Benchrest rifle competition is a sport that requires great knowledge, attention to detail, and usually many years of experience to be successful. It seems very simple, look through a very powerful scope, place the crosshairs on the center of the target and pull the trigger right? Not exactly. Wind has a non-linier effect on a bullet's flight, a nightmare in itself when the goal is to shoot groups under 0.375" at 200 yards so you must learn how to position and read windflags, an art that can take years to learn. Then there is mirage. Often the image in your scope is an illusion sitting out there rock steady or possibly jumping around two or three different places over an inch apart. Sometimes in a boil the target simply disappears and all you can do is wait for it to reappear with a shot clock ticking. Select the wrong target image and your whole event is basically over with, an entire weekend. You may win a division or a small group award but the goal of winning the overall is gone with one errant shot or the failure to shoot one shot.
Expenses are high, benchrest matches are held all over the country and worldwide with tiny purses. The equipment is expensive and you go through a lot of it too. Events typically run two days but may run for a week or more.
Benchrest is an older person's, almost exclusively an older man's, game. A major event with several hundred shooters may have a half-dozen or less shooters under 25. It will have roughly half of the shooters over 60 and the vast majority of them over 45. Youngsters have few people that they can relate to at a match and the slow learning process and lack of action is the antithesis of what youngsters are used to. The "youngsters" in benchrest are rarely as young as in their thirties or forties, more typically in their fifties or sixties. They have raised their families and now have discretionary time and income for a hobby. Their hobby is centuries old with little real change in all of that time. Although things are constantly evolving the goals never change.
Some would love to see big money and big participation in benchrest, many fear it is dying. We get a few new ranges to shoot at, we lose a few old ones. We have many unsanctioned matches and a handful of often feuding groups sanctioning matches, including several worldwide groups.
Benchrest will never be more than a niche sport, the endless pursuit of perfection that can never be achieved by a few dedicated souls.
Whut the hell is Hu doing posting this long rambling message about benchrest on the main forum?? I did it to ask a few questions:
After reading this message, how many of you have a burning desire to run out and shoot benchrest?
How different is benchrest from pool looking at it from the viewpoint of John Q. Public, Jane Q. Public, or a young person?
Benchrest is at least shot out in the fresh air and sunshine and has the appeal of firearms that most youngsters have some level of fascination with. Serious pool is often shot in a quiet murky smoke filled pool room with old men sitting around that look like they died years ago and somebody just forgot to bury them.
Youngsters are used to bright and noisy and the majority of them don't smoke and don't want to come home smelling like an old ash tray after spending time somewhere that didn't appeal to them a terrible bunch to begin with.
If we want pool to grow and be popular and appealing to young people we have to turn it into something that most of us don't want it to be anyway. While we can have some growth I think the dream of it being a big time sport is going to be forever a dream if pool remains what most of us love. We are Catch 22'd.
Hu
Expenses are high, benchrest matches are held all over the country and worldwide with tiny purses. The equipment is expensive and you go through a lot of it too. Events typically run two days but may run for a week or more.
Benchrest is an older person's, almost exclusively an older man's, game. A major event with several hundred shooters may have a half-dozen or less shooters under 25. It will have roughly half of the shooters over 60 and the vast majority of them over 45. Youngsters have few people that they can relate to at a match and the slow learning process and lack of action is the antithesis of what youngsters are used to. The "youngsters" in benchrest are rarely as young as in their thirties or forties, more typically in their fifties or sixties. They have raised their families and now have discretionary time and income for a hobby. Their hobby is centuries old with little real change in all of that time. Although things are constantly evolving the goals never change.
Some would love to see big money and big participation in benchrest, many fear it is dying. We get a few new ranges to shoot at, we lose a few old ones. We have many unsanctioned matches and a handful of often feuding groups sanctioning matches, including several worldwide groups.
Benchrest will never be more than a niche sport, the endless pursuit of perfection that can never be achieved by a few dedicated souls.
Whut the hell is Hu doing posting this long rambling message about benchrest on the main forum?? I did it to ask a few questions:
After reading this message, how many of you have a burning desire to run out and shoot benchrest?
How different is benchrest from pool looking at it from the viewpoint of John Q. Public, Jane Q. Public, or a young person?
Benchrest is at least shot out in the fresh air and sunshine and has the appeal of firearms that most youngsters have some level of fascination with. Serious pool is often shot in a quiet murky smoke filled pool room with old men sitting around that look like they died years ago and somebody just forgot to bury them.
Youngsters are used to bright and noisy and the majority of them don't smoke and don't want to come home smelling like an old ash tray after spending time somewhere that didn't appeal to them a terrible bunch to begin with.
If we want pool to grow and be popular and appealing to young people we have to turn it into something that most of us don't want it to be anyway. While we can have some growth I think the dream of it being a big time sport is going to be forever a dream if pool remains what most of us love. We are Catch 22'd.
Hu
