so what makes it a BENCH RIFLE?

[JRS]

Wasn't Hunter Class where it all started?

 

[Phil]

If it`s to F*#$^&* HEAVY to carry.............................It`s a bench rifle......

 

[dickn52]

As stated. Dedicated to the bench. Front rest, rear bag. 3" or more flat forearm and single shot.

 

[MGYSGT]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Nope.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

IBS and NBRSA Hunter Class rifles are prohibited from having "flat bottom" stocks. Does this mean they are not benchrest rifles?

The hunter stocks I have seen and owned were far from round. You would have to put a straight edge across the bottom to know they were not flat.
The flat bottom stock is what sets a Benchrest rifle apart. Thats where the speed and consistency comes from.

 

[retired]

alex,
if i have my info correct, the nationals last year had all of EIGHT hunter rifles.
so while they are around, they are not the core of benchrest.
a weak attempt to "look like a hunting rifle/ not a flat wide br rifle".

The hunter stocks I have seen and owned were far from round. You would have to put a straight edge across the bottom to know they were not flat.
The flat bottom stock is what sets a Benchrest rifle apart. Thats where the speed and consistency comes from.

 

[LHSmith]

alex,
if i have my info correct, the nationals last year had all of EIGHT hunter rifles.
so while they are around, they are not the core of benchrest.
a weak attempt to "look like a hunting rifle/ not a flat wide br rifle".

For that you can thank those who voted back in 1999 to allow custom actions in the class. Hunter/ Varmint hunter before that time dominated the game in IBS. But in the name of "advancing accuracy" the vote to allow customs forced the demise of the class. It costs the same $$ to build a custom actioned Hunter Class rifle as a VFS rifle so new shooters didn't give any thought about trying 6x class. Prior to that Rem. 700's, 722's, and even 788's were the gun of choice for Hunter Class.
Those "weak attempt" Hunter rifles in the right hands often agg higher than half the field of VFS shooters......and they do so with 6x optics. .....Eddie Harren accomplished this feat many times with his lowly Rem 722.

 

[1K6BRA]

?

 

[Eddie Harren]

The hunter stocks I have seen and owned were far from round. You would have to put a straight edge across the bottom to know they were not flat.
The flat bottom stock is what sets a Benchrest rifle apart. Thats where the speed and consistency comes from.

There is a specific rule in the IBS and NBRSA that the forend can not be flat. If it can not be flat it must be something else. No mention of round anywhere in the rules. So, Hunter rifles, in your opinion, are not "Bench Rest" rifles?

 

[Eddie Harren]

alex,
if i have my info correct, the nationals last year had all of EIGHT hunter rifles.
so while they are around, they are not the core of benchrest.
a weak attempt to "look like a hunting rifle/ not a flat wide br rifle".

You should research the history of the Hunter class rifles. There is obviously a lot of information that you are unaware of. I will grant you the fact that the Hunter class is at an all time low in participation level but, that does not mean that they are not bench rest rifles.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

There is a specific rule in the IBS and NBRSA that the forend can not be flat. If it can not be flat it must be something else. No mention of round anywhere in the rules. So, Hunter rifles, in your opinion, are not "Bench Rest" rifles?

Hunter class stocks may have a microscopic radius but in all practical senses are flat bottom. You could not tell my Kelbly hunter class stock wasnt flat unless you held a straight edge to it. I have seen flat bottom stocks with that much bow if them just from production. Yes a hunter class rifle is a Benchrest rifle, it has a flat bottom stock for all practical senses. I made up some rules for a club match that never did happen but the #1 thing was no flat bottom stocks and only radius edges. Current hunter class stock would not have been permitted. The idea was to start a real hunter class.

 

[Eddie Harren]

The Hunter class has already been "fixed" so many times that I fear that it is broken beyond repair. When the IBS powers that be decided to merge the Varmint Hunter and the Hunter class as one it all went to hell.
The original rules called for a slightly convex forearm. The old rule book mentioned using a straight edge to insure that the forearm was not flat.I never saw the words "rounded" or "with a radius" in the rule book ever.
I have just been informed that the "new and improved" rule book makes no mention of "convex".

 

[Alex Wheeler]

If you can have a stock with such little convex to it that it needs a straight edge to tell whats the point? Might as well let them be flat at that point. My opinion of what makes a BR rifle so accurate is the repeatably and speed, which comes from a flat bottom stock well fitted in a bag. Put a bipod or a round sporter stock on that rifle and it has no advantage over a well built hunting or tactical rifle.

 

[JRS]

Go back to 1963.

 

[Eddie Harren]

If you can have a stock with such little convex to it that it needs a straight edge to tell whats the point? Might as well let them be flat at that point. My opinion of what makes a BR rifle so accurate is the repeatably and speed, which comes from a flat bottom stock well fitted in a bag. Put a bipod or a round sporter stock on that rifle and it has no advantage over a well built hunting or tactical rifle.

You are "preaching to the choir". Let them keep "fixing it" until it is more broken than now! LHSmith knows what the rule allowing custom actions did. It was the same when they no longer required safties on Hunter rifles. Now days a Hunter class is a custom action, single shot, 2.25" wide flat stock version of a VFS with a 6X scope. The problem has been "fixed" and the 6X class is all but dead.

 

[mmcu]

It's a bench-rest rifle if it takes "two grown men and a boy" to move it from your truck to the shooting bench...

 

[Nomad47]

You've got rifles and bench rifles.
What really makes a bench rifle a bench rifle?

My long range groundhog rifle is too heavy to shoot free hand and I am unable to shoot prone - so it is a "bench rifle".

 

[retired]

actually most org's rules require it to be carried to the bench by one person, even tho it maybe in pcs.

It's a bench-rest rifle if it takes "two grown men and a boy" to move it from your truck to the shooting bench...

 

[Eddie Harren]

actually most org's rules require it to be carried to the bench by one person, even tho it maybe in pcs.

You need to research the rules a little better. Please take the time to post the name of the organization whose rules you claim to know. Thanks in advance.