A solid prone position is the foundation of shooting a good score.

I discovered that I could walk into almost any of the big manufacturers’ buildings and have my rifle rebarreled with a match-grade barrel by company armorers—while I waited. Most of them charge only for the barrel: Installation is free.

The award ceremony was to be at 6 p.m. As I approached the theater where it was to be held there was a rumble emanating from a crowd surrounding the sheets where the scores were posted. I listened as I checked my scores, pleased to see I had placed 38th.

I quickly gathered that a junior had turned in the highest score, outshooting the adults in all categories. Yet as he had entered as a junior, he was entitled only to the juniors’ award: $500. All the shooters believed he should be awarded the top prize.

It took some time, but Springfield’s match coordinators got it worked out. Kudos to them: They created a new category on the spot—overall match winner—and ponied up an additional $2,500 in prize money for 17-year old Ryan Castonguay of New Hartford, Connecticut, who fired a 463-8X.

As Springfield’s Bill Dermody said “This kid knows he won the match—that he beat the adults—and he needs to be recognized for that. He needs to be able to say, for the rest of his life, ‘I won the first M1A match as a junior.’”

Next year, if you have the hankering to go somewhere very cool and shoot in a truly rewarding discipline, try the National Matches at Camp Perry. In my opinion, shooting an M1A battle gun in competition is about as fun as it gets.