Following on from the success of the recent BFTO OBR Competition, on Saturday 30th August we welcomed members of Chippenham Rifle and Pistol Club to a friendly OBR competition.

The purpose was to expand our benchrest network, give our members the chance to shoot against another club and to continue the growth of this type of competition within the club.

A 3 card competition as is standard in UK and world benchrest was undertaken.

We added a formal lunchbreak rather than a rolling competition so that the shooters could banter more and learn from each other’s experiences.

After the introduction and safety brief the competition was underway.

Round 1 saw scores in the mid to upper 240’s with a great effort by Megan Huckle (our secret weapon) of 248/9x

Round 2 with everyone shooting at a different bench, saw Mike Barkus pop in a 248/9x from bench 4 and take the lead, but things were very tight with Richard Simkin also adding a 248/9x. The wind was proving to be very tricky and bench allocation was playing it’s part with No1 almost like an indoor range whilst 5&6 as is the norm, tripping people up as the wind whipped in from the car park.

Round 3 saw some hefty come backs with Stuart Woods laying down a 248/8x, Dean Bateman a 249/16x and to top it off Steve Drew from Chippenham shot magnificently to add his first outdoor 250 with 12x.

Then came a nail biting wait whilst our scorers collated the final 3 card totals.

Results

1st Mike Barkus 739 35x

2nd Steve Drew 739 28x

3rd Richard Simkin 737 21x

Team scores

Bisley 4407

Chippenham 4350

Everyone had a fantastic day in what we hope will be the forerunner to some serious inter club comps and potentially inter club leagues. There was a lot of friendly banter, too much cake eating and by the way, the lemon drizzle cake was something else!!!

Our next venture will be a return match at Chippenham where we will get to experience their world class 25/50 metre range with 18 bench spaces and hopefully their brand new indoor range with 10 bench spaces.

Dates and arrangements to follow.