Originally Posted by
Larry Gibson
dknowles
Thanks for posting the other thread. I just wanted the full story before offered anything. I also "got away from free recoil" technique of bench shooting with cast bullets. I found, even with a meticulously set up rifle on the "bags" that there is just too much recoil with the heavier cast bullets slower barrel time even at higher cast bullet velocity for consistent precision, just too many fliers and open groups when the "free recoil" method was used. I've learned to put my shoulder into the butt and pull straight back on the stock with the shooting hand. I don't "grip" the the stock in a traditional hold but curve/cup the non shooting fingers around the front of the grip and simply pull straight back. The non shooting hand then controls the rest adjustments and the rear bag. Takes a bit of practice to get it right but once you do it's comfortable and feels "natural".
I then, before shooting any rounds, settle into position and dry fire several times to get the feel of the set up. If something needs adjustment I becomes apparent right away because follow through on the dry fire shows in the reticle jumping way off the aiming point. When that happens it means I am compensating with muscular tension for a bad position. A good position allows, when the rifle is dry fired, for the reticle to just quiver on the aiming point. When I get a comfortable good position I now "know it" almost immediately. I found the more I used this technique the quicker it was to get the position right. I can now tell if the position is right with just one dry fire.
I never had that good of results with 3031 powder. "good" results yes but never the best results. I suggest you might try 4895, Varget or RL 15 [haven't tried RL 17 yet but it may be good also] if you have them in this time of critical shortage. BTW, the rifle and cartridge sound interesting and I'm looking for more results as you get them.