Benchrest shooting
The bench rest shooting (from the English bench = table, rest = support) is a form of shooting sport that is geared towards maximum precision. It is shot with a rifle . The aim is to shoot so-called groups of shots at short distances of 50-100 meters under all weather conditions such as heat shimmer and wind drift. Shooting is done with different calibers depending on the competition class: BR 50 at 50 meters (can also be shot indoors) in caliber .22 lfB (KK) or the classic BR competitions with center fire calibers such as the 6 mm PPC , or 6ppc for short. When shooting, the weapon is placed on a table (bench) and a support (rest).
Almost all benchrest rifles are custom-made, the cartridges are loaded by hand in center fire rifles in order to be optimally matched to a certain match barrel and its chamber.
history
Benchrest was founded by American gunsmiths around 1840 who wanted to use it to prove the extreme precision of their weapons even at long distances. Masters of gunsmithing managed to hit the point at 200 yards with multiple shots from the same weapon, despite the heating of the barrel from the shooting. In 1883 , Harry M. Pope guaranteed a precision of 2.5 inches (63.5 mm) at 200 yards (182 m) for his muzzle-loading rifles. In other words, the barrel was so perfect that the points of impact of several shots were only 6.35 cm apart at a distance of 182 meters.
The results of this shooting are not determined in rings, as is usually the case, but in the scatter circle, the diameter of five-shot groups. Usually there are five rounds of five rounds each, for which seven minutes are available.
The sport places high demands on the weapon (high stability, firm bedding of the system as well as high quality barrels even when heated), the ammunition (usually every shooter tries to make his own ammunition), reloading and the shooter.
Competitions
There are basically two main groups in the benchrest discipline. Either it is necessary to hit five shots on a target as close together as possible (whereby the position on the target is irrelevant), or to shoot a small point on each target. The distances can vary.
Probably the most famous benchrest competition is the Supershoot in Ohio (USA) in the week before Memorial Day (last Monday in May) in which 360 shooters from all over the world take part.
Another discipline related to long-range shooting is long range shooting .