Been working with a new rifle recently. It is a Win 70 in 300 WSM bedded into a McMillan Edge stock topped with a Leupold 2.5x8.
Combination is a really light rifle that carries and handles like a dream and kicks pretty good as well.
I have never been a very good shooter off the bench but this rifle needs extra attention. It is capable of sub moa 3 shot groups but generally shoots 1.5-2 inches.

I am using a good front adjustable rest and rear bag. Now on to the question, when you guys are shooting these light weight rifles that have a good punch to them, what are your bench rest techinques? Do you minimize contact and allow the rifle to recoil freely or do you snug it in and keep it pressed to the bags?

You can't (IMHO) use free recoil on a light rifle that does not not have a BR stock. For all my hunting rifles I use full contact with the shoulder, and if necessary (for slim forend rifles) keep it vertical with a finger or other support on the forend.
Peter.

The number 1 thing to focus on right now is being consistent with your presentation.

The "presentation" would be how YOU hold the rifle, where it's positioned on the rest, where it's supported at the buttstock, where your trigger finger is, where your arms rest, etc. The MORE consistent YOU are in your presentation, the MORE consistent your shots will be.

For instance, I have a Ruger #1. If I am not paying attention to where the fore-stock is on the rest (ie: front half, back half) it will string bullets due to barrel pressure and open groups up to 2" every time. I've learned that to get the BEST groups I need to push the rifle all the way forward on the front rest almost to where the action would be resting on the front rest.

I now use a piece of blue painters tape to define the forward line of where I want the rifle to sit on the front rest.

I've also noticed that I need to allow the rifle to recoil in exactly the same way: Dont' fire one shot with a free-recoiling hold and the next shot with a firm hand to hold down recoil: this changes point of impact. Similarly, keep your back muscles and shoulder muscles tensioned the same. If you lean into the shot, then lean into ALL shots.

Really pay attention to your trigger finger and just as important, where the supporting hand and fingers are: don't vary their location. Be consistent.

Cheek Weld: Oh man, how much agony this has caused me. Keep the head in the same position too! This can change how the recoil follows to the shoulder and hence, barrel rise.

Where are your feet positioned...Is this part nuts? Maybe, but maybe not...I don't know, but I've started paying attention to this too.

Am I becoming anal about this? Yeah. I've screwed around enough at the range to realize that main reason my shooting isn't consistent has nothing to do with the rifle - it has everything to do with me.

And once you get all that right, and you've found your load, get off the bench and discover that your @#$%^& point of impact has now changed one more $%^$%^ time because all of the above no longer applies!

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!

quote:

Originally posted by rnovi:
The number 1 thing to focus on right now is being consistent with your presentation.

The "presentation" would be how YOU hold the rifle, where it's positioned on the rest, where it's supported at the buttstock, where your trigger finger is, where your arms rest, etc. The MORE consistent YOU are in your presentation, the MORE consistent your shots will be.

!

+100%
Man you got it in one.

I had one light hunting rifle that would give one 3/8 in group then out to an inch or more and discovered it was in how tigh the trigger hand held the wrist. Can be a frustrating exercise which is why the real BR rifles are so heavy, flat on surfaces that will slide, and all the other parts of kit that differientate them from hunting rifles. as robert said get it on P O A then practice from field positions.

Von Gruff.

There is a lot of good material in Movi's post. I don't disagree with one word of it.

Some things I will add...a bit of tape can make things a lot easier sometimes: When I was shooting highpower competition, for instance, to make sure my hand was in the same place on the neck of the pistol-grip, I put about a 1" square piece of tape right where I wanted to have the ball of my right-hand thumb for each shot. That can work when benchrest shooting too.

In highpower, my forend stop made sure my left hand went where I wanted it. Shooting from the bench, putting another piece of tape on the forend will show one exactly where to either grip the forend where you want to, or can be used to indicate where you want the rifle forend to be on the forend rest.

Another hint...After about 6 seconds,, visual acuity starts to diminish very rapidly and what you think you are seeing will actually be a "mix" of what you saw in the first 3 or 4 seconds and what is out there right now. It is important to learn to get that shot off quickly without snatching at the trigger, in order to get peak visual accuracy. Don't fidget around and keep trying to make the sight picture absolutely perfect. Delay will just make it worse, even if your brain is tricked into thinking it is finally perfect.

Third - Develop a system which works for you. That begins with what you take to the bench and where you put it. The less you have to move things, and the less you have to worry about if you have eveything you need, the more you can concentrate on just shooting.

Fourth - It will also help if very early on you figure out a method to easily and quickly achieve your natural point of aim. By that, I mean a bench position which, if you aim at the center black of your target, then close your eyes while someone else counts off 15 secoonds and then tells you to re-open your eyes, you will still be dead on that black center. Your muscles won't have to be used to hold you there, your position will do it for you. In that way, it will take a concscious muscle effort to pull your aim OFF of the bullseye, rather than to get you onto it. (You get that steadiness by adjusting your position itself...the angle you sit at the bench, the height you or your rest hold the rifle, etc.)

My last quick recommendation is to buy and study a copy of The Highpower Shooting Primer published by Precision Shooting Magazine in October, 2000.It is 532 large (8-1/2x11) pages of good advice and info. Though intended for "across the course" highpower shooters, there is lots in there which can and should be applied at the bench.

Best wishes & good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
You can't (IMHO) use free recoil on a light rifle that does not not have a BR stock.

Cheap 1 piece rifle rest plus a $1 nylon strap and a few sandbags and you can free recoil a .338. I find it takes a real delicate touch to shoot sub-MOA with a rifle thats capable of it. I set the rifle up so its takes the SLIGHTEST touch to get on target then free recoil shoot. The strap prevents black eyes. best of luck.

Well, I'll be more general, but I don't think shooting a lightweight rig like yours free recoil is practical to determine it's "useable" accuracy.

Free recoil may well be the way that rifle will shoot most accurately, but I prefer to have a method that is more reproduceable in the intended use, presumably hunting with the rig you are talking about. So....I would be setting up with my shoulder firmly into the rifle, and holding it down a little bit on in a manner that is comfortable to you, to keep the rifle from jumping around all out of your setup.

I have had several rifles that Hill Country rifles has done for me, and they often come with a test target that says something like
'bullet type/weight, distance target is at, and rifle held down, 3 shots'

I have asked them about this, and they have told me that the are shooting the rifle with it being held down, typically with the non trigger hand holding down the rifle with pressure on top of the elevation knob on the scope, or the barrel itself in front of the scope. I shoot a lot of my hunting rigs like that at the bench with very consistent results, which are largely repeatable in the field. One key I have found to being consistent at the bench, especially with harder kicking rigs, is to make sure the fornt rest and rear bags are both high enough to make sure my body is upright, and not leaning down into the bench and the rifle--that makes for more absorption of recoil by your body moving rearward, as opposed to the rifle bucking up into your face/body.

I would definitely be holding that rig down a bit to control it, and as others stated, trying to be as consistent in my method regardless of specifically what it was.

Good Luck!

Great tips, thanks guys.

Fish, I like your idea of holding down the rifle and will give it a go next time out. Also have a 270 WSM built or tuned by Hill Country but havent started any load developement for it yet. Since the 300 WSM is almost a sister to the 270 I'll see how that tip works for me.

Repetition, repetition, repetition. As posted, you've got to be consistant.
Since you're using good front rest, make sure the rifle is against the stop every time. And make sure the rifle is tracking correctly. That is to say, make sure that your front bag channel and your rear bag are set up so's the rifle will naturally slide back and forth on a line with your target. A little talc on the front and rear bag doesn't hurt even if you're not shooting free recoil.
When I'm shooting a boomer from the bench, I crank the front rest up as high as I can so I am sitting as erect as possible. That will help reduce the felt recoil. I grasp the wrist of the rifle firmly and pull it into my shoulder; I use my left hand to adjust the toe bag so my cross hairs are slightly below the bullseye; I then move my left hand to grasp the forearm right behind the front rest and use it to help pull the rifle firmly into my shoulder and down at the same time. I line my front rest, rear bag, and rifle up so the cross hairs are slightly lower than the bull and make my adjustments by pressing down with the hand grasping the wrist. My cheek is firmly on the stock.
Under recoil, the rifle should slide straight backwards (tracking). If the rifle trys to jump off the front rest to one side or the other, then you are twisting the rifle as you pull it into your shoulder and you need to practice pulling the rifle straight back.
Needless to say, your front rest and toe bag should be set up to where the rifle, hands off, is pointed at the bullseye, not merely at the target.

Of course, the other problem with free recoil is that it is hard to shoot it with a 3 pound trigger! Now with a 2 oz. trigger it is much easier!
Peter.

good suggestions, one more - on a light rifle that is booting you around, make sure that you're not closing your eyes and thus loosing the sight picture just as it goes off. its a really easy thing many people do in anticipation of the recoil

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
Of course, the other problem with free recoil is that it is hard to shoot it with a 3 pound trigger! Now with a 2 oz. trigger it is much easier!
Peter.

Boy, isn't that the truth! With my 13 lb.-9 oz. cast bullet benchrest rifle, I still find even 2 oz. is too heavy. The 2 oz. of pull on the trigger required to fire it causes it to move around on my Ransom front rest and Bald-Eagle rear bag (when fired "free-recoil").

On it I use a Jewell trigger qdjusted to just barely, slightly, less than 1 oz.

Of course those light triggers are totally impractical for hunting rifles up in the .308 or greater recoil range...simply because the recoil is such in a hunting rifle that one wouldn't dare try to shoot it "free recoil" for the 50+ record shots and sighters of a match....or a load testing session.

Of course there are lots of other basic techniques (tactics?) used in out-and-out BR shooting...such as "lubing" the front and rear bags, to let the rifle slide easily during recoil and not catch on anything differently from shot to shot. Standardizing the bag-to-stock friction, so to speak.

Looked at from another angle way there are really at least three different kinds of shooting for rifles...pure benchrest only applications, bench testing of field rifles, and in-the-field hunting-applicable techniques. Each may require more or less sophistication to work the best for the application at hand.

Don't overdo the "anal" parts for types of shooting where they are not needed.

Do you guys prefer a loose or snug front bag?

After reading these good comments it has dawned on me that I made a bad habit of sitting the rifle on the rest and bags and then squeeze the rear bag to help get the rifle into position, when I should be doing more adjusting with the rest and bags.
Never been a good consistent shot off the bench with any rifle above a .243. Anxious to give some of these tips a try next week.

On a light kicking rifle, ie, .243, you can make adjustments by squeezing the toe bag BUT the rifle should be set up on the bags so that any adjustments you make are minute.
FWIW, When I'm shooting off bags, I like the bags to be pretty firm.
If you are anxious to try some of the suggestions, dry firing at a spot on the wall is some of the best practice you can do. Get your technique down before you go to the range, so to speak. You're in a no pressure situation, you don't have to worry about burning ammo. You can practice breathing, etc. As someone posted, you can practice keeping your eyes open as the trigger breaks. FWIW, When the trigger breaks, the cross hairs should not move. If they do, you're doing something wrong. And that's a lot easier to correct under a no load situation of dry firing off the kitchen table.

quote:

FWIW, When the trigger breaks, the cross hairs should not move. If they do, you're doing something wrong. And that's a lot easier to correct under a no load situation of dry firing off the kitchen table.

I practice on a regular basis but have never been able to master the art of the rifle not moving while dry firing.
How in the world can you prevent a 7 pound rifle from moving even a hair after releasing a 4 pound trigger? I can't, period.

Snowwolfe, my earlier post was based on the setup you indicated you had. Having said that, I often shoot harder kicking rigs out of a Bulls Bag type bag, Actually the Dog-Gone Good ones, and seat the rifle reall tightly down into the bags. I adjust the height of it with blocking underneath (2x10'S drilled full of holes to lighten them) until I get a positon that puts the rifle pretty darn close on target, and allowing me to sit erect at the bench. The bags I have like this have some 'grippy' stuff lining them, which really helps take the punch out of the thumpers. I have been able to achieve great accuracy that is repeatable in a field situation, e.g. shooting off of the edge of a box stand with the rifle held down as mentioned before.

Here is a link to dog gone good, I use the large bag, and usually without a rear bag, but sometimes both. Shooting bags form Dog Gone Good

I guess the short answer is, I like both methods depending on the rig, but a tighter bag of the type that grips your rifle is really good for helping bench accuracy for the thumpers IME.

I shot some BR matches back in the 70's. Shot the rifles then as I do now. Grip the rear bag and the rifle is in the front rest. SQUEEZE EASY! The thing I figured out about the BR crowd was they had 2 things I didn't!! Time and Money!! I love the competition, I love the comraderie. Bottom line is, shoot the rifle in your comfort zone! My 375H&H will sit in the bags the same as my 17 Fireball............albeit, it's still in the back of my mind to "grip the forend" of that 375!! Shooting consistently is as someone else stated, "repitition, repitition, repitition". I can't or the next poster can't tell you what is correct or suspect. YOU have to learn that yourself. GHD

its been said.. repetition .. hold it the same, every time .. .. my advice.. past magnum recoil shield, front rest, rear bag, and hold on .. not "for dear life" ... just repeatable

+1 for dry firing for practice of benchrest or your hunting positions. It doesn't cost anything and you can do it while watching TV and it will improve your shooting.

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:

quote:

FWIW, When the trigger breaks, the cross hairs should not move. If they do, you're doing something wrong. And that's a lot easier to correct under a no load situation of dry firing off the kitchen table.

I practice on a regular basis but have never been able to master the art of the rifle not moving while dry firing.
How in the world can you prevent a 7 pound rifle from moving even a hair after releasing a 4 pound trigger? I can't, period.

Snowwolfe -

This is meant as encouragement, not disagreement.

It took me a long time experimenting with various holds, trigger settings, and other things to learn to hold and dry-fire my rifles so the crosshairs don't move when the strikers are released. It is even possible with one of my rifles which has a trigger pull of just over 9 pounds!

But with good rifles it can be done. It just takes trying a whole lot of things 'til you stumble onto something that seems to work repeatedly with your set-up, the rifle you are firing, and your body.

One comment here- with some rifles it is much more difficult than with others.

If you have a rifle where the bolt rotation into the locked position is not quite enough, or is a bit too much, releasing the striker can cause the bolt handle to jump ...sometimes a bit, sometimes a lot.

Often that is caused because the bolt action of that rifle is one designed to be really safe.

I.e., The striker (firing pin) will not fall far enough to ignite a cartridge unless it is lined up a particular way inside the bolt.

If the bolt is not far enough closed or is too far closed (rotated), shoulders on the firing pin will strike shoulders inside the bolt body and cause the the bolt to put itself into the proper position just before ignition occurs.

In effect, they are sort of "self-closers". Mauser 98's are a good example of this type of built-in shooter safety being designed into a bolt action.

Anyway, such an action, if misadjusted for bolt closure by either carelessness or tolerances in manufacture, can make it very difficult to keep the crosshairs dead still on firing.

Still, there will be bench techniques you can find that will minimize such jump with your guns even if they do not completely eliminate it.

The most important thing is not just repitition, but "thinking repitition". Keep practicing, for sure, but think through and observe every relevant thing you can during the process.

For instance, if a bolt is closing "too far", one can try putting a few wraps of tape around the root of the bolt handle where they will end up between the action body qnd the bolt handle when the bolt is closed. That will prevent the bolt from rotating as far. (It may also cause other problems, but only experimenting can tell whether it helps or hurts.)

There is a physical cause and effect of everything in rifle shooting. Discovering and controlling those causes and their effects is what makes one's best shooting possible.

Visited the range today. First group was fired holding the rifle snug and all three shots appeared to be good but the end results was a three inch, 3 shot group, with horizontal dispersion.
After this I snugged up the rifle and put my hand over the scope to help hold it on the bags. Next 3 out of 4 groups held to approximately one inch. Even by holding the scope I can still see movement so know the rifle can do better. My rest is not adjustable to "squeeze" the front bag to the forearm so will look for my smaller front bag that is laying around somewhere.

Proves once again that every rifle is different. I never in 100 years would of thought to put my hand over the scope and hold it down.
Great advice here,
Thanks

Sometimes a little forward pressure on the foreend with your nonshooting hand can also help keep consistency in your shot process. It is interesting that this tightened up my groups with my Mark V 300 Roy. They actually are light for what kind of kinetic energy goes out. I think that this would be helpful to kimbers as well.

Sincerely,
Thomas

I hold the hard kickers down with free hand on top of scope usally with a glove. I seem to get consistent accuracy that way.

quote:

Originally posted by Snowwolfe:
FWIW, When the trigger breaks, the cross hairs should not move. If they do, you're doing something wrong. And that's a lot easier to correct under a no load situation of dry firing off the kitchen table.

First off, lots of good info by all in above thread, even for experienced shooters. I shot NRA HP competition for 20 some years and hold a high master classification. I have come to believe that the single most important factor in maintaining high scores is consistency in position (hold), whether shooting positions or from the bench.

Have never considered myself an accomplished shooter from the bench, having varying results from day to day, especially with the heavy calibers.

One particular mystery to me was that I could consistently get moa from the bench with a mod. 70 375 h&h yet couldn't count on less than 2" (consistently) from one particular mod. 70 .300 Win. mag. Have been blaming the rifle and tried every bullet/load combination known to man in an effort to resolve the problem to no avail.

Did notice movement of crosshairs on the .300 when dry firing one time in preparation to shoot a string, but failed to recognize this as possibly contributing to the larger groups. I seldom dry fire off the bags other than one time after aligning the rifle/bags but that will change in the future!

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:One comment here- with some rifles it is much more difficult than with others.

If you have a rifle where the bolt rotation into the locked position is not quite enough, or is a bit too much, releasing the striker can cause the bolt handle to jump ...sometimes a bit, sometimes a lot.

Anyway, such an action, if misadjusted for bolt closure by either carelessness or tolerances in manufacture, can make it very difficult to keep the crosshairs dead still on firing.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, AC! I think you have solved a problem I have been trying to get to the bottom of for some time. Sometimes we can't see the forrest for the trees.

Regards,
hm

I've never seen a competitive shooter push down on his scope to hold it on the bags????? Sounds bazaar. How do you effect that style of shooting when afield?

Snowwolfe, try using a different part of your trigger finger to pull the trigger. try using just the tip segment.
If you are using the middle segemnt or deeper on your trigger, you can actually pull the rifle to the side as you pull the trigger. While a light trigger pull can help accuracy, you can't get carried away with a hunting rifle. Mine are set on 3.5# and I don't have a problem grouping. If you are pulling the trigger straight back, the weight of the trigger pull shouldn't factor in that much.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I've never seen a competitive shooter push down on his scope to hold it on the bags????? Sounds bazaar. How do you effect that style of shooting when afield? Wasbeeman, in the field without the front bag, I typically hold the rifle down by pulling down on the forend, but have often just put my not trigger hand on top of the rig, often the top of the scope elevation turret, most of the time I have something under my rifle if I'm in a stand, like a balled up coat, a scarf, or even a little bag from dog-gone good that goes in my pack--it's filled with polypropolene re-grind (soda pop bottles) and is very light...

This whole thing is more about figuring bench shooting for a hunting rig, and isn't really a competition thing, but I will say I have seen a lot of guys at our 600 yard range shooting in matches firmly holding their rifles down into their bags a lot of different ways, basically keeping the rifle from jumping up and around out of their setup, some guys use a short bi-pod, and hold the rifle with pressure 'loaded' into the bi-pod legs, keeping downward pressure during the recoil of the shot, holding the rifle in as similar of a position as possible from shot to shot.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I've never seen a competitive shooter push down on his scope to hold it on the bags????? Sounds bazaar. How do you effect that style of shooting when afield?

I shot NRA HP, not F class. No scopes or artificial support allowed in cross-the-course shooting; all iron sights. F class course does allow scopes and artificial support, so holding down on scope might work well for that type of competition. Only reason I mentioned competition is to make point that consistency is important no matter what position.

What was most informative to me was the bolt stop causing the crosshair movement. So simple but had not occured to me. I do have problems holding the 300 down on the bench, also, and will give try holding down on scope next range session in order to try to get decent group from that rifle. Use shooting sticks in the field and have no problem holding it down off sticks and will zero off sticks.

Regards,
hm

quote:

Originally posted:

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I've never seen a competitive shooter push down on his scope to hold it on the bags????? Sounds bazaar. How do you effect that style of shooting when afield?

Only reason I mentioned competition is to make point that consistency is important no matter what position.

100% correct...IF you first experiment in developing your position to identify a "good" postion for your body and rifle....one that makes it easier to stay on the bullseye than to pull off of it.

Otherwise you may practice hard and develop a consistently bad position!!

But once you get a good position identified and practice it a few thousand times at the range, muscle-memory makes it almost impossible to hold poorly, whether prone, kneeling, bench, or however.

As an example we used to have a member every year on our Alberta team at the Canadian Full Bore (high-power) Nationals who was 83 years old and had been shooting competitively since he was a young lad in the Canadian Armed forces.

We used to say of him, he'll be a team member even if he goes completely blind. All you have to do is lay him on the grass facing the targets, and he'll shoot V-5s from memory!!(equivalent of 10-Xs in the states).

Unfortunately 1978 was his last year. He stayed in his tent one day, apparently not feeling tops. Still he fired three more days afterwards, doing well, too. On the 4th day he was hospitalized and died. Turned out on the night before the day he stayed in his tent, he had had a pretty massive heart attack. But he didn't want to let the team down, so he never told anyone he had a problem.

Position and thought are what kept him competitive all those years. Not to mention a refusal to give up.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:

We used to say of him, he'll be a team member even if he goes completely blind. All you have to do is lay him on the grass facing the targets, and he'll shoot V-5s from memory!!(equivalent of 10-Xs in the states).

Are they still using the 5V targets in Canada? I started shooting competition in the service on the old 5V targets in the early 50's. Brings back some memories .

Regards,
hm

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
I've never seen a competitive shooter push down on his scope to hold it on the bags????? Sounds bazaar. How do you effect that style of shooting when afield?

Have no desire to hold the scope down while hunting. Purpose of shooting off the bench is ONLY to determine the most accurate load for the rifle. Once the load is found the rifle will be sighted in from a sighting position.

If you fall into bad habits as an expedient, they will follow you into the field. However, the rifle will come off the bags but if you're set up correctly and your technique is correct, the rifle will straight up and straight back.

All of these fellows giving you advice have done it all when it comes to shooting at the range. There are 2 things that are important to me. First of all I always post my targets as low to the ground as possible. For me I find that with lower targets I have to less messing around getting my rifle comfortably set on the bags. The other thing is I always use the same brand of target.
Regards Greg

Read Bugholes from a bipod

My tactial buddies say a firm hold into the shoulder with the non trigger hand is the way to go....so does Froggy.

Yo Snowie,

I use different Bench Technique for different types of rifles.

For Whumpers (starts for me at 9.x62, 9.3x74R, 375H&H level and defiantely includes my Pal's Ultralight, 28" barreled 300 RUM!) I use a similar technique for lightweight/featherweight/ultralights rifles.

Light/ultra/featherweights IMO tend to really hop and bounce around on/off the bags & rest; regardless of chambering.

I organize everything on the Bench to shoot from as ERECT position as possible and bring the Front Rest back far enough so to reach around/under it to grasp the rifle's forearm comfortably in a firm (not Death Grip!) grip. I find this really helps with Lightweights.

Good Luck

quote:

Originally posted by hm1996:

Are they still using the 5V targets in Canada? I started shooting competition in the service on the old 5V targets in the early 50's. Brings back some memories .

Regards,
hm

I don't think so. Martin O., the fellow I was speaking of, died at the 1978 National Matches. I haven't lived in Canada since the '80s, and I THINK they (we?) have changed to the decimal target, but am not absolutely certain.

When they changed from a shooting contest to a technical race (by allowing handloads and any non-magnum cartridge instead of shooting service ball issued on the firing line) I lost all interest in the Connaught matches.

I was never interested in spending scads of money on TR rifles each year in an attempt to keep up with the latest technical "wrinkle" to get an advantage over my fellow competitors. Basically, I don't think that is either fair or sporting.

I DID really enjoy taking a rifle which met pretty rigid rules as to sights, weight, barrel dimensions, trigger pull, etc, where everyone had to shoot the same ammo, good, bad, or indifferent, and proving through active shooting just who was the best shot. I made the Governor General's 50 (equivalent of President's 100 in the 'States) 4 out of the 5 years I shot at Connaught, firing IVI 147 gr. NATO service ball from a very simple iron-sighted rifle, and that was a more level-playing field and FUN.

Lots of good information in this post.
With dry firing for practice I found the snap caps work well.
http://www.harbourarms.com/
I found dry firing was a bit of a revelation. To "warm up" at home prior to going to the range works for me.
One way on a target off the table and the other way in the darkened room concentrating on the trigger.

I've found that if I'm shooting several rifles, if I will dry fire each one a few times as I bring it to the bench, it helps me steady down for that particular rifle. Even rifles whose pull weight is almost the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Fasteel:
All of these fellows giving you advice have done it all when it comes to shooting at the range. There are 2 things that are important to me. First of all I always post my targets as low to the ground as possible. For me I find that with lower targets I have to less messing around getting my rifle comfortably set on the bags. Regards Greg

Another advantage to setting targets low is the closer to the ground you are aiming, the easier it is to see the mirage (and learn to read it).

Of course the contrary is true in areas (or at times of day) where the mirage is so heavy and so visible that it makes the target barely see-able.