" If there are better facilities in the state, I'd like to know where they are. Serious question."
For strictly rimfire benchrest,it would be hard to beat the facilitys at Chickenfoot in Cedartown, Ga. We have an indoor 50yrd range (the wide pic below) as well as an outdoor. Both ranges have 25 concrete bench's and you will shoot against the best rimfire benchrest shooters in the south. I would suggest getting wind flags for outdoor shooting and either a 1 piece rest or a very good 2 piece rest. I remember when I started in this game with my Kimber 82g,then and H&R M-12,Shultz and Larsen M-24,shooting lower grade ammo and my scores showed it consistently in the bottom.It takes a while to figure out and it is quite addicting to say the least.
I then purchased a Remington 40X and my scores improved significantly as my skills improved and I began using higher grade match ammo,Eley Black box,Lapua were the best out there and still are, but not till I purchased a custom barrel,Jewell trigger and benchrest styled 3 inch wide forearm rifle stock, custom rest was I able to finally begin to break into the 2000 agg (but barely).Most folks there shoot custom actions.
If you are determined to go this route you can have fun shooting simply against yourself(usually what I do anyways) with a factory stock rifle and save your funds for other things to enjoy or get involved by advancing your equipment (costly) and competing against the best there are usually 1 time a month, although recently the ARA has decided to run indoor match's year round tho none have been scheduled at Chickenfoot as of this time. The indoor match's usually run Oct/Nov thru Jan/Feb with an indoor National match held there yearly with an average attendance of 80+ shooters from around the country. There is an indoor Factory Class limited to on specific rifles outlined on the ARA website. I think maybe 2 members here have rifles that qualify for that class.
I'd suggest going to the ARA website (https://www.americanrimfire.com/) for more info or coming to a match at Chickenfoot to see what it's all about regarding where it is and what all's involved. These folks shoot for extreme accuracy at 50 yrds, most agg's are in the 2100-2300 range on a 2500 scored target. It can be a blast and you will learn from the best and everyone is helpful, a lot of members that shoot will have rifles for sale at reasonable prices that will compete, but they aren't cheap and can run $2000 up or down sometimes, but you can try the rifles and test them before purchasing. Most are all retired military or law enforcement, farmers, doctors, etc. Many will be ex state and regional champions and a few National Champions as well, the best of the best and really good folks
Bill Casey owns Chickenfoot. He raise's chickens as well as being a farmer, but safety is always key at the match's.no horseplay of any kind will be tolerated. Match's are $30 per match or roughly $5 a card as we will shoot 6 cards and we shoot relays depending on the number of entrants. All match's begin promptly at 4 p.m. and a break before the next match at 7 p.m. (the range has lights) Bill feeds everyone shooting both match's. We don't discuss politics ,air our grievances and you should act accordingly. We have a match this Sat starting at 4 p.m. All are welcome
For strictly rimfire benchrest,it would be hard to beat the facilitys at Chickenfoot in Cedartown, Ga. We have an indoor 50yrd range (the wide pic below) as well as an outdoor. Both ranges have 25 concrete bench's and you will shoot against the best rimfire benchrest shooters in the south. I would suggest getting wind flags for outdoor shooting and either a 1 piece rest or a very good 2 piece rest. I remember when I started in this game with my Kimber 82g,then and H&R M-12,Shultz and Larsen M-24,shooting lower grade ammo and my scores showed it consistently in the bottom.It takes a while to figure out and it is quite addicting to say the least.
I then purchased a Remington 40X and my scores improved significantly as my skills improved and I began using higher grade match ammo,Eley Black box,Lapua were the best out there and still are, but not till I purchased a custom barrel,Jewell trigger and benchrest styled 3 inch wide forearm rifle stock, custom rest was I able to finally begin to break into the 2000 agg (but barely).Most folks there shoot custom actions.
If you are determined to go this route you can have fun shooting simply against yourself(usually what I do anyways) with a factory stock rifle and save your funds for other things to enjoy or get involved by advancing your equipment (costly) and competing against the best there are usually 1 time a month, although recently the ARA has decided to run indoor match's year round tho none have been scheduled at Chickenfoot as of this time. The indoor match's usually run Oct/Nov thru Jan/Feb with an indoor National match held there yearly with an average attendance of 80+ shooters from around the country. There is an indoor Factory Class limited to on specific rifles outlined on the ARA website. I think maybe 2 members here have rifles that qualify for that class.
I'd suggest going to the ARA website (https://www.americanrimfire.com/) for more info or coming to a match at Chickenfoot to see what it's all about regarding where it is and what all's involved. These folks shoot for extreme accuracy at 50 yrds, most agg's are in the 2100-2300 range on a 2500 scored target. It can be a blast and you will learn from the best and everyone is helpful, a lot of members that shoot will have rifles for sale at reasonable prices that will compete, but they aren't cheap and can run $2000 up or down sometimes, but you can try the rifles and test them before purchasing. Most are all retired military or law enforcement, farmers, doctors, etc. Many will be ex state and regional champions and a few National Champions as well, the best of the best and really good folks
Bill Casey owns Chickenfoot. He raise's chickens as well as being a farmer, but safety is always key at the match's.no horseplay of any kind will be tolerated. Match's are $30 per match or roughly $5 a card as we will shoot 6 cards and we shoot relays depending on the number of entrants. All match's begin promptly at 4 p.m. and a break before the next match at 7 p.m. (the range has lights) Bill feeds everyone shooting both match's. We don't discuss politics ,air our grievances and you should act accordingly. We have a match this Sat starting at 4 p.m. All are welcome
) is to put the 36x on the 77/22 and ship the RPR back to Ruger then when it comes back, if it doesn't shoot lights out, sell it. Sub inch at 50 yards might be 'good enough' for some people, but not what I expected or was after. The 77/22 was shooting 3/8" with that awful scope (that honestly, I could not see well enough out of to shoot even that well I thought) and brutal trigger. AND..... it shot just as well with the cheap GECO ammo as the Tenex.
