Benchrest Popularity and Growth

[Liven The Dream]

Yes i am in my 50's .
Most of the you shooters want to for distance. I was having a conversation with a young kid Yesterday. He was saying there was other disciplines that required more skill than nbrsa.
I just laughed at him and said we'll if your ever interested I'll let you shoot my rifle... I said don't get pissed when you Eat humble pie

Well short and sweet. Hit 78 have shot SR,MR, 3P,Palma,F/Open and Hunted a lot. The turn out at Matches for Sling and F/Class in the PNW and Northern Cal. have few to a couple. I still hit a couple, but most theses days are 1000 yard only. I think this is one reason for little Turn Out?

I have a Fun day taking a non-shooter friend out to the range. I set my Shot Marker up at 600, give them a good prep and safety ring out. I set them up with a F/Open Dasher and have at it.
I had my pal a PHD shot a 15 shot Clean and 149 at 600. I did work the wind Knob.
He had the Time of His Life. It wasn't bad for me.

We most assuredly need younger shooter.

 

[kojaone]

Another thread gone to shit.

Should have a five day waiting period before hitting "reply"

 

[DHuffman]

Another thread gone to shit.

About 13 pages ago, I'm all for new shooters but if we have to dilute the game and make it easier to break in and get competitive it might not be the same game.
It's a tough game, not for everyone so you have to genuinely want it to pursue it.

Tactical class was a good start but with it's lack of rules it basically should be called unlimited with a magazine.
Nobody new with a true tactical gun on a bipod really wants to bench up next to an unlimited with a magazine on a Seb MAX or similar gear. I doubt they'll do it twice especially if they have to travel very far to do it.
My comments are regarding LR BR

 

[JFrank]

My personal opinion is that BR will continue to be mainly the older crowd with disposable income with a few younger shooters blending in.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

Does nobody else just build a rifle, in whatever configuration they want, and go shoot said rifle wherever they want, whenever they want, at any distance they feel like?

Maybe lots more people are? I wouldn’t know. I never met anyone in person that was a member of some international bench/practical/tactical/xyz-class association,but I’m pretty sheltered maybe.

But it could be that people are just out doing their own thing, shooting rifles by themselves? Enjoying the day with their hobby? What if?

Hell if I know. I mean baseball can be pretty boring when played alone, or wrestling, maybe football. But shooting, like say maybe golf, is pretty alright alone.

 

[jackieschmidt]

I would venture that the majority of the shooters who frequent accuracyshooter.com are not involved in some type of competitive endeavor.

That does not mean they are not just as dedicated in their quest for achieving the best accuracy from their equipment as possible.

Bit since this thread is in the Competition Forum, that is what most of the posts are about.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

I would venture that the majority of the shooters who frequent accuracyshooter.com are not involved in some type of competitive endeavor.

That does not mean they are not just as dedicated in their quest for achieving the best accuracy from their equipment as possible.

Bit since this thread is in the Competition Forum, that is what most of the posts are about.

Agree. Mostly the concerns about declining popularity. Just a possible theory for the decline.

 

[Varminterror]

I'm all for new shooters but if we have to dilute the game and make it easier to break in and get competitive it might not be the same game.

We're kind of seeing this happening in the PRS right now: the game changed a LOT over the last ~8yrs, especially accelerated in 2019/2020 when primers got scarce and new folks didn't adopt the sport... the "top guys" have progressively gotten better and better for most of the life of the PRS, so the game has to change, BUT, when Match Directors scale targets, support, and distances to be reasonable for new shooters, less skilled shooters, to still find success, then those top guys still stack up at the top, and the spread in scores just compresses higher... We end up with matches where only a few points spread the top 10 shooters, and we have the midpack shooters TIED 2, 3, or 4 shooters deep on every. single. point. Hell, I shot a PRS match this fall which was my highest match score ever, 89.4%, meaning I hit 89.4% of the winner's impacts - I cleaned half of the stages, had 1x 9, 3x 8, 3x 7, and 1x 6, averaged dropping 1.1 points per stage, and I was 45th in the match, exactly the "mid-pack" score... HALF of the shooters dropped 1 or less points per stage... 3 guys tied for 3rd, 5 guys tied for 6th, and 4 guys tied for 11th... Out of the top HALF of the shooters, top 45 places, only 3 places weren't tied for points, and most ties were between 3 or more shooters per point dropped....

Sports don't get less competitive just because MD's try to design a lesser challenge in the CoF. If you make the targets bigger in F-class, we'd just have more folks with higher scores and more X's, and the handful of guys cleaning the CoF would just be arguing over which one actually won, and the newer, less skilled shooter would still be sitting at the back of the pack.

Either the course of fire gets more and more challenging to create more spread between the top shooters, or the game just gets boring because the top shooters all lay out clean scores, but either way, lesser skilled shooters still fall behind the leaders.

 

[Will Henry]

In metallic silhouette, we have classifications based on skill level. It's hard to argue with it and I would never win anything without it, but I still don't think it is the ideal. I sometimes wonder if the classification doesn't hold some people back, mentally. (It doesn't hold me back. My inability to hold still does that!). I don't think special classifications are a way to increase attendance at any shooting competition. WH

 

[Liven The Dream]

We're kind of seeing this happening in the PRS right now: the game changed a LOT over the last ~8yrs, especially accelerated in 2019/2020 when primers got scarce and new folks didn't adopt the sport... the "top guys" have progressively gotten better and better for most of the life of the PRS, so the game has to change, BUT, when Match Directors scale targets, support, and distances to be reasonable for new shooters, less skilled shooters, to still find success, then those top guys still stack up at the top, and the spread in scores just compresses higher... We end up with matches where only a few points spread the top 10 shooters, and we have the midpack shooters TIED 2, 3, or 4 shooters deep on every. single. point. Hell, I shot a PRS match this fall which was my highest match score ever, 89.4%, meaning I hit 89.4% of the winner's impacts - I cleaned half of the stages, had 1x 9, 3x 8, 3x 7, and 1x 6, averaged dropping 1.1 points per stage, and I was 45th in the match, exactly the "mid-pack" score... HALF of the shooters dropped 1 or less points per stage... 3 guys tied for 3rd, 5 guys tied for 6th, and 4 guys tied for 11th... Out of the top HALF of the shooters, top 45 places, only 3 places weren't tied for points, and most ties were between 3 or more shooters per point dropped....

Sports don't get less competitive just because MD's try to design a lesser challenge in the CoF. If you make the targets bigger in F-class, we'd just have more folks with higher scores and more X's, and the handful of guys cleaning the CoF would just be arguing over which one actually won, and the newer, less skilled shooter would still be sitting at the back of the pack.

Either the course of fire gets more and more challenging to create more spread between the top shooters, or the game just gets boring because the top shooters all lay out clean scores, but either way, lesser skilled shooters still fall behind the leaders.

Just a reply on the make a change or make it easier ? This is about our local Range and F/Class.
A email was sent out about how to get more Shooters?
The Range now has monthly 1000 yard Matches, turn out is low.
I made a suggestion about 3,5and 600 yard Matches to draw new local guys out.
I also suggested pint up some Winner, First Place etc. Sheets to hand out.
I said raise the entry $5.00 add $10 to those Winner Award Sheets.

The reply thanks,but not that interested. You say why?
Group A only wants 1000 yards.
Group B,C&D Need not Apply.
Some one wrote Teem Sport!

 

[Varminterror]

A email was sent out about how to get more Shooters?
The Range now has monthly 1000 yard Matches, turn out is low.
I made a suggestion about 3,5and 600 yard Matches to draw new local guys out.

I can't necessarily disagree with the match directors you mentioned - We see confirmation of that paradigm a lot; every year, we talk to new folks who don't/won't come to some of our PRS matches at one of our better operated ranges, for the simple fact it's only 950yrds and not a full 1,000. Other folks who don't come out to those matches just for the fact they don't get a patch that says "1,000 yard club," which, of course, just isn't something PRS matches do...