Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting Varmint for Score

Today we shot the monthly Varmint for Score match at my local club and I was tickled to win with a score of, 250-16x.

It's an informal match and not sanctioned so we compete for bragging rights and try to back up our scores by shooting better next month, proving it wasn't a fluke.

We're not a big group, usually 10-12 shooters but there's no sympathy, if you drop a point you're "Toast"

I shot a 6mmBR for several seasons as most of the shooters do but I've been shooting a 30BR for a couple years now and as much as I love a good 6mmBR, there's no going back for this match.

Last month was the first match of the season and I shot the match but dropped a couple points below my average that stung but I found the problem.

I switched front rests in the off season and the front bag needed a bit more sand than I had realized. A simple fix but I've been too busy to practice and just showed up and shot the match with a slightly loose bag on the front rest...

Next month I gotta prove my win wasn't a fluke.
Anybody else shooting local Club Matches?


Prettiest of the day, after the clean barrel settled down...

Good shooting colodog.......

Thank you Sir.

The other 4 cards weren't quite as nice but I was able to hold on!

I don't get to hunt as much as I'd like and some day I won't hunt at all but I like to shoot and the local matches help me keep some focus on fundamentals.

Three more months at 100yds and then two at 200yds.

Nice shooting CD!

As to your question, yup I started shooting benchrest back about 2005 at matches ran by ole Dick Wright at Harrison. A few years later I started assisting Dick by doing the stats and calling the matches for one relay. Eventually I pretended to be a match director, ran the stats and also a range officer. My best score for score matches was a 250-23X, shot with a 6PPC. That was only good for second place that day. A gentleman shooting on the bench next to me shot a 250-25X, one of only a few shot at the Harrison range.

Good luck with the rest of your season!

Thanks, AJ

250-23x with a little ole 6mm is some crazy fine shooting but a 250-25x is top of the mark!

It feels like cheating shooting a .30 cal but I know there's much better shooters out there regardless of what they're shooting,

I've got some work to do to top out but if I shoot way over my head I'll check in to let you know.

Al,

The only 250 - 25X scores ever shot at Harrison were by Larry Feusse (He did it first) and Brian Albee (May he rest in peace). They were both shooting 30's. We started the matches in 1991 and there's been a lot of score shoots there since then. There was many a year when we had ten matches.

Since the Harrison matches moved to the Isabella County Sportsmans Club in Winn, MI this year most of our shooters have returned.

See you there 10 June. I should have my new gun by then and be able to shoot.

"Ole Dick Wright"

Hey Dick!

I thought Hutch also shot a 25X, might be wrong.

I might miss the match on the 10th, have to pick up a new pup from your buddy Mike's. Waiting to hear from Karen as to my appointment time.

Hope all is well with you and Glorya.

VFS is a fun game, and is quite popular with both IBS and NBRSA. It has an advantage for the hosting club there is no need for moving backers. And there is UBR matches that have different size scoring rings per biller size, to level the playing field.

Al,

I don't think Hutch ever shot a 250 - 25X. He's shot 24X... I think more than once. Hutch lurks here but doesn't contribute.

When you get up there, make Mike show you the shooting house. It's gotta be the best deer blind in the world. He's got a regular resort back there. There's a lot of pike in that pond and they taste good. (Classified.)

Chuck Grace promised to ship my rifle this week. If he does, I will probably end up fire forming brass at the match. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Been working on it for nearly two years.

Congrats on the new pup. Their blood lines are great.

Dick

I have run group matches w/o backers here for years. First in Harrison and, now, at the Isabella County Sportsmans Club just outside Mt. Pleasant, MI.

I started scoring BR matches in 1977 and have been doing it ever since. Over many years I have had exactly four targets turned in with less than five shots in the group... this with literally hundreds, probably thousands, of targets shot. It's pretty easy to identify a less-than-five-shot target when you have been doing it as long as I have.

One guy came into the scoring house immediately after shooting his target. He confessed... his first group match ever and he simple forgot. One guy I know was trying to cheat. (This character would run over his own mother to win something.) I have no explanation for the other two but it never happened again with any of them.

We are batting way more than 99%. In this area, the Northwoods, we don't have the general paranoia where everybody thinks everybody else would cheat. You try as hard as you can to win and, if you don't, you sincerely congratulate the guy who did. Our matches are fun and fair and friendly and have been successful for many years.

I don't know... there's either something in the water here or, maybe, something in the water in areas where everybody suspects everybody else of cheating. I'm glad I don't live and shoot in a place like that. I grew up on the basketball courts of Saginaw, MI and played for thirty years, first in high school, then college, and thereafter, at the YMCA and in city league. There I recieved what was probably the best education in sportsmanship one could get. Sport is so, so much better if you play it straight.

We are always telling members of The Club and the public to come and give this game a try and they always say "gee I won't be able to compete with you guys"

Phooey, Your shooting with me and competing against yourself.

We tell them to shoot one match, come back next month and beat their previous score.
Now you've got an average so try and beat that score. That's what we're all doing!

Somebody else has a higher score, so what ? He better have , he's been shooting this game for years !

It's very much a contest against myself and what I know I can shoot.

It's fun to hear some perspective from the more "Practiced Hands" at the game, Thanks Gentlemen!

He did the same thing to me. Back in 2004, the first match I shot with my new Kelbly rifle in Harrison, I shot a .170" agg. I was getting a fat head till I found that "f------ Brian" had shot a .160". I'll never forgive him... God rest his soul.

I remember the day he shot the 250 - 25X. He was really ill at that time and Helen had to stand beside him and load his gun. Damn... he could shoot... sick or not. He was shooting a 30 BR which is a huge advantage in score matches if one is shooting against 6's or 22's.

Mr. Wright

I sure enjoyed the heck out of driving 5 hours (2 1/2 each way) just to watch some of those matches! The Harrison bunch was a very tight group of dedicated and friendly competitors who always seemed willing to "hook" someone new into the BR game!

Thanks to you and all the Harrison gang for always making the trip worthwhile! Interested spectators were always made welcome!

Glad you enjoyed it. New shooters and spectators always welcome. Who are you? We've obviously met.

I doubt you'd remember me. Fat, dumb and ugly is the best description I can give! lol You folks invited me to the bar in town you guys always had meals at(that probably doesn't help much) after the match.
I never did shoot a match with you guys, just a bystander! I was tempted to try the factory class there but always wanted to watch and learn what I could (and if I remember right someone had a Kimber or other high end factory that dominated the class).

PM me with your email or street address and we will get you some match schedules for our matches at ICSC. The schedules have both a map and directions. We are just outside of Mt. Pleasant and, with the map, easy to find. We would love to have you come shoot with us... most any factory rifle works as long as the case capacity is no bigger than a .308 Win.

Dick

Thanks Mr. Wright! I found their site and downloaded the schedule. Looks like 4 vfs and 4 group! If I'm able I'll try and make it to one this year!

Match results, today I shot a 250-12x to beat the only other shooter that shot clean 250-10x.

It was cool and cloudy with some adventurous wind.

This is a fun match to shoot that's easy to get started in.

Don't pass up if you get the chance!

These matches sound like fun.. We will be in Mich. in Aug.. May try see if anything is going on..

Latest match update,

I managed a win with a score of 249-17x , It got hot and we had the usual summer mirage to fight with.

Nobody shot a clean 250 and of the few that shot 249 I won by X count.

Most impressive was a buddy shooting a .223 1-7 twist with 77 or 80gr bullets I don't remember which.

He shot his first 249-12x with those dinky .223 bullets, Wow.