Light Rifle Accuracy Improvement

[Steve S.]

I read an article that stated holding the front stock (on the rest/ bag) while shooting a light rifle improves accuracy. I went to the range on Tuesday past and decided to try the technique; I have always used the sniper hold (left arm under rear stock and left hand grasping right arm - front stock on bag and no touch). Shooting my .308 Kimber 84M usually produced 1 to 1.25" groups with factory WW white box 150 grain at 100 yards - fine by me for deer hunting. I did the front stock hold thing and immediately noted an improvement of my first five rounds touching each other - I was either having a very good range day or that hold really worked great. I then shot another three shot group - two rounds (overlap) touching with the third round just touching the other two holes - cut my regular groups with this rifle about in half - the advice seemed to work - if you shoot a very light rifle, you might give this bench technique a try. Good shooting.

 

[Art Eatman]

It might be that your hold dampened the harmonics and gave better consistency, shot to shot.

Note that with a free-floated barrel, it should make no difference.

 

[jmr40]

Kimbers get a bad rap for poor accuracy. I've long contended that the real problem was that not everyone can shoot a 5 lb rifle. A typical 7-8 lb rifle is much more forgiving, but with good technique the Kimbers can be quite accurate.

A typical rifle will have a 3-4 lb trigger pull. On a heavy rifle it is easy to pull that much trigger weight without also moving the rifle. But a 5 lb rifle with a 4 lb trigger moves the rifle moves as the trigger is pulled. By holding the forend with the other hand you are helping to steady the rifle.

 

[z7]

Two things probably help you, one being trigger control

Second is recoil management, when holding the Front of the rifle were you slightly pulling the rifle into your shoulder? If you can apply some pressure, a few lbs or so, straight into the shoulder pocket it can help. Much like loading a bipod, but using your arms to creats the tension. The idea being with consistent holds, you control the recoil better because a 6lb rifle will exploit everything you give it, so give it less.


Loading a bipod is also about removing slack from the bipod, but part of the idea is the same

 

[MCMXI]

I did the front stock hold thing and immediately noted an improvement of my first five rounds touching each other - I was either having a very good range day or that hold really worked great. I then shot another three shot group - two rounds (overlap) touching with the third round just touching the other two holes - cut my regular groups with this rifle about in half - the advice seemed to work - if you shoot a very light rifle, you might give this bench technique a try. Good shooting.

This is how I shoot all hunting (light) rifles and have for the past six years. The free recoil technique simply doesn't work for all rifles all the time because you can't be consistent with how the rifle moves during recoil. With a light rifle you need to have control of it to consistently control the recoil (sounds obvious right). The good thing about this technique is that it translates directly to how many shots are made in the field under hunting conditions, so while you're shooting for groups during load development for example, you're also getting good practice for that 400 yard shot on a deer or elk. The other benefit of this technique is that it's the same regardless of the cartridge i.e. .223 Rem to .458 Lott and everything in between. Free recoil does work with some rifles some of the time, but the technique you describe above works with all rifles all of the time and it will make you a better shooter.

 

[I6turbo]

Will have to give that hold a try and pay attention to see if it helps with my light rifles. I typically use some technique that involves the left (non-trigger) hand back under the rear stock (holding the bag or stock), and shooting that way my Varmint rifles tend to out-shoot my light sporters by a substantial margin.

 

[LoonWulf]

I started doing this with all my hunting guns, not just the lite ones. Ive found that my consistent accuracy is higher using this technique.
When i do a good job at keeping my follow through the same, and using my left hand to make small adjustments and guide the rear of the stock, I get better groups with most of my guns, but not consistently.

 

[Gtscotty]

I guess I'm not exactly sure how people are able to use this hold consistently. I've been shooting my Kimber quite a bit lately, and have been using my standard bench technique of forend on the front bag, buttstock on the rear bag, a decent amount of cheek pressure and support hand squeezing the rear bag to fine tune elevation. 5 shot groups have averaged around or just under 1.25" @ 100yds with my handloads. At MCMXI's suggestion I decided to try holding the forearm and exerting a bit of downward pressure while shooting. At the range I just couldn't figure out how to hold the forend while on the bags without having my support arm apply a mostly left to right destabilizing force. I then tried using my support hand to pull down on the stock right behind the front bag, the stock slipped out of my hand on every every shot and accuracy suffered so I went back to my normal way of shooting.

It seems like this style of bench shooting should be pretty straight forward, I'm not sure what I'm missing. Maybe my bags are too low to the table?

 

[MCMXI]

Gtscotty, it's often hard to make generalizations re shooting techniques, but when I worked at Remington one of the engineers (US Palma team member) was very good at testing rifles and showed me his technique. He would face his support hand palm forward with the forend sitting in the web of his hand and then rest the forend firmly on the front rest/bag sliding his hand forward to make full contact with the rest/bag. He would then squeeze the stock between his thumb and index finger in a clamping motion. He wouldn't pull down on the stock much if at all, just prevent the stock from rolling and lifting off the front rest. This is the technique I've been using for the last six years in combination with adjusting the rifle properly so that I'm not "muscling" it to the target, which is even more important with light rifles. This technique has proven to work for me.

 

[Gtscotty]

He would face his support hand palm forward with the forend sitting in the web of his hand and then rest the forend firmly on the front rest/bag sliding his hand forward to make full contact with the rest/bag. He would then squeeze the stock between his thumb and index finger in a clamping motion.

Hmm, I guess I missed the part about the palm facing forward the first time... So it sounds like the palm of his support hand is pressed against the side of the front bag facing the Shooter (what I would call the back of the front bag)? If so it sounds like the front bag must sit fairly far out under the forestock? I've been putting the front bag closer to the action than the end of the forestock per general suggestions I've read online. Maybe I'll try again the way you described, before, I was trying to reach around my portly front bag to grab the front of the forestock, and just couldn't get a good steady hold.

 

[Kingcreek]

I use a sling, even at the bench, for some moderate tension on the forestock.

 

[MCMXI]

So it sounds like the palm of his support hand is pressed against the side of the front bag facing the Shooter (what I would call the back of the front bag)? If so it sounds like the front bag must sit fairly far out under the forestock?

Yes, re the hand position but the bag/rest position relative to the firearm depends on the dimensions of the rest or bag. Basically, you want as much of your support palm in contact with the bag or rest as possible, the forend nicely "bedded" in the bag or on a rest to reduce vertical stringing and focus on firmly pinching the forend as you pull the trigger while maintaining good contact with the front bag or rest. I lean into the rifle so that I feel the forend trying to slide forward through my support hand. Not too much that I have to fight it but enough that I can consistently reproduce contact pressure at crucial points on the stock. As I mentioned earlier, I've found that this technique works well for every "non tactical" rifle that I shoot when working up loads, even for my Talkeetna chambered in .375 H&H. I like to shoot prone using a sling when hunting if at all possible but tall grass can quickly put an end to that. Last year I shot a mule deer at 460 yards with the .375 H&H resting on the bed rail of a pickup truck. For that shot I had the sling wrapped around my support arm with my arm almost straight and under the stock. I was able to lean into the side of the truck to help stabilize myself and It worked great.

You can see my improvised rest in the photo below. It's not deep compared to the bag on the right that I bought for work but don't use. I find my rest is a lot better.

 

[Gtscotty]

MCMXI,

Thanks for the light rifle bench shooting techniques. I've been using your method with my Kimber and Tikka Superlite, and my groups have gotten more consistent with both. These were from today, there was a strong gusting crosswind blowing when I shot the 200yd Accubond target that blew my group. I'll have to re-shoot that group on a calmer day, but there was little vertical dispersion, so I'm betting it will turn out alright.

The rest will do for my purposes, I just have to decide whether I'd rather use a 140gr Accubond at 2,750 fps, or a 127gr LRX at 2,890 fps.

 

[MCMXI]

Thanks for the light rifle bench shooting techniques. I've been using your method with my Kimber and Tikka Superlite, and my groups have gotten more consistent with both. These were from today, there was a strong gusting crosswind blowing when I shot the 200yd Accubond target that blew my group. I'll have to re-shoot that group on a calmer day, but there was little vertical dispersion, so I'm betting it will turn out alright.

The rest will do for my purposes, I just have to decide whether I'd rather use a 140gr Accubond at 2,750 fps, or a 127gr LRX at 2,890 fps.

Glad to be of help and I'm sure that you'll get even better results as you become more familiar with that technique. As for the groups above, it looks like that Kimber Hunter is working well for you ... good job. Too bad the wind was howling on the last group. Looking at your vertical error it looks to be around 0.5 moa for both groups at 200 yards ... you must be pleased with that. I'd opt for the 140gr Accubond based on your results since it's a tougher bullet that buys you more margin for unexpected situations and accuracy/precision is on par with the LRX.