Airgun Benchrest

[steviebee]

Hi all.
I shoot regular small bore in benchrest comps, and in the past shot 10M, air rifle.
however with the advent of my FAC renewal and cant really face long term the hassel of it again.
quite interested in if there is an active interest in 25m benchrest for airguns? are there any purpose build benchrest guns at normal sub 12 ft/lb level?
cheers

[Jezzer]

Few companies do actual benchrest air rifles, Ataman do a competitive one at a decent price. A good option would be to get a good second hand Air Arms HFT500 and put it in a BR stock, put a Sightron 36x fixed power scope on top and you'll have a really good setup.

[pennineway.fswo]

Rapid do a popular benchrest pcp at a fair price and if you have £4k to spend, then Thomas Air rifles will supply you a BR 12 ft lb model. Importing the Thomas may present problem. Or you could buy a wedge to fit the stock dovetail and fit it to a HFT 500, an EV2 or similar FT rifle.

[Jesim1]

There is quite a big following for 25m BR in the UK with Sub 12fpe air guns, but not that many purpose built manufactured ones. It's far more common for people to either use stands, bipods, or a custom stock for BR, and dozens of rifles are regularly used for it from the cheap to the elite.

A few which are used for it, especially at club level are:

Daystate Red Wolf
Daystate Wolverine R
Steyr LG110
HFT500
FTP900
Walther LG400
FWB P800
TM1000
Annie 9015
Tsar/Ataman M2

Ask at a local club or join the UK benchrest club: https://www.benchrestuk.com/

[Tommyj157]

There is purpose built rifles but they will be very expensive. Have a look at a RAW TM1000 or a Thomas Rifle

[XDRIVER]

Had good results with a Sports match gc2, the air arms ftp 900 is popular at our club and the peop!e who have them score very well. I think the airgun route for bench rest can be very expensive and the results are not as good as smallbore. I have shot a lot of 25yard bench rest with smallbore and that would be my choice, however if you do not want to renew your FAC then I would look at the ftp 900.

[I. J.]

Don't forget the lowly AA S400 (don't laugh). The ONLY person to date to score a 230 and received a Chinese Dentist Award for this achievement in our Inter Club (Rochdale v Rivi R.) and Internal 50M Bench Rest (type) competitions ( rules: 12" max-width front bipod and NO rearrest) was using a S400 beating several Daystates, Styers, LG400s etc. and that's after months of competitions.
Yes, I know it's down to the shooter but he's not repeated this feat using his 'lecy' Daystate.

[DM1964]

I had the LG400 but found it too much maintenance every time it came out of the case, even in our 10m rang it always needed zeroing before anything else, not just a tweak but full on zeroing session, I moved that on and started the hunt for either a FTP900 or an EV2 MKIV all the 900s I looked at looked like they had had a hard HFT life but I did find an immaculate "Blonde" EV2 MKIV and so glad I did, its pellet on pellet straight out of the case with minimal tweaking, I think any of the rifles @Jesmin1 has mentioned are more than capable but maybe two could be high maintenance, especially the 10m derived rifles.

[charliemow13]

If you wanted to keep shooting smallbore benchrest without the hassle of FAC renewals have a look round for a local smallbore club. I joined one primarily to train for 10m AP but as I'm now a full member I have access to the club guns and there's no shortage of encouragement from the other members to try bench or lightweight sporting rifle and have a go in the postal leagues. I still concentrate on AP but occasionally take one of my air rifles or try out one of the club guns for some variety.

[majex45]

A chap at our club does extremely well with a Weirauch HW100 another uses an Air Arms (possibly the S400 or 500). The Weirauch in particular regularly produces possibles.
The only problem is how to fit the forward rest plate with the multi curved stocks.

[Dylan1980]

Steyr lg110

[derekm]

Don't forget the lowly AA S400 (don't laugh). The ONLY person to date to score a 230 and received a Chinese Dentist Award for this achievement in our Inter Club (Rochdale v Rivi R.) and Internal 50M Bench Rest (type) competitions ( rules: 12" max-width front bipod and NO rearrest) was using a S400 beating several Daystates, Styers, LG400s etc. and that's after months of competitions.
Yes, I know it's down to the shooter but he's not repeated this feat using his 'lecy' Daystate.

7 or 8 years back an old boy in Scarborough Rifle club used an AA400 in a home made stock for benchrest and regularly scored 100 +4 or +5. He may have even had a PB higher than that. We used to joke that he had no pulse! He wasn't in brilliant health and has now passed on I believe.

[derekm]

7 or 8 years back an old boy in Scarborough Rifle club used an AA400 in a home made stock for benchrest and regularly scored 100 +4 or +5. He may have even had a PB higher than that. We used to joke that he had no pulse! He wasn't in brilliant health and has now passed on I believe.

Was down at the club last night and discussing the guy above, with our competitions organiser. The gun in question was an AA 410, not 400, on the homemade stock and he apparently regularly scored 100 + 10 and this was on the older targets, which I'm told are more difficult. He won a Yorkshire league with many cards at 100 + 10.

The answer to the OP then, years late (!), is "no, you don't need an all singing all dancing, electronic, this year's model with expensive optional stock etc." to be very successful at air rifle benchrest.

[Mark Palmer]

The top 10 regular scorers in my local BR25 , 8 use HFT500s, 1 an XTI50 and one a very tweaked HW100. These are off bipods and a rear bag on the whole, standard stocks, a couple use adjustable front rests of various designs and rear lab Jacks. I use diopters only, and use an Annie 9015, as do 3 others in the 15yd open sight competition.
Bang for buck, a HFT500 with the right pellets will take a lot of beating in my opinion

[joffy]

The old gun club I was a member of (bedford) used to run competitions through the year .....bench rest was open for airguns and rimfires on the 25m indoor range