The effect of bearing length on accuracy

[jackieschmidt]

That's some fine shooting on your part! Nicely done, and with your own home grown bullets. Very cool!
Paul

I believe any competent Benchrest Shooter with the correct equipment for the task on hand can sit down at the bench and shoot at a championship level.
The “correct equipment” includes a rifle capable of the level of precision to accomplish the task at hand. Barrels and bullets are the major contributions to the rifle. Then being able to find a tune that the barrel and bullet likes.

Those “home grown bullets” are state of the art in bullet precision. The overwhelming majority of competitive shooters use some type of home grown bullet that comes out of a precision die set, made with the finest components by a person actually pulling the handle. It is as much of an art as it is a mechanical process.

Of course, when match time comes, the big enemies are the clock and the conditions. I define a perfect combination for extreme accuracy as “the only thing keeping one bullet from taking the exact same path as the one before is the conditions the bullet travels through”.

Yes, I can sit down with my Benchrest Rifle and shoot five groups like those I posted. That simply proves I know how to build a good rifle, produce good bullets, and arrive at a competitive tune.

The big problem arises when the clock is ticking and the wind is blowing.

 

[dcali]

I believe any competent Benchrest Shooter with the correct equipment for the task on hand can sit down at the bench and shoot at a championship level.
The “correct equipment” includes a rifle capable of the level of precision to accomplish the task at hand. Barrels and bullets are the major contributions to the rifle. Then being able to find a tune that the barrel and bullet likes.

Those “home grown bullets” are state of the art in bullet precision. The overwhelming majority of competitive shooters use some type of home grown bullet that comes out of a precision die set, made with the finest components by a person actually pulling the handle. It is as much of an art as it is a mechanical process.

Of course, when match time comes, the big enemies are the clock and the conditions. I define a perfect combination for extreme accuracy as “the only thing keeping one bullet from taking the exact same path as the one before is the conditions the bullet travels through”.

Yes, I can sit down with my Benchrest Rifle and shoot five groups like those I posted. That simply proves I know how to build a good rifle, produce good bullets, and arrive at a competitive tune.

The big problem arises when the clock is ticking and the wind is blowing.

This needs emphasis because I think a lot of guys get caught up in conflating shooter skill with technical preparedness. I've gotten a little side eye from time to time if I mention that my F class rifle is a 1/4 minute gun "all day long". Inevitably, I get some "Bring it out to a benchrest match and you'll clean up (you liar)".

But I can't, because my easy 1/4 minute is under ideal conditions on an ideal day under no time pressure. Like most of us, I'm not good enough to do that on demand. But it's a more accurate reflection of my rifle and ammo than any match results will ever be. It's a solid, very accurate (by f class standards) rifle.

The real fun comes when you have to do it at a match, where that 1/4 minute goes right out the window. But that's me, not the gun. Apples and oranges.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

This needs emphasis because I think a lot of guys get caught up in conflating shooter skill with technical preparedness. I've gotten a little side eye from time to time if I mention that my F class rifle is a 1/4 minute gun "all day long". Inevitably, I get some "Bring it out to a benchrest match and you'll clean up (you liar)".

But I can't, because my easy 1/4 minute is under ideal conditions on an ideal day under no time pressure. Like most of us, I'm not good enough to do that on demand. But it's a more accurate reflection of my rifle and ammo than any match results will ever be. It's a solid, very accurate (by f class standards) rifle.

The real fun comes when you have to do it at a match, where that 1/4 minute goes right out the window. But that's me, not the gun. Apples and oranges.

That's what I was saying too. It's not fair to judge a rifle by the match scores if the wind was blowing 50mph on match day. By the same token, a wallet group has nothing to do with how well the rifle shoots either. Any decent rifle might shoot a tiny group in its life. Lol!

We just have to be honest with ourselves when assessing a rifle's true capabilities. That's really all there is to it. What it will do CONSISTENTLY, in good conditions, without any constraints, should pretty much sum it up. Same goes for loads, bullets, etc. Just because a bullet shoots bad over a given powder for example, has nothing to do with what it might do over a different powder/load..for the most part. Just an example but pretty much same as a match in horrible conditions is generally not representative of the gun. That's when the better shooter comes to the top but even then, the winning group or score is probably not representative of the gun and not often impressive for the match report. Lol!

 

[David Milisock]

That's what I was saying too. It's not fair to judge a rifle by the match scores if the wind was blowing 50mph on match day. By the same token, a wallet group has nothing to do with how well the rifle shoots either. Any decent rifle might shoot a tiny group in its life. Lol!

We just have to be honest with ourselves when assessing a rifle's true capabilities. That's really all there is to it. What it will do CONSISTENTLY, in good conditions, without any constraints, should pretty much sum it up. Same goes for loads, bullets, etc. Just because a bullet shoots bad over a given powder for example, has nothing to do with what it might do over a different powder/load..for the most part. Just an example but pretty much same as a match in horrible conditions is generally not representative of the gun. That's when the better shooter comes to the top but even then, the winning group or score is probably not representative of the gun and not often impressive for the match report. Lol!

Shoot a bunch of groups and average them, divide by how many times you had a fight with your wife on shoot days and multiply that by how much coffee you drank.

Then start over!

 

[boltfluter]

I believe any competent Benchrest Shooter with the correct equipment for the task on hand can sit down at the bench and shoot at a championship level.
The “correct equipment” includes a rifle capable of the level of precision to accomplish the task at hand. Barrels and bullets are the major contributions to the rifle. Then being able to find a tune that the barrel and bullet likes.

Those “home grown bullets” are state of the art in bullet precision. The overwhelming majority of competitive shooters use some type of home grown bullet that comes out of a precision die set, made with the finest components by a person actually pulling the handle. It is as much of an art as it is a mechanical process.

Of course, when match time comes, the big enemies are the clock and the conditions. I define a perfect combination for extreme accuracy as “the only thing keeping one bullet from taking the exact same path as the one before is the conditions the bullet travels through”.

Yes, I can sit down with my Benchrest Rifle and shoot five groups like those I posted. That simply proves I know how to build a good rifle, produce good bullets, and arrive at a competitive tune.

The big problem arises when the clock is ticking and the wind is blowing.

The big problem arises when the clock is ticking and the wind is blowing. I can very much relate to this!
Paul