#BenchRest

In pretty much any circumstances or shooting discipline, scoring a 10-round group all in the center ring is something to be striven for and proud of, for virtually any shooter. The vast majority of shooters out there today would struggle to make those consistent hits. Now consider achieving this feat at 1000 yards. Impressive stuff! Even more impressive is that the man who is making headlines in the benchrest shooting world for this accomplishment, seasoned NBRSA competitor Charles Greer, is 83 years old. How many octogenarians do you know who you think could pull this off? Odds are, it’s not too many. Greer used a .300 WSM “heavy gun” – that is to say, a rifle weighing over seventeen pounds, according to the National Benchrest Shooting Association’s official classifications – at an NBRSA match near Tuscon, Arizona on February 13th. Though official NBRSA measurements are still pending at the time of this writing, the grouping is being hailed as the most accurate 10-round in competition history and is almost certain to be confirmed as a new benchrest world record.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to start by saying I am not a bench rest shooter.  The best 5 shot group I have ever fired measured in at .18 of an inch, which for me was outstanding.  I have since punched some holes pretty close to (or overlapping to be more precise) each other but nothing to top that.  Now, to most shooters, this would be more than satisfactory and something of a once in a lifetime experience, but to a certain crowd unless I was able to average that group size over 5 groups of 5 rounds each I am not even going to raise an eyebrow.   In fact last year the winner of the 2017 International Benchrest Shooters Heavy Varmint Group division shot an aggregate (average of 5 x 5 round groups) of .1518. Yes, that is correct he essentially shot 5 groups equal to or better than my personal best back to back to back to back to back.

It seems like with anything else, there is a easily obtainable goal or threshold one can reach with a reasonable level of expenditure, but going beyond that takes exponentially more time, money, and effort. Firearms are no different, as an entry level stock gun can do much more than many people realize, but as you make your way up the ladder you find that accuracy and increased performance don’t come cheap.

Precision Rifle Blog posted up this article about a Houston Warehouse that was used to achieve the impossible in precision shooting. There is a warehouse in Houston that was used as the ideal indoor shooting range by precision shooters. It was one of those places that you had to know someone and that someone had to like you for you to get in. That person was Virgil King. Dave Scott interviews Virgil King, the man behind the warehouse. According to the article, they were able to achieve 5 shot groups in the “zeroes”.

Are nothing new. However, a company that actually specializes in sandbags of all varieties, colors, and even camouflage patterns is trying their hand at making a sort of sandbag, benchrest, foldable mat. It is is 40 inches long, 7 pounds, and about a foot in width. The rest is foldable like an accordion, and thus can be adjusted for different heights with the rifle and body type being used. They come in Tan, OD Green, Pink, Black, Orange, DCU (Desert), Woodland BDU, and Army ACU. From the website–

ABM Ammunition has released two new loads for the .308 Winchester, utilizing parent company Berger’s 185gr Juggernaut bullet, an OTM designed for both tactical and target use. The two new loads are likewise each optimized for tactical and benchrest purposes, with one loaded outside the OAL restriction necessary to fit in .308 Winchester magazines. From the press release:

Berger has announced that development on its long-awaited 6.5mm 130gr AR Hybrid OTM bullet has completed and the new bullet is entering production. From Berger’s blog:

Taofledermaus posted up this video of the world’s most precise rifle. They are called rail guns but that moniker is deceiving. Many people, like me, would consider a rail gun to be a large gun that uses electromagnets to propel a projectile. These benchrest guns use a railed bed with ball bearings. Their 200 yard groupings touch one another and the judges use micrometers to measure them.

The sport of benchrest shooting, wherein there are no shooting positions but the rifles are firmly supported by some type of media has become quite popular in the past few decades. It truly is wringing out the most in rifle accuracy between 100 and 500 yards. But where did it come from? The modern sport has had various organizations that promoted it, one of the earliest being the Hunter Class competitions originating in 1963 and developing on from that. An organization that took hold from that development was the National Benchrest Shooters Association. The first international benchrest competition took place in France during 1991 and from that the World BenchRest Shooting Federation was formed. There is some historical narrative about competitions sporadically occurring in the early 1900s, but no further back in history.

AccurateShooter has written about a couple of very interesting benchrest rifles made by Gene Beggs. A picture says a thousand words …