[PhillipM]

A few months ago I shot the Mississippi state CMP M1 garand championship on a 100 yard reduced course. Not many showed up and the couple men I was worried about darn near had a heat stroke. The temp was 95 and the humidity the same with nary a breeze, it was a punishing day. I won with a bronze score of 267-3x, nothing to brag about and well off my best score, but it was first place.

After a month goes by I ask the match director about my trinket commemorating the event and he said he and the secretary were confused about who was supposed to order the trophy. Weeks later I have a conversation with him at the friends of the NRA banquet for at least a half hour and the award never crosses my mind we spoke of other topics and shook hands with Wayne LaPierre and that was that. Today I get an email accusing me of cheating after the fact. My rifle is carefully assembled to specifications and has been inspected at the CMP games in Oklahoma, it is good to go.

The accusation involves a photograph of the event where I'm accused of having a hooded rear sight and clearance between the stock and the rear handguard, in his words, an NM modification. He says since they didn't see the photo until after the 30 min protest period by the rules and he didn't inspect rifles on the line, that I should voluntarily disqualify myself since he cannot.

I will fight this tooth and nail, it is chickenshit on many levels. On a personal note, I've never had a cross word with him and consider him a friend... or did.

The evidence against me is this one photo.

The high res version is here http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8036/8037432366_17791ae8d6_h.jpg

My aperture

My handguard

Same rifle at CMP Games Oklahoma earlier this year passing inspection. Nothing has been changed.

 

[mescalito]

He can't disqualify, so don't dq yourself. Go back, keep winning, and thank him for his confidence with every trophy you accept.
A friend would have asked, not accused.

 

[sac troop]

It's been several years now since I did this but I used to organize and run the DCM/NRA Highpower Matches at a club I belonged to. IMHO this MD has some nerve to suggest that you volunteer to disqualify yourself.
IF someone showed up even days after a match let alone weeks with such subjective evidence I would have told them the time to lodge a protest had past and since it was effectively impossible to verify or disprove the allegation no action could be taken. At this point it’s no longer about the match as much as it is your own integrity. The match director should never have put you in this position.
The MD needs to get a pair.

 

[USMC6094]

sounds alot like a steaming pile of BS to me, I cant see anything in the offhand pic of you, and if you were running a hooded apeture they probably wouldnt have let you shoot the match......................right?

 

[slayer6769]

I certainly wouldn't DQ myself. I don't think you've done anything wrong. I believe I would tell this dude to go pizz up a rope.

 

[Gearjammer]

So.......shoot the accuser!!!GI2

 

[gregaba]

Tell him to piss off and sent your stuff to you.
Greg

 

[PhillipM]

Thanks for letting me rant. He has not responded to my reply telling him he should have done his job on match day. What really ticks me off is they didn't have enough positions for everyone on the concrete covered firing point and I volunteered to shoot in the dirt with the sun on me. Note the fan in the bottom right corner of the picture cooling everyone else off but me and one other. The MD was set up mid way under the cover, sitting at a shooting bench with a PA and a window air conditioning unit blowing on him. The unit obscured his view of me. He's 70 and just got over cancer so I understand that, I just think it's time he hang up his cleats. He's also the president of the state firearms owner's association so whatever I do in the state, I'll have to deal with him.

 

[CHARLIED308]

I would continue to push the issue until it is properly handled. When you are in the right, don't back down.

 

[D308FAM]

If you were legal and know it...DONE DEAL!
Let the bugger go piss himself and move forward.....

 

[ppcshooter1]

That looks like the home range for the Southwest Gun Club in McComb. If the individual is the one I am thinking of, he is their Secretary. You should complain to NRA Competitions.

Marty

 

[budster]

They saved money by not giving you the bronze and back peddled about the disqualification to reaffirm the money saving excuse.
Just keep shooting and keep winning!
BTW, bring plenty of rifle grease next time you see him. He'll need it when you shove your M1 up his A&& sideways!!!

 

[warbird9]

I met Phillip at the Oklahoma Games and he is a stand up guy as well as a great shot. He doesn't need to cheat.

Typical small club bs. It isn't really part of shooting, it is just part of dealing with people.

Phillip, hold your head up. You did your job and the Match director fumbled his. If he didn't do a tech inspection, he has the problem, not you.

 

[blindnoodle]

I would be fuming if I were in your shoes. His actions are completely unprofessional and quite honestly bring the legitimacy of all matches he has been MD of into serious question.

I would bring this to the immediate attention of the sponsoring club and sanctioning organization.

Some people might think bringing this to the attention of the sponsoring club and organization is a bit much but it would be a tragedy if he were to do this to a new shooter or even a youth competitor.

 

[edgartwib]

Stand your ground you have photo evidence. typical bs

 

[Phil "Murphy" McGrath]

You know the old fart is on the down hill slide, let him think what we wants. Anyone that you shoot with knows the truth. In the future I would go out of my way too have him SEE the rifle your going to use after it passed inspection and point it out at the same time that it passed, if someone lodges a protest he can squash it right there or you could find the person that did inspect the rifle, but thats me.

When I shot in the Western Games, my rifle was inspected. The person that inspected my rifle put a small piece of tape on the trigger guard because it passed tech inspection, before the match even started, in the future if thats not being done I would say in a loud voice so many could hear, where do we get our rifles inspected just to draw attention to the fact. I have a big mouth.

Garand Matches are Games and there ment to be fun, it seems too me people that try as they might they do take the FUN out of it. I have seen some full on NM quality M1's on the firing line, its not hard too see the wolf in sheeps clothing if you open your eyes maybe you should point one or two out for your MD so he can see for himself, in the future maybe he can tell them apart?

If I remove the NM from my non-hooded rear sight leaf and front sight with one of those thin fine gray paper sanding disks that come in the Dremmel tool kits, have it refinnished so it looks new again, does that fall under the carefully fitted rule?

 

[ShootingSight]

You gotta admit, there are two or 3 bright pixels coming through the leaves that, depending on how you look at it, do look like there is a hood there. Unfortunately, the movies, where they take a pixelated image and use an imaginary 'sharpen' command to restore resolution does not exist.

If you had to prove this, I'd try by re-creating the image both with the existing sight, and also with a hood, just so you can show what a real hood would have looked like and demonstrate that the original picture was an optical illusion and looks nothing like what a real hood would look like.

However, that presumes you want to get involved in the pissing match of trying to prove something that you are not required to prove.

I'd fire a letter up to the national level.

 

[SAPPNASTY]

Handle it like this next time you see him:

 

[bd111]

Weird stuff happens sometimes when competitors who were expected or seeded to win don't win and somebody who wasn't on the management's radar screen does. It's too easy to put in the fix. Good luck with your State appeal or whatever it takes to set the record straight.

 

[37489]

A soldier will fight long and hard . . .

for a colored piece of ribbon.

Napoleon.