PDA

View Full Version : Shooting Off The Bench



alamogunr
04-16-2007, 10:41 PM
I went to the range today with some guns I don't shoot often. Spent most of the day with a little Ruger 10-22 that I have recently mounted a scope on. Next was a Remington 788 in .308 Win. It had been bore sighted but not really sighted in. I also had some Norma ammo that I got real cheap several years ago from Grafs. I bought it mostly to get the brass. The price was so low that Norma brass would not have been much cheaper. Any way, I digress. I don't shoot from a bench very often and my technique must be faulty. This gun and ammo HURT! After 6 rounds from the bench, I fired the rest of a box of 20 off hand and my shoulder is still sore as I type this. These rounds have a 180 gr. bullet. The bullet is different from most soft points I have seen. The jacket extends full length to the exposed end which is flat and about a 1/8 across. In other words the only exposed lead is the flat tip. The Norma designation is "Oryx". Could this stuff be overloaded? I admit I don't shoot rifles of .30 cal and up very often but this stuff recoils more than I expected. Needless to say, I made no changes to the scope settings. How do you guys shoot off the bench and not get hurt?

grumpy one
04-16-2007, 11:54 PM
Personally I do get hurt to some extent, but obviously I'm way tenderer than most here. Yesterday I fired 35 maximum jacketed 30-06 loads, using a sissy bag for every last one of them because if I don't the shoulder gets purple for a couple of days then the stain goes yellow and drains downward for about a week. Not a pretty sight. I fired 40 30-30s while I was at it yesterday, 20 of them maximum jacketed loads and the others moderate (1750 fps, 170 grain). I didn't get hurt, but I have a circular bruise about half an inch diameter over some pointy bit of bone structure.

If you have no recoil pad and shoot a couple of boxes of 180 grain factory loads from a 308W, it's going to bruise you a bit. I'd rather shoot that than my 30-06, but either way there's a bruise involved. Offhand shooting, no bruise. Prone, a small bruise. From the bench, shooting more than 20 or so is asking for it. On the other hand, with the sissy bag there's no discomfort, no bruise, no anything. I do have to crawl down the stock a ways to use the scope properly though - the bag pushes me back about an inch from normal position.

Dale53
04-17-2007, 01:01 AM
The summer that I got my Model 70 Winchester .375 H&H I fired over a thousand full charge rounds from the bench. I learned a couple of things about shooting a "heavy" off the bench. One thing is to sit up straight. If you lean over the gun as is common, you really increase the "hurt". Sit up straight and the recoil pushes you straight back without hurting so much. I DO believe in recoil pads - I mean GOOD recoil pads.

I also have a Rand Elite pad from my BPCR Silhouette days that really helps on the steel buttplates as well as the heavy hitters.

These days I am mostly shooting Schuetzen rifles and .22's and neither presents much of a recoil problem:mrgreen:.

Of course, I am still playing with "heavy hitter" revolvers (the latest is a .454 Raging Bull).

Dale53

monadnock#5
04-17-2007, 08:56 AM
It's a mind over matter thing alamogunr, if you don't mind, then it don't matter. When I first got involved in .22 target rifle position shooting, I purchased a Champion's Choice leather shooting coat. Then I got into hi-power competition, and used the coat for that also. It did such a good job of absorbing recoil (.308), that when I bought a 12 ga. 1100 Rem., 3-1/2" chamber turkey gun, I took the coat along for pattern testing. I'm here to tell you that fun is absorbing every ounce of free recoil from a dozen rounds of 3-1/2 shells, and going home afterwards with a big smile on your face and no pain. I won't tell you that you have to spend $200 on a coat to enjoy shooting, but if you want to sight that scope in, or shoot the best group possible, you have to be at a point where you don't mind the recoil. No one can shoot their best if their biggest concern is how much pain they're going to suffer, and how many days it will take to recuperate before they will be able to shoot again.

http://www.champchoice.com/

Ken

versifier
04-17-2007, 12:48 PM
I put a good recoil pad on my .308 788. It is my favorite, and my most accurate deer rifle. Even with 150gr hunting loads it was more than I could handle after back surgery, :( so I padded it and my .54cal Renegade. After, working up jacketed 180gr loads for it was no problem.:) These days, it seems to like 180gr cast boolits pretty well, but I still have four moulds to test, and three more coming. I'll be at it a while.
That said, Dale is right on the money - if you lean into it, you take it right on the collar bone, one hard bruising slam with nothing to absorb and dissipate the shock. When you sit up straight, though, the long muscles in your back act like leaf springs and absorb the energy over the length of your spine as your torso rocks back. I don't know how it is where you shoot, but first I had a bench that was designed for someone a lot shorter than me. It was painful to use all scrunched up. So, I took to bringing along some 2x10 scraps and stacked them to set the rest on a level high enough to make it comfortable. At the range I use now, the seats are low enough to be very comfortable for me and the short guys need the telephone books. :-D

carpetman
04-17-2007, 12:54 PM
So far the best recoil pad I've found is the Pachmyr Decellerator. I bought a Past shooting pad,but I guess it's good that I'm not female as putting that bra on was a chore. I removed the straps from it and sewed it onto a shirt.

Uncle R.
04-17-2007, 01:11 PM
I ALWAYS use a sissy bag when shooting from the bench with serious rifles. It not only eliminates the hurt but I'm convinced that it tightens groups too. I don't have much trouble sighting or reaching the trigger even with 2 inches of sand between the butt plate and my shoulder - but then my shirts have 36" sleeves.
Uncle R.

alamogunr
04-18-2007, 11:21 PM
Sorry to be so long getting back. You folks hit the nail on the head. The scope on this rifle is mounted so that it can't move back any more. I was crawliing the stock in order to be able to see thru the scope. I may have to get new mounts or a different scope. This one is a closeout Tasco from a few years ago. The mounts are Weaver but the bulge at the objective end won't let the scope move rearward any more. I thought I could live with it. Obviously not!. A sandbag between me and the butt won't solve the problem of not being able to see thru the scope.
Thanks,

John

Scrounger
04-19-2007, 12:13 AM
Sorry to be so long getting back. You folks hit the nail on the head. The scope on this rifle is mounted so that it can't move back any more. I was crawliing the stock in order to be able to see thru the scope. I may have to get new mounts or a different scope. This one is a closeout Tasco from a few years ago. The mounts are Weaver but the bulge at the objective end won't let the scope move rearward any more. I thought I could live with it. Obviously not!. A sandbag between me and the butt won't solve the problem of not being able to see thru the scope.
Thanks,

John

Cheaper to buy offset scope rings than another scope.

alamogunr
04-19-2007, 12:32 AM
Cheaper to buy offset scope rings than another scope.

I'll look into that. I didn't know about these. If I did know about them, I didn't know what problem they solved. Thanks.
John

Char-Gar
04-19-2007, 09:46 AM
Well, I light weight sporter in .308 with 180 grain bullets can smack you enough to hurt off a bench.

While I have some rifles with recoil pads, I prefer steel butt plates on sporter rifles and build them that way if I have a choice. When shooting something off a bench with enough recoil to hurt, I place a double thickness of closed cell foam between my shoulder and the butt plate.

Also pull the butt place firmly against the shoulder when shooting off a bench. It not only helps with recoil, but makes for more accurate shooting.

Bret4207
05-07-2007, 08:13 AM
If you get into the real slammers try shooting standing using a ladder for a rest. Weight the ladder with shot or sang bags. Much nicer to the body. I sometimes think I'm a real sissy-boy as I don't enjoy getting smacked around too much. I might try a coat one day. If nothing else I'll LOOK sporty!

lovedogs
05-14-2007, 10:55 PM
Sounds like you're gonna develop a case of the flinch. Go back to lighter recoiling rifles for a while, like a .22. Wear hearing protection. Then install a good recoil pad, like a Decelerator or Limbsaver. Get a Past Recoil Shield and wear it on everything above .22 caliber. You'll be glad you did and your shooting will get dramatically better. I guarantee it!

stephen perry
08-28-2010, 08:23 AM
Heavy recoil guns like .338 I shoot off of sandbags instead of a rest. I hold on to the gun at the fore end and keep the butstock buried into my shoulder. This way the gun is part of me. My shoulder doesn't take the recoil my body does. Find I shoot better and is more natural, like shooting in the field. Also I can keep the scope from tatooing my head.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

Hardcast416taylor
08-28-2010, 10:07 AM
You can get an extended mount that will give the scope another 1" or so of movement.Robert

Lloyd Smale
08-31-2010, 08:27 AM
I guess im fortunate in that recoil doesnt bother me. At least in guns chambered in 338mag or less. Only rifles i have that are a workout to shoot are my lever guns in 4570 with stout loads, my 50ak and the old #1 458 i used to own. Probaly the worse is the 50ak. Shoot stout loads with 500 grain bullets and it will rattle your teeth. 10 rounds of that and a 300 mag feels like a 22.