Where do you live?
Home is Odessa, Texas but part time in Acworth, Georgia
How many years have you been shooting Benchrest?
In 2014 I was minding my own business at the Midland Shooters Association when I was introduced to Tom Brown, Cecil Tucker and Charles Huckeba, three of the local outlaws. Charles offered to let me shoot three shots out of his benchrest rifle at a 200 yard target, enough to catch the fever.
What is your favorite Benchrest shooting discipline? Long Range? Score? Group?
I have only shot Group, we don’t have any score shooters in the area but I am intrigued with trying Score if I get the opportunity.
What is your home range or Rifle Club?
Midland Shooters Association out of Midland, Texas.
Favorite match or matches you annually attend?
I try to attend the Cactus every March if my work schedule will allow. My favorite match in the Gulf Coast Region is the Buffalo that we host at MSA. In the past couple of years I have traveled to Georgia and shot a few matches at The River Bend range and the SE Regional in Dublin GA.
What makes these matches so special?
Midland has a long history with Benchrest and the Buffalo is probably the best attended match held there, I try to help out with our Match Director to make it a well run and fun match for all the shooters that attend. The Cactus was the first registered match I shot and I came in the top twenty if I recall. I shared a bench with Todd Tyler and Jack Snyder, they were great and really helped with the butterflies and making me feel comfortable. I also had just bought a used rifle from Larry Baggett a couple weeks before and got to tease him about beating him with his old gun! I really enjoy the matches in Georgia, its so much different conditions than I am accustomed to plus all the folks out there are super great to shoot with, I’ve made a lot of good friends out East!
Which friends do you like go to matches with?
I used to share benches a lot with Larry Baggett before we lost him, its been hard not seeing him at matches, we always bet quarters on each group. If I was only down a dollar or less, I knew I was shooting well that day. We have a regular group in Midland that shoot together, Charles Huckeba, Mike Conry and Tom Brown, all great guys to travel and shoot with, we all know each other so well and always have a great time.
What rifle components do you use (Scope, Stock, Action, Barrel, Trigger)?
I only have BAT actions, two 3L’s and four DS’s. All my scopes are the Night Force 42’s except one Leupold 36 in case my rifle gets a little heavy. All are Light Varmints except my Budd Welch rail gun. I have two Scoville stocks on rifles that I purchased from other shooters, one Edge and the one rifle I had build for me has a Scarbrough stock. One B&A trigger the rest Jewels. I’ve shot Kreiger barrels in the past but in the past 5-6 years have used Bartleins, mostly 13.5 or 13.75 twist. I do my own barrel work as well.
What’s your highest shooting accomplishment thus far? (Small group, Aggregate or Grand win, 2-Gun, etc., win)
I won the Two-Gun at the Blue Bonnet in 2022 and last spring I won the LV100 at the Cactus with a teen agg, that was fun. My best accomplishment was any match that I left with a few of Baggett’s quarters in my pocket!
Greatest benchrest memory to date?
Has to be that first match in Phoenix, I was so intimidated with so many of the top shooters in the field of somewhere around 120. I had only been shooting a few months and had just one club match under my belt. Charles and Larry helped me out with getting settled in and the two guys I shared a bench with were great in making me feel comfortable. It was there that I realized with a great bunch of folks we have in this sport. Everyone was trying to do well but still would make time to help a new shooter have a successful match.
Funniest Benchrest memory to date?
It was at the range in Albuquerque New Mexico and they were handing out stickers for each small group shot each match. Baggett and I were betting quarters as usual, but I was shooting well and each time I got handed a sticker, I’d take it over to Larry’s loading table and show off my new sticker each time I was handed one. “Larry, I just want to show you how good that Rifle you sold me shoots!” I’d tell him. But I knew that deep inside, he was actually proud of how I was doing.
What are your current/future shooting goals?
My wife and I have a place in Eastern Washington state, and I’d like to plan a few trips out to the Northwest to shoot a few matches with the folks up there. I’d like to one day, have enough time off work make more of the bigger matches out of our area and try for points for the World Team. I’d like to attend more of the National events but with my commitments, I can’t justify that much time away from work or family. My current goals are to keep up with my good friend Mike Conry at the matches we attend. Any time that I can shoot good against him, I do well in the matches.
Any advice you would share with new shooters?
Find a good mentor or two and “listen” to what they tell you! I’ve been blessed with a couple great shooters over the years that have really helped me out with advice and watching me shoot.
Have a mentor help you find a quality rifle and good equipment to start with and most of all, do not buy anything without talking to them first… You need good flags! Flags similar to what your buddies use so when you share a bench, it’s with something you are used to shooting over.
Practice at 200 yards 80% of the time, it will help you with learning to read conditions. And you need to practice a lot and do it in days with lots of conditions! Don’t get all worked up trying to shoot super tiny groups, learn to shoot small aggs.
The guys I hang out with practice a lot by each of us shooting one at a time, the other shooters reading the flags and spotting the shots. For me, it makes me concentrate so much harder knowing that I’m being carefully watched by some very competent shooters and I’m going to get feedback on what they saw. You can’t get away with a “flier” when they ask you why you keep shooting when something was obviously changing down range!
