I haven't been around much lately but was interested in reading this thread when I saw it. Simply because I was thinking the same thing and have been for several months. Is benchrest dying? Perhaps a better question would be is benchrest doomed? To that, I would say yes. Anyone who actually attends matches and does so with their eyes open has seen a decline in participants lately. They have also seen matches all out cancelled or closed down. There is no denying this fact. We lost 2 matches this year in my home state and the remaining 2 are down 10 people or more. Looking at the near future, Deckert's will be gone in less than 5 years, Albuquerque is down to one match a year, and Nevada is already gone. Phoenix will shoot for years to come but has already seen declines in shooters. Just look at the Cactus registration numbers over the last 10 years.....they are way down. Used to be you had to pre-register or you wouldn't get a spot. Now, that is not a problem at all.
So, any idiot can see that we are down in number, and that's starting with a number that wasn't really big to begin with. Let's face it, there are probably more registered underwater basket weavers in this country than registered benchrest shooters! Why? You can make the guesses. I think MarkR gave a good standard list of the more obvious reasons. But there are deeper reasons why I feel benchrest is doomed that maybe only "recovering addicts" can see. Since I now consider myself in that category, I will try to explain what those deeper reasons are.
First, let me say that I still love benchrest. Love it dearly. But after attending the Nationals last year, I had a very bitter taste put in my mouth about it. Basically, it became very apparent at that match that with the current status of things, benchrest is not a fair competition. Maybe a truly fair competition does not exist? Especially when it involves equipment that competitors have to pay for themselves. But it became very obvious to me that the best shooter does not always walk away with the top spot trophy. The top spot trophy goes to the guy who has the best barrel, keeps it in tune the longest, and keeps his head in the game with the fewest mistakes. Now, two of those things can be practiced and honed, and they should not be discounted from that shooter. He has worked hard to get those two things going right for him. But the other one of those three things, he did nothing for. He had absolutely no control over it whatsoever. Either it was blind luck, or he insured he had a good barrel before he came to the match. How does one do that? Simple. By buying barrels in bulk and cherry picking the best one to bring to the match. Yep, that's how it's done folks.
Since no one can determine if a barrel is worth what you paid for it without shooting it, the only way you can increase your odds that you are getting a good barrel is by buying tons of them. That pretty much puts the majority of current shooters at a disadvantage, and will forever be a hurdle for new shooters to overcome as well. At least, new shooters who want to win.
To make matters worse, many of the top shooters get multiple barrels given to them. They don't have to pay. How is the average guy to compete against that?
I used to be proud of the fact that Benchrest is one of the few sports in the world where a new shooter can draw a bench and shoot right next to the professionals that have been playing the game for decades. Now, I am very much opposed to that idea. Competition is only a competition if the playing field is fair for all competitors. It is very hard to sell the idea that BR is fair to the new shooter when these unbalances exist. It is already overwhelming to most prospective shooters at the amount they must purchase up front to play this game. Then they discover that no matter how much money they dump into the sport they love, there are always others who have the ability to spend ten times that amount on the game, and that they will compete head to head with those folks. Why would anyone willingly jump into that? Now if there were different classes to shoot in...............boy would that change things. I could compete with other guys who can only afford two or three barrels per year, only have time to shoot once a week, and don't own their own backyard ranges!??! WOW, now we're talking!
Sad thing is, it's not just barrels. Anything made by man can be a lemon. In a game that is chuck full with gadgets and gizmos, you're bound to get a weak link somewhere in your armor. Chances are, you're gonna get more than one too. I spent my first 7 years in this game chasing down one equipment failure after another. Finally, I ended up getting rid of everything I owned and starting over with a new rifle. Well, it was a lemon too! Spent $1500 on an action that was flawed almost every which way it could have been. I would have been light years ahead if I'd just used one of my blueprinted Remmy's in my safe!
I've heard some folks here say you can get into this game for less than $4,000. Well, that may be true if you have better luck than me! I've had to spend five times that and I still have to spend more just to be competitive! And who knows if the next rifle I build will be any better!? Guess this is why Lowell Frei (among many others) builds between 5 and 10 complete rifles every year. They know that there are some guns created which have accuracy greater than the sum of their parts. Well, that's true I believe, and also WAY out of my financial feasibility! I was doing well just to have two guns made. Now I've gotta compete with somebody who can afford to build 10?!?!
Then there's scopes..............(which you can only control by modification or spending more $$ for another one)
Then there's good batches of powder, bad batches of powder..........(which you can't control)
Then there's good bullets, bad bullets.......(which you can only control if you make your own)
Then there's good jackets and bad jackets.........(which you can't control).
Then there's the anti-climatic aspect of the game; even when you do well and are getting excited, YOU CAN'T ENJOY THAT FEELING because you'll get too excited and put your fifth shot way out of your bughole!
Yeah, folks looking to have fun with their spare time should definitely get into BR! It boggles the mind why there aren't more people beating down the door to play this game?! It's more fun than you can shake a stick at........well, only if you make a six figure income, have the patience of God, have the luck of Hefner, the time of Rip Van Winkle, thrive on misery and disappointment, and love to travel 10 hours on Red Bull and Wrigleys so you can make it to work on Monday morning........it's an absolute blast!
We have a local match this weekend that I still haven't decided if I'm going to attend or not. Let see, spend $100 on match fee, $50 on gas, $100 on components (of which I don't know if I can replace anytime soon), work my arse off to get things set up and taken down, take a day off work, be dead tired for the next work week, and probably have no chance of shooting even decent................or, spend $20 to put gas in my ATV, strap on a varmint gun, and go for a two day hunting ride that might actually be fun (and no work)........hmmm, that's a tough choice! Being a recovering Benchrestaholic, I could relapse and make the dumb choice very easily! Starting to get wagon wheel tread patterns on my forehead....
