Shooting from Bench, cheating/unskilled??

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And be very careful about betting a benchrest shooter that you can shoot better off your hind legs than he can. That old man might have spent the first 50 years of his life doing it the hard way and doing it very well. They might even beat you using your gun. :D

John
 
Provided they're safe and responsible, I'm not qualified to criticize anyone's choice in shooting style. I'm just glad they're shooting.
 
It is a different kind of shooting. Shooting single hole groups from the bench with a high power rifle is hard, but hitting a clay pigeon offhand at 100yds is hard too.
The only thing is that it is real hard to drag a bench with you into the woods when you are hunting. I like bi-pods, but they are limited. There is usually a tree or something handy. If not, I will sit down. If the grass is too high, I wrap the sling around my arm and wing it.
Use whatever you got.
 
No way can you properly evaluate a load without using bags, etc.

I do quite crack up at those "sighting in" for hunting season while standing .....

That said, you're quite correct in that the comparison isn't, & that they're shooting at all is a big plus.

If I can "pop the balloon" while standing, I'm good to go. Hunting, I'll use every field-expedient rest I can, & while playing, I'll do that in a variety of positions.

Serious work, as in working up loads, I do the bags every time.
 
You know we all have our own challenges, physical or otherwise. It’s easy to feel superior to the next guy and the way he is shooting. I suggest we just let people shoot the way they enjoy shooting. Having been involved in several different types of shooting competitions, my experience is, that each style of shooting brings with it it’s own challenges. Position shooting is tough, no doubt, but those who think shooting well from the bench is easy probably haven’t done enough of it to really know. Sure it’s easier to shoot a smaller group from the bench than off hand, but who cares? It’s apples and oranges. From the bench it’s how small a group can you shoot? And then can you shoot that tiny group in varying wind, mirage, etc. consistently. It’s just a different discipline and a different set of challenges. ....pooch
 
My instructor told me, a "Rifleman" can impose his will up to 500 yards from where he is standing..

I have a friend who shoots in the "long range" competition; 500 and 1000 yards. That's IRON SIGHTS folks... it's on a 10 point system, my friend gets 3 points consistantly...:what:

I think bench shooting is great; for sighting in your rifle..

I'm not a big fan of scopes because if my iron sights are off, I at least can see that; if my scope is off, I have no clue what direction it's off, and by how much.

Also, I (use to be able to) group about 3" @200 yards... That seems quite sufficient to me for most applications...
 
Isn't a good bit of this discussion sorta apples and oranges?

Look: The only Bad Thing about shooting from a benchrest is if a guy is mostly interested in deer hunting, but shoots only from the bench when he's not hunting. That is, he doesn't practice under field conditions.

Ain't this what's important? That you practice under the conditions where you do your "Serious Shooting"? Away from that setup, you're just having fun--and there's nothing wrong with that.

:), Art
 
Did you know that sighting a gun in at the bench in no way sights it in for shooting in the field

One unkown fact to the once a year hunter who sights his gun in on sandbags is the fact that when shooting the same weapon in the standing, sitting or prone positions that the point of impact changes and according to how the individual holds his weapon sometimes the point of both elevation and windage can be dramatic even as close as 100 yards.

AS a matter of fact the point of impact will also change as one moves from the standing to the sitting position and it will change slightly when moving from the sitting to the prone position.

It will also change even when the light is faiding because people with iron sights will often tend to shoot high as the light faids.

It will also change with the wind and mirage.

It will change as the terrain changes from flat to hilly country.

It will change as the range increases or decreases.

All this is where the sand bag crowd is really at a big disadvantage because when you never become an accomplished 3 position shooter at various ranges you are not aware of how the weapon in question is going to shoot in field positions. Small wonder why so much game even big game is often missed or worst yet wounded only to get away because of the lack of shooting skill on the part of the once a year hunter.

Fortunately most game is shot below 75 yards, once the range increases the variables become to great for the once a year hunter to cope with. Long range shooting is best left to the pages of the sensational stories found in the gun rags.

Becoming a good offhand shot takes a least minumum of 2,000 rounds a year of practice and once you learn the practice does not end if you want to keep sharp.
 
Gotta give Art, Larryw, and Duke of Lawnchair credit for their classy responses.

Well-stated. They're out there shooting, regardless of position. Anything more is just gravy.
 
Well, I _am_ a benchrest shooter/competitor.

Heck - My rear sandbag goes for about $75 new, and is filled with zircon sand... The front sandbag is attached to a rest plate that can be moved around with dials and cams in order to aim - I'm guessing that I've got over $400 in the rest and bags...

The attached pic is me with a "light varmint" rifle - the wide thing is a strip of aluminum to block barrel heat/mirage.
 

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Also, don't clamp your rifle into anything - you'll be lucky to have it group inside a barn that way - stuff bounces around. The rifle should slide straight back.

Another shot of me and the rifle...
 

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And here's what happens if you do good... That's Jimmy Kelbly (Kelbly's makes Stolle actions, and some darn fine rifles) with the mike, and Bob White, of Shooter's Corner (a great place to buy a used, but not abused, highly accurate rifle) sitting on the table...
 

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Neat, Bogie! Thanks for showing us.

BHP9, most of your points involve people making some sort of change, not the rifle itself or its sights. The change in impact with different positions is due to different tensions on a sling, or having a different pressure point on the forearm in the field than when it's on the sandbag. The sights haven't moved, which is the only thing that would change the "sight in".

Shooting high with iron sights in poor light is due to people raising the muzzle just a bit in order to have a clearer view of the front sight. (I saw a guy completely miss with a shotgun, at 25-30 yards, one night--shooting at a Chevy Blazer.)

:), Art
 
Hmm.. I tend to follow the addage that you should sight the say way you shoot; and so if you don't "shoot from the bench" in the field, then you shouldn't sight that way...

Never thought about it, but now that I do, my point of aim actually is different in a stance then in prone..

Great responses!
 
I shoot bench because I don't get enough time on my rifle so I still need to do sight picture and trigger control often.

Not like my pistol where I'm very familiar with it and can 'go tactical' at the range.

I hope I have time on Sun cuz I really wanna shoot Daisy!
 
"Did you know that sighting a gun in at the bench in no way sights it in for shooting in the field"

"All this is where the sand bag crowd is really at a big disadvantage"

Well, to respond to the first statemen, yes I did. Just because I like bench rest shooting doesn't mean I just fell off the cantaloupe truck and found my first rifle. I started shooting and hunting in 1955. Hunting requires many more positions than any old three position game.

And what in the world is your problem with bench rest shooters?

John
 
Skunk- My solution for that problem was to take an index card and draw a 1 cm circle on it. Hang it up about 5-7 yards away in your apartment. Then dryfire like crazy at it. You can hang it from various heights to do everything from prone to snapshooting. You'll be amazed at how much better you will be the next time you live fire.
 
I don't see how it can be 'cheating' as I have never seen a cope of The Official Informal Shooting Handbook but I do think that some people shoot a little too often off bags and rests.

I've rarely had the opportunity to shoot off a dedicated rest with bags and adjustable butt stock support. Plus, I'm probably not good enough of a shooter for that stuff to make a whole lot of a difference. I can do just about as well with my 700 Police off a bipod as I can with my buddies dedicated 16 lb 25-06 benchrest rifle off said dedicated rest. Little under 1" to little over 1" at 100 yards, most of the time.

I guess for most 'practice time', I'm more of a shoot off of an informal rest such as a tree or post kind of guy. Completely unaided, standing, no sling, no rest, I can shoot maybe 3"-5" at 100 yards.
 
bench/field

I usually shoot off a bench (I built a 200 yd range on my "farm" with a concrete bench) but, I also do a fair amount of varmint shooting also. when I shoot off a bench, I do it to A) see what kind of accuracy the rifle is actually capable of, B) to test loads (the bench is 10 feet from my cabin) and C) to shoot little tiny groups on targets. I do shoot using different field positions, usually odd ones. Because I shoot and test off the bench, I know that when in the field what the true useable range is on that paticular gun for a particular target, and if I miss, I know it is due to me, not the rifle. No alibis if I miss! ;)
 
Daniel, I did a similar thing: went to the stationery store and bought some round, 1/2" diameter neon red stickers. Stuck them here and there and spend lots of time shooting them (dry firing).

My wife does the :rolleyes: thing whenever a new one appears.
 
Larry,

My wife just smiles because I'm like a little boy with bigger toys :) One thing that helped me a lot was to practice timed snapshooting and to practice transitioning focus when doing more than one target. With the latter, I set up two dots about 1-2' apart and then snapshoot at one, switch to target focus, move to next target, switch to front sight focus. This helped my target transitioning immensely.
 
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