Camp Perry National Guard Base

Historic National Guard base hosting the annual National Matches — the Olympics of American rifle shooting

Camp Perry is a National Guard base on the Lake Erie shore just west of Port Clinton, and once a year it hosts the National Matches — the largest shooting competition in the United States and one of the oldest. For two to three weeks in July and August, competitive rifle and pistol shooters from across the country gather here to compete in events that have been running continuously since 1907.

The National Matches are open to civilians (many events use military and civilian mixed brackets) and the atmosphere during match week is genuinely unusual — a temporary city of thousands of shooters, campers, and equipment vendors on a working military base beside the lake. Outside match season, the base is less accessible to visitors, but the site's connection to the history of American marksmanship makes it notable.

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The National Matches at Camp Perry have been held annually since 1907, interrupted only by the two World Wars. At their peak in the 1970s, over 6,000 competitors gathered here for what was genuinely considered the most prestigious rifle competition in the United States. The tradition of competitive marksmanship at Camp Perry predates the modern Olympics.