Are there any negative effects?

N

nonliberal

Guest
To not having the muzzle beyond the end of the bench?

I was shooting off a new bench yesterday and could not shoot a good group to save my life. With 3 different guns that have been shooting well. At the end of the day I looked hard at my setup and the only thing I could notice was the muzzle was about 6 inches short of hanging off this bench.

Could this be an issue or should I look elsewhere? Its storming with very strong winds today so I cant go try again.
 
I would say that having the muzzle that far back on the bench didn't help you any. lol. :D I know with a flat crown you DEFINITELY want the muzzle past the end of the bench. With any other crown, I'm not too sure. But I know I always make it a point to have the muzzle past the bench. Just a thought.

Matthew S Keller
 
Rules

NBRSA Rules dictate that the muzzle must extend past the end of the bench.
So most Benchrest Shooters will make a point that it always is......jackie
 
New bench.....

..does NOT mean it is a solid bench, just new. Just another variable to eliminate. Make sure you are not inducing error into the mix by leaning into the bench .
 
Wait a minute...

Are some saying that firing a rifle with the muzzle a foot or less above a solid surface will effect the accuracy (or precision) of the gun in a negative way??

What about all those prone shooters and matches?? Also varmint shooters firing from prone?

How would this negatively effect shooting?
 
Sonof A. Gunn said:
Are some saying that firing a rifle with the muzzle a foot or less above a solid surface will effect the accuracy (or precision) of the gun in a negative way??

What about all those prone shooters and matches?? Also varmint shooters firing from prone?

How would this negatively effect shooting?
Click to expand...

What about them, they know they have muzzle blast and they have always had it. When a person is firing off a bench backs up to where the muzzle is not past the end of the bench they may find they have effects from muzzle blast they have not been accustomed to.
 
Not trying to start a war here. I'm just wondering about this - am curious as to what effect(s) this has on target.
 
I guess what you should do is, on a day when your gun is shooting and conditions are good, try it both ways and let us know what happens.
 
You assume I have a gun that shoots well enough to test this - sorry, I do not. That's why I ask here for someone to explain the effect(s) this might have on target.

In all the years of reading about bench & precision shooting (although I haven't read everything), I do not recall having seen this discussed.

Any articles or postings on these forums or any others that can be referenced concerning this?

Or is it just a matter of increased muzzle blast (noise impacting the shooter) without any detrimental effects on groups or alteration of bullet impact?
 
See Mann's "The Bullet's Flight". There's a section on what was called Plank Shooting. All your questions will be answered.....
 
Don't have a copy - what does it say?

Like pulling teeth to get a definitive answer (to nonliberal's original post) here.

Must be a big secret.
 
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Don't know the answer

But....you can bet both cheeks that I'll use a pole, a tree, or any close object as an excuse without hesitation.
 
I don't see how it could, the bullet is close to 3 times speed of sound meaning the bullet has long departed the neighborhood before a blast wave can reflect off some object.
 
Earlier in my benchrest career I shot every match with my barrel short of the end of the bench and did not experience any ill effect from it. It was a period of time in which I shot well and won many matches. From the anecdotal evidence that I have from those experiences, I would say the effects are minimal if any and that the inaccuracies you experienced were from some other source. Randy J.
 
Ah, now we're getting somewhere - good answers. Now does anybody have a copy of Mann's book so we can find out about "plank shooting", whatever that is. Apparently onomrbil has left the building. :D

Interestingly we now have comments saying both it has an effect and some saying it doesn't. Who is correct?
 
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Tom

I really don't know the answer, but for what it's worth, consider the blast wave in slow motion.......an inch in all directions of the muzzle....then 2 inches.......then 3 etc.
It's not like there is just nothing around the muzzle and nothing happens till the blast wave get's to the surface of the bench, the air around the barrel has mass and is moved by the blast wave. Equal resistance top and both sides, but it has immediate resistance from below. Make sense?
BA
 
bryan said:
I really don't know the answer, but for what it's worth, consider the blast wave in slow motion.......an inch in all directions of the muzzle....then 2 inches.......then 3 etc.
It's not like there is just nothing around the muzzle and nothing happens till the blast wave get's to the surface of the bench, the air around the barrel has mass and is moved by the blast wave. Equal resistance top and both sides, but it has immediate resistance from below. Make sense?
BA
Click to expand...

Pressure waves propagate at the speed of sound. Admittedly the gas from the powder is transonic as it exits the barrel but I'll bet that phenomena dampens almost instantaneously with the energy transferred into the sonic velocity shock wave. You seen the movies taken from bombers as 500 pounders go off? You can watch the shock wave. The air has absorbed the initial 25,000 fps+ explosion and translated it to a sonic wave.

I will admit that the air has probably become sufficiently compressed so that the speed of sound in the denser gas is faster than it would be at normal atmospheric pressure. Anybody got data on speed of sound vs air density?

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

bullet_from_revolver_1.jpg
 
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These are some interesting replies. It looks like one common theme here is "it isnt helping" but chances are there is something else causing my issue.

Maybe it was just one of those days that my eyes, brain, and hands were not working together and I would have been better off to leave sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the input.
 
Still waiting to find out what "plank shooting" is. Seems we still haven't gotten a definitive reply from somebody that has some hard facts, evidence, or references. We could/should all learn something here.
 
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