Draft:World Benchrest Championship

The concept of a world benchrest championship was first proposed by American bullet maker Walt Berger and French shooter Hervé Du Plessis in 1990.^[1] Berger, who founded Berger Bullets and was inducted into the Benchrest Hall of Fame in 1982, was a driving force behind making the championship a reality.^[3] Together, Berger and Du Plessis devised the format that remains largely in use: a Light Varmint match, a Heavy Varmint match, and a novelty shoot, contested by national teams.^[1]

The inaugural championship was held in 1991 at Fréjus, France, with 72 shooters representing 14 national teams. The first individual medal went to Du Plessis of France, while the USA B team of Brad Rosenthal, Faye Boyer, Lou Murdica, and George Kelbly won the Two-Gun Teams trophy.^[1]

The championship was initially administered by the National Bench Rest Shooters Association (NBRSA), the sport's primary sanctioning body in the United States.^[3] In 2001, following a meeting of delegates at the WBC in Nelson, New Zealand, the World Benchrest Shooting Federation was formed as an independent governing body. Graeme Smith of New Zealand was elected as the inaugural president, with Alan Peake of Australia as secretary.^[1]

The championship has been held every two years since its inception, with the exception of a four-year gap between 2019 and 2023 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the South African Benchrest Federation agreed to swap hosting duties with France, moving the 16th championship to Châteauroux, France in 2023 and the 17th to the United States.^[4]

Benchrest shooting is a discipline in which competitors fire high-precision custom rifles from a stable bench, supported by sandbags or specialised rests, with the goal of placing all shots through the same hole on a paper target.^[5] The sport imposes minimal equipment restrictions compared to other shooting disciplines; there are no optic or barrel limitations, and beginners compete directly against seasoned veterans with no classifications, handicaps, or gender separations.^[5]

At the WBC, competition is contested in two main rifle classes: Light Varmint (maximum weight 10.5 pounds (4.8 kg)) and Heavy Varmint (maximum weight 13.5 pounds (6.1 kg)). Competitors fire five-shot groups at 100 and 200 yards, with results measured as the average group size in inches.^[6] Groups are measured from centre to centre of the two farthest-spaced shots, with the bullet diameter subtracted from the overall measurement.^[7]

The individual Two-Gun Grand Aggregate combines all four aggregates (LV 100, LV 200, HV 100, HV 200) to determine the overall individual champion. Teams typically consist of four shooters per national team, with countries permitted to enter multiple teams. Team results are determined by the combined aggregates of each team's members. The Two-Gun Teams trophy is the championship's most prestigious team award.^[1]

In 2023, the Walt Berger Legacy Championship was introduced, named after the championship's co-founder, who died in September 2021.^[3] It adds a supplementary aggregate to the four standard WBC aggregates to determine the Legacy Champion.^[8]

At the 2009 championship in Pretoria, South Africa, New Zealand shooter Ian Owen set a world record for five-shot group shooting at 300 yards, with a group measuring just 1.191 centimetres centre-to-centre.^[9]

American shooter Tony Boyer won the individual Two-Gun at the inaugural championship in 1991 and again in 1995, making him the first repeat individual champion. Wayne Campbell of the United States has won the individual Two-Gun three times (2003, 2015, 2025), and Mike Ratigan twice (1999, 2007). Gene Bukys won consecutive titles in 2009 and 2011.^[10][8]

The United States has dominated the team competition, winning the Two-Gun Teams trophy at every championship except 2009 and 2017, both of which were won by Australia.^[11]

The 2019 championship, hosted at the Rosebud Silhouette and Benchrest Club near Calgary, Alberta, was the first WBC held in Canada. The event drew approximately 90 competitors from around the world and was directed by Canadian benchrest competitor Rick Pollock.^[12]

• Benchrest shooting
• World Benchrest Shooting Federation
• National Bench Rest Shooters Association
• International Benchrest Shooters
• Precision shooting