Article Photos

PARKERSBURG - A Wood County man recently broke the national record for precision shooting in his sport, known as bench rest rifle shooting.

Retired pipefitter Roger Amos, 61, of Washington, W.Va., is a member of the National Bench Rest Shooters Association.

In April, he participated in a NBRSA Nationals competition in Sacramento, Calif., where he earned the national record for the best score with a light gun at 600 yards for a three-target score. Amos earned 145 points out of 150 possible points, with four shots in the central X-ring, to beat the old score of 143 points and four X-ring shots, which had stood for five years.

"Although its called national, it governs the entire world," Amos said of the NBRSA. "People from Europe and Japan and all nations compete in our events on a worldwide basis. The scores that are fired overseas count right in with ours," he said.

Amos has been interested in bench rest shooting for 40 years, starting as a young man living in the country where he used a rifle to shoot varmints, primarily groundhogs and crows.

During his record-setting performance, Amos used what he described as a typical bench rest light rifle with a caliber of 6 mm. Rifles in the sport are divided into light (17 pounds or under) and heavy (unlimited pounds).

Amos said the rifles used by bench rest shooters are custom-made for the sport by specialists who make various parts. A bench rest rifle can't be purchased in a store, but must be specially ordered.

"You won't find anything store-bought or factory-made on one of these rifles," he said.

Amos estimated about 5,000 people across the country are involved in bench rest shooting through the NBRSA. There are competitions nearly every weekend during the warm months at various locations around the country.

Amos travels to one or two competitions each year, with most of his practicing done on a shooting range on his property in Washington Bottom. It is approved by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and is used by the DNR, local law enforcement officers and Wood County's concealed carry program for certifications, he said. He practices one or two days a week during warm months.

Amos said the official history of the bench rest shooting sport goes back to 1949 when one of the first organized invitational events was held in Johnstown, Pa. The sport began to grow more popular in the 1960s and 1970s and is at its peak currently.

"The winning scores then are laughable today because of how far things have progressed as far as better bullets, better barrels, different gunpowder, better scopes," he said of those early competitions. "Everything, just like automobiles, has evolved since the '40s and the scores reflect that, but those were the people who pioneered what we're doing today," Amos said.

The competition where he broke the record in April was the National Bench Rest Shooters Association 600 Yard Nationals. The competition, like others at the national level, is held at different locations each year. Amos was traveling to visit a son in the U.S. Navy in April and scheduled that trip to coincide with the competition in Sacramento.

Bench rest shooting competitions involve shooting targets at different distances, usually as single shots or as groups of shots at several targets. Amos said the most popular distances are 100 and 200 yards. Most of the long-range shooting - 600 and 1,000 yards - is done out West but it is growing in popularity nationally.

Amos said he likes shooting at all distances and with both light and heavy rifles, but said there is growing interest overall in the long range shooting due to the increased complexities and challenges involved over the longer distances.

This wasn't the first time Amos broke a national record in bench rest shooting. Three years ago, he broke another record at a competition but it only stood for about an hour before another shooter at the same event beat his score, he said.

"It's an achievement and I'm proud to be named among these men that have done this all their lives," he said of his accomplishment.