Tips for bench rest shooting

[tra27]

Hey,

Does anyone have good tips how to position your rifle when bench rest shooting. I literally have no actual idea what would be the correct way to position your gun when shooting. So bare with me if this sounds stupid to you.

I was shooting today on a makeshift stand on my "private range". I have two cheap shooting bags on the stand. I was sighting in my scope and first i had the fwd bag under the barrel and i was also pressing the rifle down to keep it steady. I got ok groups, but the i moved the fwd bag under the stock and my groups were way of.. i counted about 5 MOA up, i wondered what was going on and sighted the scope again. Then i started to get quite good groups. I figured it had to be the fact that when i had the bag below the barrel and pressing it down it affected the POI.

Below a five shot group with my 10/22 and quite good with cheap Topshot Competition ammo at 50 meters.

 

[rcmodel]

Nothing should be allowed to contact the barrel.

Especially, do not rest the barrel directly on the sandbags.

Always rest the stock on them.

rc

 

[Reloadron]

Well I figure it this way. There is Bench Rest Shooting and there is Shooting off the Bench. You were doing the latter. While the Ruger 1022 is a fine 22 rifle for target shooting it does have a downside or two. As RC mentioned, a good target rifle has a free floated barrel. That is from where barrel is screwed into (or in the case of a 10/22 where barrel meets) the receiver the barrel free floats. Not likely with the barrel band of a 10/22. Just keep in mind, while a fine little rifle the rifle is not going to deliver like a quality free floated barrel will. There are no shortage of tips and tricks as well as some very expensive parts out there to make the Ruger 10/22 into a high end match rifle.

Again, nothing but nothing should touch the barrel and for best results a barrel is free floated.

Ron

 

[SCgman]

I use a caldwell jr rock for a front rest, a rabbit ear bag for a rear rest. I'll drape a dry cloth over the front rest vinyl to minimize friction between the rifle forend and the rest. I remove all sling swivels from the rifle. The height of the front rest is established, locked and will not change during the course of shooting. I will squeeze or slide the rear bag to adjust the cross hairs on target. I want the following relationships the same from shot to shot:

Front rest position on the shooting bench
Bearing point along the bottom of the rifle in the front rest
Pressue from contact points on the rifle from my hands, shoulder, cheek
Breathing and trigger pull
Staying with the shot, maintaining sight picture after each shot

 

[SCgman]

Naturally you want to pace the shots to let the barrel cool. This can take a good bit of time depending on temps. Some feel in order to get the best consistency you should remain seated at the bench during this time.

 

[Evil-Twin]

Never rest on the barrel...

This is how it should look... the rear bag can be moved for micro adjustments, both vertically and horizontally..





Im left handed and I place my cheek on the rear stock cheek piece.. place my left arm around the rear bag and on the trigger... I take my right arm and place it under the rear stock just ahead of the rear bag and hug the bag...with my right arm. I can also make slight sight adjustments using my right arm to move the rear bag. up or down the stock for elevation adjustments.. and left or right for horizontal adjustments, once I have a good sight picture, I slightly squeeze everything together.. use proper breathing and release, then engage the trigger..

 

[Bart B.]

The most common thing in shooting all arms that degrades accuracy is FTFF.

Fast trigger finger flicking.

As soon as the shooter's nerves sense the trigger disengaging the sear to release the firing pin or hammer, the shooter flicks his finger off the trigger. Typically a subconscious fear of pulling the trigger again too soon and firing another round.

Learn to hold still with your finger holding the trigger against its stop until the arm and you have stopped moving from recoil.

22 rimfire rifles have to be held still twice as long after a round fires than center fire ones. Typically 2.4 milliseconds vs. 1.2 for center fire.

 

[BCRider]

I'm very much a newbie to shooting off rests as well. I've found that the less I touch the rifle the better and more consistently it shoots. This goes as far as not holding my trigger hand around the neck of the stock. Instead I reach under and pinch the trigger with my forefinger on the trigger and my thumb behind the guard. Again less contact is better. I also don't rest my cheek on the stock comb. Instead I hover my head just slightly higher than the contact point. The only part touching the rifle is my support hand that fits across my chest and cradles the bottom end of the butt pad and acts like that small rear sand bag seen in the pictures above.

This works great with rifles that are very heavy or that are shooting low power ammo. I'm not sure what would happen with a light hunting rifle shooting some hot magnum rounds. It may end up pole vaulting over the shooter's shoulder and off somewhere to the rear....

So far I'm just using the blocks and sandbags made from old inner tubes that live at the range. But I want to buy a proper front bag rest or maybe buy or make a nice front rest like those shown above.

 

[Art Eatman]

IMO, shooting from the bench is a test of the rifle. Okay, so I try to take myself out of the equation as best I can.

I set the front sandbag at the same place on the forearm as I will hold when in the field. The idea is for consistency all the way through the string. Generally, that's right behind the sling swivel. It'll bounce from recoil, but so what? Just set it back like it was before.

I take as light a hold with my shooting hand as seems feasible. I often curl my other arm around and below the stock and use my fingers to help stabilize the butt of the rifle. (Not always.) Consistent seating position and cheek weld.

Rate of fire? I'd call it "leisurely". I take the fired case out and put it in the box. Dig out the next round and leisurely chamber it. Get all comfy and organized and then shoot. I'd guess maybe a total of a minute between rounds? I've never timed it.

All I know is that over a bunch of decades I've done a bunch of sub-MOA groups and when hunting I've generally hit the targeted critter within an inch or so of where I intended.

 

[tuj]

Notice how my wife is shooting her Myer's action. She has minimal cheek weld (but some is necessary), and a very very light hold on the rifle. We use triggers under 4oz. Push the gun forward to the rest's stop and it should return to target. Getting this down is fundamental and very important.

Notice also how she uses her left hand only to make adjustments to the rest. We are not rear-bag pinchers, although some shooters do that. We are not 100% free-recoil either.

 

[tra27]

Great tips guys, thank you allready! As someone said this would qualify more as a shooting from the bench, not bench rest shooting. [emoji16] As fare as it goes, the touching as little as possible seems to work fine. That pic i posted from .41" group was done like that.

 

[Bart B.]

Why is some cheek weld needed?

Can't rimfire benchrest rifles be shot free recoil like center fire ones?

 

[tuj]

When you shoot 75-bulls in a match + spotters, shooting without cheek weld does a number on your neck. I also find that cheek weld helps me minimize parallax errors because I get a 'feeling' of how much pressure should be against the stock as I line up the reticle.

I have seen many very good shooters shoot completely free-recoil, but honestly the top shooters I have seen (my wife's gun was built by the 2013 USBR Nat'l champ who used to shoot at our club) use a modified technique and a very light hold.

 

[Evil-Twin]

Adjusting for Parallax issues is something most very seasoned shooters do... But for 90 % of your every day range shooter, or hunter, Parallax is a back burner issue... Parallax when not set properly will change the point of aim each time you change your check anchor. True Parallax set at a specific range, will never change the sight picture on movement.. IN fact you can always check Parallax by moving your head around the scope and see if the sight picture changes.,. IN com petition shooting we use range dials and Parallax wheels. One sets the trajectory, and the other sets the true variation between the scope view and the barrel view. If parallax is not set properly, each time you move your head, and then attempt to aim, the scope will see a slightly different point of impact.
IM a left handed shoot but I use a right handed bolt... in this way I can keep my cheek anchor, I can keep my sight picture, I can keep my trigger finger pad in the exact same place, and rack a round with my right hand. My whole, body position does not change..
its a slight edge.
IN this picture notice the left handed trigger.. canted slightly to the left to place exacting pressure on the trigger from a left handed trigger finger pad. This allows for more even pressure especially with a 2.5 oz trigger.

 

[Offfhand]

Good benchrest shooting technique begins with good equipment. Which is why I recommend buying or upgrading to the best rests you can afford. With minimal care good rests will last forever, so consider it a lifetime investment, and worth the extra money up front because it pays off in better rifle performance. Two rules to remember are: The heavier the better, and the wider the footprint the better. Lightweight, rinkey-dink front rests, like those typically sold in sports shops, are generally a waste of money and severely reduce chances of realizing a rifle's top accuracy potential. Also invest in good quality bags to go with the rest. As an example of the variety of good quality benchrest systems available, attached is a photo of different front and rear rifle rests used for various rifles and different types of shooting.

 

[HankC]

Do you guys shoot large calibers free float or semi-free float? A lot of energy in recoil to control, I have little luck if I let the rifle goes its own way! Hunting stock is another issue, the narrow stock base leaves the rifle to twist to side when not controlled.