I have been tinkering with the idea of BR50 since that is the only benchrest competition at my local range. I would like to hear from some experienced shooters that can recommend how to get started up, and any other advice they might can offer.
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I have been tinkering with the idea of BR50 since that is the only benchrest competition at my local range. I would like to hear from some experienced shooters that can recommend how to get started up, and any other advice they might can offer.
You are only about 15 years too late. BR-50 died when it's creator, Larry Brown passed away.
I shot BR-50 for a number of years starting in 1989 till '96. It truly is "the meanest game on the earth".
Most shooters looked at the target and assumed it wasn't that difficult, then got a surprise when they finally understood "worst edge" scoring.
A number of off shoots started from BR-50 including IR 50-50 and ARA 50. The Professional Shooting League (PSL) has a match very similar, but only consisting of 25 shots per card.
When BR-50 was first conceived, there were 3 classes. Centerfire; shot @100 yds, rimfire; shot @50 yds and air rifle shot @25 yds.
The idea was to make all classes compatible with each other. Centerfire never caught on as not many bench rest shooters liked the idea of shooting 50 shots in a 30 minute period. Rimfire was the most popular. The air rifle class was usually small because it took a scuba gun to be competitive. I don't know why, but towards it's demise Larry Brown decided that rimfire was NOT an accurate discipline because of all the variables in ammo that the shooter had no control of, and therefore decided to ELIMINATE rimfire class. After promoting this for over 10 years, he made a lot of enemies. Shortly after this decision, he passed away from cancer.
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, this is the only benchrest type competition within a reasonable drive of my house. I used to shoot 3 position and smallbore prone competitions, and thought the bench might be fun.
If it's all there is give it a try and see if you like it.
You could also try running a rimfire match of your own like 3 position, NRA metallic silhouette, or CMP rimfire sporter.
Search ARA, PSL, ir 50/50
All 3 are 22BR games
We have IR 50/50 at a local club, it's great fun and very challenging. I use a MKII in sporter class and a MKII with weight added to the stock and a Harrel tuner in 10.5 class. Ocassionally, I beat the $3000 rifles which is satisfaction in itself !
I am sure if you showed up at your range and wanted to shoot you would have all the help needed to compete?