Marksmen attempting to gun down one of the nation's most prominent rifle titles will take aim from a different firing line this coming summer.
The NRA has moved the Smallbore Rifle Championship to the Chief Wa-Ke-De Range in Bristol, Ind., for the next two years. It's a rare circumstance in the history of the event marking only the third and fourth times in more than 100 years the smallbore title is set to be decided away from Camp Perry, Ohio.
The venue change for the smallbore championship is temporary, prompted by Camp Perry gearing up to stage a competition known as the America’s Cup of rifle shooting in 2015.
The range will host the first World PALMA Rifle Championships since 2011, drawing some of the globe’s top shots to Ohio for the long-range competition. It will also mark the first PALMA championship held on American soil since 1992, when New Mexico's Whittington's Center hosted the event.
The smallbore championship's early move is to give Camp Perry the opportunity to stage a dry run before the actual PALMA match the following summer.
Chief Wa-Ke-De Range is three hours west of historic Camp Perry and is well suited to the smallbore championship, according to the NRA blog. The range is nestled in a large grove of trees and features a 100-point asphalt covered firing line and ample wind protection.
The geographic change is the most blatant, but is not the only one the July 14-25 competition will undergo.
For the first time the National Metric and Conventional Smallbore Rifle Championships will be combine and will feature a 3-Position Championship and a Prone Championship. Also, team matches will be “paper matches” with the scores coming from the individual events. Previously, team matches were shot after the individual events. Additionally, an overall team champion will be presented in each of the four championships.
Finally, International Postal Team events like the Drew Cup and Randle Cup will be shot after the Conventional Championships. Registration opens on April 1, 2014.
The Smallbore Rifle Championship Tournament Program will be posted on March 3 at the NRA’s Competitive Shooting website. There will be no special squadding. Entries are limited to 200 competitors for the Metric Position and Prone Championships and 300 competitors for the Conventional 3-Position and Conventional Prone Championships.
Editor's note, the NRAblog.com was the source for this story.
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