Over the past 6 months I have patiently and cautiously studied every resource I could find on the subject of reloading and shooting the double rifle (mine is a 470 NE). I have found this forum to be a great resource and have read the books of Graeme Wright, Boddington, and others. I have carefully chosen equipment and components and should be ready to begin my shooting in a month or so. I have found the process to be far more involved than I expected and quite a bit different from my load development on bolt action guns.

I am intrigued by a picture in Wright's book where he shows a former director of Holland and Holland standing behind a well padded double rifle shooting bench. I have learned that to correctly load-test a double rifle, the shooter should not allow any part of the gun to rest on the bench (sandbags), rather the shooter should hold the gun in a normal fashion with arms and elbows supported by the bench, preferably from a standing position.

I am thinking about building such a bench and was interested to know if others have done this and whether the project was worthwhile.

Many thanks in advance.

I to have seen pictures of double rifle shooting benches. I think they would be advantageous for any hard kicking gun as they keep the body upright and allow the recoil to push you back instead of being all hunched over on a regular bench and absorbing all of the recoil through the body. I am all in favor of more upright benches. The only problem that I see is that they are not easily portable and that could be a problem unless your range would allow you to keep it on site.

Most ranges have a cover that is supported by posts of some sort and I have seen where some shooters have a clamp-like rest that is attached to the post and extends out horizontally...they rest the hand holding the rifle on this and it seems to work fairly well....the horizontal "ledge" is padded...kind of like shooting over a tree limb.

At our club, we have one of the benches built for stand-up shooting. It's just like the other benches, only with longer legs. Needs a little more cross-beam support to compensate for the wobble in the longer legs.

I built a standing bench for use with my doubles a few years ago. I used to get beaten up pretty badly off a normal benchrest so I built it with intention of being able to reduce felt recoil by reproducing the normal standing shooting position. Also with double rifles, in order for them to regulate correctly the rifle needs to recoil in the same way it would if shot from a standing position. If you're shooting of a normal benchrest and leaning into the stock of the rifle then the rifle will recoil differently and result in a changed point of impact. I get far better groups with my doubles of my standing bench than I do off a normal benchrest.

I built my bench to be portable (although it's bloody heavy) so I can set it up in the bush and remove it when finished (There's no shooting ranges around here but there is millions of acres of scrub and bush). It's important to have the height of the bench set to suit your individual height and shooting position. If the bench is to low you end up leaning into the rifle just like a normal benchrest. I made the legs of my bench telesopic so I can easily adjust the overall height of the bench. Basically I set it up so it just supports my elbows when I'm standing in a normal shooting position. I also built a padded forarm rest that's adjustable for height. The whole thing is set so it totally supports my body when it's in a normal standing shooting position and still allows recoil to occur naturally.

Good Shooting

RJW

I used several types of supports and transportable benches. Then I finally said BS to all that, and got a heavy woven wool blanket like a navajo throw rug, and spread it over my hood. place a few leather padded bean bags, and with the folded over rug have a padded stand up bench. Not too fancy mind you, but it is just right to lean into, and there is a wide choice of where I park it to allow for a higher or lower standing spot.

Keeping a large size rug on the hood makes for scratch proof shooting, and is not unlike the tree or rock brace I would look for int he woods. Also handy to change range distances, just repark another 100 yards back.

I am doing fine sitting at the bench with sandbags so far. I always grip the barrels with my left hand and rest the back of my hand on the sandbag.

merkelmeister has given me the idea to put a plastic tote (a very large one, with a hinged and locking lid, or a stack of two smaller ones with the pop on and off lids) on top of the bench at the range, with sandbags inside of it for weight and on top of it for a rest. I carry the totes to the range with my mechanical rests and sand bags, and other paraphenalia inside. Then I can stand up to shoot off the totes on the bench when I have the final load for the Merkel.

I might add that a pair of Adidas baseball batter's gloves make a great accessory for double rifle shooting at the range. I will probably wear the left hand only (non trigger finger) when hunting with a double.
At the range I wear both and have been getting some good groups.

------------------
RAB