Ok, maybe I got a little over board but I think someone had to say something. If I was wrong so be it, I spoke my mind. So since that is out, and past may I ask all of you who here is a great shooter? Who here goes to the big matches and has or does place?
Who here has mentored someone?
Who here is willing to mentor someone?
Thanks, Gary
Gary,
There are a number of ways to get mentoring. First thing, you don't need a world-class shooter, at least, not at first. Still, you could try hiring someone to give lessons. It's not common, but worth a try. Secondly, there is a Benchrest school, I believe in Ohio. It's CF, but there are a number of things where RF and CF are the same. A lot that are different, too. Or maybe the RF guys will start one soon.
But the best way, I think, was hinted at by Wilbur. It was the path I took -- by accident -- over 20 year ago. I was interested in benchrest, so went to the local club matches, just to watch. They had one each month. One of the guys who was always high up on the leader board wanted a new James Messer-built rifle, so he was selling the rifle he'd been doing so well with. He was willing to throw in anything I wanted, as long as I'd pay replacement costs. Along with the rifle, I bought his dies, some bullets, and an 8-pound jug (half used) powder. If I'd have been smart, I would have bought his rests and bags, too. Obviously, this was centerfire, for point-blank group shooting. He as also willing to help me a fair bit, and he was helping with a rifle he knew well.
Benchrest shooters are a fickle bunch. Somebody's always selling a perfectly good rifle.
Now as I found out when I eventually moved from club level to NBRSA sanctioned matches, he was a upper-middle of the pack shooter at the regional level. Hardly world class. But to this day, I'm convinced that he shortened up my learning curve. I moved up the leader board at the club matches, and even the regional matches, faster than most of the newbies, and it wasn't because I was some sort of "natural" shooter. Just had help.
* * *
As you're discovering, the internet is a hard place to get certain kinds of information. It works best when you already know a particular kind of shooting pretty well, and just want some additional information or specifics on technique. How to uniform meplats and re-point bullets would be a good example from 1,000 yard shooting. "What's a good chambering" or "what's a good load" are impossible to answer, yet to the new shooter, are the most obvious questions to ask. So, even if RF is your chosen form of benchrest competition, read some of the other forums to see what kinds of things get a useful treatment.
* * *
On the bashing. There is a history of this in rimfire. No need to rehash all the old arguments. I've noticed its common when any of the shooting sports begin a new phase. It happened a long time ago in short-range group. We still have a few remnants of the IBS/NBRSA spit. It happened in 1,000 yard BR all throughout the 1990s. I suspect rimfire will quiet down in a few years. Unfortunately, until then, us versus them is a large part of the game. (And by the way, I'm not going to apologize for having an education... ;-)
Good luck,
Charles
