extreme benchrest

Posts Tagged ‘extreme benchrest’

Daystate Dominates Overall At EBR 2023

Thursday, October 12, 2023

While Extreme Benchrest is an “open” event with very many air rifle brands represented, there’s no doubt that Daystate air rifles dominated at EBR 2023!

Some competitors shooting Daystate – and BRK (Brocock) for that matter – were part of the official “Daystate Wolf Pack”. That’s a group photograph of the “Wolf Pack” above, together with the company owner (center rear) and designer (far left).

But many other Daystate shooters were genuine enthusiasts who have made the brand their choice. That’s a testament to the quality, accuracy and consistency of the company’s products!

Now, on with the results…

100 Yard Extreme Benchrest Pro Class Finals

Thayne Simmons won the headline Pro Class 100-Yard Extreme Benchrest 2023 competition. Shooting a Karma Red Panda air rifle, he scored an impressive 232 7X. Above we see Thayne with his prize, which included a $7,000 check, plus an expense-paid trip to Daystate in England to collect the Daystate Air Rifle of his choice.

100 Yards Extreme Benchrest Sportsman Class Finals

One Gun Challenge

The One Gun Challenge rewards the competitors who use the exact same air rifle for competition in (almost) all courses of fire in the EBR event. Almost? Well, yes, not including Big Bore, of course!

Fady Kiwan from Lebanon won this most challenging title shooting a Daystate Alpha Wolf in .22 caliber. That’s Fady shooting. below.

Speed Silhouette Open Class

This class is “anything goes”! Magazines are loaded and installed before firing commences. Semi-autos are included, too. Here the class was won by Ethan Butterfield, shooting a Semi Automatic Marauder with a record time of 18.81 seconds. That’s the first time ever that this class has been won by a semi-auto!

But Lauren Parsons was close behind shooting a .25 caliber Daystate Delta Wolf, while the 2018 100 Yard Extreme Benchrest winner Claudio Flores was third with an Alpha Wolf in .22 caliber.

Speed Silhouette Pro Class

This class really was dominated by the Daystate Red Wolf!!!

Meanwhile, Don and Larry in the AoA mobile support van were in “Maytag Repair Man” mode 🙂

Speed Silhouette Sportsmans Class

50 Yard Benchrest Unlimited

Extreme Field Target Extreme Class

Again, another outstanding result from Daystate shooters!

Extreme Field Target Sniper Class

Extreme Big Bore Open Class

Extreme Big Bore Production Class

Congratulations to all the shooters who took part! It’s very interesting to see how the scores have improved with time. The shooters – and their equipment – are clearly getting better and better!

Tags: Daystate, extreme benchrest
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Extreme Benchrest 2022 – It’s Great For Spectators, Too!

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Yes, Extreme Benchrest 2022 is coming soon! It’s running from 6 to 9 October.

Some aspects of the airgun industry’s leading competitive event are to be the same as usual. After all, why mess with success?

For example, the location’s the same – the Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club just outside Phoenix. Also, of course, there’s the headline Extreme Benchrest Competition with the 75- and 100-Yard cards that have never been cleared yet.

And – as usual – the event is completely full. In fact it’s over-subscribed with 200 competitors having registered and a strong waiting list.

But there are some improvements, too. A new competition for 2022 is the Action Armor Steel Scramble. This is a NRL-style shoot with a range of disciplines including precision, benchrest and Field Target. The common factor is that all the targets are steel. This is also the only course of fire where slugs can be used.

Of course, you don’t have to shoot to enjoy Extreme Benchrest! Every year there are visitors who come to watch the shooting, soak up the atmosphere, meet-up with old friends and make new ones.

You can also see some great shooters in action, like Tom Adams – above – the overall winner of EBR 2021. John Bagakis is another consistent shooter who’e always there among the top scorers. That’s John below…

To ensure that you can watch the action downrange, Sightron is EBR’s official spotting scope sponsor for 2022. You can just walk up and take your turn watching the hits!

There’s also a chance to meet industry personalities too. Here ws see Tom Costan – the owner of American Air Arms – proudly displaying his new EVOL Paradigm model at the 2021 event.

And there’s always the chance of an exclusive glimpse of a new product or two. Usually you can try out the new model on the “trial range” too.

In fact, there’s rumors that at least one new air rifle will make its first public appearance at Extreme Benchrest 2022. Which one? My lips are sealed…

So what are all these people doing below?

They’re placing their tickets in the raffle! This is a huge part of Extreme Benchrest as it offers the chance to win some really high-end airgun equipment. In fact, some EBR Raffle prizewinners have returned and won competitions the following year with the gun they won in the raffle!

The EBR Raffle prizes are donated by the many sponsors of the event. For 2022 Extreme Benchrest, there’s a huge list of sponsors.

These include major airgun manufacturers such as Daystate, Brocock, KalibrGun, American Air Arms, Western Airguns and Umarex. A new sponsor for 2022 is Velocity Outdoor, with its Benjamin Airguns brand.

(Note that you need to attend Sunday’s Awards banquet to claim your prize. If you want to attend the banquet, email AoA for details of cost and availability).

Not surprisingly, many optics manufacturers will be participating in EBR 2022 also. We’ve already mentioned Sightron, but Hawke will be there too.

Kevin Sheehan – Hawke’s VP of Sales and Marketing for the US – has become an enthusiastic airgun shooter as a result of attending Extreme Benchrest in previous years! He’s developed into a formidable competitor and will be shooting again at EBR 2022.

New optics sponsors are Athlon Optics and Leapers. So there will be plenty of opportunity to talk to leading riflescope vendors, see their offerings, talk and learn.

Other companies attending Extreme Benchrest 2022 will be Predator International, the US distributor of JSB products. ZAN slugs will be there, too, as well as Accu-Tac, the bipod specialists.

Oh, of course, there’s the prizes!

This year’s competitors will be sharing a record $77,000.00 – yes $77 THOUSAND – in prize money and certificates. You can watch some of the best airgun shooters in the world competing for their share in that pot…

It’s going to be fun. See you there!

Tags: extreme benchrest
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Tom Adams Wins Extreme Benchrest 2021 With A Daystate Red Wolf

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

The 2021 Extreme Benchrest competition was the tenth annual “in person” event. As usual, it was held at the Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club in Mesa AZ, from October 7 – 10th.

And – of course – there was a winner of the ultimate competition, the Pro Class of the 75/100 Yard Extreme Benchrest Competition. This year that winner was Tom Adams shooting a Daystate Red Wolf. In fact – specifically – a Daystate Red Wolf High Power in .22 caliber with the Midnight blue laminated stock.

So now Tom’s name will be inscribed on the EBR Winners plaque (center below) for 2021. Also – please note that Tom also made all those beautiful wooden plaques that were presented to class winners. He’s definitely a man of many talents!

For his achievement, Tom won a check for $5,000 PLUS a 4×4 truck worth $32,000. WOW! BTW. The gentleman in the center of the photograph was presenting Tom with the keys to the truck.

Here’s the scores for the 2021 Extreme Benchrest Pro Class…
Tom Adams, 222, 3X
Nicolay Boldov, 218, 6X
Todd Blanchard, 214, 2X
Lauren Parsons, 214, 2X
John Bagakis, 211, 5X

As you can see, Tom won convincingly. But it should be noted that – out of the top five winners, three were shooting Red Wolf High Power guns. That’s Tom (obviously), Lauren Parsons and John Bagakis. Congratulations to all!

In fact, there was a large number of Red Wolves being fielded all down the line at Extreme Benchrest…

Moreover Tom placed strongly in every other class at Extreme Benchrest 2021. He used his Red Wolf for every course of fire, including the Extreme Field Target competition.

As a result, he placed third overall in the One Gun Challenge. This recognizes EBR competitors who use the same gun for every class at Extreme Benchrest. Here’s the results…
Jeffrey Hernandez, 752
Bobby Corcorran, 750.6
Tom Adams, 744
John Bagakis, 740
Nicolay Boldov, 735

Again, it’s worth noting that three of the top five One Gun winners were shooting a Red Wolf. Bobby Corcorran and John Bagakis had the same choice of air rifle.

But wait. There’s more!!!

Tom also placed top in the Speed Silhouette Pro Class. For this, he single-loaded his Red Wolf. Yes, amazingly, he did not use a magazine! Tom’s hands were a blur as the left hand fed pellets into the single shot tray and his right hand operated the cocking lever and trigger.

Somehow he also found the time to sight the targets and hit each one faster than everyone else!

Here’s the times of the top five competitors.

Tom Adams, 00:47.87
Nic Gregoria, 00:52.64
Anthony Turchetta, 01:07.65
Dave Corder, 01:10.78
Todd Hatfield, 01:12.07

Congratulations Tom! He’s certain to be back to defend his title at Extreme Benchrest 2022. With his trusty Red Wolf again, for sure…

Tags: Daystate, extreme benchrest
Posted in Airguns | 2 Comments »

Register Now For Extreme Benchrest 2019. There’s Over $34,000 In Prize Value!

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Airguns of Arizona has announced that this years’s Extreme Benchrest will take place from October 10 – 13, 2019. It’s going to be the best ever, says “Mister AoA”, Robert Buchanan!

The venue will be the Rio Salado Shooting Range in Mesa AZ, the range that has hosted the EBR for several years past.

And yes, EBR 2019 will have the highest Extreme Benchrest prize money ever. The total value of the prizes to be awarded will be over $34,000. Wow!

And there’s more…

The first 120 contestants to register for EBR 2019 will receive a free PhoneSkope riflescope adapter – a $175 value. That represents a $21,000 value above and beyond the highest Extreme Benchrest prize money ever!

As always, there’s a limit to the number of shooters who can participate in this famous annual airgun shooting event. So, if you want a chance of winning your share of this huge prize pot, it’s best to register now. You can sign-up online to attend Extreme Benchrest 2019 at this page.

The format of Extreme Benchrest 2019 will be familiar to many, but has some interesting new twists. Of course, there will be the 100 Yard Extreme Benchrest competition itself. There’s also a 50 yard Benchrest open class and 50 yard Benchrest Spring class.

Then there’s the Speed Silhouette and two Big Bore challenges, too. Plus the American Field Target competition. Oh, and an indoor pistol competition, too. Below, we see Tom Adams competing in American Field Target last year.

As usual, competitors for each course of fire are divided into “Pro” and “Sportsmans” classes. This gives the maximum opportunity for prize-winning, particularly for new competitors.

The One Gun Challenge is an additional attraction. For this, shooters must use the same gun, in the same caliber, with the same scope. Prizewinners will have the highest combined scores from the EBR, 50 Yard Benchrest, Speed Silhouette and American Field Target competitions.

For full details, check out the Extreme Benchrest website. There’s an online contact form available, should you have questions.

The 2018 Extreme Benchrest Pro class was won by Claudio Flores from Chile. He used a .22 caliber Brocock Bantam Sniper HP air rifle. That’s Claudio above. Who will win this year and with what air rifle? The best way to know is to be there and experience EBR 2019 yourself!

And did we mention that EBR 2019 will have the highest Extreme Benchrest prize money ever?

To get a feel for EBR, check out the 2018 Extreme Benchrest video review.

As always, the entire Airguns of Arizona team looks forward to seeing you there!

Tags: extreme benchrest
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Daystate And Brocock Dominate At First EBR Mexico Competition

Monday, April 29, 2019

The first ever EBR Mexico 2019 has just finished. It was an outstanding success. All the competitors had a great time!

Daystate And Brocock Dominate At First Extreme Benchrest Mexico Competition

Alvaro López is the owner of Sun City Airguns of Hermosilio Sonora, Mexico. He deserves great credit for promoting, organizing and running this event. That’s Alvaro above, shooting the benchrest competition. He had fun, too.

As with the 2018 Extreme Benchrest competition in Arizona, Daystate and Brocock air rifles made some outstanding scores…

In the 50 Meter benchrest competition, Daystate Red Wolf HP air rifles placed first, second, fourth, sixth and ninth.

The 100 meter benchrest saw Daystate Red Wolf HP guns in second, fourth, seventh and ninth positions. In addition, Brocock Bantam Snipers placed third and fifth.

And a Daystate Red Wolf HP won the Speed Silhouette competition, too, in the hands of Alvaro’s son Sebastian (below).

EBR Mexico featured Benchrest and Speed Silhouette competitions, with categories for both PCP and Spring air rifles. Prizes were offered to the winners, with up to 20,000 pesos for the winner of the Extreme Benchrest PCP finals.

Here’s the EBR Mexico 2019 winners. Congratulations, gentlemen!!!

Daystate And Brocock Dominate At First EBR Mexico Competition

From left to right, they are…

– Gabriel Valenzuela – 65M spring rifle ( Benjamin Trail NP )

– Enrique Gómez – 100M EBR (FX Impact Mkll 30)

– Humberto López – 50M EBR ( Daystate Red Wolf HP 22)

– Sebastian López – speed silhouette ( Daystate Red Wolf 25 HP )

The 50 Meter benchrest competition was closely contested. Humberto López just pipped Sebastian López and Enrique Gómez, as we can see from the results below.

In the Speed Silhouette competition, the winners were (from left to right):
– Guillermo Días 2nd place
– Sebastian López 1st place
– Álvaro López 3rd place

Of course, the 100 Meter Extreme Benchrest competition was the highlight of EBR Mexico 2019. Those targets look a really long distance away!!!

The Extreme Benchrest 100 M winners were, from left to right:
– Edgar Escalante 2nd ( Daystate Red Wolf 22)
– Enrique Gómez 1st place ( FX Impact Mkll 30)
– Jesus Rodríguez 3rd place ( Brocock Bantam Sniper 25 )

Great work Alvaro and all the Sun City Airguns team. Let’s hope that this was the first of a long line of annual EBR Mexico competitions!

Tags: extreme benchrest
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FX Airguns dominated the 2017 Extreme Benchrest long range competition!

Monday, November 13, 2017

Years ago, two brilliant minds came together and invented a barrel technology. They worked out the finer details and put into production a design that became known as Smooth Twist, after the method and style of the finished product. The process involves precision steel tubing, cut and machined to extremely high tolerances and is then put through a proprietary process which imparts twist to the inside of the barrel from the outside without cutting, harming or disturbing the smooth finish of the bore. This technology spins and stabilizes the pellets when fired, but does not cut or harm the pellet, making it less susceptible to wind turbulence. And, like anything new in the gun world, it was received with much resistance and nah-saying by the industry and shooting public alike. But then something started happening to change those opinions…the barrels started winning long range competitions!

Rumors, theories, and conjecture lost their way when the results started recording, and FX Smooth Twist barreled rifles started to take top seats every year at Extreme Benchrest for the 75 and 100 yard competitions.

2017 was no exception, in fact FX upped their game on proving their barrel tech has what it takes. 29 shooters in the top 20 of both classes (40 total between Pro and Sportsman) placed using a Smooth Twist barrel in an FX air rifle! That’s nearly 75%! Check out these results:

Looking at this chart you immediately think, “Yeah, but almost everyone shot with an FX, so of course FX won out!” Good observation. But take a step back and look at the overall qualifying results to see the spread of shooters who competed to make the finals and you see that FX consistently rose to the top.

Now, let’s pause and give a hand to every single shooter at EBR. They all did well in competing in this difficult competition and the shooters who came out on top deserve the bulk of the recognition. The rifle is simply the tool of choice, but a good shooter will choose the best tool by their own standards, and the results show where each competitor put their trust.

Back to the FX product now, and they deserve a good deal of respect. The 2017 results are amazing, but they aren’t simply an anomaly. The 2016, 2015, 2014, etc results show FX, with their Smooth Twist barrel technology, are onto something good!

Are they the best for long range accuracy? That is up to you to decide, because nobody can tell you what is “the best”. Grab an FX Airgun with a Smooth Twist barrel and find out for yourself! This writer can say, with experience, that FX/Smooth Twist barrels are among the most consistent shooting rifles/barrels he has tested.

Until next time,

Get Out and Shoot!

Here’s a little video illustrating the Smooth Twist barrel technology:

Tags: extreme benchrest, FX Airguns, Smooth Twist
Posted in Airguns | 1 Comment »

Meet the AoA team — Shane Kellar

Monday, March 9, 2015

Boy, some guys just don’t get the word. What word? You know: the typical narrative involved in an airgunners career. It usually goes something like this: “Well, I started out with a Daisy (or an inexpensive) Crosman, and after many years of scrimping and saving, I finally got an adult precision airgun.”

Shane Kellar, whose chief responsibilities encompass working with dealers and setting up the Extreme Benchrest competition every year, has a vastly different story to tell. “I’ve known the owners of Airguns of Arizona – Robert and Steve – my entire life. When Robert first started selling airguns, my Dad bought me a German made spring gun. I would shoot a hundred to two hundred pellets a day. At 12 years old, I was dropping little green army men in the backyard with that springer and a 3-9 scope. I didn’t know the difference between a good air rifle and a bad air rifle, but I knew I could shoot it well.”

My reaction: HOLY SMOKES! A German springer at 12 years old? Wow!

Kellar adds, “When I graduated from high school, I got a Beeman rifle from Robert. That was my only knowledge of air rifles. I wasn’t familiar with precharged, and I didn’t know that there were different qualities of air rifles.”

He says, “I was working in the banking industry, doing mortgages and home equity loans, when the crash came, and I was laid off. Robert was looking for someone to do shipping, so I started to do that. The phones got really busy, so I started helping the guys out. They said: if you don’t know, just ask – so I started asking lots of questions. And of course I had lots of opportunities to shoot different air rifles”

“Within a month, I bought a Daystate Huntsman left hand and an FX pump. Within six months, I had three precharged rifles, the Huntsman, an Air Wolf, and an FX Cyclone. I did lots of reading about airguns, learning about them, and eventually I began to take them apart, so now I know how to fix just about any of them.”

Today, Kellar’s favorite precharged rifles are the FX Royale and the Daystate Regal. And when it comes to springers, he is right back to his roots; the last springer he would part with is an HW35e.

When he isn’t on the phone with dealers across the country and thinking about next year’s Extreme Benchrest competition, Kellar enjoys competing in air rifle bench rest whenever he can get the opportunity. He helped to start the Phoenix Benchrest Club, and he participates with them on a monthly basis.

Perhaps his favorite thing, though, is “going out with a couple of my cousins to one of the local dairies and helping them to eliminate their pigeon problem. It’s a win-win: the dairies appreciate getting rid of a pest, and we have a heck of a lot of fun.”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

Tags: air rifle, Airguns, AOA, bench rest, benchrest, extreme benchrest, Staff
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So what does he do in his spare time?

Monday, December 15, 2014

By all accounts, the 2014 Extreme Benchrest match was a rip-roaring success. More than 100 shooters from 16 states and 6 countries came to Arizona to compete in Extreme Benchrest (75 yards!), 25-meter benchrest, outdoor speed silhouette, field target and a 10-yard indoor pistol match.

The event, which has been held the last 4 years, is a team effort by the staff of www.airgunsofarizona.com and bolstered by a number of clubs that helped to make all of it possible: Phoenix Benchrest for running the 25 Meter event, Precision Airguns and Supplies for sponsoring the Speed Silhouette event, Quail Creek Airgun club for running the Dirty Bird and Milbro dart events and the Airgunners of Arizona FT club for running the Field Target event.

Shane Kellar was match director for Extreme Benchrest. “My biggest concern was that something would go wrong and throw the timing off. We were running from sun up to sun down – from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm – and any glitch would result in the last relay of shooters running out of daylight.”

You might well think that the responsibility to run the match might take all the competitive spirit out of a person, but not Kellar. He entered and won both the speed silhouette match and the 25 meter benchrest.

The speed silhouette is, in my view, a fascinating competition. The objective is to knock down 16 silhouettes in the shortest time possible. Competitors shoot from front rests only and must shoot either single shot rifles or, in the case of repeaters, with magazines empty. They can’t stage any pellets; they have to start with them in a tin. They shoot at chickens at 30 yards, pigs at 40 yards, turkeys at 50 yards, and rams at 60 yards. At the starter’s signal, shooters begin loading their guns or their magazines, and the match is on.

In years past, individuals with stop watches would stand by the benches, start the watches at the beginning of the match and then click the watches off as the individual shooters finished the course. But as shooters got better and better, and times got closer and closer, it became obvious that a better timing system was needed.

So Kellar and Greg Glover of Airguns of Arizona developed a new timing system. The rangemaster punches a button and a master clock starts for all 20 benches. As each shooter finishes, they punch a button to stop the clock for their shooting position. It’s very similar to the timing system used for Olympic swimmers. “Greg and I were pretty stressed, hoping the new system would behave flawlessly,” Kellar says. It did, and after the first relay, he was able to relax.

Shooting an FX Verminator that was launching JSB .22 15.89 gr pellets at around 850 fps and loading pellets directly into the breech, Kellar was able to drop the 16 silhouette targets in just over a minute: 1:07.34. “I missed two shots and dry fired once,” he says.

In the 25 meter benchrest match, he shot an FX Royale BR, which was sending .22 caliber JSB 18 gr pellets downrange at 885 fps. After three relays, his total score was 736 (out of 750) with 25Xs. He was tied for scores and Xs with another shooter, so the tie was decided by look at the first card. The first person not to shoot a 10 comes in second.

He says, “Obviously I wanted to shoot well, but even more important, I wanted to make sure that the 100 people who showed up had a great experience. I am deeply grateful to all the folks from AoA and all the clubs who bent over backwards to make that happen.”

“It’s very gratifying to have shooters come up to us after the match and say they had a great time. We listen to their feedback and plan on incorporating a lot of their suggestions into next year’s match.”

Til next time, aim true and shoot straight.

– Jock Elliott

Tags: Air pistol, air rifle, Airguns, competition, extreme benchrest
Posted in Airguns | 3 Comments »

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Posts Tagged ‘extreme benchrest’

Daystate Dominates Overall At EBR 2023

Extreme Benchrest 2022 – It’s Great For Spectators, Too!

Tom Adams Wins Extreme Benchrest 2021 With A Daystate Red Wolf

Register Now For Extreme Benchrest 2019. There’s Over $34,000 In Prize Value!

Daystate And Brocock Dominate At First EBR Mexico Competition

FX Airguns dominated the 2017 Extreme Benchrest long range competition!

Meet the AoA team — Shane Kellar

So what does he do in his spare time?

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