School me on detached front rest shooting!

[willyqbc]

Unfortunately mach1, i live in a small town in northern british columbia, cant recall ever having seen a BR shooter at our range! But, thanks to the magical interweb....all the knowledge of the world is at my fingertips thanks to folks like you!

 

[Gord0]

I saw it mentioned earlier. Make sure your sling swivel studs aren't making contact with the bag on recoil. Been there, done that.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Throw the led sled in the dump. The front and rear bag setup you are using now will serve you better. We try to get the rest and bags heavy so they dont move on the bench. You need a smooth recoil. Those bags look like they have a rubberized material o them which is the opposite of what you want. Get leather or cordura bags, something that wont grab the stock. Round forends let the rifle twist and a flat 3" adapter plate will help. You will need to play with the position of the bags, with thin stocks I bring the front bag bag towards the action. Make sure the sling studs are removed. Benchrest shooters deal with many small details in the rifle and bag setup to achieve the accuracy they get, none of it is luck. You will figure it out, but Id start with some better equipment. The gucci adjustments let you aim the rifle without muscling it over, like you would in position type shooting. You still want a natural point of aim in the bags. At the least look up the term "bag Sqeezer" and read how those guys do it.

 

[xsn10s]

I saw it mentioned earlier. Make sure your sling swivel studs aren't making contact with the bag on recoil. Been there, done that.

I figured this out on my stock PSS that shoots amazing. I went through and checked all my screws, checked all my ammo, and was almost ready to pull the scope and install a "proven" scope. And then I noticed a shiney spot on my sling stud lol. Adjusted my bags to miss the studs during recoil. "Oh well heck!" lol.

 

[trebark]

for the SH training videos, go to youtube and search Sniper's Hide Training Videos. An entire library will pop up.

 

[michael569]

Shooting tiny groups from a bench is a lot of fun. But if your goal is to hunt at those ranges I would suggest getting a good bipod and practicing with it. You won't have a bench or bags in the field.

 

[Barrelnut]

You will need to play with the position of the bags, with thin stocks I bring the front bag bag towards the action.

This ^^^^.
Bring the front bag more back toward the balance point of the rifle. This stops hunting weight rifles like that from jumping too much on the bench. Also gets the front rest well away from the front sling stud. I would try bringing it back to just in front, or even under, of the scope bell. Also, steady consistent grip on the rifle.

 

[wmcgarva]

Opinion #1 i would never shoot any of my rifles from a lead sled. Fire 300 rounds and look at the internals of the stock and recoil lug.
Most of the fellows I know shooting F class open do not touch the gun when sighting. The butt of the stock is about 3/4 of an inch off there shoulder, they just reach up and touch the trigger with one finger (usually set at about 2 ounces). Keep in mind an F class rifle is going to weight in the 20 lbs range to recoil is not that bad, out of a 7 or 8 lbs hunting rifle this method would probably hurt?

 

[Danehunter]

There is some evidence that the Lead Sled can have bad effects on your scope. Recoil is not absorbed nearly as softly on the Lead Sled as with your shoulder and the harsh effects can loosen the guts of a scope.

Eric B.

 

[ATH]

+1 on making sure your sling studs aren't making contact. In fact, when shooting like that, I take them out.

It's a bit difficult to get a rounded forearm stock shooting well from that type of setup. Personally I have better luck going with a bipod up front and the bag on back.

Now a 3" flat forearm F-class stock on a flat front bag, that is a whole other animal...

 

[Classic12]

Seconded, allow your rifle to recoil naturally

 

[Danehunter]

For my Ruger American Predator Boyd's Classic laminated stock I removed the sling studs and installed flush cup swivels.
Nothing to hamper forearm movement on the rest during recoil.

Eric B.