Extreme Bechrest ( A Newbie perspective)

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NMshooter

NMshooter

Member
Apr 1, 2015
2,015
45
Missouri, United States
First off AOA did a Knock-out job. Everything ran very smooth. AOA's staff were both friendly and helpful, making me feel right at home. Those poor guys were back in the office on Monday. I called twice and I there were over 10 callers ahead of me both times. And yes they called me back! 
This was not only my first Extreme Benchrest but my very first shooting event EVER!. Before 2 years ago, the last time I shot a rifle was with a Daisy BB gun when I was ten. I have always been a competitor but I truly had no idea what to expect with this experience. I was very excited to be here.
[url="http://i.imgur.com/dm6nbr0.jpg"][img]http://i.imgur.com/dm6nbr0.jpg[/img][/url]

My first event was the Speed Silhouettes. After placing my rifle on the bench, I was wondering, what did I got myself into. Luckily there was an AOA gentleman there to remind me to have fun. Here is my first moment in the competition:
[url="http://i.imgur.com/067FFfw.jpg"][img]http://i.imgur.com/067FFfw.jpg[/img][/url]

After shooting the wrong targets on the first round ( ya I know what a duffuss), I manage by the third round to get a decent enough time to go on to the finals. I think I actually was rank fourth going in to the finals. Even though I was fumbling arouned I manage to maintain 4th place. I had made a friend from Florida who was also shooting for the first time and he called me at the office today and let me know


Up next was the 75. Well, I don't shoot over 50 yards much but I did manage to shoot 2 X's on the first round and shot a 198 (top shooters for the sportsman class only shot 4 X's). The pellets were really curving and I was holding over to the right 3-4 mil dots. The next round I actually shot a lot better but being a Rookie, I shoot the 3rd line of targets twice and lost 40 points. I know, what a dumb ass! I had 9's in all of those targets too. I could have scored a 212 on that round and would have ended in the middle of the pack. I still had a great time!
[url="http://i.imgur.com/ceGqQeP.jpg"][img]http://i.imgur.com/ceGqQeP.jpg[/img][/url]

Next up the 25 meter. The Gentle next to me was a past winner of Extreme Benchrest, I believe, he is from Mexico. His friend came all the way from Patagonia. Both were very friendly and great shots!
[url="http://i.imgur.com/3mCJ78C.jpg"][img]http://i.imgur.com/3mCJ78C.jpg[/img][/url]

AOA had a minor problem with the 25 meter. Apparently they had several 50 meter targets. Only a slight delay and AOA fixed things like it was supposed to happen. Here is their famous truck changing the targets.
[url="http://i.imgur.com/EuYcucD.jpg"][img]http://i.imgur.com/EuYcucD.jpg[/img][/url] 

Maybe it was the delay or maybe just beginner's luck but I manage to do quite well. The last card I shot 7 bull eyes. My score was a 706 and I came in 20th place. There was no sportsman class so I think I did quite well competing against the pros.
.You will be surprised that I did this shooting a .22 Marauder with Marmot Malitia barrel. 


I was very please to meet alot of the "Who's who" of the Airgun world. Both Micheal and Ted were kind enough to share some time with me. I enjoyed watching Tomico practice for the speed silhouette. I practiced with the owner of Mach 1 and his buddy, great guys. It was great to meet Matt Dubber. My most favorite moment though, was taking this picture with Giles. What a wonderful man!
[url="http://i.imgur.com/eBCviZ0.jpg"][img]http://i.imgur.com/eBCviZ0.jpg[/img][/url]

All in all, I had a GREAT time!
I am very thankful to be in this hobby and have made a lot of friends these last 2 years. I am thankful to part of AGN.
Most of all, I am thankful to have come across a U-tube video of a guy named Ted "Holdover" shooting a thing called a PCP.

Doc
 
If you had fun, then every thing went well, and you succeeded in your endeavor. The bonus' are in getting a bit more with a placement or advancement to the finals, or raffle winning, or in your case a photo-op with Giles. He is a wonderful guy to know---as are many of the other personalities that go there year to year. 

Even though we did not talk much, (I'm not one to gab a lot) I do remember meeting you, and glad you had the most important experiences of the event: have fun, meet the celebrities, and go away with a desire to do better next time.
 
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Excellent post, very interesting experience....especially for a first timer AND with only two years in air gunning. As you are I am sure I would be also very proud of those results, but most importantly you had a lot of fun! I envy you that you met so many of who-is-who of the airgun world, thanks for posting the photos...maybe one day I make it to windy AZ too.

I hope you make it again next year and wish you even more fun and accuracy next time around!

 
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Hey NMShooter, thanks for the write up. I'm pretty new to this PCP thing too & I'm hoping to make it to EBR next year. Hearing from first timers like you helps us noobs with the intimidation factor going to a first event. I'm looking forward to all of the upcoming posts & videos about EBR 2016. Thanks for starting things off right. Glad you had such a good time🍻
 
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I thought about starting a new thread/post but it seems either way to be stepping on NMshooter, I guess this is the lightest and friendliest... (BTW NMshooter while we didn't formally meet we exchanged greetings a couple of times in passing).

I'm just getting into airguning, in fact I don't have my gun yet, its still on order, expect it this month. I've been thinking about getting into benchrest for some time and after "discovering" the whole PCP revolution I was hooked! I've been on the forum for about a month now and honestly found it a bit unfriendly, not having one question answered or post that begged for comment get one. So I was beginning to question my desire, if the people are that closed of a community it's likely not a good fit for me. 

So took PTO Thursday and Friday, tried to beg out of on-call Saturday/Sunday and failed and got called missing the 25m which I really REALLY wanted to watch. In addition to watching and learning, I wanted to see some vendors to help make some gear choices and to see and meet some of the people that I knew would be at EBR.

Thursday I show up. I was kind of expecting to see more "tents" setup. Wondered into the main tent behind the small bore range. No vendors, just the raffle items laid out with lots of "DO NOT TOUCH" signs. I asked at the registration desk if you had to be present to win and was greeted with a smug "yes" and look of "of course dumb ass". Okay that went well... grrr...

It was practice and sight in time on the small bore range so I wondered up and down the line. Watching and checking out what the shooters had for gear. Was met in a very friendly and welcoming manner or simply ignored in favor of shooting, aka perfect!

I tried and failed to get some video of a gun that had the most incredible barrel harmonics. It reminded me of what you'd see if you took a long 1/4" dowel and whacked it down near the grip. It looked like that barrel was moving a good "peak to peak" of 6". The shooter was at 75y and seemed more or less please with the results, so... And couple of benches down the line a guy with a RAW BM500 with a tuned barrel, lol.

The first thing that struck me was the varied gear. There is another thread/post talking about why people like BR and several people talking up a storm about people with the best equipment being the best and you can buy your way to high scores, etc. You know the same old talk. Well I can tell I seen the true range, from a guy using the cardboard box his gun came in as his case, with a few range provided sand bags, and guess what he wasn't doing half bad at 25m, a couple of Xs and a lot of 7+ shots, I chatted with him briefly and it was only the 3rd or 4th time he had shot the gun. And I seen some of those $1K rests, with $3K guns resting on them, with >$1K scopes mounted on them and just about every little piece of gear you can think of from wind flags to on barrel chronographs. And I seen setups that were everywhere in between. The big thing that all of them had in common, they were, despite a wind gust here and there, having the time of their life! Happy, smiling, laughing people.

I missed Friday completely, thanks migraine!

Saturday I got called for work and didn't make it to the event till about 2pm. To my surprise I found the Hawke rep setup in the main tent. I wish he would have had his scopes mounted on those stocks you used to see at KMart for checking out scopes and have a standing rest. But I was able to check them out as best I could and think I have settled on a Hawke model for my 25m/50y gun. 

The 75y relays were running when I got there. As I was walking around I spotted Allen (SRGTO) and introduced myself to him, he was checking the 25m results and congratulated him on his 2nd place finish. Asked a few dumb newbie questions and was met with warm and genuine answers. No missing the Phoenix club members in their shirts, got to love that!

Again I was struck by the range of gear, from the bare essentials to setups that likely had $10K into them by time everything was added up. Again it was the joy of shooting that was common, despite the thunderstorms threatening from the East and counter-intuitive wind most people were smiling a lot more than frowning.

As someone with a bad back/neck I was happy to find a really cool idea for a BR stool... A couple people had drummers thrones! Hey, good idea! They are made for a low prolonged seating position, tend to be made well, heavy padding, very adjustable and can be had for under $200, the one I decided to get was $127 on Amazon. 

I missed Sunday as well, damn that need to make a living! 

So my summary is this. I was worried that I wouldn't fit in, and was questioning my choice to take up airgun BR. I'm not in the least worried about it now. I met one grouch at the event with hundreds of people, that's pretty darn good in my book! People were enjoying themselves, yes there were lots of dead serious people, but that didn't stop them from showing the joy of shooting. I got lots of ideas about the gear I want. All in all I looking forward to getting my gun in a couple of weeks and getting everything else outfitted so I can take my place on the line.
 
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Thanks for all the comments guys! Just wanted to share my experience with the up and downs for a new competitor. I was elated to place in the top 20 for the 25 meter sportsman class especially doing it with my .22 Marauder and 4th in the Speed Silhuetts with my .22 Cricket Carbine. Being a true competitor, you can bet I will be doing my homework for next year! I will be practicing in the wind for sure! I still have a lot to learn, that's what has captivated me about this hobby!
Percula, this is a wonderful hobby and like anything else, you get back what you put into it. Next year make sure I shake your hand for sure. I will do a better job letting people know I'm with AGN. Best of luck with your new rifle. You have a lot of people in Phoenix to help you get started.

Doc
 
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