What I Learned at Extreme Benchrest 2018

A shooting comp is like the 15 minutes you get at a job interview! you spend ages preparing for it and then try to get your point across as quickly as possible.

We had 30 mins to finish? I finished in 4 mins I made the same mistakes as you and like you said it was a great learning experience. I'll be ready next time. On the second day I did a lot better because I took a lot of sighter shots. What hurt me even with the sighter is that I would hit 4 in a row really good scores then wind picked up on the 5th and take it out. What I should've done is have more patience and take a sighter shot every 2 shots to make sure wind did not change or adjust to it. Glad you made it out!

@lmctex, thanks for the post. This was my first EBR also, and I shot in four events. Like both you and DonnyFL said, take more sighters! I took about 15 to 20 each day, but should have taken more. On the finals day at 100 yards I did the same as what Donny said, a few good shots and then a 5. That'll drop your score in a hurry. I had 20 shots in the red (8, 9, or 10), but 5 shots that were 4, 5 or 6. I think a couple 4s, a couple 5s and a 6. And it was because of lack of PATIENCE.

Some other lessons. Shoot and practice like you'll be competing. For AFT, I shot bucket and sticks. Shooting in a competition is not the time to learn bucket and sticks. I never shoot that way at home, but I should have. I also should have looked closer at shooting prone, since that's how I shoot the most, am the most comfortable, and probably would have shot 30 or so that way vice the 21 that I shot. One of the AoA monitors told me 3 guys shot prone and did great. 

Bring the right equipment, even if you're not sure you'll use it. I didn't bring my .177 RAW TM1000 for the 50 yard BR event, since I thought it would be too windy. Turns out that day wasn't very windy and I would have probably done much better with that gun than with my .22 Cricket mini Carbine. 39th position out of 86 is just... average at best. 

Practice for the Speed Silo event. I did that by shooting old fruit in the front yard of a friend's house. I would set out 50 or 60 pieces of fruit (oranges, tangerines, etc.) from 25 to 55 yards and just shoot them as fast as possible, over and over again. That's probably why I only missed one target total in the two qualification rounds I shot to make it to the finals. 

Looking forward to next year, and all the great and friendly people that I met. It was a great experience, thanks AoA!!!

I vote hold it indoors next year!

Quote 6. You don’t have to dress like a NASCAR driver to be successful but it doesn’t seem to hurt! Sometimes it seemed like everyone but me was wearing shirts, hats, etc. of sponsors. I use to competively saltwater fish here in Texas, maybe next year I will wear my Simms, Laguna Rods, Mann Baits, Power Pro line, Malibu Kayaks, etc. gear! 



I hope to compete at this even in the future, However I will be the guy in Jeans and a custom printed shirt that says unsponsored! I raced a dirt track car for many years and was fortunate enough to be very good at it and swept almost every night which in turn looked very good on my sponsors

, Most all of my buddies and competition had their cars stickered up with things like Speedway, Moroso, Sunoco ect ect, I refused to do so unless the company would actually put a fair amount of money in my cars as it wasn't fair to the ones who actually did. 

@Centercut ,

I, too, shoot prone whenever possible, and used that position in AFT. I also shot AFT with a sling and coat as well. But, for the most part most of the shots required a high kneeling position just to see the targets, and which for me which is not a good position. I do not like the bucket and sticks, so I will use the traditional hands supported methods even though I might do better if I were to practice the bucket and sticks.

Sounds like a great learning experience.





John

Good tips & advice... got it bookmarked. +1

Great tips here. An additional thing I learned is not to judge how you are doing while you are shooting. I thought I was doing pretty poorly each time I shot and ended up not taking the care I should have, only to find that I was actually shooting decent and could have done better if I'd kept my head down and ended well.

@Centercut ,

I, too, shoot prone whenever possible, and used that position in AFT. I also shot AFT with a sling and coat as well. But, for the most part most of the shots required a high kneeling position just to see the targets, and which for me which is not a good position. I do not like the bucket and sticks, so I will use the traditional hands supported methods even though I might do better if I were to practice the bucket and sticks.

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Why would you handicap yourself because of pride and ego? Practice with the tools allowed. You might find you like it and will wonder why you hadn't used them in the first place. It would seem from previous comments most targets are set up to be seen from a higher seated position anyways.

Lots of the same tips I'd offer. Just slow down and take my time. I wish I had practiced just a little more. But the rain in Texas the last month before EBR was just a total mess and kept me from the range. But now that I know I'll have to shoot in the rain anyway, like I did at the 75 card 2, I'll just go practice that too



Crusher

All excellent points but the one I believe to be MOST useful is your #2.
Claudio won with a .22 Bantam. A mechanical gun and one that certainly nobody saw coming.
While all the prominent guys are shooting double bottle Impacts and electronic Red Wolf in .30 cal, Claudio sneaks up with .22 and wins not only one, but two categories.
If you follow the guy, you know that his familiarity with this platform is pretty prominent. When I saw him interviewed after the win, he did the same old 3Ps routine... Practice, practice and above all else, practice. Yeah, I think that important too, but knowing your gun, inside and out and how to get the most out of it is gonna be just as important. You can practice your butt off, but if you're not getting the most out of your gun, you're selling yourself short.

Yes, I agree. One of the things no one seems to be talking about is the winner in Sportsman's Class came in SECOND OVERALL if you put his score in with the Pro's. I shot beside him for two days at the 75 yard qualifier, and he didn't take more than 5 minutes to shoot either card. Not sure about the finals at 100 since I was in lane 2, and I think he was 9 or 10. We'll see how he does in Pro next year, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him at the top again...

All excellent points but the one I believe to be MOST useful is your #2.
Claudio won with a .22 Bantam. A mechanical gun and one that certainly nobody saw coming.
While all the prominent guys are shooting double bottle Impacts and electronic Red Wolf in .30 cal, Claudio sneaks up with .22 and wins not only one, but two categories.
If you follow the guy, you know that his familiarity with this platform is pretty prominent. When I saw him interviewed after the win, he did the same old 3Ps routine... Practice, practice and above all else, practice. Yeah, I think that important too, but knowing your gun, inside and out and how to get the most out of it is gonna be just as important. You can practice your butt off, but if you're not getting the most out of your gun, you're selling yourself short.

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There were no .30 Red Wolf shooters in the EBR finals. All Red Wolf shooters were .22 which made up 12 of 14 .22 shooters; a FX Impact .22 and Claudio's Bantam rounded out the 14. 14 of 30 shooters shot .22 this year in the finals which was the most used caliber in the finals. 

http://www.extremebenchrest.com/2018-extreme-benchrest-results/

I find it funny how it's been going the last few years. 3-4yrs ago the .30 was king and nobody is going to top it. 2yrs ago when Ted won with his impact .25 oh everyone was going to .25. Last year the .25 crown was king. Lol this year no .25 crowns made it to the finals. Now top 10 this year are 5 .22s, 4 .30s and only one .25 being Ted. 

I'm sure the ebb and flow will continue.........That's one thing that keeps it interesting 

Yes, I agree. One of the things no one seems to be talking about is the winner in Sportsman's Class came in SECOND OVERALL if you put his score in with the Pro's. I shot beside him for two days at the 75 yard qualifier, and he didn't take more than 5 minutes to shoot either card. Not sure about the finals at 100 since I was in lane 2, and I think he was 9 or 10. We'll see how he does in Pro next year, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him at the top again...

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The reason for shooting fast in BR is usually because the shooter recognizes a favorable condition and tries to capitalize on it. Hence the lulls in shooting and then the sudden barrage of rounds going down range.

Edit for typo's, was on the throne at the time of the original post.