Good book or videos on proper bench technique with a bipod.

[whisler]

Anyone know of any good books or videos on proper bench technique for using a bipod. I have started participating in a 22 match with my bipod equipped CZ and, boy do I need to improve my technique.
All suggestions appreciated.

 

[Varminterror]

Here’s a great video regarding bipod shooting. Note how little pressure he’s putting into the rifle, not really pre-loading, but rather simply making that supporting connection. You can see his bipod legs aren’t actually loaded to a rearward angle when he’s shooting, just enough contact to make the connection and “lean” the bipod out of any slack, rather than any kind of detrimental heavy shoulder pressure preloading the bipod.

 

[Walkalong]

I started out "loading" the bipod because that's what the internet said to do, didn't take long for me to figure out to stop that.

 

[whisler]

Looks like I have been loading the bipod excessively. Thanks for the video. I'll try the illustrated technique.
Any other tips are welcome.

 

[Laphroaig]

I've been trying to get consistent shoulder pressure on the stock which has positively affected my precision when shooting from a Harris bipod with a rear bag. What I've been doing is setting up so the cross hairs are slightly above the POA then applying enough pressure with my shoulder to push the rifle down to the POA. At 100 yds. that might be 3/4 to 1 inch high to start. That does load the bipod a little. Consistency matters.

 

[Walkalong]

I use the shoulder/bag/hand to control shoulder pressure/recoil and forget about the bipod, just pretend it’s on a front rest.

 

[citizenconn]

The best advice I can offer from long distance shooting experience in military training and lots of civilian shooting is to find a front bipod of other rest that allows you to make minute adjustments so that you are not having to search for the target with the front of the rifle all the time. And as equally important, make a rear "nest" where the buttstock fits without moving. Spending time having to adjust the rear bags often or squeezing them to get the precise placement you want as a lot of videos shows people doing is a self defeating proposition in my opinion.

I was taught to build a cradle for the rifle where you mount the rifle, not the other way around. That allows the rifle to stay in the same position from shot to shot, resulting in repeatable shots.

 

[kmw1954]

Here’s a great video regarding bipod shooting.

Thing I hate about video links is that I generally then follow the next 10 videos after it! Like this one, then watched the next 7 after it next thing I know I'm watching Eric Cortina. Not that I have anything against it.

 

[whisler]

In the first portion of the video, I can't quite tell if he is shooting prone or from the bench. I am shooting from the bench although that may not make a difference. I am not using a rear bag. I rest the rear of the stock on my off-hand forearm and adjust the height of the rear of the stock by gripping higher or lower with my off-hand on my shooting arm bicep.
Course of fire is 10 shots slow fire in 10 minutes on one target and then 2 sets of 5 shots in 30 seconds on a second target. This is repeated 3 times.
For some strange reason my rapid-fire groups were better than my slow-fire groups at the last match.
Critiques welcome!

 

[Varminterror]

In the first portion of the video, I can't quite tell if he is shooting prone or from the bench. I am shooting from the bench although that may not make a difference.

It really doesn’t make a difference, the rifle support is what makes the difference (in the case of this video, bipod or bipod + rear bag).

I am not using a rear bag. I rest the rear of the stock on my off-hand forearm and adjust the height of the rear of the stock by gripping higher or lower with my off-hand on my shooting arm bicep.

Same same - Phil goes through that differentiation in the first portion of the video, showing how to connect to the rifle as if we didn’t have a rear bag, then add the bag beneath and use the hand to squeeze it up to support the rifle. The position he describes is the same for rear bag support or no bag.

What game are you shooting which shoots from a bipod but no rear support?

 

[whisler]

There is no provision that says I can't use a rear bag. I have just never acquired one. If a rear bag would be much better than my method, I may just get one.
This is just a club sponsored fun match for 22 shooters. Use whatever you want and choose to shoot from the bench on all small targets, or shoot 3 position, at small targets for prone and seated/kneeling and a larger target for standing. The younger guys usually shoot 3 position and us older guys (I'm 80 y.o.) usually shoot from the bench.
The old guy next to me (as in older than me) was shooting a nice Anshutz on the biggest most elaborate front rest I have ever seen. Said it cost big bucks even used. The funny thing was his Anshutz was a single shot. He said he didn't think he could get off 5 shots in 30 seconds but the way he shot his 4 10's were as good as 5 8's. He did manage 5 shots once. Nice fellow and a really good shot.
No prizes except a door prize of a club T-shirt to whoever was using the lane number that was drawn. All just for fun and it is. I am only shooting against my last match score and trying to improve each month.
Thanks for the tips.

 

[Varminterror]

If a rear bag would be much better than my method, I may just get one.

It will be. It’s the same as your method (which is effectively the same as the method all of us use), but ADDS SUPPORT beneath your rifle.

 

[taliv]

Loading the bipod came from days when most long range shooting generated a lot more recoil. Today with most PRS folks shooting 6 BR based cartridges in 20 lb rifles there’s so little recoil it hardly matters.

loading the bipod with light recoil cartridges shouldn’t make you less accurate. It’s just unnecessary. If you do find you’re less accurate loading the bipod it’s most likely due to mental distraction rather than physics.

 

[bamajoey]

I’ve never been able to get the accuracy with a bipod as I have a good solid front and rear rest. I don’t even own a bipod any more.

 

[kmw1954]

I’ve never been able to get the accuracy with a bipod as I have a good solid front and rear rest. I don’t even own a bipod any more.

I have experienced just the exact opposite. Going from a Rock Rest to a Harris Bipod my groups have greatly improved.

 

[rayatphonix]

My experience matches kmw’s. In my case I believe a bipod allows for a more consistent, repeatable position behind the gun, whether at a bench or prone.

 

[Varminterror]

The grass is greenest where you water it.

Mechanically, a more rigid, heavier rest, with more contact to the rifle and more contact to the underlaying surface will provide better support. If a shooter can’t capitalize upon the weight, contact, and rigidity of a machine rest and bunny ear bag over the lesser support of a bipod and squeeze bag, it’s NOT a fault of the equipment, but rather unfamiliarity of the shooter with the gear, and resultant misuse. Plainly, there’s a bit more to it than simply setting a forend on a machine rest.

If a shooter practices more with one than the other, they’ll shoot better with the more practiced option.

 

[benEzra]

Ryan Cleckner has said that in his experience, bipods are less consistent than a shooting bag for a front rest, due to inconsistency in bipod movement on a hard, rough bench. I think this would mostly pertain to harder-kicking calibers in lighter rifles, though, not to light-recoiling calibers in a dedicated bench rifle.

I messed around once with a bipod on a deer rifle some just to see what it could do, and was disappointed; groups were larger than shooting off a front bag, and POI was a little different. But benchrest shooters seem to universally use bipods, so I do think it’s recoil-dependent.

 

[kmw1954]

The grass is greenest where you water it.

If a shooter can’t capitalize upon the weight, contact, and rigidity of a machine rest and bunny ear bag over the lesser support of a bipod and squeeze bag,
Plainly, there’s a bit more to it than simply setting a forend on a machine rest.

All I can state is that in my own case I was able to hold more steady in the rigid mount of the bipod. I was not rocking the foregrip as I was doing with the rest. Was that due to inexperience? Probably. But my groups improved and it is what is required for us to use in our league so that is what I stick with.

 

[Varminterror]

But benchrest shooters seem to universally use bipods

Sanctioned benchrest competitions are almost unilaterally fired from machine rests.

 

[Varminterror]

I was not rocking the foregrip as I was doing with the rest. Was that due to inexperience? Probably.

Yes.

there’s a bit more to it than simply setting a forend on a machine rest.

If your forend was rocking, your rest bag wasn’t well fit for the forend. Adding a bag-rider to the forend and using a wider rest bag is a common solution as well.

 

[Walkalong]

Sanctioned benchrest competitions are almost unilaterally fired from machine rests.

Yep, like this or better. Mostly better these days.

 

[kmw1954]

If your forend was rocking, your rest bag wasn’t well fit for the forend..

Even in my inexperience to that I can attest! It fit like dog doo doo. But then in my own defense I was inexperienced and still learning. Then again because of our league requirements the water is flowing on the bipod. It is what I have become accustomed to.

 

[Bcwitt]

I keep a bipod folded & rest the hoizontal legs on whatever surface is handy.

 

[peeplwtchr]

Did the video being discussed het removed?