Sunday September 29th was cool and threatened to rain. Fortunately, there was no appreciable wind which certainly helped the twelve shooters with the placement of bullets on the paper targets set on the 500 M rail. You may think that shooting from the bench, using a mechanical rest to support your rifle is not a challenge, but you would be wrong. This is a test of your ability to control your breathing, maintain the same shooting position for each shot fired and make those discreet windage and elevation adjustments to compensate for the variables of the weather (wind, humidity, and temperature). If you are really serious about bullet placement you are probably also building your own loads, fine tuning the bullet weight with powder volume to obtain consistent velocity and the successful delivery of that projectile to a 3″ diameter spot that is barely visible even with the benefit of a high power scope. Take your time, but don’t take all day to get those 10 bullets on target!

Every two weeks from May through to the end of September a regular group of shooters has come out to improve their technique for long distance shooting, trying to develop both their accuracy and precision. Accuracy relates to scoring your shots on the bulls eye target while precision is measured by the diameter of your grouping of shots. The ideal would be to have the highest score within the smallest group.

In most bench rest events a competitor may only win in one category. If, for example a single competitor has the smallest group and highest score, they will be awarded a win only for the smallest group, the next highest score will be awarded the win for the highest score. At the end of the day the biggest competitor you will face is yourself. Striving to improve from the last time is what drives you forward.

All participants shot well, issuing encouragement to each other and analyzing how improvement can be achieved.  Prizes were awarded for top scores and tightest group sizes.

To Jim Strelioff, who has been responsible for keeping this shooting discipline active and encouraging others to take up the challenge, many thanks for your support, guidance and encouragement.