Building a benchrest rifle

[Lee Martin]

Match #136
Black Creek Gun Club – Mechanicsville, Virginia
IBS VFS 100 Yards
_______________________________________________

Third win in a row, but it didn’t come easy. Unlike Black Creek’s February match, the wind was manageable. 5 to 10 mph throughout the day. The mirage was a different story. When we arrived, temperatures were in the low 30’s. Those quickly rose to low 50’s over the course of the morning. As that happened, the ground warmed and the mirage hit us hard. The crosshairs bounced more than a ring-and-a-half, forcing you to guess POA. Enough so that a lot of folks dropped points.

My mentor Wayne France and I battled back and forth target after target. It came down to the last frame. He was on the bench to my right, which made it even more competitive. He had a 1 X lead going into target #5, but I owned the tiebreaker. I nabbed 4 X’s to his 3, taking the win.





The key to ‘down to the wire’ finishes is simply shoot your match. Don’t worry about the guy nipping at your heels. Normally, I don’t even look at the results until we’re done. I’m the match Director for Black Creek however. I score the targets and enter them into the computer. There’s no way around knowing where everyone stands.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #137
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, Virginia
UBR VFS 200 Yards
________________________________________________________

Well, it was supposed to be a 200 yard match. I arrived at the range around 6:30 to help set-up. Rain was coming down hard and the temperature was 34 degrees. By 7:00, the rain turned to snow and the wind picked-up a lot. Gusts were well above 20 mph. Temps were teens with the wind chill. We toughed it out, got the frames and targets hung at 200 yards, and waited for 9:00. At 8:30, I peeked through my scope and saw nothing. And I mean nothing. For one, the snow was blowing under the roof and soaking the glass. A quick wipe down with a lens cloth and another glance. Still nothing. The snow was so hard and the wind so intense, it was pretty much a white out. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. The snow was blowing horizontally. No one else could see their target, let alone the frames at 200 yards. Rather than waste the day, we moved the backers and flags into 100 yards. Ten competitors muddled through the elements. It was definitely odd shooting 200 yard targets at 100 paces. With those conditions, staying in the 10 ring wasn’t easy, even if it was twice as big.

You had to wait for the wind to die down enough to see the bulls. Quickly find your POA, hold for a semi-manageable condition, and fire away. Picking up the holes was arduous. Somehow, I managed to keep them all in the 10-ring and took 2nd place. Wayne France shot extremely well and won the match. We left half frozen, with soaked clothing and wet equipment. But none of that mattered. What does are the memories I took home from the “white out match”.

My 2nd place was good enough to give me the FR&GC Winter League Championship. I also won the Black Creek 100 yard Winter League for the 3rd time.

A view of the 100 yard line from the bench. Notice the snow on top of the towel thrown over the gun. As for the target frames, good luck finding them in this picture:



After the match, the wind and snow tapered off. It seems to always play out like that. We finish and the weather improves.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #138
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, VA
IBS VFS 100 Yards

April started with back-to-back 100 yard score matches. Both threw tricky conditions our way. Black Creek was manageable on wind, but brutal on the mirage front. Temps rose from mid-30’s to low 50’s in quick order. As that occurred, the reticles danced incessantly. Shooting the let-ups never gave much risk of blowing a 9. But hitting the dot inside the 10 ring was challenging. As the cross hairs bounced, I found myself guessing on point of aim (POA). I had a decent lead through 3 targets. Then the mirage increased and my educated guesses on POA didn’t pan out. I finished in ho-hum fashion, taking only 2 X’s on each of the last two frames. Even so, it was good enough for 3rd place.



_______________________________________________________

Match #139
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, Virginia
IBS VFS 100 Yards

Fairfax was the opposite of Black Creek. Mirage was light, but the wind wreaked havoc on all of us. Oddly, it never looked as bad as what it did to the bullets. Gusts were 10 – 12 mph, however it frequently subsided. I was shooting next to Michael Poole and we thought we were competing for 4th or 5th position. John Bosley was on a roll until the wind caught him and he shot a 9. The same happened to Wayne France. When it was all over, Michael and I tied with top scores of 250-17X. He got me on the tie-breaker though. How deceptive was the wind that day? Out of 14 experienced shooters, only 5 stayed clean.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #140
Black Creek Gun Club, Mechanicsville, Virginia
IBS VFS 100 Yards

Three straight matches and three identical finishes was the story for May. The Black Creek event was well attended, and the conditions weren’t bad. The wind was switchy, but never got much over 8 – 10 mph. My gun shot well, yet another slow start forced me to pick up ground as the frames progressed. Either way, Michael Poole had the gun to beat, setting the bar high with three straight 5X targets. I pulled closer as the day went on but couldn’t catch him. However, I was pleased with a 2nd place finish.



_____________________________________________________________

Match #141
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club, Manassas, Virginia
Virginia State Championship - IBS VFS 100/200 Yards

The Virginia State Championship was hampered by miserable weather. It poured rain for two days prior and got even worse on Saturday. We waded through standing water to set flags and got drenched in the process. The wind was blowing hard too. All of this kept many at home. Only 10 showed up to brave the elements. Three of those ten quit halfway through the 200 yard leg.

My gun shot tight, and I stayed clean at 200. In fact, I tied for the best score but Michael Poole took me on the tie-breaker. We switched to 100 yards in the afternoon and the result was the same. Another slow start like Black Creek had me chasing him for the lead. Once again, I finished 2nd behind him at both 100 yards and in the final agg.



My gun on the line:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[squawberryman]

It'd be awesome if you could get sponsored by a dryer sheet company

[Lee Martin]

Match #142
Orrington & Damariscotta, Maine
The Maine Firecracker - IBS VFS 100/200/300 Yards

_____________________________________________________________________

Good friend Wayne France and I traveled 1,900 miles round trip for the 3-day Maine Firecracker. The format is unique in that we shoot 100 and 200 yards across two days in Orrington, ME. Then Sunday night, we travel 100 miles down the coast, set flags, and do the 300 yard leg in Damariscotta on Monday. You couldn’t ask for a nicer bunch of guys to compete against. 34 guns were on-hand necessitating three relays.

As usual, the wind was nasty. It blew hard Saturday in every direction, but I managed to stay clean and take 11th place. Sunday’s 200 yard leg gave stiff wind too and I was in 4th place after three targets. Then I got caught twice on hard switches and dropped two points. A hard switch is when you hold for one condition and just as you touch the trigger, the flags flip the other way. Even so, I was able to take 11th place again.

Wayne France checking flags after we set them Friday afternoon:





View of the 200 yard match:





Sunday was even worse on wind. Damariscotta is in my opinion the toughest range to shoot. It’s located a few miles off the Atlantic coast and the air is intense and swirls. Hitting a ¼” dot at 300 yards is quite challenging. Normally I finish better at 100 & 200 yards, but this year I shot solid and was 9th at 300. In the grand aggregate, I was 8th. This is the second year in a row I was able to land in the top 10. Wayne took 3rd. Randy Jarvis won the 100, 200, 300, and grand aggregate. He pretty much put on a clinic. I’m already looking forward to the 2023 Firecracker.

Sunday night flag setting for 300 yards, looking back at the firing line:



300 yards:





-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #143
Black Creek Gun Club – Mechanicsville, VA
IBS VFS 100/100 Yard Aggregate

This match was the first of two 100/100 yard aggregate events I hold every year at Black Creek. The weather was 90 degrees, but even so we had 20 competitors show up. In match #1, I couldn’t find a good rhythm. Wind was light, mirage was present but manageable. Despite a gun which shot dots in the sighter box, I kept narrowly missing X’s. I came on strong in the end and took 6th place. Things improved in match #2. I found some holds which worked, even though the wind intensified. I tied Michael Poole with 21 X’s, but he got me on the tiebreaker. So 2nd place in match #2, and 3rd place in the overall aggregate.

___________________________________________________________

Match #144
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club – Manassas, VA
IBS VFS 100 Yards

I let the gun down in this one. Between the warm-up target and first three record frames, I never missed an X. And many of those were straight wipe-outs. By match #4, the wind became a bit more challenging, but nothing brutal. I tried finessing shots and lost X’s. Michael Poole on the other hand damn near pulled off a perfect 25 X. On the last target, he missed one by a few hundredths. I finished with 22 X’s for 2nd place. Michael took the win with 24 X’s. He’s been on fire of late and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

__________________________________________________________

Match #145
Black Creek Gun Club – Mechanicsville, VA
IBS VFS 100 Yards

Carbon copy start to the last match at Fairfax. I nailed the first 20 X’s including the warm-up. 17 of those were wipe outs, meaning the dot was completely shot out. And just like Fairfax, the wind intensified in match #4 and #5. I had a 3 X lead going into the fourth frame and couldn’t hold it. Jeff Van Zile finished strong and squeaked by me with 21 X’s. I ended-up in 2nd place out of 18 with 20 X’s.





-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #146
Caledonia Forest & Stream Club - Johnsbury, VT
IBS Vermont State Championships – 100/200 Meters
_______________________________________________________

Good friend Wayne France and I traveled 1,500 miles round trip to upstate Vermont to attend their State Championship. This was a meter match, meaning 100 meters (109 yards) and 200 meters (218 yards). I’ve been wanting to shoot Caledonia for a while now. The range is set within an area dug out for gravel mining. In fact, to the right of the club is an active dig:



Looking down on the range from the top of the gravel pit:



I never figured the terrain would play into our shooting, but it did. The ranges are built on old gravel pits with a sand/gravel base. The walls are lined with pine trees. Saturday morning started with temperatures in the 40’s. That quickly rose to 70 degrees by late morning. Couple that with a gravel base enclosed by hills and pine trees and you get the worst mirage I’ve ever shot through. At 100 meters, you couldn’t see the dot let alone the rings. It was a complete blur. Even worse, the reticle never stopped bouncing. Knowing my gun has been shooting tight, I guessed the center point of the ‘bouncing blur’, waited for the flags to calm a little, and broke the trigger (aka ‘spray and pray’). It was good enough to get me 3rd place at 100. Sunday brought the same. But at 200 meters, it was hard to see the bullet holes. Plus, the mirage was doubly bad. For much of the day, competitors couldn’t see bullet holes at all. We were literally shooting blind. Miraculously, I didn’t drop a point until the 4th target. And somehow on frame #1, I hit 4 out of the 5 X’s. I muddled through a nerve-wracking 5th paper and hit all 10’s and 2 X’s. That gave me 3rd place at 200 and 3rd place in the aggregate. We had a wonderful time, and the match couldn’t have been run better. We’ll add this as a must-do event in the years to come.







View from behind my rifle @ 100 meters:



The benches are unique. They’re U shaped with wood tops. But there were solid and easy to shoot off.



Wayne France working at 200 meters:





-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[jager]

Hey, Lee. Jeff Hughes here. I just want to thank you for this remarkable thread. I've read slowly through every post in it over these last few months, trying to absorb the incredible amount of information, wisdom, and nuance to be found here. I had to smile when, searching Google for something or other to do with Benchrest a few months ago... it brought me here... to a site mostly dedicated to single-action revolvers. Perhaps it knew that I also have long had an abiding fondness for wheelguns (Among other things, I shot IHMSA back in 80's. Seeing David Bradshaw here - now there was a name from back in the day! - has certainly been another treat).

Anyway, it was almost exactly a year ago that I wandered over to the Fairfax Rod & Gun Club website, saw that there was a Benchrest match coming up, and sent an email to Wayne (France), asking if I could come watch. Of course, Wayne was his usual welcoming, gracious self... as were you. It didn't take me long to know that this Varmint for Score thing was something I wanted to do. I'm still way early on the learning curve. But I can't thank you enough for all the help you've been, both at the matches and in this truly amazing thread.

Congrats on another great result up in Vermont. Hope to see you Saturday at Black Creek!

[Lee Martin]

Jeff - I'm so glad you're enjoying this thread and even more glad you starting shooting benchrest with us. David Bradshaw is a dear friend and suggested I document my journey into BR. That's how this post started back in 2013. Hard to believe that was 9 years ago.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at Black Creek.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #147
Black Creek Gun Club – Mechanicsville, VA
IBS 100 Yard VFS

For the 8th time, I shot 24 X’s in a match, securing a win and another screamer award. One of these days I hope to hit 25, but in the meantime I’m happy with the gun and how I’m steering it. I was even happier with the turnout at Black Creek. We had 20 competitors on a beautiful day. Temps were in the 80s and the wind was manageable. There was a bit of swirl, but nothing too hard.




___________________________________________________________________________________

Match #148
Fairfax Rod & Gun Club – Manassas, VA
IBS 100 Yard VFS

We had another nice turnout with 23 shooters and even better weather than the prior week. Temperatures were mid 70s and the wind was a calm 3 – 5 mph. Periodically the air was completely still. And that can cause problems at Fairfax. For some reason, when the wind comes to an abrupt halt, funny things happen to bullets there. Nothing horrible, but you’ll lose an X when everything seems spot on. Of my five missed X's, I was clueless why the shot flicked off the dot. 20 X’s and 5th place was respectible. George Rogers put on a clinic, shooting 23 X’s with a 6 PPC.





-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[Lee Martin]

Match #149
Ashe County Wildlife Club – Laurel Springs, NC
IBS 100/200 Yard VFS Nationals
__________________________________________________________

This year’s IBS 100/200 yard Nationals were held at Ashe County Wildlife Club in Laurel Springs, NC. I’ve shot there five times prior and really like the facility. 54 guns showed up for the two-day event. Rain was always a threat but never amounted to much more than a light drizzle. Wind was extremely mild and cool temperatures nixed mirage.

In Saturday’s 100 yard set, good friend Wayne France and I battled back in forth, but both finished with 250-21X’s. That high an X count usually puts you closer to the top. However, this was the Nationals. My score gave me 12th place and Wayne took 11th on the tiebreaker. Not bad against 54 solid shooters.

Sunday served more of the same for 200 yards. The weather played nice and after 3 targets, Wayne was in 1st place and I was in 2nd. I had a nice 4th target, whereas he missed some X’s. Then came the fifth frame. Wayne went first and stayed clean but couldn’t find the dot. I shot relay #2 and experienced déjà vu. Last year at the 100/200 Nationals in Fairfax, a bit of dirt got trapped inside my chamber / lug abatement portion of the action. Once cleared, I had 1 minute to shoot 4 bulls. By then the wind had picked up and bullets were being blown everywhere. The grace of God must’ve been with me because I stayed clean and took 3rd in the overall event. My highest placement ever at a Nationals. Fast forward to this year’s 100/200 Nationals. I’m on the last target and the gun is shooting tight. I drill the first two and come around to run the last 3 quick (the conditions were perfect, and I knew what hold to use). Upon pulling the trigger, all I heard was “click”. I tried cocking the gun again without hitting too much of the extraction cam. No dice. I had to pull the bolt. When I did, of course the bullet stuck and powder went everywhere. The primer was struck plenty hard. It was just a dead cap. I ran back to my loading table, grabbed a cleaning rod, a can of compressed air, and a bore mop. I was able to get it cleared, but it took a lot of time. There were 1 ½ minutes to shoot three bulls. And just like last year, the wind which had been light all weekend, started to really blow. I had time for a couple of sighters. Firing two into a hard right to left wind showed 2.5” of push at 200. I waited 10 – 20 more seconds and luckily the wind died down a little. Yet it was still harder than anything I had faced during the event. With 1 minute left, I landed the last three 10 rings but missed the X each time. I finished with 250-11Xs and so did Wayne. This time I took him on the tiebreaker for 6th place at 200. In the grand agg, I finished 9th and he took 8th. So basically, we flip-flopped on tiebreakers all weekend, shooting identical scores. Joey Whittington, who shoots with us at Black Creek won the 100 yard leg. Johnny Mayo won the 200 yard event and the overall aggregate.

View of 100 yards from behind my gun:







200 yards:



These are long days when the alarm goes off at 5:00 AM. They’re even longer when you’re up the night before drinking beer with fellow competitors:



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[bradshaw]

Lee.... congratulations on showing how it’s done with some super shooting. The RYTHM we talked about, cadence of motion taking over. Chips are down, clock running out... to quote a dancer I know, “The mind is a muscle.” Without the rhythm you displayed, molecules of panic would have crept in. Having read and re-read your description, I’ll read it again. This stuff builds sharpshooting.
David Bradshaw

[seminolewind]

This thread is way out of my wheelhouse, but I really enjoy reading about the challenges and skill involved in this level of competition. Thanks Lee for taking us along on your quest for excellence.

[silcott]

I have a benchrest rifle that I built around 12 years ago. Have not even shot it. It's a blueprinted Remington 700 with an oversized bolt. Barreled and chambered in 30BR by Sid Goodling. Gun has a 2oz trigger, Weaver target scope, Kelby stock. Also have brass and bullets for it. Just don't have the time to dedicate to it that it needs.

Probably going to list it for sale.


Justin