Benchrest technique

P

PTaylor

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I'm thinking of dipping my toes into the waters of benchrest shooting. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good books or websites that explain benchrest and shooting techniques involved. Thanks.
 
I headed toward benchrest shooting a few years ago. After I attended my first match, I reconsidered.

This is just my little opinion and no flames intended.

I went to an USBR smallbore match with a Remington 40X, and a brick of Eley Match EPS. Those guys seriously trounced me. It was the first time I had ever seen a $3000 machine rest. It was the first time I had ever seen windage and elevation adjusted with micrometer thimbles. And it was also the first time I had ever seen a trigger "pulled" with a camera shutter release. All the "shooter" had to do was line it up, and push the button. The only skill I saw involved reading the wind. I asked if there were any matches where stock rifles were used, shooting off sandbags, and facial expressions told me tha answer was no. Don't get me wrong, those guys/gals were great folks, but enough money can buy accuracy, and take most of the "shooting" out of it. At my age I do most of my shooting from a bench, but I'm not benchrest shooter"
 
There are several bench rest sites on the web and Wal-Mart was carrying a book "The Ultimate In Rifle Accuracy" by Glenn Newick, if there is a Wal-Mart near you:rolleyes:
 
Jayb, wow! Sounds like some of those guys have some serious hardware! With the bucks to boot. That would certainly keep me away from the sport. I've got some other things to do with my money than buy a $3,000 rest.
 
I feel the need to make sure that everyone knows that i'm not putting down benchrest shooting OR benchrest shooters. I have the opinion that what I saw at the match I went to was an outstanding way to verify the accuracy of the rifle, but had very little to do with adding the shooter to the equation. The best I've ever shot on a USBR target was 248-14X with the Remington 40X, and I used a front rest and sand bag rear. Whatever works :)
 
There are several bench rest sites on the web and Wal-Mart was carrying a book "The Ultimate In Rifle Accuracy" by Glenn Newick, if there is a Wal-Mart near you
Click to expand...

Just bought this book last month form Walmart. I'm going to get into benchrest shooting at the club I just joined. I bought about everything I need. I hope is isn't like "Jayb" posted there. I have questions though, that the book isn't answering, but I'm only over halfway through it. It sounds like fun and I'm looking forward to starting this year! Good luck.
 
The best I've ever shot on a USBR target was 248-14X with the Remington 40X
Click to expand...

Could you please tell me what 248-14X means as a score?

I assume the 248 is the tally of the score of your hits in the 10,9,8 rings...but what about the 14x?

How many yards are they normally shooting at and how many shots in a match generally?
 
That's rediculous. I can make a 1000 yard 1" group too if I have a computer doing every damn thing. Thats not benchrest shooting, thats bringing your little contraption to a range and having a computer geek push a button. What's the fun in that? I don't see any skill in that whatsoever, a complete waste of time if you ask me. Put the damn stock on your shoulder, aim at the target, and pull the damn trigger....done.
 
Bench rest is all about precision loading and doping the wind. (This is after spending big bucks on the rifle and rest.)
At a club I used to belong to they shot a league called "cast bullet" I'm not sure of the rules but it involved wind doping, precision loading and actual rifle handling.

Dean
 
Smith910,

The X ring (center ring) on the USBR target is .100" in diameter. If your shot touches that ring, it's 10 points. If your shot obliterates that ring, it's a 10X. The number of X's are used as a tie breaker.

Here's a gif image on how to score a benchrest target. Shooting this target is a challenge, whether you're competing or not.

http://home.kc.rr.com/pichouse/rfc/1.gif
 
Thanks Jayb, still confused though as to how you get a 14X? Does that mean that 14 different targets got the center .100" hit? If you don't mind expaining a little more, I'd really appreciate it. I don't want to look like a dummy and fall behind in a few months. Thanks.
 
My apologies,

I neglected to state that the USBR target has 28 individual bullseyes on it. Three are sighter targets and may be shot at at any time, but do not count for score. The other 25 targets do count for score, and only one shot is allowed for each bullseye. My score of 248-14X indicates that 14 shots obliterated the 10 ring (X's) and 23 shots hit the 10 ring (10 points each) and two shots hit the 9 ring (18 points).
14 X's
23 10's = 230
2 9's = 18
248-14X
 
Thank you Jayb

Ah! I get it, thank you for the good explanation! I was thinking you took 5 shots per target. But that's the "group" benchrest.......It's all coming together now!
 
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