A brief history of Short Range Benchrest Shooting
Short-range benchrest shooting in the USA evolved from post-Civil War accuracy testing into a formalized competitive sport primarily driven by varmint hunting enthusiasts seeking extreme precision.
While informal competitions began in the 1940s in locations like California and New York, the sport gained structure with the founding of the National Bench Rest Shooters Association (NBRSA) in 1951, which standardized rules and sanctioned matches across 100, 200, and 300-yard distances.
The discipline was historically dominated by specific cartridges, with the .222 Remington leading from the mid-1950s until the 6 mm PPC wildcat took over around 1975 due to its superior accuracy.
The sport has since expanded to include Score competitions alongside the original Group format, with the NBRSA maintaining official world records and governing the sport through a network of regional clubs and standardized equipment classes
The New Zealand Bench Rest Shooters Assciation’s Primary Purposes are:
a) To develop Benchrest shooting competitions in New Zealand by focusing on the objective of the sport promoting the highest degree of accuracy with Centrefire Rifles.
c) The development and encouragement of competition by competitor participation involving extremely accurate rifles, components, combined with shooting techniques.
b) To standardise at a national level all registered tournaments, matches, targets and shooting programme to ensure uniformity across New Zealand.
d) Collect and maintain a central location of statistics and data that captures the historical record based achievements of competitors who have achieved a national standing at a registered tournament in the discipline of Centrefire Benchrest shooting competition.
e) To represent New Zealand at international Benchrest shooting competitions..