First of all you have a large pool of shooters, some of which just like to have something go bang, with some sort of result at a target. A subset of this group are many of the hunters, that sight in their rifles once a year (maybe) so that they can hunt deer. Overlapping the go bang and go hunting groups are those who do some basic reloading. They were lucky enough to have someone lead them into and through the process of basic reloading, and have discovered the fun of actually making their rifles shoot better than they did with factory ammo. Within this group there is a smaller group that has in some way modified their rifles, to make them more accurate, and within that group, there are a few who have invested in high grade rebarreling, or having an entire rifle built. Most of the ones that have a custom rifle built, have the money to shoot benchrest at some level, but typically, they may not have the requisite interest in pursuing the level of detail that is required for benchrest, and simply impressing their buddies with how well their rifles shoot, and how much they cost is sufficient. However there are exceptions. These fellows may initially belong to any of the groups, and their primary characteristic is that they show an unusual degree of excitement when they are shown, and or are allowed to shoot a truly accurate rifle, and become motivated to try to duplicate those results with equipment of their own. IMO what is necessary to the expansion of the sport of benchrest is placing a greater emphasis on identifying these shooters, so that they can be encouraged and mentored into competitors. In order to do this, those who posses the requisite experience, will have to make some effort to increase the size of the pool from which these shooters come, by dropping down a couple of levels to promote reloading in general, and improving the accuracy of factory rifles. By enlarging the pool the small fraction that are interested in the fine level of detail that is required for competition shooting will be increased. This is necessarily a long term project, that has very little to do with playing with our toys, and starts with making sure that ranges have the basic equipment that is needed, like decent benches, and getting to know new shooters to determine what sort of interest they have, and helping those that are interested in advancing beyond their current level. If benchrest is going to continue, it will be because of individuals that take the time to work with shooters one on one, teaching those that are interested the basics of shooting and reloading. The problem with this concept is that those that are the most involved in the sport, are fully occupied, and do not have the time, and may not have an interest. Therein lies the quandary. To insure that benchrest will continue, requires that individuals spend less time in the sport, and more promoting and teaching the activities that feed into it.
