United States Veterans Rifle Team

Winter 2020 Newsletter

In order to more effectively communicate with potential team members please complete your team registration at https://www.usaveteransrt.org.  If you have not previously logged on using the email you received this note at click on the “forgot password” and follow the instructions to establish a password, and to logon.  You can use this site to indicate your plans to attend Practice/Try-outs (PTO) and matches.  See below.

In 2020 we will continue the training/try-out process for the 2023 Team.  As of this moment a PTO is planned for May 9-10, 2020 at Butner, NC.  This is planned immediately prior to the Sinclair Fullbore Championship.  For this practice the course of fire will be the standard Veterans match course, except you will fire fifteen (15) shots per yard line (total of 60 shots per day, plus convertible sighters).  As such you will need a minimum of 146 rounds of ammo.

We highly recommend those attending the PTO to stay for the Sinclair.   Information on the Sinclair can be found on the North State Shooting Club Website.

We are especially interested in determining interest in attending the Canadian Fullbore Rifle Championships (CFRC) in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in August of 2020.  I realize this year’s CFRC conflicts with Mid-Range and Long-Range at Camp Atterbury.  As such, it is not a mandatory, however, in terms of opportunities for international experience shooting Fullbore, and team matches of eight (8) and twelve (12) shooters, the CFCR can’t be beat.  

Use the two event options at the bottom of the page (2020 Sprint Practice or Canadian Fullbore Rifle Championship), select one or both to indicate if you plan to attend.  This will allow us to better plan for the personnel attending   We will announce if we have sufficient personnel to field teams in the CFRC by April.

Note, if you do decide to attend the CFRC you will need to enter via the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association Website.  The DCRA will new entries later this year.  Usually March-April time frame.

Our plan to select and develop a team to win the Veterans Team Match during the 2023 World Championship is as follows:

1.     Leverage the practices and policies that have been developed by previous Teams.  Continue to use the National Development Team qualification as a gate into consideration for the 2019 Team*, but to open the initial practices to all competitors who will be 60 years of age before March 2023 (approximate date of the next World Championship).  

2.     The plan for the practices will be to team fire with plotting for all shooters and coaches.  With the several practices planned in a variety of locations in the United States, a larger group of potential team members will be available. 

3.     Team selection will use the shooter’s history, especially international experience, their plots (concentrating on elevation) from team practices and matches during the selection period (2019-2022), coaches’ evaluations (including factors such as time to fire and accuracy of calls) and their attendance at team practices and other matches. 

• So far, we have conducted one Practice/Try-out at the Whittington Center, in Raton, New Mexico, (September 2019) and have scheduled a second practice preceding the Sinclair Fullbore Championship at Camp Butner, North Carolina (May 2020).  The result from the Raton PTO is shown below:

  

  In Subsequent years we will follow with a minimum of two events per year leading up the naming a team in mid-2022. 

  Coach candidates should contact Peter LaBerge (plaberge308@gmail.com) to indicate interest.  Coaches will tryout alongside the shooter’s tryout.  Coaches will be chosen not only for their wind reading ability, but more importantly their communication skills with the shooters and the other coaches.  

  Ratgun shooters:  With the introduction of the Berger 85.5 .224 bullet and the ICFRA rule change, we are opening up the potential of using the .223 Remington in Fullbore competition.  To that end, I would like to hear from potential members who would like to leverage that opportunity and use the .223 Remington.

• -       L. L. Cebula, Team Captain, United States Veterans Rifle Team (lcebula@comcast.net) 
• ·      Membership in the USNRT is required to be named to the U.S. Veteran’s Team.