Thread: Nelson (or other areas) Benchrest Shooting

Gidday all from the "deep south"

To the best of my knowledge there isnt any 22 benchrest shooting done down here . . . . And I was thinking about getting it going.

If there are any guys on here who shoot it could you post up some pics of gear, targets (especially scored ones) and the like, I'd love to see how things are done @Grey Kiwi and @Kiwi Greg

Cheers

Have you looked at the TSNZ website.
TSNZ Outdoor Benchrest
Outdoor & Indoor benchrest is supported.

I've shot smallbore benchrest 25 yards indoors for 2 seasons using the standard benchrest target at my local smallbore club.

One of the club members built two fold down tables at the range (one for lefties & one for righties).
When not in use the tables fold up to allow "normal" prone shooting.

OK...my best target so far (but I am trying to improve!).
The middle section is for sighters.
The '3 B' on the target is showing I shot in detail 3, on bench B.

I'll try to get some photos this afternoon when I'm at the range to show our setup.

@Cyclops Hey thanks for that, hadn't seen it. What target are you mainly shooting for what sort of scores?

Im thinking of 50M outdoors but am intetested in other formats

Originally Posted by Grey Kiwi

OK...my best target so far (but I am trying to improve!).
The middle section is for sighters.
The '3 B' on the target is showing I shot in detail 3, on bench B.

I'll try to get some photos this afternoon when I'm at the range to show our setup.

Attachment 232673

Awesome thanks! Some photos of the sort of setup required to shoot at that level would be cool!

@Tentman I use a CZ457. Was an At-One model but I changed out to an Oryx chassis (and made no difference to my scores!).
Polished the CZ trigger sear, polished the bolt body, stuck on a Sightron Slll ED 45x45 scope, and a Lowey barrel tuner...and Bob's your uncle!
Those wee CZ's shoot very well, and not too dear new when compared to an Anschutz, etc.
The advantage to me for the chassis system is the ease of adding on the other bits (eg. front and rear bag slider).
Here's a few pic's of the CZ457 (showing the odd variation that I've tried). Currently has a wooden 'pencil' style cheek rest as that's what I like, and need as my buggered neck needs some support.
Made both the bag riders from aluminium, and polished them on a polishing mop (ex Bunnings) mounted in my drill press. All the polished alloy in the pic's is hand made with a hacksaw, flat and 1/2 round file, and time. Took maybe 3 hours to make and polish the bits.





Have gone on to a Farley co-axial (joystick) front rest now (had a Bald Eagle...but like the joystick control better).
Some folks just use a scissor car jack with a sand bag on top, and maybe a welded on base (an old disc brake rotor is common).

Originally Posted by Tentman

@Cyclops Hey thanks for that, hadn't seen it. What target are you mainly shooting for what sort of scores?

I'm shooting a left hand Anschutz rifle with a March Scope - on of my few scopes that would focus down to 25 yards (or less) at higher power. I generally shoot at 40x.

The scope with sunshade is the length of the stock from back of the action to the front of the stock.
I'm using a Seb mini rest with homemade cushions as the smallbore rifle is very narrow.

I'm still learning my trade as a seated shooter.
I normally shoot two cards/night so my score is out of 200.20, my average is 198.13, my worst 196.14, my best 200.19

The attached image is of 2 standard cards, one of my better evenings with each card scoring 100.09
I had to reduce the image size to get it to load.

Wow, very nice shooting guys and great info!

I really should add that when starting out you can do OK with an old BSA Martini action rifle, with a $300 Vector scope (10-40x50 made in China).
Front rest from a scissor jack, and a front, and rear sandbag.
$1000 total may be do-able.
Want quality? New Anschutz starts at ~$4500 for bare rifle.
So you can match your wallet to your expectations I guess. But no need to spend big bucks when starting out, and if you have no aspirations to shoot in the NZ Olympic team then you should be able to find a $ level of equipment to suit you.

My smallbore setup.
Have swapped scope from Vortex Golden Eagle to March, and rest from Caldwell to Seb Mini.
But it gives the idea of the setup.

Table folds up to the range wall when not in use.



Had most of the gear already, bought used second hand Anschutz without sights and new rests.

The aim (apart from hitting the target) is to have fun on the winter's nights.

Hey thanks for the most informative posts guys.

Are any venues shooting the TSNZ "sporting rifle" class?

Is it mostly front rests or are bipods used by some?

Some of our Saxton Field guys shoot Sporter class.
Apparently my chassis option puts me out of that class now.
Personally...I like front rests.
Bipods? I have one on my CZ455 but yet to shoot it.
Hardy Rifles supplied the RR-EO1 carbon fibre bipod.
It's a nice wee rifle though, and will be good for varmints too.
CZ455 'American' (I think), with 20" bull barrel. Should be fine for Sporter Class.
Nikko Stirling 8-24x50 scope. Not really 'big' enough magnification wise (hey, I'm 76 and old eyes need a lot of help!). But I bought what I could afford.
However...no one in our group is now using a bipod. The front rest does make life a bit easier...but it is a lot more gear/weight to lug around.

The target is very important, the one above from Grey Kiwi is the current one we shoot, anything 100.5 plus is pretty hard to shoot

Previous ones were easier with 100.8-9 were regular & 100.10 commonish

Its difficult to strike a happy medium, not too easy, but not too hard

It is way harder than it looks or appears as a few experienced prone shooters have found to their inconvenience, "How hard can it be with a 40+ power scope at 25 yards with a rest"

The sport is growing thanks mainly to GS driving here, he is considered to be the father of benchrest in this country

There are a growing number older prone shooters who are finding it difficult to get up & down or have eyesight issues but still want to continue shooting, Benchrest is perfect for them

Its easy enough to convert their prone rifles

Shooting outside from a bench at 50m is were its at

Yup. Was thinking of the oldef boys .
.... I have GSs details now and will seek his thoughts. Thanks