How do you shoot??

Ryan500

Ryan500

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Just wanted to get an idea of how you guys are positioning yourself when you shoot precision rifles?

After my last trip to the range shooting uncomfortably off a bench I'm thinking it's time to grab a mat and go back to prone, which is how I was raised and taught.

You guys shoot off benches? What's a good bag setup to get comfy and accurate off a bench or prone?

Thanks
 
Just started prone 3 or 4 months ago to adjust myself to the MOA challenge, never have shoot prone before always on the bench, now with the arrival of the Nemesis, i did start a new position and a new rifle at the same time, only thing for sure the best shooting of my life is just now, never shot my rifle from the bench, my Nem is a prone rifle so far... JP.
 
I shoot prone. With iron sights, I use a shooting jacket and sling. With F-Class, I'll use a sand-filled leather bag in the back and either a bipod or a cast iron tripod front rest to support the front. Sometimes I'll use a shooting mat; if it's raining, I find I keep drier by *not* using my mat, and just lying down on the wet grass.

Getting a comfortable setup is key to shooting well. In fullbore shooting competitions, there is a defined "prep time" before the shooting starts - typically 5 minutes. This sounds overly generous, but an experienced shooter can make the best of it, and use it to set himself up so that he has a really good, solid, comfortable position, and is ready to fire a perfect shot, comfortably, as soon as prep time ends and the match begins.

A very noticeable improvement in my competition shooting happened when I finally started to really get fussy with myself, and insist to myself that I get a good comfortable solid position set up during prep time.

When testing rifles or ammo, sometimes I'll shoot prone like I do in competition, other times I'll shoot from a bench. Setting up for shooting from a bench is a bit different, but all the principles are the same, as is the importance of establishing a good setup before you start shooting.
 
I shot a 3" group off a rest last week at 100m. Changed back to jacket and sling and shot a couple 1.5" groups, these are with iron sights. Needless to say that load was crap and I can't shoot off a rest. Went back a couple days later with different loads, left the rest in the car and just used jacket and sling. Groups are now one hole groups about 1/2" diameter at 100m.

I agree 100% with Dan, Position, Position, Position. Once you are set up and in a relaxed position with the sights on the center of the target, close your eyes for 5 seconds. If you are not on target when you open your eyes, your position isn't quite right and you have to move something.
 
That's it the guys, switching back to prone. The way I learned, was raised and competed years ago.

No more uncomfortable bench for this guy. A mat, bags and a solid npa.
 
another vote for prone, its the most stable way to shoot IMO, i leave benches for BR shooters, where its more of a wind reading game then any thing (yes yes i know BR takes skill too, but i still think its more about reading the wind)
 
Most of my shooting is done prone, and the kind of competition I like best is long range prone TR (iron sights jacket and sling) or F-Class (scope rest and bags). A key element of long range fullbore shooting is wind reading, and shooting in difficult wind conditions at long range can really "make" a fullbore experience.

But I want to offer a word of support for shooting off of benches, and for the shooting ability and wind reading ability of 100-yard and 200-yard BR shooters.

For whatever style of shooting, the rules for equipment and shooting technique end up setting a certain "baseline" performance level. In fullbore shooting, F-Class shooting is inherently able to shoot smaller groups than TR (iron sights/jacket/sling). And standard short range (100y and 200y) Benchrest is able to shoot tighter groups still than F-Class.

The fact that the "baseline" grouping ability of a certain style of shooting is bigger or smaller, does not mean that (for example) F-Class fullbore shooters don't need to be as skilled as iron sight TR shooters, because F-Class gear and shooting style is able to shoot tighter. This "baseline" just establishes a starting point, from which talented shooters are going to try their very best to win. You might have topnotch F-Class gear and figure that your super-accurate gear will "carry" you and let you slide - in comparison to a topnotch TR shooter, it might; but in comparison to a top-notch F-Class shooter, who will have gear just as accurate as yours and will be putting 100% of his talent into getting the very best possible score, well let me just say that if you want to beat him, you better put 100% of your shooting talent into it too.

As far as wind reading goes, just because standard BR is a short range game does not mean that "there's no wind" or that BR shooters are not skilled wind readers. On the contrary, short-range BR shooters are among the very best wind readers in the world - they have to be, to win.

As far as shooting technique and talent goes, the top TR shooters are just as skilled at shooting ability (but not more skilled) as the top BR shooters. Everybody at the top of the game in any division that has a good depth of competition, is about equally skilled - which is to say, they are pretty much as good as it is possible to be.

A comment on the shooting ability of BR shooters. They have gear that in zero wind is able to shoot 5-shot groups 0.1" in size. Their rifles and ammo, and shooting technique, is _so_ accurate, that even the smallest of condition changes (wind, mirage, lighting, contact pressure on the rifle stock) can affect their shot placement. In order to shoot match-winning groups, they need to absolutely master the most subtle effects. Many of the things that short-range BR shooters need to worry about in order to win matches, are such small effects that an F-Class or TR shooter can't notice (for example, in my TR and F-Class practice and match shooting, I have never been able to discern an effect on bullet point of impact caused by different amounts of holding force or cheek pressure on the rifle; my BR friends tell me that in their game this is a very, very real effect).
 
I shoot prone, laying on a $5 camping mat with a pod and sand bag. If the grounds wet, I'll lay my table flat to the ground and lay on that. I always carry a tarp and day tent.
 
gun has to fit you properly no matter what position. Proper butt length, proper forestock design for the type of shooting and if you are using a scope it is difficult to set one up with proper eye relief for bench and prone shooting. pick one style and stick to it. unless you drag a bench to the bush or you shoot br, i would suggest prone, but one isn't more accurate than another. managing to control the many variables combined with condition reading skills are what make a precision shooter. takes ammo, gun and shooter to all be the best to get the best
 
I shoot benchrest style and prone sometime, but usually benchrest. Front pedestal rest and rear bag. Leaves less room for human error, I know. I do enough prone that I am comfortable with either.
 
I shoot like I do in the field, so that means prone off of a bipod.

My technique is to line my torso up with the rifle, laying flat on my stomach with my feet apart and the insides of them flat to the ground. I control how much I'm loading the bipod by squeezing my legs together more. The butt of the rifle is towards the inside of my shoulder, but not to the point of touching the clavicle. My cheek weld is consistent, but light. I'm not applying pressure to the rifle with it or using the rifle to support my head.

The rifle is set up so that it is naturally aligned with the target. If you need to apply pressure to move the rifle sideways to get it on target, the rifle is going to want to move back to its original position during recoil. You will not get a consistent follow through. Elevation is controlled by how much I squeeze the rear bag. The hook of the stock (McMillan A5) is trapped by the web of my non-trigger hand with the thumb on one side of the rear bag and fingers on the other. I use light pressure to keep the stock against my shoulder, but not to the point of mashing it into the muscle. Trigger hand completely surrounds the grip, but doesn't squeeze it. Any fine adjustments are controlled with the non-trigger hand. Trigger is pulled straight back. Opposing pressure is created by the thumb only, and applied to the part of the grip directly behind and in line with the trigger. Trigger pull is slow, smooth and consistent until the trigger breaks.
 
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