I'm attending the National Matches starting Saturday.  If given a choice between sleeping in a hotel off-post (20 minutes away) or air conditioned barracks on-post, which would you choose and why?

Less snoring in the hotel, closer to the action and people on base.

I stay off base. I might use the rv park next year though

I'm on the fence.  I recently returned from a deployment where I shared a room with 20+ people, but at the same time, this is my first trip and I don't want to miss out on the "Camp Perry Experience."

You will need your rest and me time.

Barracks suck with gamers
And I was gamer when I stayed in them

I caved and chose the barracks. I was ensured it was all military and would be very quiet. I'll post an AAR next week.

Got there about noon last Saturday, checked in, and found my barracks. The other guy here from my unit was shooting in the National Team Trophy match, so he let me borrow his M1 Carbine to shoot in the carbine match on Monday. Back to registration, I paid another $40 to enter, and then we bought 50 rounds of ammo. After that, we checked out each other's rifles and I decided on the spot to switch to an A1 buttstock. I was surprised how much of a difference it made getting a good cheek weld while standing.

A few pics:

The front gate:



The USAR armorer swapping out my stock:



I found powder on Commercial Row (and bought five pounds):

On Sunday, the day started early on Rodriguez Range for the National Infantry Trophy Match.  We got there about 0615, just as the sun came up.  I was tasked to pickup magazines and brass as the team moved forward.



After the rounds are counted, the six team members quickly load the 384 rounds.



In each stage, the team has 50 seconds to shoot at 8 targets.  At 600 and 500 yards, the shooting is from prone.



If they have any rounds left, they shoot sitting at 400 yards and standing at 300 yards.



Pro teams, like the Army Marksmanship Unit, get off all their rounds at 600 and 500 yards prone.  The scores they put up are impressive.  The positions 60 and 61 were the responsibility of one shooter.



After scoring the third relay, we were off the range by 1000.  With some time to kill, we went to the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton.  It was a small museum, but they had a nice, co-located, old-timey diner.



The museum is in the process of building a Ford Trimotor airplane, but I was impressed by the B-25.

I shot in the M1 Carbine match on Monday and earned a Silver Medal.  Pretty cool for not having shot that rifle before.



I was done early, so I did some exploring.  Most of the old POW huts were torn down.



Commercial Row got a most of my money.



But the CMP store got some, too.  I bought a Daisy 853 pump air gun so I can shoot in the basement.



While I waited to pay, I checked out the rifles.  This would make an awesome man cave.



The best rifle I found was an M1C sniper rifle with damn near no wear and a $3000 price tag.

Tuesday was the President's Match.  The gear drag started early with us heading out before 0600.



Sunrise was 0615 and most were already in position.



After roll call at our firing points, half the shooters went to the pits and we waited for Colors.



My shooting was inconsistent.  82 points at 200 yards standing, 91 points at 300 yards rapid prone, and 87 points at 600 yards slow prone, for a total of 260 and 703rd place.  The cut-off for the President's Hundred Tab was 285.This is SSG Galloway from the US Army Marksmanship Unit, who took 100th place and earned his tab.




I saw Epraslick, but he was kind of busy, so I put off the introduction for another day.

The top 20 finishers in the President's Match had an additional 10 rounds at 600 prone to determine the winner.  Each shot would be marked on a target so the crowd could see how the event progressed.



This is how the top four shooters (all USAMU) looked after nine rounds.









The President's Trophy.



In the end, it went to SGT Augustus Dunfey.



It was pretty awesome to be a part of shooting history.

On Wednesday I woke to thunderestorms at 0300.  By the time the alarm went off at 0500, it was still raining.



After a serious internal debate, I hauled my gear downstairs and headed to Viale Range.  This was the National Individual Trophy and leg points were on the line (for someone else, not me).  I was squadded onto firing point 64, relay 6, but three people failed to show up.  In response, the site staff split us up.  I wound up on firing point 65, relay 1.

The wind was fishtailing from 7 o'clock from 2-9 MPH.  I dialed in 4 clicks left (1 MOA) to compensate.  At 200 yards offhand, I did OK (for me) and shot a 79, 200 yards sitting was 91, and 300 yards prone was 95 (personal best).  At 600 prone, the target didn't drop after my first shot, so I asked my scorer to call for a mark.  The target went down and when it came back up, I had two scoring disks indicating a miss.  Looking at my rear sight, I saw that I forgot to change my elevation.    Quckly adding 44 clicks, my next five shots were 9s and 10s.  I finished the 20-shot stage with 172 points.  My total for the match was 437.  If I had scored a 10 instead of putting that first shot into the dirt, I would have had my first Expert-level score in competition.  

The view of relay 2 on Viale Range.



The match wrapped up at 1700.  I drove over to the barracks, packed my stuff, and headed home.  I can't wait for next year!

I shot the ITT match as well, All Guard Gold. 4th overall, high reserve component team.



Fourth from the right...



We finished at 500. If you have any left over you go to 300 then 200 not 4/3. ;)

My old team had the M1 garand record for awhile. Even made it onto the old CMP trailer...


Sadly one of our team mates and the man that built the rifles and got us all started passed away a week before I left to go shooting. He's the 6th man in the picture. We both shot swing.

Congratulations on your win and my condolences on the loss of your team mate.

Haven't been to Perry is a few years.  I'm curious, if the huts are coming down, what are people doing for housing?  The times I went (starting in 99) the huts were pretty much full.  In fact a couple of years we didn't get housing on base because of that.

being replaced with new huts, at least to some extent.

Great AAR!

I missed the match the last two years due to family circumstances.  I'll have to say that it is one of the best experiences I've ever had in competition.  Even being a civilian I felt as though I was treated as a member of a close knit fraternity.  It was a lot of fun to watch the top competition teams from the military teams....some great shots.

Being a brass rat for the on of the M1 Garand teams shooting the Battle Rattle, and a target puller from on of the Trophy matches was also a blast.

Yes excellent AAR! I have not been able to go in the last few years as well due to medical issues, but I might make it next year.