“It couldn’t possibly be all that bad, so I asked to shoot it.”
When Charlotte Carroll heard her older brother and friends complaining about how “awful” the M1 Garand was to shoot, she couldn’t resist the challenge. At 10 years old, she not only met the challenge but destroyed it. Now 17, Charlotte has branched into high power service rifle and continues to excel in vintage rifle matches.
Charlotte first learned to shoot when she was about eight years old. Her dad taught her with a .22 LR and two years later she jumped straight to the .30-06. This progression is highly unusual, as many juniors and women shy away from larger calibers. Charlotte says the key is not being afraid of the rifle. She never had fear and learned to safely and properly shoot the Garand so well that she often preferred it.
COVID changed the course of Charlotte’s marksmanship journey. With all of her in-person dance classes cancelled, her father took her to the range. It was outside, therefore free of COVID restrictions, and was something they could do together. An Opelika, Alabama native, she isn’t terribly far from the CMP Talladega Marksmanship Park, so competitions there held extra appeal. “I had always liked the M1 Garand,” she says. “[My dad] saw that some of the matches that were open in 2020 were the D-Day matches so I trained for that, but like everything else, those were cancelled too. So, I ended up shooting the 3x600 with my Garand instead.”
Shooting 600 yards with a Garand at 13 years old in competition is quite a feat, but Charlotte wasn’t intimidated. “600 yards with a Garand taught me a lot about my position and sight picture,” she says. She carried what she learned at 600 yards to the 200-yard line when the CMP Games matches resumed ... and she excelled.
This year Charlotte earned the Master Marksman Medal, a distinction earned for excellence in As-Issued M1 Garand matches, presented by the Garand Collector’s Association. She was the very first junior to earn this honor. She also claimed the high junior award in the 2024 John C. Garand Match. Previously, Charlotte won the Benchrest Garand match at the Talladega Marksmanship Park three times. She competed with her CMP Special Garand before the match became VMR Benchrest. Charlotte also shoots and competes with other vintage rifles including the 1941 sniper, 1903 Springfield, 03-A4 Springfield and carbine.
Last year Charlotte stepped into across-the-course matches, trading her Garand for an AR-15. “Highpower is a big change from vintage rifles,” Charlotte admits. “I’m still trying to figure out how to make it work, but I think starting with the Garand and the open sights really helped me build the skills and technique I needed for standard Highpower matches.”
The discipline switch also altered Charlotte’s priorities. With the goals of earning EIC points and making the President’s 100 at the National Matches, Charlotte learned that she is her own worst enemy. Anxious about her scores, she didn't perform as well as she would have liked. “It took me a week of absolutely terrible days at Camp Perry for me to realize at the start of the vintage matches, which weren’t as 'important’ to me score-wise, that caring about my scores was the problem.”
Though she wasn’t content with her shooting, she and her partner still claimed third place at-large junior team in the 2024 National Trophy Junior Team Match.
Nowadays, Charlotte is focused on skill development, knowing the scores will follow. She is grateful for the Highpower community and all of the help she has received. “I don’t think you could name another sport where the people you compete against would tell you exactly what they do and answer all your questions about it,” she says. She encourages other shooters to remember not to get so stressed about shooting that they fail to enjoy it.
“Don’t forget that you do this because you like doing it! It’s only fun if you don’t worry about it, and not worrying makes you shoot better anyway.”
Outside of shooting, Charlotte is a student athletic trainer, emissary for her high school and enjoys singing and playing with her dog Penny.
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