You need to find the optimal placement of the front rest and rear bag in order to get the best accuracy from any benchrest rifle. It is important to remember that every rig is unique. The front rest may be positioned at the tip of the forearm on one gun (Position “D” in the photo), but another gun may work better with the rest placed much further back. This Editor’s 6mmBR rifle is fitted with a laminated front stock that is quite flexible. It is best to place the sandbag of the front rest 6″ back from the forearm (position “A”) in order to get the best results. Here are some benchrest tips that will help you shoot tighter groups and reduce vertical without spending a penny more. Many benchrest shooters invest a lot of money in equipment and spend hours handloading their rifles, but never experiment with the balance or position of their rifles on the bags. This article explains the reasons why you should test your gun in different positions. You may be surprised by what you learn (and your scores will improve). Try a few different positions with your rear bag and the position of the rifle on the front rest the next time you are at the range. You may find the rifle handles better after you make a small adjustment to the bag placement. If you position the front rest and rear bags correctly, you can reduce recoil and improve tracking. This competitor has the frontrest positioned a little bit forward, but not all the out. Note the stop on front rest – this limits forward stock movement. Even a small change in the placement of your rear bag or the position of your forearm can have a significant impact on how well your gun performs. Balance Your Gun BEFORE You Spend Hours Tuning Loads
Shooters can spend hours on brass preparation, bullet selection and load tuning in the pursuit of accuracy. Shooters may not pay much attention to the way their gun is setup on their front bag and rear rest. You should experiment with your new rifle to find the best position of the forearm and rear bag. Even small changes can make a huge difference. Joel Kendrick (past IBS 600-yard shooter of the year) has found that by adjusting the forearm position in the front rest he can tune vertical. He has one carbon-fiber-reinforced stock that is extremely rigid. When the front rest was placed under the tip of the forearm the gun tended hop, creating vertical. He was able settle the entire rig by sliding the gun forward, with more forearm overlap ahead of the front bag. This resulted in a much smaller vertical dispersion and a better tracking of the gun.
Even with wide foreends, the position of the stock is very important. The placement of the rear bag can be equally important. By default, many shooters will place the rear bag at the same distance as the front rest for all their guns. Different stocks and calibers will behave differently. You can improve tracking by moving the rear bag to the forward or aft. One of our shooters used a Savage 6BR rifle. He had his rear bag almost all the way to the end of the buttstock by default. The gun tracked better when he moved the rear bag forward a few inches. He noticed immediately that the gun tracked better (crosshairs stayed on target from shot-to-shot) AND the gun torqued less. The difference was noticeable. A small change to the position of your forearm or the rear bag can make a huge difference to the performance of your gun. You should experiment on the frontrest with different positions for the forearm. You can also move the rear bag a few inches back and forth. Once you have established the optimal positions for both the front rest and rear bag you will find that your gun tracks more accurately and returns to battery with greater reliability. You may find that your gun shoots smaller groups with less vertical scattering. All these benefits can be achieved without having to purchase expensive new gear. Photo of a rifle courtesy Johnson’s Precision Gunsmithing in Bakersfield, CA.
