S
Sparky508
Guest
I suspect much of this is dependent on the shape of the stock, how it rides the bags, the rifles weight and the amount of felt recoil it generates. (I am not by any stretch a benchrest competitive shooter, but I like to pretend I am one at the range when nobody is looking……..)
I find it hard to properly ask the question, since I don’t understand completely all of the factors at play here, and to complicate it even more, I would believe that each rifle is to its own a unique thing to be handled in its own favorite way.
I have been trying to use a free recoil, or what I believe is a free recoil method of shooting some of my rifles which I know to be accurate, easily 1/2 MOA and better, and getting mixed results.
The first rifle is a Rem700, 300 WIN, with a very heavy Shaw barrel (its coming off soon….
) and PST026 stock. Its seems at times I can let this rifle shoot itself per say, that is leave it to ride the bags and rocket back at me giving it a minimum of contact to my shoulder, and it will one hole at 200 yds, other times its seems I need to hold on to it, to get the same results and a free recoil will provide very erratic groups. I would suspect that some of this is due to technique and possible improper use of the rear bag and front rest? Shoots great from a bipod when preload the legs and apply some shoulder pressure to it.
The second rifle is (I know some will roll their eyes here) an AR platform with a Wilson 24” barrel and a free float tube, a very accurate combination. Mostly I have shot this rifle from a bipod, with good results preloading the bipod, if done evenly and squarely behind the rifle. In .223 and as much weight as it has, I would think that this rifle would lend itself well to a free recoil from a front rest and rear bag, but does not at all. It seems I must apply almost painful check pressure to the stock to get the rifle to perform from a front rest. Without it I will get vertical stringing for days. Off the bipod however some forward pressure to load the legs and a medium hold will shoot exemplary groups without burring my face into the stock.
I also have only tried a couple of techniques with a fairly new rifle that I picked up, a Savage 10T in 308. It seems to be a fairly light rifle compared to the previous 2, and I really have to hold this one like a bear to get it to shoot well. Free recoil off the bags was disastrous, and I have yet to try on a bipod.
So I wonder, in the above examples I have,
• a heavy recoiling rifle, with a stock that has the basic geometry to ride a bag fairly well, and sometimes a free recoil will work really well.
• A heavy rifle with furniture that is mediocre in a bag, has no recoil and will not let me shoot it free recoil
• A Light rifle with factory furniture that doesn’t do anything good except hold the action and requires a hard hold.
Is the free recoil hold just something I should abandon or seek professional help because I am doing it wrong? Is it best left to light recoiling rifles with the geometry to ride a bag perfectly every time and I am pissing in the wind trying to make a boat fly as none of these rifles have both good bag riding furniture and are light recoiling?
Sorry for such a long winded question here, but I didn’t want to get a “whatever works!” response, without some sort of back up or insight as the whys and what’s happenings.
Thanks all.
I find it hard to properly ask the question, since I don’t understand completely all of the factors at play here, and to complicate it even more, I would believe that each rifle is to its own a unique thing to be handled in its own favorite way.
I have been trying to use a free recoil, or what I believe is a free recoil method of shooting some of my rifles which I know to be accurate, easily 1/2 MOA and better, and getting mixed results.
The first rifle is a Rem700, 300 WIN, with a very heavy Shaw barrel (its coming off soon….
) and PST026 stock. Its seems at times I can let this rifle shoot itself per say, that is leave it to ride the bags and rocket back at me giving it a minimum of contact to my shoulder, and it will one hole at 200 yds, other times its seems I need to hold on to it, to get the same results and a free recoil will provide very erratic groups. I would suspect that some of this is due to technique and possible improper use of the rear bag and front rest? Shoots great from a bipod when preload the legs and apply some shoulder pressure to it. The second rifle is (I know some will roll their eyes here) an AR platform with a Wilson 24” barrel and a free float tube, a very accurate combination. Mostly I have shot this rifle from a bipod, with good results preloading the bipod, if done evenly and squarely behind the rifle. In .223 and as much weight as it has, I would think that this rifle would lend itself well to a free recoil from a front rest and rear bag, but does not at all. It seems I must apply almost painful check pressure to the stock to get the rifle to perform from a front rest. Without it I will get vertical stringing for days. Off the bipod however some forward pressure to load the legs and a medium hold will shoot exemplary groups without burring my face into the stock.
I also have only tried a couple of techniques with a fairly new rifle that I picked up, a Savage 10T in 308. It seems to be a fairly light rifle compared to the previous 2, and I really have to hold this one like a bear to get it to shoot well. Free recoil off the bags was disastrous, and I have yet to try on a bipod.
So I wonder, in the above examples I have,
• a heavy recoiling rifle, with a stock that has the basic geometry to ride a bag fairly well, and sometimes a free recoil will work really well.
• A heavy rifle with furniture that is mediocre in a bag, has no recoil and will not let me shoot it free recoil
• A Light rifle with factory furniture that doesn’t do anything good except hold the action and requires a hard hold.
Is the free recoil hold just something I should abandon or seek professional help because I am doing it wrong? Is it best left to light recoiling rifles with the geometry to ride a bag perfectly every time and I am pissing in the wind trying to make a boat fly as none of these rifles have both good bag riding furniture and are light recoiling?
Sorry for such a long winded question here, but I didn’t want to get a “whatever works!” response, without some sort of back up or insight as the whys and what’s happenings.
Thanks all.
