usairriflebenchrest.com

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cris

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There has been some question as to where air rifle benchrest was going to go without the AGBR. If you are interested, see http://www.usairriflebenchrest.com/

Frank Tirrell and I have been talking and we hope you like it. If not, please tell us how to make it better. The World Championships are being held in South Carolina in 2011 and the USA should have an air rifle team representing this country.

My apologies to Ron Lewis, who I tried to contact so to receive his blessing.
 
Best wishes to get us moving ahead again hopefully on one page. One thought, perhaps indoor or outdoor divisions.
Being from WI things tend to get a bit frosty outside towards the tail end of the year (Oct.) and the defrost cycle doesn't start till about April. So we start to play indoors. Wind goes away but the mirage from indoor thermals can do a sneak attack on you pretty quick.
 
Good Idea

Thanks. Indoor and outdoor does make good sense.
 
The two possible problems I can see are #1 25 meters not yards and #2 limiting the guns to 20 FT/LB. The club I shoot at indoors for the winter is set up for 25 yards and just about everyone shoots .22 cal meaning that we will be well over the 20 FT/LB limit.
I for one have no desire to de tune my guns to the 20 FT/LB limit or switch to .177 cal to fall within the limit. I would guess that most if not all of the folks shooting .22 cal would be in the same boat. Unless I'm missing something that is kind of a big wrinkle with International rules.
Doug
 
Good Points

Nothing carved in granite here. 25 meters is what the rest of the world uses as a distance, It has already been suggested that there be a distinction between indoors and outdoor matches. Maybe indoors, the distance should be 25 yards?

With an open/unlimited class, you can use any power, any caliber, one piece rest, even a rail gun if you can carry it to the bench, just use the international target.

A springer class for all those that love the twang, again using the international target.

Lastly, an international class for those that want to shoot .177 at 20 FPE, where the international rules apply.

The international target is an excellent challenge and no copyright issues.
 
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Yes, inside 25 yards, that is what we have also. Biggest thing in my little mind is a uniform target. Always liked apples to apples. Distance and targets were the big rub awhile back. When Mr. Lewis was promoting AGBR. There were some rather heated posts IIRC. I am the one that got it started at my club, But had to hand it off due to other issues. We have around 5 of us at present during the winter, currenty I am the only one shooting outdoors. We run it concurrent with the Rimfire during the warm weather.
 
I've seen this sortof thing before. I suspect it WON'T be a real World Championship unless the current World Rules are used. I'm not sure about going, but if I do, its a year ahead, so I'll make the adjustments in time to conform to the meters and fpe stuff in order to lay against the foreigners, just to see how I stack up. My gun shoots hard right now, but we shoot at fifty-one yards, and this helps. I don't have space on my current range right now for fifty meters, but I think I can (and will) squeeze at least one lane in for the metric distance.

Now I just need some targets to look at. I'm looking forward to it.

Could be, I will need to drop down to .177 if the .22 doesnt cut it .... which aint the end of the world for me, building an extra gun will be fun!
 
To Therealld, 25 meters=27.3yards, 51yrds =46.6 meters, I know it just slipped past you. Plus you guys use the A-36 smallbore target at that 51 yards? That will make the International target look like a football field. The hitch is one shot per bull vs shooting group, that is where it gets interesting, those little changes in pressure points due interesting things to our pop guns.
 
Barrels

Maybe it's time for a .177 button to do custom stainless steel benchrest barrels, like the ones in .22 that Larry has been playing with.
 
Cris,
We shot the International target at our last match and we liked it. I would like to see the apples to apples approach too with everyone shooting the same target at the same agreed upon distance with the same power classes much like we did before and it looks like you guys have that covered. I don't know about the distance but I suspect yards would be better as the standard used simply because most of the clubs I have shot at have indoor facility's maxed out at 25 yards and the outside ranges have the target stands or something to hold target frames set at 25 , 50 75 , 100 yards and so on and some of the clubs will not allow any deviation and they are not exactly Air gun friendly to start with so if you start talking about moving stuff or special this or that you pretty much have ended before you start.. If a shooter plans on attending the World Championship or a club plans on selecting a team then they would be responsible for shooting a gun that falls within the International rules and shooting / practicing at 25 meters. I suspect more folks would be interested in attending a match rather than going to the World's so I think sticking with Feet rather than Meters could be easier . Ultimately it will come down to what will motivate people to attend the matches and keep the game alive. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds and I hope you get more feed back. Just in case I have not said it enough I vote for yards not meters.
Doug
 
All good points. The international target has been well received. The reason to look at meters was to maintain that apples to apples approach with the rest of the world. In that way, it is easy to gauge performances regardless of venue. It also keeps any records on an even playing field.

On the other hand, if it becomes a problem at outdoor ranges to move target stands the 7 feet, then yards it will be. Those that run the clubs and matches will decide.
 
This year I started hosting RBA RF BR matches at my club. The current BR range is also the only 200 yd range at the club so I had to agree to hold no more matches after August in 2011 since the 200 yd range gets a lot more traffic once deer season rolls around.

There is talk about converting the current 25/50 yd Bullseye Pistol range to be a multipurpose RF and target pistol range with concrete benches and moving the RF BR matches there. If this actually happens I will try again to hold Air BR matches in GA after the RF matches. I already have nearly 200 AGBR targets on hand from my last foray into holding matches but eventually will need a new supply.
 
We want to protect any club's investment in AGBR targets. Clubs can become a member and still use those targets until they run out. We hope you will take plenty of pictures that can be placed on the web site and scores, too.

We especially hope clubs will put teams together for the World Postal matches.
 
Yards to meters conversion just for me? How very thoughtful.
 
As Doug said, a lot of Clubs are set up for Yards but not Meters. At Pinnacle we can shoot either with no problem as our Target Stands are free-standing and can be set out at any distance. But, take a Club like Holbrook which has Railroad Ties embedded into the ground at 25Y, 50Y and 100Y with nothing for Meters, they are pretty much limited to shooting Yards all the way, both Indoors and Out.

We need to keep this Sport alive as there are many Clubs out there who are currently still shooting AGBR Targets, but once their supply dwindles they'll be gone and the shooters who have been enjoying the matches may start selling off their equipment.

I would think the Yards/Meters issue should be the least of our problems and, as Doug said, those of us wishing to compete Internationally can do whatever is necessary to comply while those of us who are looking to keep everything as it has been can continue shooting @ 25Y both Indoors and Out. Now, that's not to say we still can't all sit down and shoot at the same time, it's just saying another Class needs to be added to help better accommodate those of us who don't want to de-tune (change) anything, and this could be done by the simple addition of an Open/Umlimited Class which could be shot at either 25 Yards or Meters, INDOORS or OUT, using any type of rest, etc., etc.... with the particulars being specified on both the target as well as within any paperwork. I may be wrong here, but it seems like an easy enough fix to me.

Dave
 
An open/unlimited class is easy. Any power, any weight, any caliber, even a rail gun. One piece rests are included. It is a class that will become an equipment race but it is intended to be for the cutting edge. Already included on the web site.

Yards/meters outdoors presents a challenge since we will not be an apples to apples organization, even if we use the international target. Each club and match director will need to decide the path of least resistance to continue to grow the sport.
 
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