No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Front-stuffers, smoke-belchers and .22 BPCR!
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Snake
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No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by Snake »

Sadly the BPCR silhouette program at the St. Louis bench Rest Club has been nixed for 2018. It has been in the red for three years running and the ax has fallen. However there will be a two day Regional in June. Please address any thoughts, complaints, wishes or bitches to the Board of Directors, Bench Rest Club, 2280 Kohn Road, Wright City, MO 63390 =((
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by Snake »

As it develops there may be a way of salvaging these matches. However we need some input from competitors or would be competitors. So PM me
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

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My attempt to rescue the program failed miserably. I got the club to let me hold a 60 round redemption/experiment match on May 19....if it broke even and just covered costs (labor being the big one) the program would be back in 2019. On May 19 I had a total of 7 shooters and the match did not break even. No matter how I tried, cajoled, and encouraged ....the program got little support. i even had fellas with the equipment come watch because they hadn't 'practiced' ...so now i got a bunch of costly equipment to sell....I only shot this game to support it. So remember if you don't support your sport don't assume it will be there when you find the time.
For now the regional BPCR is it and if this year's a bust then we got trouble for 2019. So all you guys that gotta practice....thanks :-l
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Re: Saddened to hear your situation

Post by richard »

We are near Philadelphia, PA but are saddened to hear what is happening at your club. All of these matches,whatever discipline, are quite fragile. We like to highlight the champion shooters,which I understand and admire, however the real heros of the shooting sports are the guys that run the matches at the local level and the clubs that support them. We have lost so many matches locally over the years because either the match director got tired or ill, the attendance fell off or the club, for whatever reason withdrew support. We at our club are trying to keep some disciplines alive but it is difficult when the facility gets closed to general members so that a match can be run and only 6 or 7 people show up. I really wish there was a proven solution but we do keep trying. As far as profit is concerned we do not lose money but don't make a lot for the club either. Unforunately some clubs think matches should make them lots of money.
Again, sorry to hear your too familiar story.
Rick Bassett
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by Snake »

This event is by no means rare. I notice a significant drop in most silhouette disciplines. The current trend is apparently toward tactical type events. And other trends such as taking hunting rifle from off the shelf factory rifles to hybrids...so the potential newbie is thrust into the equipment race. We effectively discouraged the deer hunter from even trying. Then when we stopped moving national smallbore competition around the country and tied it to high power we cut a big group of smallbore only shooters out of national competition and a bunch of those are young people who probably would have progressed to centerfire if we hadn't screwed up the hunting rifle division. Two things would help brings things back a bit 1) limit hunter rifle to off the shelf rifles with no more than 12x scopes and 2) move the smallbore nationals around the country preferably months away from high power. And maybe if more manufacturers would help out. These things will help attract new blood...but they're not cure alls. Just my opinion
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by dustinflint »

Snake,

Sorry to hear about this. I can't believe that your beautiful club would ever have any problem getting shooters out for any discipline.

Is it possible to shoot the BPCR match on the same day as your regular HP match - maybe after HP is over? Speaking of HP, how is your attendance at those matches?

Did you ever give any more thought to cutting some beefy 3/8 scale targets and having a silhouette match for the benchrest shooters right next to your normal HP shooters? I think it'd be a good challenge to hit a 3/8 scale ram at 500 meters off the bench in the wind - and as many benchrest shooters as you guys have, you'd think you'd at least get a few out to try it. That match could probably be shot in conjunction with a BPCR match too to drive up attendance.

Looking forward to seeing you guys in August.

Dustin
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by Snake »

We have a long standing rule...if a discipline loses money for 3 consecutive years its match dates become available...in other words you are done until enough interest (crabbing at the board or President) is shown again and a match director can be found. BPCR used to drawn 30-60 at a club match. Most of those guys are older although there are suddenly an increase in young shooters (ages 17-25)...be that as it may there has been a steady decline in attendance over the last 5 years. Generally speaking Cowboy lever is scheduled after the club HP match.
Interestingly F-Class, and a version of PRS (Practical Rifle Shooting) known as a Know your limits match has attracted a bunch of shooters...for example the Sierra F-Class championship was sold out for 5 months and they had as many on a waiting list as entrants....80. That's 160 at our club for two days. Go figure :-?
The club has acquired a plasma cutter and computer controls with a 6' table and we can cut anything up to 1.5" of high carbon steel and any shape you can draw or scan. The plan is to make small regular steel targets (crows, Prairie dogs etc) and then from the bench the 'competitor' is timed and scored on how many he can knock down ...he stops at his miss. The smaller targets have higher points. The Know your Limits has a similar format except the shooter is given various challenges...like shooting from a ramp or through a fence etc.
Anyway...anybody want to buy my '74 Sharps with xxx wood, French Gray receiver and more? =((
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by BrentD »

I posted this on the blackpowder reloading facebook page, but I'll add it here too.
Bob and Pat hosted one more (perhaps the last?) BPCR regional last weekend. It was a great match with a 60-shot Saturday and a 40-shot Sunday. Those us that made it all had a great time. But sadly, there were fewer people than ever. Many regulars were absent. I knew coming in that we would be badly missing Ken Pointer and Al Kunkle, two regulars to this match who are no longer with us. But we also missed quite a few more regulars and "sometimers" that I hope are okay and that we will get to see again sometime soon. You guys were missed. I know I won't get to see Ken and Al again, but I wonder if I'll ever get to see some of the others that I expected there. Where were the Kansans, Kentuckians, and Georgians, in particular? Well I hope to see you all up ahead.

I also want to thank The Swiss Black Powder Company for donating a case of powder to the Missouri BPCR Regional match last weekend. It was a good time and I even managed to place, though I did not shoot well. The weather was "interesting" on Saturday, though my scores can only be blamed on me. Sunday was ideal, though breezy to be sure.

The big reason for going to these matches is to see old friends and meet new ones. I hope we don't miss any more.

Thanks again, Bob and Pat

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Snake
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by Snake »

Mr. Kirkland of Schuetzen Powder Dynamics is a very generous businessman and is a solid supporter of black powder sports. Thank you Mr. Kirkland I hope to have occasion to mooch for help on matches in the future
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45bpcr
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by 45bpcr »

I've never been that far west.
But that is a stunningly beautiful range.
It always breaks my heart to see any shooting venue end.

Craig
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by Snake »

Folks assume, I guess, that programs will always be there...so its easy to skip out to mow the grass or play golf and go next time....but this is a perfect example that sometimes there ain't no next time. So all that costly equipment sits idle until it dawns on everyone that maybe you should speak up, participate, or live with gardening golf or taking about what was. The beauty of all silhouette disciplines is that they aren't easy...they provide the unique experience of competition against ourselves; the other competitors are just trimmings. Punching paper provides anonymity ...no one knows how you did until the targets are scored later. In our game everyone sees what you did immediately....its a real game...it requires courage and some skill and our comrades are the finest shooters bar none! It ain't for weenies.
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BrentD
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by BrentD »

I can agree with ALL of that.

Shoot while you can. There will come a time when you can't, but until then...

SHOOT!
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by SSShooter »

Sorry to read this thread. Had planned to shoot St. Louis, Effingham and a couple of matches in the mountain states in 2019. Think time & cost are our great enemies (amongst others) in maintaining our sport. Time marches on for all of us and I'm lucky to still be shooting as a super-senior. In today's world of instant gratification, taking the time to load accurate ammo, to say nothing of the time required to develop accurate loads, is significant. Add in the costs of the equipment we use and traveling to & from match(es), motels or RVs and it is not inexpensive in both $$ & time. Not like a $1200 AR and accurate 'off-the-shelf' ammo. Our sport has demands that many (most?) younger shooters can't (won't?) put up with. The lucky few younger shooters that join us generally have had the support of fathers, grandfathers, etc., to get them started. Even then, they rarely stay with the sport as the siren-song of peer-pressure and video screens and flipper-thumbs moves them on. Hopefully, when these younger folks are older they will reconnect to the sport and it wont' die. But, with fewer than 20 shooters at each of the three regional/state championship matches I'm aware of this past weekend, the future doesn't look bright.
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Re: No more BPCR at Bench Rest

Post by jimkidwell »

Glen, Well said...............
See you at the Nationals.........
....................................Jim
You are a ghost driving a meat covered skeleton made from stardust riding a rock floating through space.
Fear nothing. (anon)……………………
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