Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Benchrest technique?????

I need some help on my bench technique.
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<br>Here is the Specs.
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<br>Sunday went and set-up my copy of Armor Metal Products bench. Set-up my lead filled "The Rock" rest, with Small Protecktor on top and leveled it.
<br>Set-up my Protcktor rear bag, light dusting of baby powder and I am ready to shoot.
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<br>Put my B&C stocked Rem 700 223 in the bags and slid it back and forth to check how the rifle rides the bags, all looks good until......
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<br>I set down at the bench and dry fire the rifle at 100 yards. When the firing pin falls the whole rifle moves. OK I say the sand in the bags is settling just try it a couple more times. After 5 or 6 dry fires the crosshairs are moving 1/2" to 1" at 100 yards.
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<br>Where am I going wrong with this set-up
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<br>Please Help(pleading)
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<br>Darkside

Any thought on this...
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<br>Anyone...............Anyone.............
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<br>Darkside

Either you are moving the rifle when you pull the trigger or the bags are too hard. Or a combinatin of both.
<br>I use a Harris bipod and small "saddle" bag at the rear, 0 movement for me. Good luck.

Hey Fella,
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<br>Remeber, ya wanted ANY thought on this un...........
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<br>From what I can see, ya gots way too many modern geegaws
<br>that yer a tryin ta use.
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<br>Jest set yer piece(in my case a Savage 99R .250-3000 er a Win 88 in .308, maybe even a Belgium Browning BAR in .243.......I could go on..)on that there fence post,
<br>point her in the general vicinity a that quart coffee can
<br>a settin atop the wood pile way down yonder,
<br>breath in......exhale bout half..........crosshairs right
<br>on the "O" in "FOLGER'S" and s..q..u..e..e..z..e..... the trigger so's it's a surprise when she goes "BOOM".
<br>If'n that ol coffee can jumps way high off'n that fence post,
<br>hey bud, yer good ta go in my book.
<br>Ya'll put deer backstrap in the smokehouse ever time.
<br>Right now, sounds like ya got way too much gear ta fiddle with. Get shed a most a it so's ya can shoot straight.
<br>Mitch.
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What's the pull weight on your trigger?

Thanks for the replys
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<br>Cuzzinmitch.. I have used that technique before but got tired of the 300 yard walk to reset the cans.(no kidding)
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<br>T-Lee.. I have used the Harris bi-pod with my rifle. Off the bench and by-pod this rifle shoots about 1" higher than the sandbags.(I do like the bi-pod for field use) I did think about the bags being too hard but I can push in the sides of both bags with a finger tip. I did think that the rifle may have been at an angle in the front rest and catching on the sides of the front bag causing the rifle to settle into the bottom of the bag when the firing pin fell. I was switching back and forth between our 100 and 200 yard chalk(kids 1" dia. sidewalk chalk cut in 1/2" peices on golf tees) and that may have been putting the front of the stock in a bind. Just might have to check the next time we shoot. There is a lot of lateral movement(at 100 yards the 200 yard target is 20 feet to the left) between our targets.
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<br>Carbonman... I worked the trigger down to 2 lbs, floated the barrel, bedded it into a B&C stock with Devcon, and topped the whole thing with a Leupold 6.5x20 40mm scope. The rifle will shoot in the .3"s but on this day the chalk at 200 yards was giving me fitts.
<br>Not to mention just flat pi$$en me off.
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<br>Darkside

Cuzzinmitch.... After thinking about my reply I should have more clear, The rifle was a Rem700 BDL in 30-06 with a Leupold 6X on top. The forearm was resting on top of my glove placed on the 3rd strand of a 5 wire fence and my back was pressed against a tree...I am not trying to brag but I am proud of those shots because of the bet that was made and the prize(6-pack of BUD longnecks) went 3 for 3.
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<br>Darkside

As an after thought, have you checked the scope? Is it possible the mount or rings are just a tad loose? I have had that happen. My trick with the little "saddle" bag at the rear is to hold it and the stock at the same time. Check out my 100 and 75 yrd PD targets on Daves site, that was in a light quartering wind. The wind stopped just at let off once on the 75 yrd one, thats how much diff it made with the .22WMR. Those were fired from the prone with the bipod sand bag combo.
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<br>http://www.the-king-family.com/UserPages/DaveKing/Aug2002Postalshoot.html

I did check the ring screws and all was tight. The base screws are in place with RED lock-tight(the thought has crossed my mind to break out the mig welder but a little thing called temper and hardness keeps me from it). I think the problem is in my set-up, I can FEEL the rifle move when the pin falls.
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<br>The Idea of the bags being to hard is a good one. I guess I did change one thing since I shot last. I did change the sand in the Bunny Ears from Silica sand to sandbox sand as I had heard that the sand in the Ears should not settle.
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<br>Maybe I should go back to silica sand in the Bunny ears.
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<br>Darkside
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T-Lee, I went to the site and looked at the targets, Thank you. I didn't think that the wind would move a bullet that much in such a short distance.
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<br>I did like the short rifle you were holding. I made one myself a couple years ago. Marlin 336, 30-30, 16.5" barrel. Friend of mine thought he really needed it to carry in one of his tractors and his needs were more important than mine.(ha-ha) I now have a Marlin 450 to replace it.(grin)
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<br>Darkside
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Worth a try at least, I use glass bead media in mine.

Good nuff fer me bud..........
<br>Especially since they was longnecks!!
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<br>mitch.

Since EVERYBODY drank Milwakie's Best(killed too many brain cells to remember how to spell it) it was a GREAT prize. The catch was, like every great prize of this of this value, it had to be shared with the 2 guys with me.(bummer)
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<br>Darkside
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That short rifle is my Hog gun. Blasphemy I know but it is a Rossi 92SRC trapper in .357 Mag. I hunted deer most of my life with my Winchester '94 in .32 WSPL or "86 in 45-70. Just natural to go with the same type Rifle for hogs when I wanted a short one. No original "Trappers" were to be found that I could afford so I got this one. It is an early one that dosen't have any of the "Lawyerized" safetys though. A true copy of the Winchester original.

T Lee,
<br>After posting yesterday I went home and set up my bench and rests for a really close look at everything.
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<br>I did descover that the rabbit ear of the rear bag was softer on the left side. HUMMMMMM... Could that be the cause of the crosshairs jumping to the right.... Could beee.
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<br>I added more sand to both ears and the base of the bag. It will be a week or so before I can test it to see if that was the problem.
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<br>One other thing I noticed was that when I set the rifle in the bags, I placed it verticaly by feel with a light tap on the buttstock with the palm of my hand. But after setting down behind the scope and looking through it I began to adjust the vertical crosshairs by twisting the rifle. Several time after doing this I would dry fire and I could FEEL and HEAR(light sqeek against the bag) the rifle move..... Ah-HA another possiable problem.
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<br>Could both of these be causing the JUMP.
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<br>Darkside

I use a bench rest/gunsmith vise I got from cabelas and it seems to work really well since you can use the rubberbands to hold the rifle steady plus it helps at home when mounting scopes and stuff. tom

You betcha! I like to get into position, then settle the rifle. By setting the stock in the rabbit ears (what I call saddle bags) then pulling the bag back to my shoulder along with the stock to get the sight picture it hardy moves when I work the bolt. No movement when fireing.

Pumpgun.. I made a rest like the one you are talking about. The FRAME was like that but on the front I used an old scisor jack with a peice of 3" pvc pipe lined with foam. It worked very well until, a friend of mine was giving me a hard time about using it. He said it wasn't a REAL rest. So just out of spite I bought a REAL rest. Bought one of "The Rock" rests took it home, epoxied on a level, and poured lead in the openings cast in the base. First trip out with my REAL REST put 3 shots in the .3's (one groupe even broke into the .2's) same as with the Jack rest. After that he didn't say anything about the Jack rest not being a REAL rest.
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<br>Thanks
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<br>Darkside.

If you only knew darkside like I do you would be amazed

If your were using a .17 cal. Rem. like you said you were going to buy you would not be jinxed by me who keeps reaping havoc on your trigger jerk. guess who?