First competition!

[Quicksilver]

Went out today and shot my first competition! It was a benchrest competition, and man did I show up WAY out of my league.

Targets were mini-clays at 250 yards. That sounds easy until you realize how big a mini clay is and then the "oh shit" moment happens.

Showed up with my trusty AR-10 hog gun with some loads I worked up last week (the ones jammed in the lands .005) and did good considering.

I did make a STUPID mistake on round 2 that cost me HARD, but live and learn!

First round, 12 shots (2 sighters) and your 10 actual shots for the round. Rounds had to be visible on the table, no cheating. And of course, bolts out of the guns till they say start.
Problem is, I have a gas gun... so they let me use a chamber flag and gave me a 5 second delay I can just pull the flag and insert a round in a second, so it wasn't a big deal to say the least. Im just glad I got to shoot.

First round, I fired my sighters and realized I was BAD low, so I compensated with the reticle subtensions (Nightforce MOAR reticle) about 2 MOA down. Didn't have the wind nailed down, but still dropped 4 clays out of 10. Too bad you don't get more than 10 bullets.

Second round, you get NO sighters and just 10 bullets/10 targets. Well, between rounds I changed my magnification (second focal plane... IDIOT MISTAKE) and had to use all 10 shots to get my ass adjusted on the turrets for the elevation and windage. Stupid me.

Third round, fired my first round.. missed. Shit. Next round into the shoot n' see to verify the wind change I thought had happened- Nailed it dead on red. Well, great, that doesn't count but I know im good. Fired next 3, nailed em! Wind change... miss.. miss.. then nailed the last 3. So 6 out of 10 that round.

Fourth round, wind picks up. Fired first round into shoot n' see, wind kicking my ass AGAIN. 3" shift right, fired and hit 7 clays, lined up for 8 and missed. SHIT. Fired again. SHIT. Well at least I ended the day on a decent note.

All in all, I had ALOT of fun and was shooting with a regular Atlas bipod with no fancy ass adjustments, no bubble level on my gun (hey, its on the to do list!) and a shot bag. Pretty kickass I think.





Does anyone else think its cheating/insane that almost ALL of those guys had this 30 pound front "thing" that the gun sits in with MICRO adjustments?!? I watched everyone between rounds and they don't even touch the gun! They just breathe on the trigger! WTF. ONE GUY shot clean- all 40. I asked him where he was money wise with his and he told me about 35K. Holy shit snacks. I think I did GREAT considering I had the ONLY gas gun and the cheapest gun. I'd say I showed up with a knife to a gunfight and managed to do serious damage before I got shot. hahaha. Everyone else had those crazy flat bottom huge barrel heavy ass bench guns except my friend with his 300 WIN MAG Sako TRG42 which... heated up and shifted every round. He still managed to get 4 shots= 4 clays every round consistently.

 

[308boltgun]

....
Does anyone else think its cheating.....

Thats what happens when you take a knife to a gun fight.
No, its not cheating, thats the way the bench rest game is played. Just like any other sport, its not for everyone. Most bench that I know about is small 5 shot group at 100 or 200 yards. My dad shot bench rest years ago, they had motorized moving backer paper to verify that you shot all 5 shots because the groups were so tight you could not count the holes.

 

[Quicksilver]

Yeah, it just seems like it takes the skill/fun out of it though... however, they do shoot AMAZING groups with those setups.

Im just kidding about the "cheating" part. That's how that class is played, and I understand that. I just can't rationalize it because it would be impossible to take that stuff in the field and make kills with it.

 

[rjacobs]

Find you some kind of tactical match. You will have WAY more fun and be WAY more in your element. Although I think you can have fun and learn things in every shooting discipline that you can bring to the other ones.

 

[308boltgun]

Although I think you can have fun and learn things in every shooting discipline that you can bring to the other ones.

rjacobs is completely correct. Most of the stuff that we know how to do to make our guns shoot better has come from the bench rest community. They were the first ones to true actions (over 30 years ago), they were the first ones to make sure the bolt had even contact (again over 30 years ago).

Its like racing, you could never drive a top fuel dragster to the store but its still fun and breeds innovation in everything from tire compounds to safety systems. Some of these ideas eventually make it into our daily drivers.

 

[Quicksilver]

Find you some kind of tactical match. You will have WAY more fun and be WAY more in your element. Although I think you can have fun and learn things in every shooting discipline that you can bring to the other ones.

Yeah, I need to find a "F class" match to compete in is what everyone keeps telling me. I have no idea what it is, but I assume its service style rifles at longer distances with larger targets? Also, I agree completely that you can learn a lot from the other styles of rifle competition and I definitely picked up a lot from just going out to that benchrest competition.

 

[mjh30]

Quicksilver, rjacobs is completely correct find a practical tactical match to shoot, have some good dope and go have fun. F-Class is divided into 2 groups F-open, basically any caliber shot of a front rest and rear bag, gun weighs less than 22lbs. F/TR is 223 and 308 shot off a bipod and rear bag, gun weighs less than 18lbs. Targets in f-class are smaller than both palma and service rifle, I believe 300 yards 10 ring is 3, x-ring less than 1 1/2, the x's win matches. Shot a few if them, will shoot any discipline if it makes me better.