How do you hold your rifle at the range?

I shoot with the buttstock nestled into a rear sandbag... the front sand bag I turn sideways and rest my wrist in it and hold the forearm in my palm... most rifles will shift POI when shot from a hard quick rebounding rest as opposed to the soft, forgiving field grip.
 
FLHTCUI said:
MD, I try and follow the steps you outlined up and to the part about placing hand under fore stock when sighting in a new to me rifle/scope combo.
After that and by this I mean when the gun is sighted in I then practice free hand and some other types of rests or other shooting positions.
Works for me...
Rob
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^^^^^^^^
 
MD said:
How do you like to rest your hunting rifle when sighting in at the range?

I like to rest the fore-end on sandbags, the butt on sandbags and fit to my shoulder and rest my elbow on the bench and hold the fore-end just behind the sandbags.

I have read advice however, that suggests holding the hand under the front sandbags to more accurately simulate the hold you'll have when hunting.

But that is so variable.

When I take a shot at game, it could be from a prone, sitting or kneeling position, offhand, leaning on a tree, seated or kneeling rested on a hat on a stump on my elbows on a stump, or even across my backpack or bicycle frame, so at the range I want to find out as best I can what the rifle shoots like in the firmest position possible.

So again: hand under the sandbag or not for you?
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When developing loads I use my non-dominant hand to pinch the rear bag to fine tune my sight picture. But when shooting my 366 Wagner or 416 Rigby I hold the forend otherwise they try to leap off the front rest which usually results in the forend slamming down onto the front rest.
 
Does your 'real life' involve a shooting bench in the field?

Personally, I prefer to use a sand bag type front rest under the forend, with the web of my non shooting hand under the recoil pad. This allows me to adjust my elevation by squeezing that hand closed.
 
I don't use a bench very often, preferring slung up prone or sitting when shooting a hunting rifle, and bi-pod prone with my target rifle. What you do frequently, is what your muscle memory will follow, so if every time you drop into a shooting position, your hand is under the forend, your rifle will always have a soft forward contact point regardless of whether you drape yourself over a dead fall, a rock, a snow drift, or a sand dune. What you always do is what feels natural. What feels natural results in a faster shot once the target has been acquired. On game, the faster the unrushed shot can be made, the surer the shot will be, due to the open ended timing you face with any live target. He might stay in place for a moment or for several minutes, but usually there is no way to know, baited game notwithstanding.

So what of the importance of removing as much human influence over the rifle during sighting in as possible. Well what of it? On the surface it sounds like a good idea, but if you sight in off sandbags, a mechanical rest, or some combination involving a bi-pod and sandbags, and the resulting zero is not in coincidence with the zero you fire while holding the rifle, I don't see the benefit. Accuracy matters, but groups size, other than their affect as a confidence builder or destroyer, does not. The accuracy that matters is the deviation between your intended point of impact and the actual. Learn to call your shots. Shoot pairs, cycle the action at the shoulder, and reacquire the target as quickly as possible after each shot. After the shooting, measure your shot string - measure the distance of all your bullet holes from the bull, then divide the sum by the number of shots fired.

That will pretty much dictate what your performance in the field will be. But when shooting game, you are emotionally connected with your target, and that too will effect your performance. The key here lies in your ability to disassociate yourself from the target when shooting. One way to do that is to focus solely on the mechanics of the shot: position, breathing, sight picture, and trigger control. You can only do that if you always concentrate on those basic elements of marksmanship when shooting at inanimate targets. If you are in the habit of shooting from a bench, none of those elements impact the results on the target, so you don't even think about them. From this we can see that removing human influence from our shooting isn't necessarily helpful.
 
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MD said:
How do you like to rest your hunting rifle when sighting in at the range?

I like to rest the fore-end on sandbags, the butt on sandbags and fit to my shoulder and rest my elbow on the bench and hold the fore-end just behind the sandbags.

I have read advice however, that suggests holding the hand under the front sandbags to more accurately simulate the hold you'll have when hunting.

But that is so variable.

When I take a shot at game, it could be from a prone, sitting or kneeling position, offhand, leaning on a tree, seated or kneeling rested on a hat on a stump on my elbows on a stump, or even across my backpack or bicycle frame, so at the range I want to find out as best I can what the rifle shoots like in the firmest position possible.

So again: hand under the sandbag or not for you?
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I sight in my hunting rifle the same way i shoot my target rifle, off either a bipod or a front rest, with a bag under the rear of the stock, and my hand back under holding the rear sandbag to adjust elevation and windage.

If i sight in in the most accurate method, then when hunting i will know its my fault if i miss and not the gun.
 
Boomer said:
I don't use a bench very often, preferring slung up prone or sitting when shooting a hunting rifle, and bi-pod prone with my target rifle. What you do frequently, is what your muscle memory will follow, so if every time you drop into a shooting position, your hand is under the forend, your rifle will always have a soft forward contact point regardless of whether you drape yourself over a dead fall, a rock, a snow drift, or a sand dune. What you always do is what feels natural. What feels natural results in a faster shot once the target has been acquired. On game, the faster the unrushed shot can be made, the surer the shot will be, due to the open ended timing you face with any live target. He might stay in place for a moment or for several minutes, but usually there is no way to know, baited game notwithstanding.

So what of the importance of removing as much human influence over the rifle during sighting in as possible. Well what of it? On the surface it sounds like a good idea, but if you sight in off sandbags, a mechanical rest, or some combination involving a bi-pod and sandbags, and the resulting zero is not in coincidence with the zero you fire while holding the rifle, I don't see the benefit. Accuracy matters, but groups size, other than their affect as a confidence builder or destroyer, does not. The accuracy that matters is the deviation between your intended point of impact and the actual. Learn to call your shots. Shoot pairs, cycle the action at the shoulder, and reacquire the target as quickly as possible after each shot. After the shooting, measure your shot string - measure the distance of all your bullet holes from the bull, then divide the sum by the number of shots fired.

That will pretty much dictate what your performance in the field will be. But when shooting game, you are emotionally connected with your target, and that too will effect your performance. The key here lies in your ability to disassociate yourself from the target when shooting. One way to do that is to focus solely on the mechanics of the shot: position, breathing, sight picture, and trigger control. You can only do that if you always concentrate on those basic elements of marksmanship when shooting at inanimate targets. If you are in the habit of shooting from a bench, none of those elements impact the results on the target, so you don't even think about them. From this we can see that removing human influence from our shooting isn't necessarily helpful.
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Fantastic post.
 
Boomer said:
I don't use a bench very often, preferring slung up prone or sitting when shooting a hunting rifle, and bi-pod prone with my target rifle. What you do frequently, is what your muscle memory will follow, so if every time you drop into a shooting position, your hand is under the forend, your rifle will always have a soft forward contact point regardless of whether you drape yourself over a dead fall, a rock, a snow drift, or a sand dune. What you always do is what feels natural. What feels natural results in a faster shot once the target has been acquired. On game, the faster the unrushed shot can be made, the surer the shot will be, due to the open ended timing you face with any live target. He might stay in place for a moment or for several minutes, but usually there is no way to know, baited game notwithstanding.

So what of the importance of removing as much human influence over the rifle during sighting in as possible. Well what of it? On the surface it sounds like a good idea, but if you sight in off sandbags, a mechanical rest, or some combination involving a bi-pod and sandbags, and the resulting zero is not in coincidence with the zero you fire while holding the rifle, I don't see the benefit. Accuracy matters, but groups size, other than their affect as a confidence builder or destroyer, does not. The accuracy that matters is the deviation between your intended point of impact and the actual. Learn to call your shots. Shoot pairs, cycle the action at the shoulder, and reacquire the target as quickly as possible after each shot. After the shooting, measure your shot string - measure the distance of all your bullet holes from the bull, then divide the sum by the number of shots fired.

That will pretty much dictate what your performance in the field will be. But when shooting game, you are emotionally connected with your target, and that too will effect your performance. The key here lies in your ability to disassociate yourself from the target when shooting. One way to do that is to focus solely on the mechanics of the shot: position, breathing, sight picture, and trigger control. You can only do that if you always concentrate on those basic elements of marksmanship when shooting at inanimate targets. If you are in the habit of shooting from a bench, none of those elements impact the results on the target, so you don't even think about them. From this we can see that removing human influence from our shooting isn't necessarily helpful.
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I dont have a problem picturing a target on the side of the deer and shooting like from a bench since i shoot from a stand. It really depends on how you shoot, and if you can dissociate yourself from the target.
 
Caldwell sand bag(tack driver or whatever it is called) on front and small monkey bag for rear rest.
I get used of holding my forend and cant break that habit but it dont bother me,just sometimes think it is not really good way of doing or toomuch grip
 
I point the end with the hole in it down range;). I set -up with sand bags under the stock fore end and one small bag under butt so that the rifle sits on it's own as close to my point of aim as possible. When I sit down the only thing that touches the gun is my trigger hand and shoulder. I use my other hand to squeeze the butt end sand bag to adjust the elevation and send them on their way. I try to take me out of the shot as much as possible.
 
Boomer said:
Thusly . . .

mikel.jpg
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Except my safety isn't backward.
 
How do you like to rest your hunting rifle when sighting in at the range?


Range shooting is different than hunting shooting. I use rests and sand bags when I want to optimize and tune in the performance of the rifle. I use a three point shooters rest. however when I do practical shooting, I only shoot prone, kneeling, sitting, and standing. No rests, bags, or bi-pods.
 
Zeroing rifles is always done with a Hart front rest and a Bald Eagle rear bag, left hand on the rear bag.
If I am shooting a rifle at anything but zeroing it, Ii shoot it like it's supposed to be- my Palma match rifles get shot prone with the sling.
My hunting rifles get shot prone , sitting, kneeling , and standing .
I see absolutely no sens in shooting a rifle off the bags that is already zeroed.
Cat
 
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