A few decades ago, I shot in a benchrest match, in the unlimited division. I had a very heavy 223 rem that was fun to shoot and so steady you could watch you own bullet fly even at some shorter ranges like 200 or so yds. I was in this class only because the rifle weighed nearly 25 pounds. It was fun but not very "practical".
There were 3 of us in the class but the other 2 both had rifles in 50 BMG. I was on the left end and a guy with one of those inverted V breaks was next to me. There were 22 shots. First 2 were sighters and the rest were for record, 10 shots on each paper target, with 2 shots on each of 6 black targets on each of 2 separate paper targets. 5 for score with values from X (10) to 5. The sixth identical target was for sighters only.
During the prep period, I was nearly set up when my neighbor shooter lug his gy-normous, shoulder cannon to the line. I got up and went to my truck, put in a nice set of custom molded ear plugs I had made at Camp Perry a year or so before, then went back to the line and put on my ear muffs and turned them off! I shot my first sighter and a few seconds later he shot his. 2nd round sequence was the same then I studied the target for a bit through my spotting scope. I settled into my 3rd shot becoming oblivious to the rest of the world getting into my own little "groove" when the earth shook and I was hit by a concussion wave that might have removed my hat except that my ear muffs had it clamped to my head. My neighbor and I had gotten out of sequence and didn't know if I had fired my shot or not! I checked my first record target and sure enough it was 2:00 "6"! To give up 4 pts one ONE shot is a unrecoverable error in benchrest!
From there on he dictated my rhythm. I simply waited for his shot then I took mine. The rest of his side blasts did not seem as bad as the 1st record shot but I was expecting them. I think it bothered him more than it did me because he only shot in the lower 180,s and his partner did only a few points better. I won the match with a 195. And that was not all that impressive considering the lighter classes had several 199,s and couple 200's with an impressive number of X's.
The next year I had the same rifle and shot a 198 and didn't come close to winning. I was also the first time is saw "Rail Guns". There were 3 of them and all in 6MM PPC. They all beat me in points and X's. One of the guys stood behind the contraption, did the reloading, checked the scope, maybe tweaked some dials and read the wind flags between shots and said."ready, fire!" His grandson of about 10 or so, setting in a fold out lawn recliner, squeezed a rubber air bulb that actually fired the shot. I thought what a great thing for a grandpa and grandson to do together!
I just realized something else! D@#*! ..... I'm long winded!