The 2024 European Benchrest Championships brought together Europe’s top benchrest shooters from 10 countries to compete in the Two-Gun event (Light Varmint and Heavy Varmint classes) at 100 and 200 meters. Vihtavuori was a main sponsor for the event, hosted at the Houraati shooting range in Lohtaja, Finland, July 29 to August 3.
Both Light Varmint and Heavy Varmint classes are comprised of (5) five-shot groups at 100 and 200 yards, totaling (20) groups. The lowest total average for both classes wins the Two-Gun. The overwhelming majority of competitors use Vihtavuori N133 powder for their loads. Vihtavuori Sales Manager Erkki Seikkula comments, “It’s great when you get to witness first-hand at a high-level event the success and accuracy of our premium product.”
The top honors for the four-man team went to Italy (Davide de Villa, Luca Paoni, Carmelo Rizzato and Alberto Lenzi). Second place went to team Austria (Wolfgang Voglstätter, Ekkehard Widmann, Andy Atzl, Severin Atzl) and third place to team Finland (Jari Laulumaa, Jonas Petterson, Marko Tanskanen, Jari Raudaskoski). Jari Laulumaa (Finland) was crowned the 2-Gun European Champion, Italian Alberto Lenzi took silver and Luca Paoni, also from Italy, took bronze. Laulumaa also won the Heavy Varmint Grand Aggregate. The Light Varmint Grand Aggregate was Ralf Wachtelborn (Germany).
The daily individual aggregates were as follows:
Light Varmint 100m
- Jari Laulumaa, Finland – 4.850 mm
- Frédéric Guegan, France – 5.760 mm
- Fabian Wallin, Sweden – 6.050 mm
Small Group: Timo-Heikki Varis, Finland, 3.06 mm
Heavy Varmint 100m
- Jonas Pettersson, Finland – 5.686 mm
- Pål Otto Sorensen, Norway – 5.700 mm
- Carlos Pacheco, France – 5.732 mm
Small Group: Jan-Erik Tjernberg, Sweden, 3.01 mm
Light Varmint 200m
- Ralf Wachtelborn, Germany – 11.846 mm
- Borne Gebing, Sweden – 12.648 mm
- Severin Atz, Austria – 12.742 mm
Small Group: Carmelo Rizzato, Italy, 5.88 mm
Heavy Varmint 200m
- Janne Juntunen, Finland – 12.896 mm
- Bo Lindström, Finland – 13.746 mm
- Stefan Karlsson, Sweden – 14.158 mm
Small Group: Borne Gebing, Sweden, 5.77 mm
To read more about the 2024 European Benchrest Championships, visit benchrest-europe.com.
About Vihtavuori
Vihtavuori is world renowned for producing the cleanest burning and temperature stable smokeless powders with unprecedented lot-to-lot consistency. Vihtavuori is imported by Capstone Precision Group, exclusive U.S. distributor for Berger, Lapua, Vihtavuori and SK-Rimfire products. For more information, visit Vihtavuori.com.
