Group Progress

[otisrush]

Some of you may recall my lamenting the fact I wasn't getting the groups I wanted. You may also recall I very recently put in a Geissele SSA-E trigger. I'm also experimenting with some of my own loads.

Today things came together. I shot the following 4-shot group. I took 5 different loads to the range - 4 shells of each load. Each load incremented by .1 gr of H335. (i.e. 25.5gr, 25.6, etc.) Needless to say - I'm very pleased with what the gun and the right load can do. (M&P 15 Sport with 1:9 twist.)

One of the other things I added this range trip was the use of a bench rest. It's not a high end one by any stretch. It's the Caldwell 7 Rest.

So - what is considered acceptable gun stabilization when benchrest shooting? It kind of feels like cheating to have the gun sitting - forearm and buttstock - in a device. On the one hand it's much more stable than I could hold it were it just on sandbags. On the other hand it's not foolproof. I pulled some shots pretty badly.

So is using this level of rest in the realm of "normal" for what most people think of as benchrest shooting?

Thanks.

OR

BTW: 52gr Sierra Match HP bullets. I also trimmed each case to the exact same length - for consistency.

 

[lamarw]

You did not mention target distance.

Anyway, I would be OK with the grouping.

 

[otisrush]

You did not mention target distance.

Anyway, I would be OK with the grouping.

D'Oh! That's a pretty significant piece of info to leave out.

This was shot at 100 yds.

I'm very happy with the group. I'm just wondering if getting that using a rest that supports handguard and buttstock is considered "cheating"; i.e. not considered "normal" for benchrest shooting.

 

[PoliMetal]

I'm very happy with the group. I'm just wondering if getting that using a rest that supports handguard and buttstock is considered "cheating"; i.e. not considered "normal" for benchrest shooting.

From what ive heard, resting handguard and buttstock is acceptable when zeroing in an optic. When most people say bench shooting as far as accuracy goes, i believe they mean only the handguard is supported and the rest is on the shooter.

However that could all be nonsense, i dont have a proper bench set up at our "backyard range" and even when zeroing in my EOTech i had to support the buttstock and rest the handguard on a bag.

 

[MichiganScott]

The idea of shooting off a bench is to find out what the rifle can do, not the shooter. You use a front rest, either sandbags or a good benchrest front like a Sinclair, and rear a rear bag.

 

[otisrush]

Thanks. Now that I know what the gun can do it's all on me.

There's nowhere to run/hide now when it comes to poor shooting with that machine.