Bench rest shooting

[Diggerfly]

Hi all,

What do you use to support the barrel of your rifle when you shoot from the bench? I have been meaning to buy something for a while now but every time I look the bags I see in the stores just seem poor quality.

Thanks,
Dig

 

[Britsmoothy]

What kind of benches are you shooting bro :haha:

Not enough meat on the spindly things for me :haha:

 

[tenngun]

I use the bench to support my elbows. In the field I am often setting and support my elbows on my knee. So this form of shooting is close to what I do in the field. Its rare for me to shoot while standing on my 'hind leggs like a man' In the field I take any rest I can get.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

You can make your own bags inexpensively enough out of the lower legs of some worn out pants, filled with rice or dried beans. Make a few or several and stack them to get the height you need at the time. FWIW, I don't normally support the barrel of my firearm, but rather hold it normally and support my HAND. If I do support the barrel/forend, it is with some cushioning and at the point where I would normally be holding it. I have seen some significant POI shifts from supporting the barrel in the wrong place and/or on a hard surface.

Regards,
Joel

 

[Kapow]

I'd be filling them with something less edible if I were you. I once stored one of those therapeutic wheat bags in a suitcase full of clothes and a rat tunnelled his way in. End result was every shirt had a big rat hole in it! And a happy rat! :cursing:

 

[George]

I never shoot from a bench, but I do shoot from a rest when I'm working up loads. I had my wife sew me a couple of tubes of denim which I filled with sand and sealed. I've had them for years and they work like a charm.



Spence

 

[BrownBear]

I'm in the "anything goes" category. Doesn't really matter to me, long as it's steady. Could be a rolled up coat, could be a tool box, could be a hunk-o-log.

The big deal for me is NOT to rest the forend of the gun directly on the rest. Instead I clasp the forend in my hand in a normal shooting position, then rest my hand on the rest.

Dunno about anyone else, but I can get a noticeable change in POI from offhand if I put the gun directly on the rest. No sense sighting in with the gun on the rest, if it's going to be hitting somewhere else when I stand up on my two hind legs.

 

[George]

I've noticed that effect, but only when I've made the mistake of resting the forearm on something hard. In my experience that makes the gun shoot high, and higher than offhand. I can't see any difference with my sand filled bag. I guess it bounces about like my hand.

Spence

 

[azmntman]

Ya dont rest barrel directly on something without "give". Years ago took a kid from church turkey hunting with BP 12GA. Called in nice fat gobbler to 25 yds. He was perfectly still did everything right and boom! I saw the load go just over his head. I forgot to put a coat or gloves under barrel and he shot with it directly on a log. I still feel bad he didnt score, was my fault, he never shot much and his mom was pretty much anti hunting. Oh well live n learn!

BTW I usually use a coat or blanket and shoot over hood if "benching". I usually shoot out the window sitting on floor and use hand on door. The black powder washes right off the paint too! Freaked my buddy out once, he shot off his new truck hood and the ol triangle of black! I licked my finger and showed him it was temporary!

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have a lightweight, adjustable, plastic rest with a small leather bag. Piteefull... It bounces all over when I shoot. :cursing: At the range I use a friends rest made from a small car jack with a sandbag on it. Cheap and excellent. I'm going to get a couple sandbags.

 

[BrownBear]

...sandbags.

One thing worth pointing out:

Bags don't have to be filled with sand to work dandy. When I was a traveling photographer, I learned that whatever was cheapest in the market- popcorn, beans, rice- was great for the empty sandbags I carried for camera rests. Sure beat shipping and carrying the heavy stuff.

I've since used the same in "sand bags" at the range. I don't notice any difference in results on the target, and it sure beats heck out of lugging bags of sand or shot.

 

[Rifleman1776]

BB, I have used 'bean bags' in the past.
That is why I am going to get sand bags. :wink:

 

[don hepler]

Sinclair International, has the good stuff. And, some of the Protekter bags are sold at Sportsmans Warehouse. I have shot off my son-in-laws competition Fudd rest. $900-$1200 for front and rear. But a good rest, can be $40 or so, from Ebay or Sportsmans. Nothing wrong with homemade bags either. I can shoot a BP rifle, almost as good off the homemade range bags, as off the Fudd., but I'm not trying to hold 1/4 @ 50yds. with my flintlock.

 

[Rat Trapper]

Shot bags that can be gotten for free from anyone who loads shotgun shells for trap or skeet. If ya want the bags light, fill them with saw dust.

 

[necchi]

Shot bags that can be gotten for free from anyone who loads shotgun shells for trap or skeet.

Your right, it used to be a pretty common practice.
Good luck with that these days, the cost of components have been so high for the last decade "store bought" shells are nearly half the price of loading your own shot shells.

I made a mess of "sand bags" for the rifle club, about 60 of'm.
12 x 14" canvas, folded on the 14" side then the end and side machine sewn,, Chicken Grit for stuffing then a tie-wrap for closing then end.

 

[Billnpatti]

Many years ago, I made a bunch of bags for gun rests using old blue jean legs for the bags and filling them with scrap polyethylene pellets that I got from work. They were great bags, not too heavy and not too light. But that was years ago. Those bags finally wore out and now I use a store bought rest. It's a dandy but it has a cast iron base and is heavy. I miss my polyethylene filled blue jean bags. Now, if I could just find a cheap supply of Beanie Baby guts............ :hmm:

 

[necchi]

Ya know it's interesting you mention that Bill,
I too work in plastics and that's exactly what I did, I mixed the Poly pellets about 50/50 with the Chicken grit. I and a few club officers felt the straight poly was a little too light.
With the rising cost of everything the company has got a little tight about scrapping product but it does happen from time to time, usually an obsolete color concentrate.
I'll keep ya in mind if/when they do :wink:

 

[mooman76]

What about ground walnut media or rice?

 

[BrownBear]

... rice?

That's my pick of the litter. Popcorn is a close second. Back when we had a string of horses, we always had 50# bags of cracked corn on hand. Dunno how that compares to chicken grits, but looking back on it, I bet it would have been even better than rice if I'd thought to try it.

 

[necchi]

I guess it all depends on how they're cared for. Food stuff/plant products tend to rot if they get wet and even damp fabric starts fallin apart after awhile if they ain't dried proper.
Anyone that has a canvas tent knows (or learns) not to pack it wet,, mold/mildew happens pretty quick.

I don't know why but I have a big bag of used up/dirty walnut media, I know a lot of CF guy's use it in those Caldwell shooting bags and I know you can pack pretty tight.
I like to keep "sand bags" a little loose so they form better. Like BB I settle my hand into a bag and hold my rifle with ML shooting and my CF hunting rifles because it's more like my field and off hand shooting "hold". For CF target bench shooting "bagging" is a different ball game than I'm talking here and I don't bench shoot ML.

I did learn that if I bag the gun and dial in the sights, I'll have a different point of impact when I use a field/offhand hold. That's why I support my hand and hold the gun.

When I made those 60 for the gun club I made another dozen for myself, it was a week long project, cutting, folding, sewing, invert, spray paint a logo,, even paid a 10yr old neighbor kid $5 an hour to just hold the bags while I filled'm, he earned $20-