Many thanks Charlie
One of the problems at present is that the NSRA do not take the discipline that seriously and their rules are different to UK22BR
Also county associations have their rules for benchrest that again differ to both NSRA and UK22BR
Some of the county rules have not been carefully thought through
For example Yorkshire allow .22 rimfire to compete against air rifle but they further handicap the poor air rifle shooter by specifying wadcutters only despite all holes being probed with a .22 guage - Why?
Extensive testing of 18 members PCP .177 rifles at our club show that all of these rifles consistently achieve tighter groups with top quality round nosed pellets such as AA/JSB/Daystate rather than the match wadcutters on offer
With quality ammunition the best 3 air rifles in our club (all AA400 Classics) give group sizes at 25 yards that are only 1.5mm - 2mm greater CTC than an Anschutz rimfire target rifle
Our Winter league club shoot (which is over 9 rounds - 20 shots/round) has been won with a AA400 Classic (2nd to 6th places were however .22 rimfire).
So the airgun shooter has a good chance of competing as long as he/she does the hard work of testing different makes and head sizes of pellets.
We have 2 shooters who use recoiling spring air rifles for benchrest. Again Yorkshire league rules state that the top of the front rest must be solid (eg wood)and shooting a springer off a block of wood is not conducive to tight groups
So the proposed rules are to be as fair as possible to everyone and at least consistent with one of the bigger associations (UK22BR)
Rear rests are very cheap to buy or very easy to make at minimal cost. So there is no substantial saving to the shooter in excluding them
The real cost to benchrest is the purchase or manufacture of the tables and the adjustable front rest (if deemed necessary by the shooter).
Again many of our shooters have home made excellent front rests. Height adjustment of the muzzle (between top and bottom rows of diagrams) is achieved by sliding the bottom sloping rear part of the rifle stock along the rear rest.
Thanks again for your input and i will keep you informed of progress
ATB
John