"Natural" wobble

[GetReal]

From the discussion about the joystick and the bit I do know about pure bench rest shooting, I'm wondering if there is such a thing as "natural"wobble that happens whenever you are putting your face against the cheek rest and shoulder against the rifle butt and hand in the grip and have more than a 3 oz trigger.

When shooting at 100 yards and doing load testing I noticed about a quarter inch of movement of the reticle on the target that I have tried but cannot eliminate. I'm not really interested in just pushing a button to make the gun go bang... I want to be the shooter that is engaging the rifle in the traditional manner. I'm thinking more F Class Type shooting from a bench.

Yes I am using a wide stance bipod, and I do control my breathing as best I can in the best way I know how, and my equipment is in excellent condition and I've tried everything I can think of to eliminate wobble

Maybe I'm making some wrong assumptions above so please forgive that... I'm just trying to describe what I see and what Im doing.

My real question is whether such a thing is natural wobble exists that will show up as reticle movement on the target and is there any way to eliminate it.Thx.

(I searched and found nothing by those search words)

 

[jimmymac]

From a short range benchrest perspective, the vast majority of shooters do not have their face touching the stock. Further, a lot of guys are shooting free recoil with no shoulder contact. No need to build in variables that are not easy to repeat. Not all benchrest shooters go with this technique, but IMO most guys are doing their best to minimize contact and let the front rest and rear bag do the work.

 

[William Vogel]

0.001 of movement across 36 inches at the rifle equates to 0.100 on the target at 100 yards. It’s really difficult to steady greater than that.

 

[DaveTooley]

I can see my heart beat in the scope.

 

[GetReal]

Parallel question : "Can you ' time' your wobble?"

 

[Shooter13]

From a short range benchrest perspective, the vast majority of shooters do not have their face touching the stock. Further, a lot of guys are shooting free recoil with no shoulder contact. No need to build in variables that are not easy to repeat. Not all benchrest shooters go with this technique, but IMO most guys are doing their best to minimize contact and let the front rest and rear bag do the work.

All true, ya got to watch free recoil on 30s, ask me how I know. I've tried to pin the 30 with some success. Also doing free recoil and backing face away from scope to where there is just a small "window" to see dot.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Parallel question : "Can you ' time' your wobble?"

Wait until you get old and add head or hand tremors to that wobble. Now it's not a wobble but a wiggle.

 

[6.5 forever]

From a short range benchrest perspective, the vast majority of shooters do not have their face touching the stock. Further, a lot of guys are shooting free recoil with no shoulder contact. No need to build in variables that are not easy to repeat. Not all benchrest shooters go with this technique, but IMO most guys are doing their best to minimize contact and let the front rest and rear bag do the work.

I have settled into this method.
Pressure on the gun is for rubber footed bipods and rear squeeze bags. It is pretty hard to combine these two forms of shooting.

 

[old_heli_logger]

I can see my heart beat in the scope.

Us left handed shooters get to see our heartbeat very well. We even get to see our heart miss a beat once in a while...yikes!

 

[ShtrRdy]

When I'm shooting off a bench with a bipod up front and a squeeze bag on the rear, the thing that made the biggest difference for me is to have a relaxed shoulder.

Something else that could cause retical movement is mirage.

 

[338 Mollett]

Grab a sling rifle and you will have a come to Jesus moment on wobble !!

 

[rlporter507]

I can see my heart beat in the scope.

I bet this is what the OP is seeing. try a padded cheek piece and prone glove.

 

[Steve Donlon]

If you shoot offhand you will see what you need to do. Timing is critical and where to put your weight. I hold everything with full contact. But I'm not very consistent at offhand but I know people that are. It's more work but it helps show your weak spots.

 

[wkdickinson]

Parallel question : "Can you ' time' your wobble?"

I read a long time ago that the International competitors at the highest levels, can train themselves to break the trigger between heartbeats!

 

[jelenko]

If you're going to contact the rifle with your cheek/head and shoulder. I've found it's better to have your head completely resting and the butt firmly against your shoulder. This seems to reduce the wobble significantly.

Using a front rest and rear squeeze bag from prone at 20X I can't detect movement.
I do need to keep my shoulder relaxed [as already mentioned] so there aren't muscle tremors and the stock needs to contact just under my cheekbone so there's very low pulse.

 

[6.5 forever]

If you're going to contact the rifle with your cheek/head and shoulder. I've found it's better to have your head completely resting and the butt firmly against your shoulder. This seems to reduce the wobble significantly.

Using a front rest and rear squeeze bag from prone at 20X I can't detect movement.
I do need to keep my shoulder relaxed [as already mentioned] so there aren't muscle tremors and the stock needs to contact just under my cheekbone so there's very low pulse.

As you say the key maybe to keep the shoulder relaxed.

 

[Xerothermic]

Us left handed shooters get to see our heartbeat very well. We even get to see our heart miss a beat once in a while...yikes!

Or bigeminy where that puppy beats twice. Randomly. Hard to anticipate.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Us left handed shooters get to see our heartbeat very well. We even get to see our heart miss a beat once in a while...yikes!

So you slept through health class I see. Your heart is in the center of your chest.

 

[rwj]

So you slept through health class I see. Your heart is in the center of your chest.

I’m a “lefty”, and although I can not offer an anatomical explanation, I comment more about sensing heartbeats than my “righty” counterparts. The free recoil shooting form does not produce the best results for me…

 

[Will Henry]

I have absolutely no doubt that I could hold still a lot better fifty years ago. But then, I can't think of anything I couldn't do better fifty years ago. I'm convinced that, when shooting from the bench, my problems are mostly happening as the trigger breaks. When shooting off-hand, my problems are evident when I walk up to the line.
If shooting from a bipod (something I seldom do), I like to hold the rifle and use considerable downward pressure at the rear bag. I find that I can hold pretty still this way. From the bench, I use minimal contact. I find that I can hold just fine but, as I said, I'm not doing a good job of controlling recoil. WH