The UKBR22 Nationals took place recently and by the sounds of it the competition was a huge success with a strong turnout, high scoring heats and some brilliant shooting.

We are proud to be a part of the UKBR22 and congratulations to all the winners from the weekend! Have a read below to find out how it all went down.

WORDS: Colin Rose, Event Organiser.
PHOTOS: Copyright of Colin Rose * UKBR22 Nationals.

The UKBR22 or to give us our Sunday name The United Kingdom Association of Rimfire and Air Rifle Benchrest Shooting holds a annual National competition for both Air Rifle and Rimfire Rifle High Accuracy shooting. We gather on the Friday of the August Bank Holiday Weekend which is our set up or practice day. The air rifle is shot over a distance of 25meters outdoors and consists of 2 classes, Light Hunter (10. lbs rifles) and Heavy Hunter (14.5lbs rifles). The rimfire is shot over 25meters indoors and 50meters outdoors with the same 2 weight classes.

Each round (or detail) consists of one card with 25 scoring targets on it, and you have a maximum of 20 minuets to shoot your card. By hitting the center you score 10 points and bu obliterating the center (tutching it in 50meter rimfire) you score a 10 X.

Sounds easy!!

OK, both competition days had tricky conditions, what little wind there was came and went very quickly, and the rising heat was also causing a few problems for the shooters.

The results are as follow (keep in mind that the maximum score in each discipline was 750 and 75 X’s)

Air Hunter Light Varmint (Shot on Saturday with an entry of 18)
1st – David Hopkins with a score of 735 and 18 X’s
2nd – Carl Hanson with a score of 734 and 22 X’s
3rd – Steve Rogers with a score of 734 and 16 X’s
So all to play for on the Sunday!

Air Hunter Heavy Varmint (Shot on Sunday with an entry of 19)
1st – David Hopkins with a score of 737 and 24 X’s
2nd – Steve Rogers with a score of 735 and 21 X’s
3rd – Colin Renwick with a score of 733 and 21 X’s

So the Aggregate score worked out as…
1st – David Hopkins with a convincing winning score of 1475 and 42 X’s. David won an Air Arms HFT500 set in a custom benchrest stock.
2nd – Steve Rogers with a fantastic score of 1469 and 37 X’s
3rd – Colin Renwick with a very respectable score of 1467 and 36 X’s

Sadly we only had one Aggregate prize, but will be hoping to better this next year.

Light Varmint 25meters indoor (shot on Saturday with an entry of 6)
1st – Graham Whitelock with a score of 750 and 65 X’s
2nd – John Almond with a score of 750 and 64 X’s
3rd – Colin Rose with a score of 747 and 55 X’s

Light Varmint 50meters out doors (shot on Saturday with an entry of 12)
1st – Richard Collins with a score of744 and 41 X’s
2nd – Richard Sysum With a score of 743 and 40 X’s
3rd – Colin Evans with a score of 742 and 41 X’s

Heavy Varmint 25meters indoor (shot on Sunday with an entry of 10)
1st – Colin Rose with a score of 750 and 64 X’s
2nd – John Almond with a score of 750 and 63 X’s
3rd –  Graham Whitelock with a score of 750 and 58 X’s

Heavy Varmint 50meters outdoors (shot on Sunday with an entry of 18)
1st – Richard Collins with a score of 744 and 41 X’s
2nd – Colin Rose with a score of 744 and 39 X’s
3rd – Carl Hanson with a score of 744 and 38 X’s

25meter rimfire aggregate results
1st – John Almond with a score of1500 and 127 X’s. john won the £50 gift voucher very kindly donated by Optics Warehouse.
2nd – Graham Whitelock with a score of 1500 and 123 X’s.
3rd – Colin Rose with a score of 1497 and 119 X’s

50meters rimfire aggregate results
1st – Richard Collins with a score of 1488 and 82 X’s. Richard Collins won a scope donated anonymously, but which had been purchased from Optics Warehouse at a special offer price.
2nd – Colin Evans with a score of 1482 and 81 X’s
3rd – carl Hanson with a score of 1480 and 76 X’s

The UKBR22 Association committee and all of its members and those who shot this competition who are not members would like to thank Optics Warehouse for supporting our event, we look forward to possibly having Optics Warehouse supporting our event next year.

Can I say on a personal note that I have been using Optics Warehouse for over 10 years, and have seen it grow and grow. Its services is second to none and I have always found them helpful and knowledgeable in the goods they supply. I would never hesitate in recommending Optics Warehouse to anyone looking for, well almost anything to do with sights and accessories.

If anyone has never shot Benchrest come along to the Air Arms Experience and have a go!

FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://ukbr22.org.uk/