Author Topic: What Bench Techniques Yield Greatest Accuracy (Read 722 times)

E. Miller · « **on:** March 03, 2004, 02:48:37 PM »

I'm trying to determine if there are any consistant tricks you guys use when shooting your carbines from the bench. For instance, I've heard that you should never put the butt stock in bags but rather hold it. Another item I heard was that you should move your front bags as close to the receiver as possible. Are these two things true? What techinques do you guys that shoot from the bench use to deliver the greatest accuracy from your carbines. Thanks - Eddie

grodon of the north · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2004, 09:46:11 PM »

Hadn't heard about not using bags under the buttstock. I've been using bags fore and aft, w/ the front bag just forward of the trigger guard. The skinny stock and fore-end and the light weight probaly aren't that conducive to tiny groups. I hear some of the guys use a wide, flat fore-end and better fitting buttstocks for bench and varmint work. I could see where that would help. I'm in the learning process here too w/ a .223 carbine and factory rynite furniture. Shot a couple of <.5" 3 shot groups so far but the 5 shot avg. w/ prefered ammo is more like 1 to 1.25" (100 yd). Still working on loads but gotta wonder how much of that spread is me? Taking the sling off helps :shock: Some even take the swivel studs off. I've got about a 7 page treament of the subject of benchrest technique I copied from some where if you'd like to have it? I reckon I could e-mail it or something. Good shooting :-)

skb2706 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 04, 2004, 05:07:22 AM »

Seems Contenders are more of a three shot group shooter than a five anyway..............I have no clue why (my guess is operator error). I use a front bag up close to the reciever, no sling, leave the stud in, rear sand bags. With my 6mm 30-30 AI I can get three shot groups that go less than .500" but by five shots its more like 1.00". My .221 FB is about the same....................?

Flash · « **Reply #3 on:** March 04, 2004, 12:06:10 PM »

For carbines I use one bag under the frame and one under the heel of the stock. I pinch the trigger and trigger guard with my thumb and forefinger, never touching the gun. For pistols, I bought an old grip, sliced the bottom off level with the plane of the barrel and attached it to a piece of 1" plywood that's 1' square. On each corner, I epoxied 5/8" hex nuts under through holes in the wood and used these along with bolts as levelers. This way, the barrel of my handguns don't touch anything and when I've worked up a load and zeroed it, I just switch grips.

skb2706 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2004, 12:13:03 PM »

neet idea Flash........now I know I got a old grip that is rough anyway. Just the ticket for a trial run on the pistol barrels. Thanks

Flash · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2004, 10:40:16 AM »

skb2706,
To give ya a little more detail about arriving at the barrel plane, I placed a SQUARE piece of wood up against the underneath of the barrel and from this, drew a horizontal line across the bottom of the grip with a combination square. The leveling bolts make up any other correction that's necessary. A few of the guys at the range made themselves one too. It's a "Rock Solid" platform to shoot from and the bigger the footprint of the board, the steadier it is.

New Hampshire · « **Reply #6 on:** March 05, 2004, 12:50:17 PM »

Im going to get a second synthetic stock for my Encore. In that extra stock I will epoxy in as much lead shot as I can (Right now its looking like I might be able to get around 8 lbs or so of lead.) This will give a rock sollid shooting platform from the bench, as well as take the bite out of the bigger calibers to make lengthy sessions more bareable. Added to sand bags, I should have about as good a bench set-up short of going to bench-rest style shooting lengths. When it comes time to hunt I will simply replace the stock with my un-altered factory stock.
Good day,
Brian M

Bullseye · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2004, 06:24:43 PM »

I always put a bag under the forearm. I always hold the butt of the gun myself, not because I know that a bag under the butt will not work, but because I like to place a bit of operator ability into the equation. I have moved the bag under the forearm from out near the end to back to the receiver because I have heard that theory before, however it does not make any difference with my guns.

Flash · « **Reply #8 on:** March 07, 2004, 12:10:49 AM »

Oh, I forgot to mention that my sand bags are leather, have extended ears that cradle the butt stock and prevent it from falling over and the front bag is on a steel tripod. A bag on the heel of the butt stock works fine. What shape are your sandbags Bullseye? It should work fine? I have to reposition the gun for every shot but I have no problem getting my gun to fire accurately from bagS.