A .22 Benchrest Match

[ACP230]

Fired my Remington 40X in a rimfire .22 benchrest match today.
It was held in Chippewa County on the eastern end of the U.P.
I used my Remington 541-T HB at 50 yards first, then shot the 40X at 25. I heard lots of complaining about the wind at 50 yards, and did some myself. It tended to swirl at just the wrong moment.

At 25 with the 40X I didn't notice the wind. A possible is 250 with 25Xs. I shot a 240 with six Xs. The best I've done currently. The seven I threw on the first bull for score really hurt!

I heard somebody say an intersting thing about benchrest today.

"The only people who say it's easy are those who don't do it."

I second that. It took me about three years, and three rifles, to work up to the level I'm at now. I had to learn how to really use a rest, and to pay a lot of attention to how and where I put my finger on the trigger. (On the lighter rifle just touching the edge of the trigger guard while pulling the trigger will push shots off to the left.

I thought I could shoot off a rest because I sighted-in my deer rifle pretty efficiently every year. Ha!

 

[swingset]

Doesn't matter what your discipline is, every form of competition takes your very best and the most knowledge and practice wins. Be it Benchresting or 3-gun. Why? Because everyone else on the range is your competition and they are probably practicing and sharpening skills.

I'd guess that a rubber-band gun match would be awful dang hard if you chose that as your arena of competition.

That said, I enjoy benchrest shooting. I've done remarkably well in my life shooting rifles that were, in retrospect, not designed for the sport. Either from financial restrictions or just fondness for a certain gun, I stuck with guns that were often scoffed at by fellow competitors, only to hand them their butts at scoring time. When Musashi defeated a great swordsman with a stick, he probably felt much the same.