What do you prefer for long distance bench shooting. Bipod or Bag.
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MR WICK
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That's what I use now.
How much pressure do you apply to the stock from your shoulder? Do you fit the stock right into that little pocket in your shoulder?
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Varminterror
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Bipod out front, bag in the rear for the vast majority of my shooting.
Occasionally I’ll use a skipod out front with a bunny ear bag in the bag.
Even less frequently, and only when I’m pursuing my absolute peak of performance potential, a machine rest out front and bunny ear bag in the rear.
My group sizes rarely actually shrink, however, when using the more stable machine rest, as I shoot best in the mode which I practice the most - and I practice the most from bipod and rear bag.
Occasionally I’ll use a skipod out front with a bunny ear bag in the bag.
Even less frequently, and only when I’m pursuing my absolute peak of performance potential, a machine rest out front and bunny ear bag in the rear.
My group sizes rarely actually shrink, however, when using the more stable machine rest, as I shoot best in the mode which I practice the most - and I practice the most from bipod and rear bag.
Varminterror
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As little as possible - just build a connection with the rifle, don’t “preload” the bipod.
Yes, stock in the crease - but I tend to favor chest side of the crease, so I have more of my mass straight in line behind the rifle.
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MR WICK
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That's my problem. I'm putting too much pressure on the stock. I don't know when I started doing it but I think that is a big part of the problem. I'm sometimes moving the bipod up.
Caught myself doing that a few times recently.....i have to stand up, reset, and start again from scratch because im usually out of alignment or something is wrong with my position....screws up everything, including my breathing rhythm for some reason.
Pod and bag is generally how i do all my "accuracy first..ish" shooting. Still working on it lol.
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Recoil needs to go straight back every time, preferably the same amount as well.
If you have “pushed” the crosshairs sideways where you want them with your shoulder you can still have some sideways pressure on it when you shoot, which you don’t want.
If you have “pushed” the crosshairs sideways where you want them with your shoulder you can still have some sideways pressure on it when you shoot, which you don’t want.
doubleh
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This ^ plus I have another reason. I have little pins in my shoulder from rotator cuff repair and recoil that gets on those pins is quite unpleasant. Get the stock in that little pocket just inside your shoulder. I have made a few stocks with a curve in the shoulder side of the stock and buttplate that aids me in doing so.
mcb
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From the bench its usually a bipod on the front (I use both a Harris/Larue and an Atlas PRS) and a small bag in the back. Same for prone shooting. Though some of my rifles do not have the easy ability to mount a bipod and for bench I am happy to shoot bag in front and back with some rifles. For other position is a combination of bipod and/or bags as needed to get a stable shooting position.
Left: two bags commercial bags from Cadwell, Right: three bags I have made myself for shooting NRL22 matches.
Top: Atlas PRS with optional extension and feet.
Middle: Harris 6-9 inch bipod with Larue QD attachment system.
Bottom: Harris 13.5 - 27 inch with sling stud mount.
For hunting I often carry a set of Primo Trigger sticks, the tripod version.
Left: two bags commercial bags from Cadwell, Right: three bags I have made myself for shooting NRL22 matches.
Top: Atlas PRS with optional extension and feet.
Middle: Harris 6-9 inch bipod with Larue QD attachment system.
Bottom: Harris 13.5 - 27 inch with sling stud mount.
For hunting I often carry a set of Primo Trigger sticks, the tripod version.
At the moment the only long range shooting I do is woodchuck hunting from 50-350yrds ish. If we are shooting from the wooden tower with a turret seat and a hole to pop up through I take an adjustable front rest and rear bag. I find it steadier. In the field, its a bipod, prone and I use my arm and fist under the buttstock. Looking into a rear bag for prone shooting though.
Varminterror
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Varying disciplines have varying cleaning and fouling paradigms corresponding to their format. Benchrest shooters conventionally shoot from clean barrels, so they will clean incessantly every dozen to 20 rounds. F-class courses of fire are larger, so they might get 75-100 rounds on a barrel before cleaning. PRS competitors have to survive a weekend of ~80-120 rounds per day, 200-250 rounds per weekend, and guys will often try to fit two one day matches or a one day and a two day match onto one cleaning (most guys seem to avoid hitting two two day matches without cleaning, so they might see ~400 rounds between each cleaning.
Good barrels will shoot in the 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s even up through 400 rounds on the barrel, and for a lot of folks, that’s plenty tight - for example, the smallest target I had to engage this weekend was 2/3moa at 500yrds (from a tire stack), so I didn’t really NEED to shoot in the 1’s and 2’s, and would have only lost 2 points out of 80 possible on the match if I had missed… so I don’t need a clean barrel shooting to maximum potential…
That’s too many between cleanings for 223 Rem if you’re chasing ultimate precision. Even for PRS type shooting, it’s very likely you’re crossing significantly past the “this is hurting your groups” threshold of fouling. I wouldn’t take a 223 past 400 rounds if I were shooting for raw group and aggregate - nor if I were focused on shooting 223 past 1,000.
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MR WICK
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I just shot a 3-shot group off a bench with short Harris in front, soft rear bag sighting a custom Savage Striker pistol 243 WSSM, <1" @ 225 yds. just yesterday. Almost always use a short Harris/rear bag setup for benchwork anymore. I admit to never testing accuracy/POI difference though between different methodologies.
Zak Smith
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Ditch the Harris, it is terrible. It is well known for causing rifle "hop".
Varminterror
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If memory serves, 7 of the 10 top PRS shooters in the world last year used Harris bipods.
“Hop” is about the shooting surface and the stock fit far more than about the bipod brand.
JFrank
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Beware of the dreaded carbon ring that builds up in the throat from lack of cleaning.
JFrank
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Despite my warnings to my buddy who was skipping cleaning between matches, he continued to shoot and even when he blew a couple of primers he was still skeptical until I ran the borescope into his barrel, nasty carbon ring as well as a lot of build up in the barrel.
PRS is hard on barrels, shoot two one days with no cleaning, sure, you can skate by, skip cleaning after a two day and heading for another two day….. better clean that rascal. He used to laugh at me for (most of the time), cleaning between one day matches.
JFrank
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My bi pod guns are only around 7 -8 pounds compared to the heavy rigs y’all have, do you feel that plays a part? I’m leaning towards spikes for field use.
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