BR-50 revisited........just to see what modern day shooters and equipment could do?

Bill Calfee

Gun Fool
BR-50 revisited........just to see what modern day shooters and equipment could do?


CYA friends:


I have not competed in 10 years, so I have no stature when it comes to what kind of RFBR matches are held.


Therefore, I'm just dreaming out loud.



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Wouldn't it be fascinating if someone held a BR-50 Nostalgic Nationals.......



This just to see what folks today, with modern equipment, and ammo, could do on the 50 bull BR-50 target, with a 30 minute time limit.


Larry Brown called BR-50, "the meanest game in town"...........and he may have been right..


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Maybe I'm wrong, but, I bet there's a bunch of ARA shooters today, who would love to see what they could do on the original BR-50, 50 bull target.


Your friend, Bill Calfee

 
BR 50

Maybe I'm wrong, but, I bet there's a bunch of ARA shooters today, who would love to see what they could do on the original BR-50, 50 bull target.

Bill
I always thought the 50 bull target was pretty tough. It not only had “worst edge” scoring it had a penalty or negative scoring!
I went to the ‘97 BR50 nationals in St Louis as a IR 50 shooter that had never shot a BR 50 target. I got my rifle weighed in, I was pretty sure I was out classed. How was I gonna get that many shots off with my Time Precision rifle in 30 mins? Well, I did finish in 30 mins. but only by the calming effect of two of the founders of ARA who became my good friends, Steve Wieck and Grant Pickard.
That was the first time I saw a one piece rest. Grant Pickard used one and helped develop it, I was impressed. I was using sand bags!
Lapua was all the rage, everyone around me was using Midas L or Multi Match. I was odd man out using Lapua Master! It was really good stuff.
Well I was on fire or just had blind hog luck I finished 11th in that tournament. I drove home and even got picked up on I-55 in Springfield IL and the State Cop that pulled me over let me off with a warning. I guess I couldn’t do any wrong that day!
There is a lot of really good equipment today and I’m sure it’s better than we had then. I won’t go out on a limb and say anything about target difficulty but that was a neat feeling to shoot that target knowing that you snuck a few shots in for 100s that you knew were good even though the flags were against you! The point is that you had to take a few chances to get your record shots off in time!

Fun to think about those matches!
Jerry Halcomb



 
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Friend JH

Friend JH


Your first sentence:

"Bill"
"I always thought the 50 bull target was pretty tough. It not only had “worst edge” scoring it had a penalty or negative scoring!"




That's correct, there were penalties.


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JH, Larry Brown gave the world "Big Time" RFBR shooting.


Larry is no longer with us, but:


If he had managed BR-50 properly, I'm referring to the final couple of years, we would still be shooting BR-50 today instead of ARA.


Macky Locklin formed ARA out of necessity, not because he wanted a different game.


I feel pretty sure Macky would have kept the 50 bull target for ARA, but, that would have been a direct copy of BR-50, which was still being shot, so he decided to go with the current 25 bull target.



Congrats on that 11th place finish at the 97' Nationals, for a first time BR-50 shooter.




Your friend, BC
 
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Friend JH

Friend JH


JH, I'm going to start a new thread titled, "The meanest game in town", on the Calfee forum.


You, and every RFBR shooter who got to shoot BR-50 in its heyday, will probably enjoy it.


Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
Friend JH


Your first sentence:

"Bill"
"I always thought the 50 bull target was pretty tough. It not only had “worst edge” scoring it had a penalty or negative scoring!"




That's correct, there were penalties.


___________________________



JH, Larry Brown gave the world "Big Time" RFBR shooting.


Larry is no longer with us, but:


If he had managed BR-50 properly, I'm referring to the final couple of years, we would still be shooting BR-50 today instead of ARA.


Macky Locklin formed ARA out of necessity, not because he wanted a different game.


I feel pretty sure Macky would have kept the 50 bull target for ARA, but, that would have been a direct copy of BR-50, which was still being shot, so he decided to go with the current 25 bull target.



Congrats on that 11th place finish at the 97' Nationals, for a first time BR-50 shooter.




Your friend, BC

Bill,

If you recall most people were shooting BR-V by that time which was a 25 bull target. ARA was a close enough copy but I doubt that any of that mattered. I'm sure you can copyright or use as a registered trademark a lot of things, such as the name and the logo. But I doubt that a circle even if it was green with no dot would fall outside public domain.

I think such a tournament would be interesting. The dot in ARA makes a difference. Believe it or not the color of the circle makes a difference. I think the weight handicap was eventually omitted from BR-50 but I think it was slightly harder than ARA for one reason. There was no dot.
 
Friend wsmallwood

Bill,

If you recall most people were shooting BR-V by that time which was a 25 bull target. ARA was a close enough copy but I doubt that any of that mattered. I'm sure you can copyright or use as a registered trademark a lot of things, such as the name and the logo. But I doubt that a circle even if it was green with no dot would fall outside public domain.

I think such a tournament would be interesting. The dot in ARA makes a difference. Believe it or not the color of the circle makes a difference. I think the weight handicap was eventually omitted from BR-50 but I think it was slightly harder than ARA for one reason. There was no dot.


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Friend Wally:



I've heard several folks say the dot makes a big difference.....



Wally, wouldn't it be awesome if there could be a BR-50 Reunion Nationals.


It would be fabulous to see what the current crop of Big Time RFBR players could do on the target that started it all.




DSC09987.jpg




No dot, and a foul line, which means no sighters in direct alignment with the record bulls, and of course 50 bulls in 30 minutes.


Wouldn't it be awesome!



Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
I think I would try to be there Bill.

The dot provides a reference point. You also had rule 10A.

A lot of shooters that never shot BR-50 just wouldn't be able to live with that rule.
 
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Friend wsmallwood

I think I would try to be there Bill.

The dot provides a reference point. You also had rule 10A.

A lot of shooters that never shot BR-50 just wouldn't be able to live with that rule.


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Friend wsmallwood:


I believe a bunch of folks would be there, too.



Wally, my gut tells me that every "serious" RFBR shooter today, would love to see what they could do on the original BR-50 target.


50 bulls in only 30 minutes.....





Wouldn't a BR-50 Reunion Nationals be fascinating.


Your friend, Bill Calfee
 
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