Official List of Distinguished Shooters link

[GSS]

Here is The List with all the dates and badge numbers of those that have earned it.

https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index....&filter=distinguished_type&filter_value=RIFLE

I did a few reduced course matches a year with an M1 for a few years.
Saw how awesome and helpful Service Rifle shooters were for new shooters.
Then saw some of the awesome scores being put up with some of the people shooting the AR 15's and that got me interested more in working for personal improvement.

Got my 1st AR and started full course matches in 2003. Started putting in more serious effort around 2005, legged out in 2009 (#1970) just before turning 50 yrs. of age.

Still only have interest in service rifle for some reason.
When I'm too old for that there will always be Belly only shooting and F Class.

 

[marty dabney]

I had a similr story.shot a 100 yard match with a garand and saw everyone else had NM A2s.few months later I bought a Bushmaster DCM and a used Creedmoor hardback that never fit. Shot my first full course at Creedmoor east 2015.

I had the goal of legging out with 3 gold legs during the NTI in 2015,16 and 17. I silvered in 2015 missing gold by a couple Xs.earned gold in 16 and 17 and legged out. Coat still doesnt fit

 

[M14AMU]

Here is The List with all the dates and badge numbers of those that have earned it.

https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index....&filter=distinguished_type&filter_value=RIFLE

I did a few reduced course matches a year with an M1 for a few years.
Saw how awesome and helpful Service Rifle shooters were for new shooters.
Then saw some of the awesome scores being put up with some of the people shooting the AR 15's and that got me interested more in working for personal improvement.

Got my 1st AR and started full course matches in 2003. Started putting in more serious effort around 2005, legged out in 2009 (#1970) just before turning 50 yrs. of age.

Still only have interest in service rifle for some reason.
When I'm too old for that there will always be Belly only shooting and F Class.

Yep...I'm there Badge #743!

Got my last Leg at Camp Robinson, Arkansas! Wiped out the entire Arkansas MTU that day. Shot 600 yard in a driving rain storm and finished with a 489 aggregate.

 

[Bamban]

Using a bone stock Colt HBAR, I shot at our club match with the intent to get a Garand from DCM to give to my Dad who carried a Garand in WWII as a trooper with the 26th Cavalry and in Korea

There were a few new shooters in that match that we got our own class, when I won the unclassified (our own classification since our matches were not NRA registered nor approved), I was hooked. Shot 675. That was 1995

To get NRA classification we had to shoot in the San Antonio club matches at Camp Bullis. It was at Camp Bullis where I got the first leg at our state service rifle championship in September 1995, got the 2nd points at a Regional, then at Camp Perry. Finished the badge back at Bullis at the state service rifle championship, where I won the LEG match outright for a gold with 486, and legged out. Awarded badge # 1234 in 4 matches in one year at age 44.

Got the HM card the following year, then it went downhill from there...

Yes, I got the M1 Garand for the horse cavalryman of the 26th.

 

[DR_2297]

Don’t have to look too far back in that list to find me. Late bloomer. #2297.

 

[Brady W]

I was "lucky" and got my DR badge before everyone switched to scopes. I think I did it the 'hard way' - I shot everything in combat matches while I was in the Air Guard. No coat, glove, or scope, irons that were 1 MOA clicks, nothing match, everything rack grade, with 62gr green tips out to 500 IIRC.

I did pistol in 1, rifle in 2. Though I think bullseye is a lot harder than combat pistol. When I get sick of SR I will probably shoot bullseye.
USAF DR #337. Made my first P100 last year. I kept track of my points I "would have" earned in High Power rifle and I would have legged out at Perry in 2018 also. Great year for me.

I hope I see you guys on the line this year, I am looking forward to it!

 

[1lnbrdg]

#1974 took me a while, life can be busy. Think I shot my 1st leg match around 1993. Earned 1st leg at Fort Polk 2004, man that was a tough day!

I made the President's earlier that summer without any legs. That drew a lot of comments.

 

[akajun]

Started as a junior in 1991 with a state issued m14 and cmp ball Ammo
Made my first trip to perry that year
Shot till 1995 pretty regular but became infrequent till 2000 when I quit altogether due to work
In 2010 I struck up a deal for a gun with Dan Zelenka who suggested I come shoot again and do the deal at the match .
What a wake up call, no more standing before rapids, starting rapids with no mag, and wtf is a pinned 1/4 min sight ?
Anyway shot that match and barely made sharpshooter Started showing up and started buying new gear
Next thing I know, expert, master, first leather, leg points?
Legged out in 2013? #2125 right next to Doug giraud.
Made high master soon after
All earned with irons

 

[DarkStar]

DR #2034

Got 22 of the points while still in the Marine Corps.

Six of those were at 2009 Interservice. 480-18x for the last leg. Four service members, three Marines and a Soldier, with a score of 480. I had the highest X-count.

X's matter. . .

 

[marty dabney]

#1974 took me a while, life can be busy. Think I shot my 1st leg match around 1993. Earned 1st leg at Fort Polk 2004, man that was a tough day!

I made the President's earlier that summer without any legs. That drew a lot of comments.

I had th same thing happen.granted I pulled my first leg the day after the P100 but..I was actually in 2 P100 shootoffs before i went DR

 

[Mr. Ten-X]

Got my first 10 LEG's with a gold at a match in Montana where winds peaked at 53mph using a Matty Mattel in 1994. Shot each stage at my mechanical zero and just waited for the mirage to shudder in my spotting scope at 600yds. Won the long line, so it worked.

 

[DR_2297]

This thread got me to thinking last night about my DR journey and after struggling (learning the game) for a few how the points just suddenly fell in succession.

I earned my first 4 @ my second attempt @ SAFS @ Perry in 2014 after first firing an AR in any form of competition the year prior @ SAFS 2013. I had literally never fired any form of competition prior to April 2013 when I attended a CMP GSM clinic with my Garand.

I struggled along until August 2015 when I cut 6 more points in my home state of Michigan @ Bluewater.

I came back in 2016 and cut 26 more points in 3 months. A 6 & 2 10’s, all at Perry. 2 ORPA matches and finally the NTI. Finishing @ the NTI with a 486-15x. I even threw in a first leather @ my home range of WSC just before Perry for good measure.

Shooters chasing the badge all get so wrapped up in “being in the club” or “earning the badge” rather than concentrating on making every shot a 10. Few who haven’t made the journey can fully appreciate how mentally and emotionally demanding it is. That is the only way I did it. Forgetting about the end result and concentrating only on every shot and minimizing my mistakes.

 

[GSS]

This thread got me to thinking last night about my DR journey and after struggling (learning the game) for a few how the points just suddenly fell in succession.

I earned my first 4 @ my second attempt @ SAFS @ Perry in 2014 after first firing an AR in any form of competition the year prior @ SAFS 2013. I had literally never fired any form of competition prior to April 2013 when I attended a CMP GSM clinic with my Garand.

I struggled along until August 2015 when I cut 6 more points in my home state of Michigan @ Bluewater.

I came back in 2016 and cut 26 more points in 3 months. A 6 & 2 10’s, all at Perry. 2 ORPA matches and finally the NTI. Finishing @ the NTI with a 486-15x. I even threw in a first leather @ my home range of WSC just before Perry for good measure.

Shooters chasing the badge all get so wrapped up in “being in the club” or “earning the badge” rather than concentrating on making every shot a 10.

Few who haven’t made the journey can fully appreciate how mentally and emotionally demanding it is. That is the only way I did it. Forgetting about the end result and concentrating only on every shot and minimizing my mistakes.

How True...

The saying I hear a lot is the 1st and the last points are the hardest for the reason I underlined in 2297's post above.

In between those 1st and last points there can often be a whole lot of stepping on your private parts while your mind is focusing on the wrong things while shooting the matches.

 

[Lbart]

Of all the shooting awards I have, my Distinguished Rifleman Badge means more to me that all the others. Shot in 3 matches over 3 years. 4th Army, 5th Army & All Army in 1971, 1972 & 1973 and got three 10 point legs.

 

[Bart B.]

Stopped at a gun show on the way home from my last USN command, in uniform, late 1977. Paused at a military medals and awards display to check things out. The proprietor noticed my Distinguished badge then asked when I got it. "1971" I replied. He asked if it was 24K gold or gold plated pot metal.

"24K gold, about next to last of them." Says me. He offered me $3,000 for it as he knew fewer than 170 were made well over 50 years earlier.

"No, thanks" says me

 

[Lbart]

Mine says 10k on the back or about 41.7 pure gold.

 

[Bart B.]

In the early 1970's, the USN got bids from Blackinton medals to make some 24K Distinguished badges. Price was far above what was considered reasonable so they opted for cheaper metals.

Too bad the USN folks mismanaged their leg medals. The only one I got was my first, a bronze. Never got the silver and gold ones later, just the points. Same for most all USN competitors in military leg matches for years thereafter.

In the 1980's, someone found a box full of leg medals, gold, silver and bronze in a back room at the Pentagon. Both rifle and pistol. Never found out what happened to all of them, a few got passed on to some who didn't get them earlier.

 

[Nodak7mm]

Thank you guys for sharing your stories, very interesting and inspiring as well..

 

[Bob3700]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. 28 pts. With the M1A N last 2 with the AR. All irons. Finished in 2009, badge # 1740.

 

[KMart]

There is a shooter on the list, Reilan, Wilburn L. and his name is totally misspelled. His name is Reidland, Wilburn L. He is my mothers 1st cousin and I knew him.
He joined the Marines in 1939. In 1942 he was on Guadalcanal with the 5th Marine Regiment. Think about the TV series "The Pacific". It was based on his unit. He missed a couple of islands due to malaria. Made Okinawa.
After the war, he stayed in the MC. Then, in Korea, had the good fortune to make the Inchon landing and wound up at the Chosin Reservoir. Again with the 5th Marines.
After that he found some way to get on the MC Rifle team, but the coach told him he could not continue on the team unless he started shooting right handed. He is naturally left handed and after 15 years and 2 wars, he had to learn to shoot right handed. Went distinguished in 1955 with the rifle and 1956 with the pistol...right handed.
Retired in 1960