Comments on: Short-Range Benchrest Shooting Techniques Demonstrated

By: Art Bosco

Art Bosco — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 22:11:11 +0000

About 90% of short range benchrest competitors shoot free recoil. This is a good depiction of that style. Notice that the only body part that touches the rifle is the tip of the index finger pulling straight back on the trigger. The head is up and the butt of the rifle is about a half inch to an inch from the shoulder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKswldMjS2E

By: Patrick Kennedy

Patrick Kennedy — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 14:37:38 +0000

Well the video is nice, but I don’t understand with all of the other videos out there that makes this one so great. Yes maybe he can shoot smooth, but you never see his targets, so you don’t know if he shot a big mess or not.

If you’re looking for Benchrest technique why not show the videos Greg Wally put out a few years ago, on you tube. Greg is a Great shooter, and is highly competitive. I think one could learn more from watching Greg, than this other video. (The videos of Greg even pop up after the videos reference are done playing.)

Editor: Here is the video Patrick linked in his comment: http://youtu.be/yTHjjCcr_44 . In that video Greg Wally uses a hand-gripping-stock technique, which is something completely different. The video is labeled ‘Free Recoil’ which is dead wrong — Greg is griping the gun firmly. The shooting doesn’t start ’til halfway through the video, the targets are not shown either, Greg doesn’t use a caddy, the front rest is old-fashioned (no windage adjustment, non-joystick) and the video is filmed from much farther away, so you can’t see details as easily. From a technical standpoint the Finnish videos are much better made, and they show a different technique. Nothing wrong with Greg’s shooting style, but his video doesn’t illustrate what the Finn videos show, and it is absolutely NOT ‘Free Recoil’ (or anything even close). Might as well watch both videos, but we really don’t understand Patrick’s criticism.

By: chopper01

chopper01 — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 12:02:29 +0000

Good video but it happens on the day, what cal ? AUSSIE CHOP

By: Boyd Allen

Boyd Allen — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 05:44:50 +0000

An added notes: If you look at the bottom of the frame, you will see the control arm of the Farley rest being manipulated for every shot, after he places the next round in the loading port. One other subtlety, the tension on the Farley is evidently set light so that the handle falls when he releases it to load. It can be set so as to have more friction so that it stays in the position that it was placed in when released, but this may give some interference with smooth aiming, so there is a trade off. With this setting, follow through is required of the aiming hand, since it is holding the rifle on its point of aim during the shot. You can also see that he has the thumb of his trigger hand on the back of the trigger guard and is pulling the trigger into that support. This helps to keep the line of trigger pull straight back, and reduce the possibility of pulling against the whole rifle, and inadvertently transmitting off axis force while the bullet is in the barrel. Equally successful shooters may have different techniques. I have seen this one use with good results.

By: Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 03:27:15 +0000

“As a result, the shooter doesn’t have to adjust the rifle position after firing (other than pushing the gun forward), so he can quickly load and fire within seconds of the previous shot.” – this is misleading, he IS readjusting the rifle, he’s using his left hand on a farley joystick.

He is looking at his loading block between shoots, it’s better to learn to do this without looking and concentrating on flags instead.

Bolt manipulation is great. I agree that this isn’t free recoil. You have be very consistent to make this work. Wonder how the targets looked.

By: Boyd Allen

Boyd Allen — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:36:54 +0000

When I was looking around for new material on You tube, I was reviewing the material pretty quickly, and what I was primarily referring to, with my this is how its done remark, was how smooth the shooter and equipment were functioning, enabling rapid, and well aimed fire, while keeping an eye on conditions.

Looking at it again, it looks like he is shooting with the rifle lightly “pinned” between his shoulder and the forend stop. There are some excellent shooters that use this technique. One thing that is not well known among non-competition shooters,is the diversity of techniques that are used…successfully.

Another thing worth noticing is how high the scope is mounted, allowing one to reduce, or eliminate the contact between the cheek and stock. Also, the head up position, that this configuration allows, puts the shooters like of vision in a better part of corrective, and/or protective lenses, and is a better position for observing the flags with ones non aiming eye while looking through the scope (shooting with both eyes open).

By: Jerry

Jerry — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:39:44 +0000

It appears there is pretty solid shoulder contact, so I wouldn’t call this free recoil.