The Copicut Rifle Team scored a record first-place finish in the Rhode Island High Power Rifle League. Kneeling, left to right: Ken Souza, Reggie LeBlanc, Ken Phillips, Kerri Lewis and John Beaumont. Standing, left to right: Charlie Hawkins (league president), Ron LeBlanc, Jim Jolin, Kurt Palmer, Ray Raposa, Frank Lewis, Scott Lewis, Joe Caires and Jack Chan.

The 2005 Copicut Rifle Team shoots to record finish

The Copicut Rifle Team from the Copicut Rifle Association in Dartmouth made a clean sweep in the Rhode Island High Power Rifle League Championship for the fifth time in six years.

The recent final match in the five-month league found the team breaking the league record of 2.440 out of a possible 2.500 (that the Copicut team set last year), with a record of 2,450.
"We have some great shooters on our team," team captain Ray Raposa said of his teammates, who humbly admitted that most of them shoot better than he does. "I'm not the team captain because I'm the best shot -- it's just because of my organizational skills."
Nonetheless, the team sailed to its record-setting first-place finish and was so many points ahead of the team that was running in second that it wouldn't have been necessary for it to attend that final match to win the league championship.
Along with Raposa, Copicut team members include a father, son and daughter team of Frank, Scott and Kerri Lewis, a father and son team of Ron and Reggie LeBlanc, and Joe Caires, John Beaumont, Ken Phillips, Ken Souza, Jim Jolin, Jack Chan and Kurt Palmer.
Caires is the top shooter on the team and in the entire league and placed 12th in the United States in the high-power competition at the National Matches held this summer at Camp Perry, Ohio. Raposa also attended the matches, as did Kerri Lewis, who is one of the top women shooters in New England.
Most shooters use AR-15 semi-automatic rifles in .223 caliber that are customized with match barrels and sights for shooting out to 600 yards. Team members fire the national match course, which includes a total of 50 rounds fired as follows: 10 shots offhand (standing), slow fire (10 minutes) at 200 yards; 10 shots sitting, rapid fire (70 seconds) at 200 yards, with a magazine change in between; 10 shots prone, rapid fire (70 seconds) at 300 yards (with a magazine change); and 20 shots prone, slow fire in 20 minutes at 600 yards. Most clubs don't have 600-yard ranges, so a reduced target is used at 300 yards.
The top five scores from each team count for each league match and, while the competition is against the other five teams, Raposa says there are running competitions between team members, which keeps things interesting.
"There are friendly rivalries among teammates and it makes us better shooters. Even though we held first place since the league started in May, we didn't slack off because we had our own competitions between ourselves, so we had to keep our focus and concentrate on each match. It keeps us on our toes. And we all enjoy the camaraderie of being on a team and shooting together. It's a lot of fun."
For more information on the Copicut Rifle Team, call Raposa at 508-636-5250.