Glued To The Bench--a growing trend?

[BCRider]

I guess I'm lucky that one of my clubs keeps a small area over to one side clear of benches strictly out of recognition that some like to shoot from prone. Mind you we have a great big hill as our official backstop....

The other club is all benches but no one bites us in the rear end if we lay a mat down between them to shoot prone. Again, another big ugly hill as the backstop. But sadly only 200 yards to the hill's base.

 

[TITAN308]

It's OUR sport.OUR heritage.

When you say "our" who are you referring to?

OUR ranges, though.

You personally own these ranges?

So when so many people are benchbound that it becomes a range rule...

Sounds like your beef is with the range owner. Why would you blame the people who shoot the way they enjoy? They have zero control over what a range owner does or does not enforce.

And to be blunt, if you don't like it go build your "own" range with your "own" rules.

I do think the trend has gone way too far.

Yea and I think fat guys and dudes dressed up as Tier 1 operators with scarves and goggles at the range take it to far. At the end of the day though they have no effect on me and its their money and their thing so more power to them.

 

[P5 Guy]

Wouldn't shoot there at all!

Well that would leave one with nowhere to shoot. For less than a 100+ mile round trip.

 

[scythefwd]

now that this has run its course.. how bout those lazy guys who cant be bothered to learn how to use irons instead of that point and click shooting

</troll>

 

[TITAN308]

Or people who use black rifles.

No man needs anything that doesn't have wood furniture.


/fudd

 

[scythefwd]

titan.. how bout an AR with wood furniture?

 

[TITAN308]

As long as its single shot I will allow this.

 

[Caliper_Mi]

Bah, it ain't real shootin' unless you cast the ball, ground the powder and knapped the flint from a rock you picked up on the riverbank!

But, honestly, comparing groups shot off a bench to those shot in position is like comparing a trap score to an IDPA score. Totally different aspects to shooting. 1MOA will hold the X ring for CMP/NRA while a benchrest shooter may think the rifle junk if it only held 1 MOA. Now, if the bench shooter is using an official bench rest target and the prone shooter is using a CMP target then maybe one could draw some comparisons if we presume that competition targets are appropriately scaled for expected accuracy levels in each discipline, but there would still be plenty of "lively" debate I am sure. For me, bench shooting holds little interest so I don't do it. Guys at my club don't give me grief for shooting off a mat and I don't give the guys on a bench grief either. We all put lead downrange, life is good

 

[scythefwd]

formally not allowed at the NRA range here in alexandria, va.. it's unfortunate.. you'd think they'd be more ameniable to it.

Same with the only other range in 40 minutes of me... But I got a buddy who has a little bit o land that I might be able to work something out on.. he's already letting me hunt it this year.

I can do a seated at a table unsupported though.. which is almost similar to prone.. if you squint your eyes and tilt your head the right way.

 

[TITAN308]

Your not a man unless you've taken out one deer with nothing more than a loin cloth, a bowie knife in your teeth, and whatever camo you can find/make in nature.

 

[Gtimothy]

I go to the range to get away from the house and to relax. I shoot from the bench with my rifles because I want to hit what I shoot at. My eyes aren't as young as they used to be and a .22 cal bullet from an AR is hard for me to see at 100 yds!

The only people I've seen not shooting from benches are the guys down at the far end shooting 1000 yds prone.

 

[Risky buisness]

jeeeze guys some of these posts sound like the "is glock best?" posts. For those who are limited by range rules guess what? Thats what you deal with, if limited by physical limitations, guess what? Thats what you deal with. Many of my former students told me there home range was 'bench only, here is a alternative; approach the directors and inquire if a suitable fold up table top platform on top of the bench would satisfy the requirements, perhaps stationed at one end of the range or another, with good planning and a good platform one can convert the 'concrete gear holder' to a shooting platform.
Out of 111 posts I saw mentioned only twice another suitable alternative if one wanted to learn or practice field positions, APPLESEED is the answer. If for what ever reasons you like to shoot from the bench PLEASE continue, at least your not taking up some alternitive and thuslly diminishing the shooting sports overall numbers . Keep shooting guys/gals!!

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Our public range basically does not allow standing. Sitting, kneeling, prone and bench are about it. If you are not at the bench, then fire ants exist which is a serious bummer to your shooting skills.

 

[Welding Rod]

Shooting off a bench is sort of like learning to drive on an automatic transmission. You can drive, but you really cant.

I don't know about that analogy. The (arguably) most thoroughly and broadly skilled drivers in the entire word, World Rally racers, use autos.

 

[mshootnit]

judging by the number of responses I would say glued to the computer is more like it. Not saying I am any different... I am on here so much I get a accused of having a girlfriend.

 

[FlyinBryan]

the majority of my shooting lately occurs out in the country where there are no benches, and at least 90% of fire is from ar15's and m1 garands from the standing position.

that being said, the most fun i really have come from the bench. its just a nice way to spend a saturday morning. very slow paced. shoot a few rounds, lock the action open, lean back with a nice cold drink in the shade, and spy on the groups being fired by the old geezers with their precision rifles. have nice conversations with the old timers that swoop in a swoon over our garands. no hurry. no pace to keep, or time to be home. play with the chronograph.

 

[happygeek]

I'm a little confused as to why ranges wouldn't allow position shooting. Almost anyone is more accurate with a rifle vs a handgun, do these ranges not allow handgun shooting at all?

For me personally when I practice position shooting I use a 22LR and self designed PDFs I post at 25m that simulate various ranges. Even on a bad day I'm keeping all my shots on the printer paper, even if I'm not hitting the silhouette itself. I'd be hard pressed to keep all my shots on a piece of printer paper at 25m with a handgun.

At any rate the range I go to took the very sensible step of putting up baffles just in case, so it's a "no blue sky" outdoor range.

 

[dubbleA]

I am fixing to head to my private range. There will be nobody there to judge me. It's between me, myself and I how I want to do things and won't be bothered about offending others on whatever position I choose to shoot my firearms from.

 

[scythefwd]

happy.. because they setup a bench at every stall and they don't want people moving them.. especially if they are the double benches.

 

[mr.trooper]

I like to shoot in the field.

Blowing up beer bottles, breaking rocks, or making a baseball jump around is far more fun than punching paper in my opinion.

Thus I spend most of my time standing. If I feel I need a rest, I lean up against a tree. If I feel I have the time to make a certain shot, I drop down to prone.

 

[Cosmoline]

When you say "our" who are you referring to?

American rifle shooters. There was a day and age when skill with a rifle was a prized part of our national heritage. And guess what? Whatever interesting things you can do from the bench, truly mastering the rifle isn't one of them. So yeah I am concerned that, as a nation, we are losing the art of actually shooting rifles. The ranges are getting rarer, the rules more restrictive and everyone seems glued to the bench even when they don't have to be.

Again, today, I was the only one with a shooting mat. And I got there after a dozen miles peddling my broad behind on a BICYCLE. So if I could find room for a shooting mat, the others could have too.

But go ahead and prove me wrong. Shoot standing, kneeling, sitting, prone and prove that you really don't need to practice those positions on a regular basis to stay sharp.

There will be nobody there to judge me.

I'm not judging you. It's TEDDY who's judging you!

 

[mljdeckard]

Yeah. People want to shoot. Let them shoot.

It should also be noted that there is much more quality in rifles than say, 20 years ago. It used to be that only a select few could afford or use a sub-MOA rifle. Now there is a lot more accuracy to work with, and I don't see any problems with people exploring and learning how to use it.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

A partial explanation - without reading all five pages - may be that at formal ranges, one may only be able to shoot from a bench. They may also be sighting in or accuracy testing loads, which requires a bench.

 

[Art Eatman]

Enough of this for a Sunday morning.