Correct position at the bench

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ekp

Guest
I have spent a lot of time at the bench working up loads for my rifles and have come to some conclusions on work best for me. I usually sit my butt back from the bench and lay my chest on the bench. I allow the weight of my head to make a good cheek weld. The thing that puzzles me is the amount of pressure to exert to the rifle to shoulder the rifle. I seem to actually get better results by muscling the rifle to my exact aim point instead of fine tuning the windage and elevation with my rest. What I am speaking of is not a great deal of movement just holding the aim point instead of relying on the rest.

I know some advice would be to use what works for you and be consistent. I am wondering if there are some fundamentals I am overlooking.

Thanks for any advice
 
First off touching the bench is creating movement and forcing your gun to an aiming point is killing accuracy since it takes different pressure for each shot on different parts of the stock
 
Dusty Stevens said:
First off touching the bench is creating movement and forcing your gun to an aiming point is killing accuracy since it takes different pressure for each shot on different parts of the stock
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The bench is made of cement. The idea of placing my chest against the bench I got from another article on shooting from the bench.
 
Well, if you read either Tony's book or Mike Ratigan's book, you have a fomula for disaster, essentially since almost everything you do is hard if not impossible to replicate consistantly.
There's a reason most use free recoil and a joystick rest.
 
Broadly speaking, there are two types of benches, those that show reticle movement on the target when leaned on,and those that do not. For the former I prefer to position the cross hairs centered on and slightly above my point of aim using my rest's controls, and then squeeze the rear bag's ears with my non trigger hand to finalize my aim. When doing this, I am not holding the the bench out of its natural position, nor am I forcing the rifle to a point of aim with my shoulder hand or cheek, even though they may be in contact with the rifle. For benches that do not move when leaned on (usually solid reinforced masonry, top and base) I can use the controls on my rest to come to my final point of aim, and I can be less attentive to body pressure on the bench. Looking at pictures of benches on a number of ranges, it looks to me like benches that do not move at all when leaned on are probably not all that common. The problem with using the rear leg and windage control on a bench that can move is that there is a shift in pressure going from windage to elevation. I do not have a Farley type rest, but would guess that they are much less susceptible to this problem. Some rifle and rest combinations can be shot free, and many can not. When shooting a rifle for the first time, i do quite a bit of testing to determine how it "likes" to be shot.
 
Boyd Allen said:
Broadly speaking, there are two types of benches, those that show reticle movement on the target when leaned on,and those that do not. For the former I prefer to position the cross hairs centered on and slightly above my point of aim using my rest's controls, and then squeeze the rear bag's ears with my non trigger hand to finalize my aim. When doing this, I am not holding the the bench out of its natural position, nor am I forcing the rifle to a point of aim with my shoulder hand or cheek, even though they may be in contact with the rifle. For benches that do not move when leaned on (usually solid reinforced masonry, top and base) I can use the controls on my rest to come to my final point of aim, and I can be less attentive to body pressure on the bench. Looking at pictures of benches on a number of ranges, it looks to me like benches that do not move at all when leaned on are probably not all that common. The problem with using the rear leg and windage control on a bench that can move is that there is a shift in pressure going from windage to elevation. I do not have a Farley type rest, but would guess that they are much less susceptible to this problem. Some rifle and rest combinations can be shot free, and many can not. When shooting a rifle for the first time, i do quite a bit of testing to determine how it "likes" to be shot.
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The benches I use do not move and by testing my chest in the bench the only variable from my body is from the chest up. I'm doing load work ups not competitive shooting. Should I pull the rifle rearward into my shoulder? I do squeeze the rear bag for elevation. I don't think free recoil is an option with a 9 lb rifle in 308 as there is some torque.
 
My advice is to do your own testing. The only rule is that if it works, it is correct. Ask your rifle what it wants, and then listen to what it tells you.
 
Pinning

Mike Radigan sometimes pins the gun into the rest stop with his shoulder when he shoots. I have used this method with good results. What ever works is fine.
Brush
 
ekp said:
The benches I use do not move and by testing my chest in the bench the only variable from my body is from the chest up. I'm doing load work ups not competitive shooting. Should I pull the rifle rearward into my shoulder? I do squeeze the rear bag for elevation. I don't think free recoil is an option with a 9 lb rifle in 308 as there is some torque.
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Maybe you should review which forum you post on. On centerfire BR forum, most would assume you're talking about BR rifles.
 
Don't use any method that you have to think about. The only thing you need to think about is the wind. Thinking takes time and time is a very precious commodity when shooting competition benchrest. That said, I don't think gun handling is all that important. If it is, then my shooting style was the problem rather than anything else.

Every now and then, I would shoot a shot free recoil and another holding the rifle as tightly as I could. Both shots were as tight as they were if I shot the same so I assumed that it didn't really matter. Until you've done this over and over don't take my word for it. A question though...how many of y'all have actually done this with a winning benchrest rifle?
 
Wilbur said:
Don't use any method that you have to think about. The only thing you need to think about is the wind. Thinking takes time and time is a very precious commodity when shooting competition benchrest. That said, I don't think gun handling is all that important. If it is, then my shooting style was the problem rather than anything else.

Every now and then, I would shoot a shot free recoil and another holding the rifle as tightly as I could. Both shots were as tight as they were if I shot the same so I assumed that it didn't really matter. Until you've done this over and over don't take my word for it. A question though...how many of y'all have actually done this with a winning benchrest rifle?
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Since the OP finally clarified that he is, in fact,using a 9 lb 308, which I'd assume is a hunting rifle, we can safely assume the free recoil option will result in the gun over his shoulder about 10' behind him in the parking lot. :D
 
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