel to BASF takes less than five minutes and traffic is always low. The hotel is also next to a Dennys, a couple gas stations, and is very close to a Wal-Mart and an outlet mall. So if you’re in a pinch for anything during your stay (i.e. you forget toiletries or need some snacks), you can easily get something.

As far as the match is concerned, I didn’t shoot well at all. I used my fairly new White Oak Armament upper which had 300 rounds on it. When I set up the sights initially, it seems like I put the front sight post too low. I was bottomed out on the rear seat for a center hold 200 yards, but that was borderline. When I went to Phoenix, which has a slightly higher zero due to the higher elevation than Camp Pendleton or Riverside/SB, I found my shots hitting high in the 10 ring and into the edge of the 9 ring. So during the slow fire standing, I had to hold a high center hold. Suffice it to say, it wasn’t very fun.

During the first string of 300 yard rapid prone on Saturday (Creedmoor Cup 800 Aggregate), I turned my windage knob the wrong way when the wind picked up, and I ended up blowing the group far right. Then in the 600 yard slow prone, I just couldn’t catch the wind changes and threw a lot of wide 9s. I walked away with a miserable (for me) 750-10x. On a normal day, I shoot a 770 give or take. So I definitely shot under my average.

The Creedmoor Cup EIC on Sunday wasn’t much better. Since I’m already Distinguished, I didn’t need the points, but I obviously wanted to shoot well. I shot horrible in standing. The wind was a direct face wind and it was blowing my eye dry and I couldn’t focus. In sitting, I shot a group low and right in the 9-ring, which what usually happens when I have a bad position. Rapid prone, I shot an excellent 10-ring sized group, but about 1 MOA too high. The 600 yard slow prone was probably my only saving grace. I shot a 191-4x which isn’t great, but solid enough considering the rest of the other scores on the 600.

That said, the Creedmoor Cup was still a fun event. It’s always nice to head to Phoenix where it’s a lot nicer than Southern California, as far as the social environment.

As a followup to the elevation for 200 yard center hold being too high with a bottomed out rear sight, when I got home from the match and cleaned my gun, I ended up moving the front sight post one revolution up (National Match front sight, tapered) for a ~5MOA drop in the impact. I shot in a Santa Margarita Gun Club 800XTC the following Saturday. Walked up to the line, threw on 17 clicks up and fired a first sighter X. Elevation problem solved. I ended up finishing with a 780 that day (that’s when I shot a 100-7x in rapid sitting).

For a recap of the 2009 Creedmoor Cup West, the Civilian Marksmanship Program has an article in their First Shot newsletter. Many of the 2009 Creedmoor Cup photos on the CMP site were taken by me and donated to the CMP.