Is Benchrest As Easy As It Looks?

I have been on an absolute mission with 50m bench rest indoors and I flat-out refuse to believe anyone who says it's easy.

After a lot of practice, patience and struggle, this is the best card I've managed - now granted I'm still fairly new to the sport but the idea that anyone can just sit down and knock out 25 bullseyes is gibberish
 

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I’m certainly not in the league of a lot of other BR shooters and I definitely don’t use £2000 guns or scopes but I use the big sheets of targets mostly for which could be called backyard bench rest 🤣. I can have as much fun, if that’s what you can call it 😉, just shooting the targets with my old target rifles. I’ve never shot a 250 but I was pleased with a 243 with several X’s using the Fwb300s springer 👍……….dom
 
To me bench rest is no easier or difficult than any other form of shooting, but then bench rest to me is a front rest and a shoulder at the rear, these setups with micrometer adjustment of the front and rear just take most of the skill out of the equation.
 
Huxshoots said:
Yes I found it easy.
Just make sure your pellets are not damaged.
If you want a challenge, I'd suggest a springer or gas ram.
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Incase I've offended a few of the not so good shooters on here....... 😂
Maybe the term I used "easy" would have been better worded as "I don't really find it difficult"
As I used to shoot things professionally shall we say, this type of shooting with an airgun is a walk in the park compared to some of the real guns I used to shoot at immense distances.
Practise does help though people and we all have our own unique skills.
 
It can't be easy but because of all the special equipment, the cost and the fact that you only seem to pull the trigger a lot of people don't see it as proper shooting and assume that if you put a gun in a vice and the scope is adjusted correctly then you must hit the bull because you have taken the human element out of it!! Maybe they should give it a go first then see if they still think its that easy?
 
Tricky-Dicky said:
To me bench rest is no easier or difficult than any other form of shooting, but then bench rest to me is a front rest and a shoulder at the rear, these setups with micrometer adjustment of the front and rear just take most of the skill out of the equation.
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I shoot bench rest nsra rules and ive done a bit of lsr comp shooting and to me the later is harder but I guess its all relative to your scores.
Bench is probably decided more on the 10 x scores as opposed to say low 90's if you can achieve that.
Regarding the bruk set up I enjoy shooting it occasionally more in the better weather outside.
I don't enter comps in this discipline but it does teach you to read the wind,forgot to add you need a set of flags in their various forms.
 
colda said:
My first (club) competition card, everyone said that it’s very different when it matters and indeed, I felt the pressure. As for gear, this was shot with a £300 S400, a lab lift at the front and a bag of rice at the back
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See, easy peezy !! 👍🏻
 
i like to times it by ten and compare it to shooting a rifle at a 20mm target at 250m i think that helps people understand the challenge and your trying to do it 25 times in a row
 
I think it's important to be clear on what people term as "Benchrest". I was at the range a couple of weeks ago and there was a guy effectively shooting from a fixed stand that held the rifle securely front and back . He then used some adjustment knobs on the rear to change the height and just pulled the trigger. He was getting excellent bullseye groups, but I couldn't help but think what the point was if he didn't really need the aids? I think sometimes oversized rear bags can also take away from the skills needed to be consistent.

Granted, people who are less able-bodied or with visual impairment and need the accessories, then I'm all for that, especially if it keeps people shooting. Personally, I find the challenge of just using my bi-pod and working on my hold, grip, breathing, etc. to get those groups tighter at 200m much more satisfying.
 
Steve217 said:
I think it's important to be clear on what people term as "Benchrest". I was at the range a couple of weeks ago and there was a guy effectively shooting from a fixed stand that held the rifle securely front and back . He then used some adjustment knobs on the rear to change the height and just pulled the trigger. He was getting excellent bullseye groups, but I couldn't help but think what the point was if he didn't really need the aids? I think sometimes oversized rear bags can also take away from the skills needed to be consistent.

Granted, people who are less able-bodied or with visual impairment and need the accessories, then I'm all for that, especially if it keeps people shooting. Personally, I find the challenge of just using my bi-pod and working on my hold, grip, breathing, etc. to get those groups tighter at 200m much more satisfying.
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i think you would want to eliminate your self as much as possible if pellet testing then you have 2 routes one nsra and just using front rest or two go out side and have all the bells and whistles and guess what the wind is doing it would need to be a bit of a challenge or you would not do it .i sold a rapid as it was so boring ,but i had not tried bench rest ,i would of kept it if i had .
 
I would suggest that no shooting discipline is ‘easy’.
I firmly believe some are less challenging to get into and maybe be competitive. That said target sports are not about how many points you score but how many you dont score.

Getting to the top of your game and hence highly competitive is about trigger time and practice.
Ask any of the guys and gals (OMG am I allowed to say that anymore 😱) that have or are at the top of any discipline and they will all say the same.
I am re-starting Br this year with the .22rf mainly because its what the rifle was put together for. IMHO Air rifle is even harder!
 
@Eastmids-HD Agreed, You can have all the skill and top equipment money can buy and still there is the element of luck (or bad luck) I think this is one of the things that helps to make it appealing.
 
I must admit that I'm firmly in the 'front rest only and a shoulder at the other end' brigade. I've said it before but complex rigs and only touching the gun with a finger to set the pellet off on its journey is just lightweight artillery practice. ;)
The variables due to the wobbly human bit are waht makes it interesting, challenging and downright infuriating at times.

Steve
 
Full respect to those with the tenacity & dedication to reach competitive standards, but as some others have said the 'wobbly meat variable' is the one that makes shooting fun for me.

Really, any sport that develops far enough to become 'least deviation from perfection' becomes dull (personal opinion only of course).

I like the idea of 'backyard' level benchrest; maybe limited magnification on optics, bipod or front bag only, potentially a separate springers only category, certainly where an entry level pcp and a bit of luck can have you in the running. The kind of benchrest comp where 230+ with a couple of X's is an outstanding hail Mary card, rather than a failure to qualify. Now *that* sounds like fun!
 
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