Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,746
- 5,822
:grin: Got a chuckle the other day at the gunshop when I overheard a couple of guys looking at the Benchrest plaques and trophies on the wall, earned by one of our local match shooters. They were putting him down a bit about being a "paper puncher" and not a "real rifleman" meaning a big, hairy chested hunter who puts antlers on the wall and meat in the freezer.
What they didn't know is that the same quiet fellow who is a World Record Holder in "Hunter Benchrest" is also the same guy who put a mess of the big mule deer heads up on the walls of that same gunshop... Mostly with one shot each, in the field, with a battered old Remington bolt gun, walking the local mountains over the past 25 years or so... :grin:
They also didn't know that the fellow who built my NRA highpower match rifle, and who once held the national 1000 yard prone record, and who still shoots match-winning scores in his late 60's... Just happens to have a trophy room at home, full of outstanding big game animals taken in fair-chase hunts all over the world, with rifles he built himself.
I didn't share my insights with 'em, and just let them live in their own ignorance. I'm an active shooter in our local club matches, I've never seen either of them at a local match, or for that matter even practicing at the local range. I remember a comment a few years ago from the veteran elk hunter when I nailed my bull elk up in the Wind River Mtns of Wyoming: "Guy, I don't know anyone else who could have made that shot." It wasn't particularly long, only about 180 yards or so, but I had to thread the bullet through a tunnel in the green forest, from a sitting position. It truly didn't seem difficult to me at all, I just plopped myself on the ground with my 7mm mag, looped the sling around my arm, almost like I do with my match rifle, exhaled, lined up the crosshairs through the little gap in the foliage, put 'em on the elk's chest and gently pressed.
So... Don't make that mistaken assumption that match shooters are simply "paper punchers." More likely they're guys who have paid their dues by firing literally thousands and thousands of rounds, striving for accuracy with each squeeze of the trigger. Some of 'em just happen to be pretty accomplished hunters in the field as well. :grin:
Regards, Guy
What they didn't know is that the same quiet fellow who is a World Record Holder in "Hunter Benchrest" is also the same guy who put a mess of the big mule deer heads up on the walls of that same gunshop... Mostly with one shot each, in the field, with a battered old Remington bolt gun, walking the local mountains over the past 25 years or so... :grin:
They also didn't know that the fellow who built my NRA highpower match rifle, and who once held the national 1000 yard prone record, and who still shoots match-winning scores in his late 60's... Just happens to have a trophy room at home, full of outstanding big game animals taken in fair-chase hunts all over the world, with rifles he built himself.
I didn't share my insights with 'em, and just let them live in their own ignorance. I'm an active shooter in our local club matches, I've never seen either of them at a local match, or for that matter even practicing at the local range. I remember a comment a few years ago from the veteran elk hunter when I nailed my bull elk up in the Wind River Mtns of Wyoming: "Guy, I don't know anyone else who could have made that shot." It wasn't particularly long, only about 180 yards or so, but I had to thread the bullet through a tunnel in the green forest, from a sitting position. It truly didn't seem difficult to me at all, I just plopped myself on the ground with my 7mm mag, looped the sling around my arm, almost like I do with my match rifle, exhaled, lined up the crosshairs through the little gap in the foliage, put 'em on the elk's chest and gently pressed.
So... Don't make that mistaken assumption that match shooters are simply "paper punchers." More likely they're guys who have paid their dues by firing literally thousands and thousands of rounds, striving for accuracy with each squeeze of the trigger. Some of 'em just happen to be pretty accomplished hunters in the field as well. :grin:
Regards, Guy
