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Phil3
Guest
I will weigh in here, from the perspective of a newbie, who, after some exposure to BR, is not inclined to join the benchrest competition community. It is my hope this post explains why.
1) No Novice Class: Could be competing against the best first time out.
2) No Factory Class: Gun sales are through the roof, AR15s are the rage, and yet there is nothing in benchrest to accommodate these rifles. Why not an AR15 class for novice shooters? Or a bench class with similar rules to F/TR? Benchrest is all about accuracy, but it can be all about that for specific classes. I personally would derive as much enjoyment winning a match with a .2 group at 100 yards with an AR as I would a .05” group at 100 with a dedicated 6PPC benchrest gun. Not all of us who want to shoot small groups wish to join the F1 world of accuracy. Some of us are happy with the equivalent of racing a Mazda Miata in an amateur club race.
3) Competition Knowledge: Benchrest organization (NBRSA) is terrible for new shooters. Check out www.nbrsa.org and witness perhaps the most unfriendly, horrible website in existence. Even the rule book is hard to understand.
4) Ranges: The nearest BR range for me is 100 miles away. The websites are terrible. I asked one range if they did F-Class, and the response was they did, and it pretty much would be called NRA HighPower, Prone, or "something like that". I called my local range and asked about matches there, and was told they hold no sanctioned matches, and these guys were serious and winds tricky. Thanks for the encouragement.
5) Technical Knowledge & Learning. Forums are helpful, but are obviously geared to experts, and while that is understandable, it intimidates newbies even when people try to help answering novice questions. This happens because the responses are often just too high level, using terminology that often is alien to the original poster. Many, including myself, are reluctant to expose our ignorance further by asking for a simpler answer.
6) Mentoring: This is also a sport that really needs a mentor, on obtaining a right rifle, how a match works, reloading, shooting skills, strategy, and more. Especially if there is no novice or factory class (in addition to existing classes).
7) Benchrest Discipline: Some think shooting for groups, regardless of where they hit the target is odd. To many, the object is to hit what you aim at, the X. Score shooting is likely to be more popular and would encourage me to participate, especially if each shot is marked (F-Class).
Overall, benchrest, through a variety of factors, has built a wall around itself, keeping new members away. Other forum members have contacted me via private messages to express their frustration, the intimidation, and reluctance to get involved. One member here has been very helpful to me, by personally inviting me to matches, but other parts of the daunting wall remain (reloading) and are far too high for me to even consider competing at this stage.
Personally, as a step into precision shooting, I would like to try to compete shooting off a bench, using my AR15 and perhaps a basic stock rifle, such as a Savage Long Range Precision Varminter, for score. But, I do not see any place in BR for this.
The one thing that is surely not lacking is the willingness and friendliness of people in the BR community. For that, I am most appreciative.
Just my $0.02.
- Phil
1) No Novice Class: Could be competing against the best first time out.
2) No Factory Class: Gun sales are through the roof, AR15s are the rage, and yet there is nothing in benchrest to accommodate these rifles. Why not an AR15 class for novice shooters? Or a bench class with similar rules to F/TR? Benchrest is all about accuracy, but it can be all about that for specific classes. I personally would derive as much enjoyment winning a match with a .2 group at 100 yards with an AR as I would a .05” group at 100 with a dedicated 6PPC benchrest gun. Not all of us who want to shoot small groups wish to join the F1 world of accuracy. Some of us are happy with the equivalent of racing a Mazda Miata in an amateur club race.
3) Competition Knowledge: Benchrest organization (NBRSA) is terrible for new shooters. Check out www.nbrsa.org and witness perhaps the most unfriendly, horrible website in existence. Even the rule book is hard to understand.
4) Ranges: The nearest BR range for me is 100 miles away. The websites are terrible. I asked one range if they did F-Class, and the response was they did, and it pretty much would be called NRA HighPower, Prone, or "something like that". I called my local range and asked about matches there, and was told they hold no sanctioned matches, and these guys were serious and winds tricky. Thanks for the encouragement.
5) Technical Knowledge & Learning. Forums are helpful, but are obviously geared to experts, and while that is understandable, it intimidates newbies even when people try to help answering novice questions. This happens because the responses are often just too high level, using terminology that often is alien to the original poster. Many, including myself, are reluctant to expose our ignorance further by asking for a simpler answer.
6) Mentoring: This is also a sport that really needs a mentor, on obtaining a right rifle, how a match works, reloading, shooting skills, strategy, and more. Especially if there is no novice or factory class (in addition to existing classes).
7) Benchrest Discipline: Some think shooting for groups, regardless of where they hit the target is odd. To many, the object is to hit what you aim at, the X. Score shooting is likely to be more popular and would encourage me to participate, especially if each shot is marked (F-Class).
Overall, benchrest, through a variety of factors, has built a wall around itself, keeping new members away. Other forum members have contacted me via private messages to express their frustration, the intimidation, and reluctance to get involved. One member here has been very helpful to me, by personally inviting me to matches, but other parts of the daunting wall remain (reloading) and are far too high for me to even consider competing at this stage.
Personally, as a step into precision shooting, I would like to try to compete shooting off a bench, using my AR15 and perhaps a basic stock rifle, such as a Savage Long Range Precision Varminter, for score. But, I do not see any place in BR for this.
The one thing that is surely not lacking is the willingness and friendliness of people in the BR community. For that, I am most appreciative.
Just my $0.02.
- Phil
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