Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

[Amerigo]

This might sound like a stupid question, but I'm really hoping for some good advice from people more experienced than I am.

I just started the online training here a few weeks ago and am loving it. My desire is to start competing F-class, so the emphasis on shooting prone with glass is exactly what I need.

I'm a college student heading back home for the summer, and I'm bringing my rifle. Unfortunately I found out that the rifle range near where I live doesn't allow prone - only benchrest. If I were to practice benchrest all summer long (I could still dry fire prone while at home), am I going to be reinforcing behaviors or muscle memory that I'll have to undo later?

 

[bolloxinaspanner]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

Find another range. Benchrest is not prone. I do not shoot benchrest because I suck at it. You will become a better benchrest shooter but I can't see how it will improve your prone skills. The shooter/rifle interface in prone is a totally different animal. I'm sure there are lots of people that can do both. There is a name for them...retired...with lots of time to do whatever they want. There has to be more than one shooting range near you. I have to drive 80 miles one way to get to my range in SoCal. Good luck, Amerigo

 

[armorpl8chikn]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

They are certainly not the same. The biggest thing you will learn on a benchrest is trigger control...maybe.
I have shot BR competition and I never noticed it teaching any practical shooting skills. It is a great way to test loads...bout it.
Find another range. I am not sure I understand WHY in hell they would not allow prone.
Good luck and practice as often as you can.

 

[Amerigo]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

Wow... thanks both of you. 'Nuff said. I knew they were different types of shooting but I wasn't sure just how different they are. Now I know!

There is another range that is set up for bench, but I've gone there before and laid down in the aisle. That worked because I was the only one there on multiple occasions, but if was busy people would be stepping over me... not sure that would work.

 

[pjparker]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

+ 1 for the others who said go prone. As with any other sport, practice in the same manner as you would compete. Benchrest will not reinforce prone shooting. Body position, cheek weld, eye relief and even your zeroes will be different.

Paul

 

[supratt96]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

Like golf, a big part of precision shooting is mental. While bench shooting may not be the same mechanically as prone, it still requires quite a bit of concentration, trigger control and skill. I mostly shoot bench, but I'm still one of the better f-class shooters in my region even though I rarely practice prone.

Practice prone when you can, but benchrest shooting won't hurt you. The more positions you train yourself to shoot from, the better all round shooter you will become.

 

[leadbullet]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

they are a bit different ,certain basic tecniques can overlap but you will not get good body position by practicing benchrest, you need to go prone and find your NPA.

 

[mark5pt56]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

I think he might be referring to shooting from the bench? Full on "Benchrest" as the sport itself might be a tad different that simply using the bench.

If they will let you, you can use the bench as a "surface" for kneeling, maybe sit in the chair for sitting, not using the bench. One club near here let's you use the bench for prone, it's long and they actually made it to support reduced range High Power. You can also "tweak" that position on the bench by moving your rifle fully forward, get higher in the chair and then "lean" forward more to reduce the angle of you upper body. If the bench is deep enough, you can get that "sitting" close to a prone. Standing off hand--

Hope that helps.

Mark

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

I am no longer physically apt at prone shooting. I can do it, but not comfortably anymore, and it always gets to me long before I'm able to complete a match course of fire.

Rather than whip the old horse beyond its reasonable limits, I've taken to accepting the freedom to fire from the bench (in a separate scoring category) that our club matches permit.

While some will chide us older bench blasters, it's still challenging, and we only compete amongst ourselves, so the concept of fairness does not enter the picture.

Bench shooting will do nothing to help your prone position skills, but for the rest of the shooting basics, it's stiil practice, and it's still that good in that respect.

Prone shooting is an athletic activity. If you don't does it regularly, the body will complain when you do.

Greg

 

[LoneWolfUSMC]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Greg Langelius *</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Prone shooting is an athletic activity. If you don't does it regularly, the body will complain when you do.</div></div>

Absolutely.

While at a match I am normally only on the gun for a short period of time, when I do any type of testing, I am on the rifle most of the time I am at the range. I definitely notice it the next day.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

Back in the last days of my serious prone (1000yd F Class Open) competitive endeavors, I would take full advantage of the allotted time by getting off the gun and rolling over on my back for a few minutes to take a break or two and sort out the aches, etc. Simply, I couldn't manage it any other way.

Greg

 

[cb_tikka]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

Practice prone. Bench wont hurt you but it wont help much either.

 

[hrfunk]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

Ok, if your choice is between shooting from a bench or not shooting at all; opt for shooting from a bench. It will not be ideal training, but it will at least afford you the opportunity to become acquainted with your rifle's trigger, safety, bolt throw, and sight picture. You may also start to learn something about which loads your particular rifle prefers. That being said, your going to have to find a place to fire prone as often as possible. Dry firing will help so long as your applying proper technique, but you'll still need to do some live-fire when you can. The mechanics of firing from prone are unique enough to require specific practice.

Good luck,
HRF

 

[tnichols]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

I quit using a bench, 'cause everytime I have to take a shot on a critter, there isn't one close by. And, they're too dang heavy to carry around with you

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

^^^i agree with the above. while shooting from the bench and prone are two different animals that use slightly different positions on the stock, grip, shouldering, and body angle while addressing the rifle, as long as your making conscious effort to duplicate the prone "angles" while at the bench, it would help, even if just coming up a little short on the angles and head position.

instead of sitting on a chair or being seated at the bench, stand and bend over the bench so at least the upper body mechanics are as close as you can get to your prone position, and the expansion of the shest cavity while breathing is incorportated.

even toss your mat over the top. I don't know if they'll bust your stones or not, but even get yourself a saw horse (collapsible aluminum or evne make one the same height as the bench) or small step ladder to put your lower body up on. maybe even a sheet of plywood and the sawhorse combo to go completely prone, but on top of the bench --- technically you are shooting from the established bench. it would sort of be like using the top of the top of a picnic table in heavy snow.

i don't know if your range is private or public, but if it start causing waves you can always just stop doing the sawhorse / plywood thing.

it sucks to develop and practice bad or different habits (muscle memory), but if all you have is the bench position only range for live fire, you have to utilize what you got. just practice your dry firing as much (or more so) than the live fire bench and you should be OK.

another option is a using a rimfire trainer to practice with at a shorter range "outback" somewhere where no one will bother you in the prone position. inexpensive live fire of some sort, with results on paper, and the full on prone practice.

luckily the public range i go to has "firing from an established firing line" in the rules with no mention of the bench. i'm the only guy i've seen shooting from prone there and stick out like a sore thumb and always gets "the look", but that's ok too. rarely do i blend in to anything, except maybe for turkey season.

 

[ARNEWB]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

I would say that bench shooting is still trigger time, and a change to practice good trigger control, good follow through, and all the other fundamentals.

Is it going to help in prone? Not for position, but fundamentals are fundamentals. If you can develop good habits when at a bench for trigger and follow through, they are all the easier to carry over to prone.

 

[wadebrown]

Re: Will benchrest practice help or hinder with prone?

the wind effects the trajectory the same whether you are shooting from a bench or prone. As far as I am concerned the wind is the biggest thing to learn when shooting long range, so I do not see shooting from the bench to be any loss.

Can someone tell me why some clubs do not allow prone shooting?