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August 22nd, 2018

IBS Match Report: 2018 Group Nationals at Weikert, PA

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

Many of the nation’s top 100/200-yard Benchrest Shooters came to central Pennsylvania this month for the IBS Group Nationals, held August 13-18 at the Union County Sportsmen’s Club. This major event encompassed six days of shooting, making this one of the lengthiest benchrest matches of the year. There were nearly 90 registered competitors, plus competitors’ spouses and kids were able to shoot in a fun match on Wednesday afternoon. This is a prestigious match — with National titles up for grabs in four classes: Sporter, Light Varmint, Heavy Varmint, and Heavy Bench. CLICK HERE for Full Results.

IBS Group Benchrest Nationals 2018

Report by Jeff Stover, IBS President
The Range and Conditions
This year’s venue was a return to one of the premier benchrest rifle ranges in the country. Union County Sportsmen’s Club is located near the center of Pennsylvania. It gets its name from the nearby village of Weikert. The range faces east, not ideal, but that is what the topography dealt the club. This week of competition had the usual prevailing conditions: mostly from the west, meaning from 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock. A switch green to orange and back again, with changing velocities. Sometimes readable. Many times, however, conditions are confounding.

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

The Course of Fire
The IBS Group Nationals event is a bit of an endurance test as it spans six days for those shooting. The sequence of competition groups has 100-yard targets shot the first three days followed by three days at 200 yards. It is done this way to require only one change of wind flags. Nationals competition requires “full rotation”. That means that every time a shooter goes to the line for the next match target, he or she must move a requisite number of benches to the right. At the end of the day a shooter will shoot across the full width of the line. Some ranges offer unique properties that render some parts of the range harder or easier to shoot small groups. Bench rotation is important to even out those factors.

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship
Hall of Famer Jeff Gaidos taking aim. Note both eyes are open. Jeff picked up two more HOF points at Weikert this year.

Light Varmint, Heavy Varmint, Sporter, and Heavy Bench Equipment
It takes thirty targets of five shots each and ten targets of 10-shot groups to win a “4 Gun Nationals”. That would be the classes of Light Varmint, Heavy Varmint, Sporter, and Heavy Bench. For all practical purposes, the first three are known as “bag guns” while the Heavy Bench rifles are “rail guns”. In fact, most competitors shooting a bag gun opt for a single rifle, which has been the benchrest standard for decades: a 10.5-pound rifle chambered in 6 PPC.

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

Peinhardt Wins 2-Gun & 3-Gun, Costa Wins 4-Gun, and Mitchell Smashes HB Record
Jeff Peinhardt won the 2-Gun and 3-Gun to dominate the “bag guns” (Light Varmint, Heavy Varmint, and Sporter). Larry Costa won the 4-Gun, with the top combined Agg for all four classes. Paul Mitchell turned in the notable railgun performance in the Heavy Bench division. Mitchell posted a 200-yard Agg of 0.1687 MOA. That should smash the old record of .2224 MOA set by Ed Watson way back in 1990! Note those figures are for MOA at 200 yards. Mitchell’s average 10-shot group size was 0.3374” (MOA x 2). That is only slightly larger than the Aggregate record for 5-shot groups with a rail gun. Mitchell said his rail has a superb Krieger barrel: “My rail gun was originally built by Bud Welch in the early ’90s. I took about ten years off from shooting from the late ’90s until 2008. When I got back I had Bruce LaChapelle take the action out of a sleeve and clamp the barrel in a Delrin sleeve. Dwight Scott chambered this Krieger barrel in January of 2017 and let me know that he thought it could be one of the hummers we all dream of and don’t waste it. This is the fourth 10-Shot teen Agg I have shot with it. It will be a sad day when it’s shot out!”

Click links below for Day-by-Day Results. Complete results may be found at the IBS Match Report Page.

Monday HB 100 | Tues LV/SP 100 | Wed HV 100 | Thurs LV/SP 200 | Friday HV 200| Saturday HB 200

Multi-Gun Results:
There are awards for combined results in multiple classes. Jeff Peinhardt won the both the 2-Gun (HV-LV) and 3-Gun (LV-HV-SP). Long time top shooter Larry Costa won the overall 4-Gun. Both Costa and Wayne Campbell (4-gun runner-up) are Hall of Famers. 4-Gun 3rd-place finisher Hugh Williamson, a Canadian, is also a barrel-maker.

The 3-Gun Top Three (from left): Jeff Peinhardt, Larry Costa, and Ronald Burdick:
IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

IBS Score Benchrest Nationals Multi-Gun Results
2-Gun Top Three 3-Gun Top Three 4-Gun Top Three
1. Jeff Peinhardt
2. Ronald Burdick
3. Larry Costa
.2104
.2138
.2148
1. Jeff Peinhardt
2. Larry Costa
3. Ronald Burdick
.2035
.2040
.2164
1. Larry Costa
2. Wayne Campbell
3. Hugh Williamson
.2191
.2238
.2331

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship
On Wednesday Afternoon first timers/novices (including spouses and children) were allowed to shot a group with the assistance of a coach. Here is PowderPuff winner Dena Wise with Coach David Halblom. Note Dena’s impressive 0.148 group. Dena is sister to Dale and Russ Boop.

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

Benchrest State of the Art — Equipment

Want to know what the Top Guns were shooting at Weikert? Here is a complete Top Ten Equipment list for all four classes: Sporter, LV, HV, and Heavy Bench (Railgun):

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship
IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

Thanks to the Hard Working Team at Weikert
The IBS is indebted to Nancy Scarbrough who did a fabulous job as match director. Mark Trutt, once again, devoted a full week as range officer and getting the range and grounds ready. The target crew was very efficient under the experienced direction of Steve Dodge.

Target Analysis from the “Wailing Wall”

This photo shows 200-yard targets for one of the relays in the Sporter Class (10.5-lb riles, all 6 PPC). At the match, the scored, 5-shot targets are put up on a board, euphemistically called the “Wailing Wall”. These groups are revealing. Note that almost all the groups are located below and to the right of the moth ball (the 10 Ring in the center). The second set of target rings denoted by an “S” are for sighters, and are not scored.

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship
Click photo to view large image

These targets were shot in a left to right drift (flags showing GREEN due to convention) drift. The targets show that most of the shooters sighted in during dead calm with point of impact at or below the 10 ring (mothball) for easier holding. So in a “green” condition the groups will move to the right of dead calm. These targets also demonstrate what modern benchrest bag guns can do at 200 yards! Some of those would be 100-yard ‘wallet groups’ for non-benchrest shooters. Remember these are 10.5-lb rifles, not heavy, “unlimited” rail guns. Mighty impressive precision.

IBS Shooter Profile — Bill Brawand

by Jeff Stover
IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun ChampionshipThere are few “characters” left in the benchrest world, but Bill Brawand is one of them. He is still competing at age 84. He started in the game way back in 1973 and has been a stalwart on both the IBS and NBRSA circuits ever since.

He grew up on a dairy farm in north central PA near the town Wilcox. In the early days he earned $100 per week. That was not near enough to support a family and a competitive benchrest habit. That was one reason he got into bullet making. If he wanted to attend a match he had to do extra farm and dairy work to justify being gone for a weekend. Those chores were in addition to making bullets to both shoot and sell. He has worked hard his entire life and earned everything he has achieved.

Some time ago, oil and gas were discovered on the large Brawand farm. With production underway, many years ago the dairy was closed so Bill could focus on real estate and managing his wells. The oil/gas boom resulted in a dramatic change in his economic fortunes but Bill did not change at all. Before he finally got a small RV, he was known to sleep on a clubhouse couch.

IBS International Benchrest Shooters Weikert Pennsylvania National Group 4-Gun Championship

Benchrest is now a family affair for Bill. One of Bill’s daughters, Sam, usually meets him at the shoots to assist him as needed. His knee problems keep him in a motorized scooter to get around the range. Sam memorialized Bill’s shooting accomplishments by sewing his many patches earned in shooting onto both a quilt and his shooting jacket (above). Check it out — that represents many decades of trigger pulling!

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May 17th, 2014

IBS Match Report: 28th Annual Boop Memorial Group Shoot

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt
Click photo for full-screen image suitable for desktop wall-paper.

Field Report by Jeff Stover, IBS President
In IBS-land you know that spring has sprung when the Memorial Shoot at Weikert, PA comes along. This year was the 28th edition which honors the memories of Nate Boop and Rich Altemus. These two gentlemen started the benchrest program at the Union County Sportsmen’s Club. This is one of the finest ranges you will find anywhere in the country. Both the range itself and its setting are world-class.

Boop Shoot Match Results Summary (.XLS File) | Boop Shoot Top 10 Equipment List (.XLS File)

This year 42 shooters hit the benches at the Weikert range. Saturday’s 100-yard targets were shot in somewhat tricky, but shootable conditions — attested by four teen Aggs. Shooters enjoyed the readable conditions on Saturday but the 200-yard stage on Sunday was another matter — with strong breezes that switched on a thin dime. Red with tails out for 10 seconds, then green with tails out for 8 seconds. Then there was a nice mix of both — with tails erect all around. Some of us love to shoot tailwinds, which were there for a few fleeting moments. But there is a lot of target real estate — over an inch — between a tailwind with a wee bit of green and a tiny smidge of red.

Though Weikert is a gorgeous range, it has one drawback. The central Pennsylvania countryside only allowed for an east-facing range. So, on a sunny day, the first three targets or so are shot with most shooters hanging blue tarps from the range roof to block the sun. This works well and does not inhibit small groups.

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt
Curtis Nelson lines up for first shot, with blue tarp sun shade in place.

The Light Varmint 100-yard stage looked to be all Harley Baker, one of the newest inductees into the U.S. Benchrest Hall of Fame. Harley arrives at any match with impeccably prepared equipment tuned to a knife’s edge. He is tough to beat at any range. He was cruising to yet another Agg win, with Smiley Hensley pretty far behind. To finish off with a flourish, Harley nailed a very nice .190 on his last target.

Many times at the last match of an Aggregate, shooters will banter, “last chance to be a hero”. It is so trite as to not get much reaction from the line. Well, some days a hero does emerge. Smiley shot a .071″ group in Match 5 to win the LV 100 Aggregate with a .1902. Harley settled for a flat .2 and second place. Smiley may have won the battle, but not the war, as we shall see.

Boop Memorial Shoot PeinhardtBoop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt

Most Shooters Use 10.5-pounders Even in Heavy Varmint Class
In the Heavy Varmint class shooters could be shouldering a 13.5-pound rifle. Most, however, stick to their 10.5-pound Sporters (a Light Varmint rifle with a 6mm bore) for an entire weekend. Many times in the loading area you’ll hear, “what are we shooting?” Yes, there a few shooters that will pull out a favored “real” Heavy Varmint, but that is pretty rare these days.

The competition in Heavy Varmint 100 was pretty fierce. Small groups were shot. Teen Aggs were possible. Al Auman shot a fine .1808 to win the Agg. Other Aggregates under 0.2 were shot by Harley Baker (.1950) and master accuracy gunsmith Sid Goodling (.1990).

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt

First Time’s a Charm for Troy Twist. Benchrest Novice Shoots 0.126″ Group.

Shooting a .126 group would make any Benchrest shooter happy. If you accomplish that feat the very first time you ever shot a bench rifle, and in a real match to boot, then you have Troy Twist’s story.

Troy works with Dale Boop and was always talking guns. Dale convinced Troy to show up for the 100-yard stage and Dale let Troy shoot one of Dale’s rifles. Troy performed like a champ, drilling a 0.126″ group — not too bad for a rookie! Nothing like a small group to get a new shooter interested in our game.

Sunday was beautiful with sunny skies and pleasant temps. The wind was another matter. The Heavy Varmint 200-yard stage was conquered by Harley Baker with a .2689 Aggregate. No Match 5 heroes emerged to take away another Agg win from Harley. The only other Aggregate under 0.3 was posted by Jeff Peinhardt. Jeff is a newer shooter that is making a name for himself in Benchrest. Finishing off the top three in the Agg was Wayne Shaw. Wayne is sometimes more associated with score shooting, but he is a top-flight group shooter as well.

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt

The afternoon was set for Light Varmint 200 while the kaleidoscope of rapidly-changing flag colors continued. Jeff Stover led the way with a .2602 Agg. He tried to shoot whatever tail wind was available, and do it as fast as possible. Jeff got away with this sometimes dangerous tailwind strategy for four targets; on the fifth he was not burned as bad as he might have been. Closing in towards the end was Russell Rains with a .2904. Canadian Andy Laidlaw snuck into third place with a .2937 with the only remaining Aggregate under 0.3.

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt
Andy Laidlaw from Canada loads between stages.

In the overall 2-Gun, Harley Baker was the class of the field with a .2466 for twenty targets. Stover followed with a rather distant .2791. Steady Kent Harshman finished close behind with a .2833. Interestingly, both Stover and Harshman were shooting pull-down 8208 powder (from the Vietnam War era) rather than Vihtavuori 133 or the new kid on the block, Accurate Powder LT-32.

Boop Memorial Shoot PeinhardtTwo-Gun Top 3: Kent Harshman (Third), Harley Baker (Winner), Jeff Stover (Second).

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt
Moving backers are used in 100/200/300 yard benchrest competition.

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt
Dale and Russ Boop, shown above, are the sons of Nate Boop, in whose honor this Match has been held for 28 straight years. The Brothers Boop have been shooting Benchrest since they were little kids. Russ is in the Benchrest Hall of Fame and Dale is currently only two points out.

Father and Son Team — The Peinhardts
Jeff Peinhardt from Quarryville, PA owns PR2 Racing Technology. His company does national level motorcycle race engine development and tuning. His operation is a sophisticated engineering facility with CNC and the latest equipment. He has brought this analytical outlook and expertise to Benchrest.

Boop Memorial Shoot Peinhardt

Jeff is relatively new to the game, but has already excelled. His 16-year old son, Wyatt, has now moved from Junior Shooter to Rookie to Tough Competitor. Wyatt now runs with the “big dogs”. His father says the tougher the conditions, the better Wyatt does; he is a force to be reckoned with in the coming years.

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September 5th, 2013

IBS Match Report: 2013 Score Nationals at Weikert, PA

IBS Report and photographs by Dick Grosbier
Over Labor Day weekend the Union County Sportsmans Club (Weikert, PA) hosted the 43rd annual IBS 100/200 Score Nationals. This club has a reputation for hosting fine events, and this match certainly lived up to that reputation. With 63 guns on the line, this year’s Score Nationals was well-attended. All in all this was as good a Score Nationals as I have attended in quite a while. I tip my hat to the Union County crew for running an excellent match. Weather was warm and a little muggy both days. I do not believe we ever had a drop of rain (despite a 30% chance of rain forecast). Mirage was very minimal as it was overcast both days. Winds started out very calm and slowly increased all day long both days.

2013 IBS Score Nationals Results (PDF) | 2013 IBS Score Nationals Results (XLS)

View IBS Score Nationals Full Photo Gallery (100 pictures)

IBS Score Nationals IBS Score 2-Gun Winner Dean Breeden  Varmint For Score grand agg. winner Herb Llewellyn Hunter class Grand aggregate winner Gary Long
Left to Right: IBS Score 2-Gun Winner Dean Breeden, Varmint For Score Grand Agg Winner Herb Llewellyn, Hunter Class Grand Agg Winner Gary Long.

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

On Saturday, Herb Llewellyn started out on a tear in Varmint For Score (VFS) class and stayed hot, finishing the 100-yard event with a 250-25X score. We witnessed some really fine shooting in less-than-perfect conditions. Junior Shooter Kevin Donalds Jr. (photo below) laid down a fine 250-24X to finish second. Kevin, who turns a ripe old 13 years of age in a few days, shot a remarkable 250-25X Aggregate a few months back. To the best of my memory those are the only two 250-25X scores in IBS this year. A.R. Edwards was third with 23X.

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

In Hunter Class Dean Breeden shot 250-17X beating more than 50% of the VFS shooters, and for those of you who do not fully understand Hunter Class, the big thing to remember is they shoot 6-power scopes. Peter Hills from Maine also shot a 250 in HTR with 9X.

IBS Score Nationals Hal Drake Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

Sunday the shooters lined up for the 200-yard event. Shooting his 6 PPC, Hal Drake shot a 250-14X, proving that a PPC can still win in a Score match (at least at the longer ranges). Second place (as at 100 yards) went to a Kevin Donalds, but this time it was Kevin Donalds Senior who was the runner-up, posting a 250-13X. Third place honors went to Dean Breeden also with 250-13X. In Hunter Class, veteran shooter Gary Long shot 248-5X to beat K.L. Miller under Creedmoor tie-breaker rules. Dave Thomas was third with 247-7X.

You may have noticed that nobody in the top three on Saturday was in the top three on Sunday. This led to some interesting results in the VFS Grand Aggregate. Top Man was Herb Llewellyn, with a 500-36X. Herb’s victory at the Nationals pretty much puts the last nail in the coffin of anybody trying to catch Herb in the Score Shooter Of the Year race.

Second in the Grand was Herb’s lovely wife Kim with a 500-34X. Third place went to Randy Jarvais who learned the hard way to not drop the first X! Randy tied with Kim for total score all weekend but Kim shot a 5X on the first target and Randy got a 4X. Fourth in the Grand went to 200-yard winner Hal Drake with 500-33X, and Ricky Read rounded out the Top Five with 500-32X.

Gary Long won the Hunter Grand division with 497-22X, Dean Breeden was second with 496-20X, and third was Dave Thomas with 496-14X. It was great to see Dave back shooting again. Dean Breeden put in a repeat performance as IBS Score 2-Gun winner with a 996-51X score, Larry Feusse was second with 990-46X and Dudley Pierce was third with 987-44X.

IBS 43rd Annual 100 / 200 Yard Score Nationals
Union County Sportsman’s Club — August 31st to September 1st, 2013

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

CLICK Equipment Lists Below to See LARGE Versions

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint
IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

IBS Score Nationals Weikert PA 2013 30BR Hunter Varmint

Praise for the Match Crew and Kitchen Crew
I cannot say enough good things about the target crew and range officer Mark Trutt. They ran a very efficient match. I do not recall a single delay all weekend from loose- or erroneously-hung targets. We started promptly at 9:00 am and finished around 2:00 pm both days. Range officer Mark Trutt did an outstanding job when confronted with a tricky situation regarding IBS Score 2-Gun shooters. The range has 40 benches and we had a very nice turnout of 63 guns on the line but it simply was not justified to run a third relay so Mark judiciously added around 10 minutes between each relay to allow 2-gun shooters some time to reload. I don’t think the time would even have been noticed but the target crew was speedy and efficient, so we ended up with a little extra time on the line. I personally felt it made for a very nice, laid-back pace for competitors shooting only one gun. Scoring was fast and efficient for the most part.

The Kitchen crew deserves praise for the fine breakfasts and lunches. In good Weikert tradition, we were treated to “Mama Trutt’s” fresh-baked cookies each afternoon. — Dick Grosbier

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