Do you consider Bench Rest and Bipod Shooters Good shots?

[wanderinwalker]

I think there are benchrest shooters and shooters who shoot from a benchrest. They are NOT interchangeable! Just as there are riflemen and shooters who use rifles, hunters and people who take their firearms for walks in the woods, fishermen and folks just drowning gear, etc.

As an example, there used to be this 3' steel plate at 100 yards on my range. Guys would flail away at it from the bench with their deer guns, make a couple of hits, miss a couple and call it a good day. These people are not same as the guy that shows up with his 6.5-284, drills a couple of groups under .5" and goes home muttering "I KNEW I should have turned the necks this time...", though both use a benchrest.

What I see as the problem with the shooting sports is limitations most people have on time, money and interests. As I have learned from pursuing Highpower, to get really good at one game requires a fair amount of time and money. To be able to dabble in many, not so difficult, but don't look down on those who excel at something specific as being inferior in respect to other areas.

And maybe, just maybe, there are people who are naturally really good shooters.

 

[Hardtarget]

I do not know for sure where I heard this first...but one of the things my Dad said to me when I was first into shooting has stuck to me.

The bench is used to prove the gun...the positions prove the shooter.

I just like to shoot so I try to mix things up a little...I shoot from my own two hind feet, mostly.

Mark.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Some say Bench and Bipod shooting is a crutch..I have never shot off a bench rest, so i dont know much about them.

The bench and bipod are crutches, but then so too is using the sights or a scope.

 

[CD0311]

Any one that can shoot less than 10" groups at 1000 is a great shooter in my book...bench guys that shoot 3-5" thats just amazing!!

 

[bogie]

I just wanna know if anyone out there wants to shoot for money...

And you'll have to help me get up offa the ground, cuz the knees don't work so well anymore...

 

[Chuhhuniban]

That's the thing about this gun stuff. There are so many ways to do it and enjoy it, all different, each a test of self control in their own way. The cowboy action guy with his/her time limit and "obsolete" weapons all the way out to the lonely (by choice) guy at the end of the 1000 yard firing line with the Han Solo rifle doing his thing. You ought to try as many as possible in a lifetime. I started just plinking and deer hunting (iron sights), moved on to 3-position service rifle for a while, did a little bench rest shooting, moved on to pistols in various forms and now (old, shakey and blind) just shoot pistols for fun (from the Searchers, with John Wayne, he asks his friend if he wants a weapon for "near or far?" He responds, "near, can't see far anymore."). I learned something every time I tried something new and generally met some interesting folks doing it. And, I always met somebody who was so damn good at whatever it was that it was scary...

 

[BigG]

Sure they are - why do you ask?

Even Alvin York, yep THAT Alvin York, shot prone over a log rest when he was doing his turkey shoots.

Any discipline you really dig into you will find is a game of inches, in this case, fractions of inches; as that is the difference between competent and truly excellent.

 

[scurtis_34471]

I think off hand and bench rest shooting are really apples and oranges with completely different performance expectations. A great group shot off hand is generally a very crappy group shot from a bench rest. I personally don't shoot from a rest, because I am focussed on combat shooting. I work on rapid target acquisition, double tap drills and rapidly switching between targets set at different distances. Its a completely different ball of wax than focussing on creating the tightest possible group on a target at a fixed difference where time is not a factor. Both require skill; they're just different skills.

 

[Lifttech]

This horse is officially dead, I think. But here's my .02

Who cares really? I hope to be able to shot 3P forever but being a mechanic for the last 22 years, my guess is I'll be bench dedicated one day. The older I get the more I feel it. If some guy wants to shoot his firearm off a bench, let him do it all he wants but that's all he'll be able to do under pressure. My guess is if there were more position shooters at the range, more folks would probably try it. When I went to the public ranges in Ohio I was one of the very few that would get down and shoot kneeling, prone or even offhand.

The position shooter will be the more well rounded shooter, from a practical standpoint but he won't be an expert at Benchrest or vice versa. If all you do is practice with your hunting rifle on a bench, go out into the deer woods and get caught needing to take an OH shot on anything at 100 yards or beyond... fat chance. I missed a nice deer at 100 yards due to NOT ENOUGH offhand practice with my muzzleloader. MY fault, period, I didn't make the investment.