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Lessons and or information learned form attending EBR 2015

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"wyshadow"I got to shoot a lot of different guns. Most of the shooters were very nice and easy to talk to but their were a few jerks. I noticed I got jokes and sneered remarks when I brought out my marauder but I got no attention when I brought out my cricket.

Its a shame but there will always be a few jerks and snobs in every group. The Marauder has brought more people to serious air gunning that any other gun. Its what I own and if I had to pay $1500+ my gun would be my trusty RWS 34. I wish someone could tune a Marauder and beat some of the jerks.
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"wyshadow"The sad part about this event was I wasn't attaining this event to win but was looking to be around other airgun enthusiasts. I know I wasn't going to be able to compete against 2 to 5 thousand dollar guns.
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I don't agree with your statement. In the biggest event 75/100 yard Extreme the 1st and 2nd place shooters both shot stock FX rifles (Boss & Bobcat) both of which can be had used for about the price you paid for the Cricket 9mm. And in the Speed Silhouette Tom Adams shot the fastest time ever recorded (0:55) with a bone stock FX Wildcat, which is one of the least expensive bullpups on the market. Sure some of the Field Target rifles and 25m rifles are a bit eccentric. But you'll find that with any sport that doesn't have limits on its equipment.

Who knows maybe AJShoots will show up with his Marauder .30 and school everyone next year.

Just for the record, I enjoyed meeting you and everyone else at EBR.
 
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"wyshadow"The sad part about this event was I wasn't attaining this event to win but was looking to be around other airgun enthusiasts. I know I wasn't going to be able to compete against 2 to 5 thousand dollar guns.
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You should see it as being sad at all. Heck, I went there to just have fun and be with folks who share a passion for airguns. I also attended so I could finally meet people I had formally only known through chatting on forums and boards such as AGN. For me, the competitive events were just an added bonus. I walked away from EBR with a bunch of new friends and some amazing memories I will look back on for the rest of my life.
  • Shopping at Bass Pro Shops with team FX, Ted, and Michael
  • Spending down time with some industry legends (see Priceless Moments from 2015 EBR – Tony Belas and Andrew Huggett)
  • Driving Michael Wendt to the speaking event and watching him suffer a panic attack once he realized he forgot to bring his laser pointer LOL!
  • Daystate handing me a Pulsar to use and hold onto until EBR ended on Sunday. How cool was that??
I didn't care about winning or losing one bit. It was much much more about the human element for me. I had a great time.

Scott
 
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Like I said, almost everyone there were the nicest people I met. Not only was I able to ask questions about their guns, all of them were more then willing to let me try them out. The original poster ask about lessons learned from this event and this is just something I noticed but from a very very few people. "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight" but I would like to add "but in capable and skill hands, a knife can be just as deadly." What do I mean by this? If you can shoot flies at a 100 yards with your daisy red Ryder gun, by all means bring this gun. You will have a crowd of people cheering you on but you might get a couple people who will not approve.
 
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One of the other things you can look forward to is seeing the latest and greatest. The FX Impacts were there and being used in competition. The .25 Daystate Pulsar that was auctioned off was rumored to be the only one. The AGN tee shirts that were fresh off the press! There are things that happen at this event that you won't see anywhere else. And, there's things that are so brand new that being at the event is the only way to get them first! Last year it was the Milbro darts. This year it was our new AGN Tee shirts! 
wyshadow, I noticed your Marauder out there. It truly made me smile to see it out there with all the rest. It makes me think about how far this sport has advanced in such a short time. Just like travels4fun, the competition was really an added bonus to getting together and talking with all you fine folks. I even had a long talk with a powder burner (the guy, not the gun!) about air rifles. I offered to let him shoot mine but, I think he was afraid that he might like it too much. LOL! 
 
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For me, being a first time EBR competitor, it was all about lessons learned and soaking up wisdom from the vast collection of experience represented at this year's event. In no particular order here are some of my lessons/observations:

- Despite it being a competition, all were very friendly, willing to help and even share tips and even their own guns/equipment if others needed. Don't be afraid to ask for advice or help -- take advantage of the wealth of knowledge, experience and talent that comes to EBR

- Many came as spectators and regretted not entering the event to compete -- they found they really had nothing to fear and needlessly missed out on some really fun shooting

- AoA is truly a class act. This event was very well organized and run. The staff and volunteers worked tirelessly in the heat each day handling a massive amount of logistics to keep everything running smooth. Professional, courteous, safe. After the 25 m event I discovered someone had walked off with my FX case (by mistake I'm sure). Kip did not hesitate to offer me his FX case right on the spot

- Wind is the great equalizer. High zoot fancy guns and rests don't mean much if you can't shoot in winds. Winds were tricky during qualifying rounds and just plain ridiculous during the 100 yard final. Practice as much as possible in windy conditions. Also make sure you're perfectly zeroed for no-wind conditions if possible -- otherwise windage adjustments when the wind changes direction will have you chasing your tail

- Be patient! 30 minutes is really a lot of time to shoot 25 targets, so be patient and resist the pressure to shoot when it's not "your wind"

- Invest in a set of wind flags. You can't always count on the guys in the lanes next to you to have them. Practice a LOT -- to successfully convert what you see the flags doing to a good windage solution

- Take advantage of others' wind flags upwind from you to anticipate changes in wind direction and velocity

- Take care after shooting a sighter (bottom row) and coming back up to find where you left off -- a well centered "x" is hard to see. I ended up putting two shots on the same target which cost me a 10 point deduction. Even more care was needed Sunday where it was not uncommon to have a pellet land in the empty space between targets which caused more than one person to take an additional shot and incur a penalty

- A folding cart is great asset to make it a whole lot easier getting your guns, rests, tanks, etc, from the parking lot to the benches

- Contrary to intuition, 25 meter benchrest is not easier than 75/100 yard benchrest just because its less distance. I was summarily schooled and I'll just leave it at that!

I could go on, but I'll refrain from giving away secrets I need to hold close. I'm "forced" now to compete in pro next year and will need all the help I can get! Best lesson of all is to make having fun your primary objective and not to take it too seriously. Meeting so many nice and helpful fellow air gunners over consecutive days made for an especially enriching experience. So no excuses -- you have a year to plan for EBR 2016........be there!

Cheers,

-jim
 
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