On the face of it, airgun benchrest sounds like it could be, well, kinda boring. After all, how hard could it possibly be? You take a state-of-the-art air rifle, place it on some really good rests, and bang away at a target at a known distance. It’s easy, right?
Wrong!
Airgun benchrest is a tough, exacting, exasperating, occasionally frustrating sport. There are variables galore: slight variation in velocity at the muzzle, even from the best purpose-built air rifles; variations in the pellets, which are machine made to high standards, but still there are differences from pellet to pellet, usually small but sometimes big, and you also have the shooter’s technique and decisions about when, where, and how to shoot. But above all, you have the wind. In airgun benchrest, the wind is not your friend, buddy, pal, or ally. It is, in fact, Evil Incarnate sent by the Dark Lord Sauron to mess with your accuracy, ruin your life, leave dirty socks on your coffee table, and give you a flat tire. (Well, okay, maybe that’s a tiny bit of an overstatement, but not by much.)
Your Humble Correspondent has tried airgun benchrest at 25 yards, and it is by no means a “gimme.” Even with the best gun, best pellet, and superb rests loaned to me by a world champion bench rest shooter, the wind will still humble you, take you to the woodshed, and make you wish you had taken up a less challenging pastime.
And that’s at 25 yards. At 75 yards, well, forget it. That’s 225 feet, more than twice the distance that at which I normally test airguns.
The good folks at Airguns of Arizona have apparently not gotten the word that attempting airgun benchrest at 75 yards is just plain goofy because, for the third consecutive year, they have sponsored the Extreme Benchrest Competition in Phoenix, Arizona. At the heart of the Extreme event is long-range benchrest: 25 shots in 30 minutes at 75 yards. But that is not the only thing going on. There are also two 25 yard benchrest matches, a timed silhouette match, an indoor pistol match, and a field target match. Prize money was on the line in the Pro class and gift certificates and other goodies in the other classes.
The event this year drew 84 competitors from as far away as Sweden, Venezuela, Canada, and Mexico and airgun writers and World Class shooters from the UK. In short, it is an event that is growing in popularity and is attracting international attention.
Here enters Chris Warwick from Mesa, Arizona. He thought that Extreme Benchrest sounded like fun, so he entered the Sportsman’s Class and ended up winning overall with a high score that was five points ahead of anyone else.
Warwick was shooting a .30 caliber FX Boss. In an interview, I asked him why he had selected that air rifle. He said, “I chose the FX because I thought I should use what they guys were winning with last year.” (FX air rifles took nine out of ten prizes this year, even though they only represented about 30 percent of the entries.)
I asked about his background in shooting and how he prepared for the match.
Warwick said, “Back in the 1980s, I was a high-power silhouette shooter. I did a lot of work from the bench, developing loads. I also did a lot of testing for accuracy for small bore silhouette. It turns out I have far more trigger time from the bench than anything else.”
He adds, “I stopped shooting high power in the mid 90s, and I picked up air rifle shooting for something to do when I am not playing golf. I really enjoy benchrest, and I can practice five days a week in my yard at 25 yards, so that’s how I prepared for the 25-yard matches.”
But then came a surprise. “I had no prep time whatsoever for 75 yards,” Warwick says. “I used the Hawke Chairgun Ballistics program for estimating drops and holdovers, but there are no good data for ballistic coefficients for .30 caliber, so it was sophisticated guessing.”
He adds, “I was very nervous Sunday because that was the first time that I had actually shot at 75 yards. The sighters are at the bottom of the target. If you shoot high, it will fall into the scoring portion of the target, and it will count toward your score. That’s not the way you want to start a match.”
Fortunately, Warwick’s first sighter at 75 yards was 2.5 inches low. He fired a confirming shot, got dialed in, and the match was on. “The neat thing was,” he says, “I was holding so well that I could actually see the pellet at 880 fps as it was streaking toward the target. I could see the pellet get affected by the wind.”
“I made the mistake of keeping track of my score. I was getting a little excited, so I tried breathing, just settling down and watching the wind flags, trying to collect myself.”
He reports that he did experience some unexpected things during the match. “My first shot after refilling was a sighter. It clipped the 10 ring at 9 o’clock, so I held at 3 o’clock to compensate and shot my first 8 of the match.”
In the end, Warwick is ecstatic about the win. “I believe the Extreme Benchrest match is exactly what the name implies: a wonderful event to test your ability as a shooter and wind reader as well as your choice of equipment and familiarity with it. I can’t wait ‘til next November.”
Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.
– Jock Elliott
I in no way want to take away from Chris Warwick and his win, but it is my understanding that a last minute rule change by AOA prevented some serious bench shooters from competing. It seemed that AOA was wanting to highlight the “big bore” FX and Daystate, rather than allowing anyone who shoots rifle bullets compete.
These guys are hitting soda cans at 600+ yards. I for one would like to see that Boss or that Wolverine pull that one off.
Mr. Warwick, I congratulate you on your win. I know you had stiff competition. I shoot benchrest myself and with a pellet gun that is a most difficult task. I am in the process of building a .30 caliber and look forward to the day when I can stretch my legs that far. Maybe I will see you out there.
RidgeRunner, thank you for your comments. When you say that it is your understanding that AOA changed the rules last minute, had you bothered to contact us and fact check that statement, or are you feeding into a forum created bash at AOA? Here are the facts surrounding the issue you have brought up so that you can have a true understanding. This explanation is not directed solely at yourself, but made in general to clear the air.
Shortly before the event was to begin, one of the event coordinators (not associated with AOA) heard rumors that there was a custom built air-powered slug rifle potentially coming to the match. He brought the potential issue up in a local meeting between himself and the event host management at Quail Creek. There they discussed the ballistic potential and down range energy retention of a slug gun, and quickly became alarmed. The gun range is designed for airguns, and by that they mean pellet guns, which shed downrange energy at a much higher rate than a bullet does. They arrived at a simple decision: a) prohibit use of non-pellet airguns or b) cancel the event. At this stage it was brought to the attention of AOA via an alarming phone call.
AOA explained that there were ZERO registered shooters proclaiming a slug design for the event, but they were still worried about the potential of one showing up unannounced. So, Extreme Benchrest sent out an email to every registered shooter explaining the issue and putting forth the ruling by the local hosting range. As expected there were no replies, no upset registrants, and seemingly no problems. That is…until a few forum guys heard of the ruling. At this point, people not registered or planning to attend, started in on twisting this into a bash against AOA, FX, Daystate, and the whole Extreme Benchrest event. After a multi-forum rant, it was brought to our attention that one shooter from California had intended to bring a slug gun, but had not sent in his registration. We apologized for the inconvenience and promptly refunded his fees. We never intended to run any shooter off, but to prevent canceling the whole event and upsetting MANY people who paid, scheduled and committed to travel from all corners of the planet, we felt the outcome was acceptable.
While we are aware of the custom slug airguns, we do not follow the discussions closely, and had no idea that anyone intended to shoot one in competition at our event. In the two years prior, there was no talk about these custom rifles. When the issue was brought before us, we saw their safety concerns and agreed with their right to make the ruling. It is, after all, Quail Creek who has community reputation, huge financial interest, and full liability, should something go horribly wrong. We felt that regardless of the late notice, it was more responsible to send a message out to the registered people before the event. Imagine the heat we’d take had we waited until the day of the match and allowed the hosting range officials to make the ruling on site!
Rather than dwelling in the “what-ifs”, we like to look at this event in a better light. Over 100 people turned up to take part in an event that has gained popularity over the course of 3 years since we first took an idea and turned it into reality. Each year we experience some minor issues, and each year we have made improvements to the design. Sadly, each year we get criticized by people sitting at home and forming opinion based on grudge. What we have come to learn over the years is that there will always be people who like to see things/people fail. The same people will complain that nobody is doing anything to promote the sport, and then turn and criticize anyone for trying. This year we had turn-out from several countries, multiple states, and all walks of life. We, along with the other event coordinators, put on a great set of matches, a fun social event, and all-out good time for everyone there. If you look at the complaints, you will quickly see that the people in attendance have nothing bad to say. The negativity comes from those with other motives.
As for next year…like every other year, we were paying attention and listening. We have already started in on discussions surrounding ALL the minor hiccups, and we will attempt to make changes to build the event into a better one for 2014. There is no promise that everyone will be made happy this year, but again we’ve learned and fully understand that there will always be those who find something to complain about. We do not intend to cater to their agendas. We will put on another match this fall, and it will be as good or better. Our commitment is to making this an annual event for people to come and enjoy. Outcomes and rankings are not our focus, and I think the people who have had the opportunity to attend any of the 3 events thus far would agree that the event is far more than the match itself.
Please note that this response is not an invitation to open the floor for discussion or debate…all comments attempting to hijack this fine report about Chris Warwick will be deleted. Extreme Benchrest has a web page, with a comments section, so feel free to address any feedback to the source.
AOA,
Thank you for the clarification of this matter with the facts and I apologize for not doing my due diligence.
No, you cannot make everyone happy. I appreciate your efforts to try to do such anyway.
I also appreciate your hosting this blog. Though I do not comment often, I read it every Monday morning.
I am not a big forum person, so I don’t know anything about that.
I think this event and all the work AOA does for airguning is wonderful. Keep up the effort guys and gals. I hope to make it to this even one day.
With Chris Warwick winning the compitision on a fairly new caliber, the FX design team is doing an outstanding job. So kudo’s to FX. I have shot sense age of 8 or so, do to work accident I’m now disabled and now on oxygen 24/7. This has put a rude stop to my shooting targets and hunting pigeon to deer for the table. The gun powder flash and my oxygen are a no – no. The recoil of my rifles were of little concern before the accident, surgeries on both shoulders holted my shooting 270-30.06-.338wm. I would like to compete next year if AOA allowed a disabled person like me. I have 2 air rifles at this time, Crosman 160 .22cal PellGun and a Stoeger X50 Comb.177cal. Do to my shoulders I can’t use the break-barrel. My Crosman 160 needs O-rings. I was always the best shot around, it’s a craving I can’t put out, always taking the longest shot and practice until I could make the shots. I was talked into the X50, then found the break barrel hurts me too much and it’s rather loud to neighbors. Still would like to add pigeons, rabbits, squrills, fish, turkey, pheasants and them pigs to our freezer, this will give us good meat protein that I can’t afford anymore.
p.s. I was electrocuted.
Hi. im sorry to hear that your disability is affecting your shooting but great to see you want to carry on with air rifles. I suffer with fibromalgia and it affects my hands and muscles not to mention c2-c7 neck problems . but i still shoot air rifles and very much enjoy doing so. despite using a pump up type that i have totally rebuilt and blueprinted. made new higher spec parts for etc. even to designing my own brand of silencer (cpm wasp dual caliber) that are under 80 gramms in weight…ok i not trying to sell anything but simply make the following point . even having fibro i am enjoying the challenge ., in a way challenging my disability…so not only do i have to compensate for wind shooting mostly 25 meters outdoor bench rest, but have to compensate for myself, using a block to rest the bipod legs on to raise the rifle so my neck is less bent. use my adapted firing position to reduce shake (heart beat) by almost crossing my arms and using my left hand around the butt of the rifle against my right sholder.. unorthodox but very stable and confortable. So dont let any disability prevent you from having some fun and even being very competitive. I shoot against some very good shots and beat them quite often so they do not consider me in anyway disabled. But regardless of the level of your challenge you are allways competing against yourself. To be better than yesterday. and to beat the disability. or at least to challenge it full on.
So carry on and the very best of good luck to you.
Colin
member of the fibromalgia support groupe.