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Bench or Prone?

lazyMlazyK

Silver $$ Contributor
There are a couple of shoots coming up that I'm hoping to go to, both being 600 yard steel shoots. No shooting benches are provided, but you can bring your own if you want to. You can also choose to shoot prone if you'd rather. I've never been to this event, and I'm not sure what I might be up against. I'm thinking it'll be a mix of benchrest shooters, long-range hunters, and maybe a few guys like me that are just getting their feet wet shooting farther than, say, 300 yards.

Most of my shooting at the range has been from a bench at 300 yards with standard, run-of-the-mill hunting rifles. I do some shooting prone, as this is how I prefer to shoot while hunting, but most of my shooting is from a bench.

My question is - would I be at a disadvantage trying to shoot these matches from prone, if many of the competitors bring a bench? Should I not worry about it too much and just go shoot for fun? I don't expect that I'll place that well anyway as I'm new to this type of shooting, but I want to get better at it and have a good time. I'm still waiting on a barrel from NSS that will be put on a Savage 12 SA in an MDT XRS chassis.
 
Shoot the match the way you shoot best. I’m a belly shooter who just started shooting from the bench and there was a learning curve for me.
 
Bench or prone? No doubt for me. If I was to get down there, I could not get back up. That said I have been a benchrest competiter for some time and thats all I know
 
I do both Benchrest and F Class. The ground is far more stable that a shaky bench.
Either way have fun!
the clue to this statement is SHAKY.....
my portable bench has TWO INCH DIA LEGS, AND A 1.5 THICK TOP
most stuff WILL not be as solid as the ground...but i cannot shoot prone.
 
I do both Benchrest and F Class. The ground is far more stable that a shaky bench.
Either way have fun!
all the benchrest matches that I ever shot at had covered concrete benchs on a concrete slab. I have one covered concrete bench on a slap at my home. Some shoots have as many as 60 benches. Most have 20
 
If you've shot prone off a rear bag and bipod, and feel really
comfortable, then go that way. At 600 and steel it would be a toss up.
Be prepared for either way. If the benches are solid, then shoot off them.
A portable bench can be more of a problem than what it's worth. (sometimes)

Terry and I have shot up at Winnequah, no benches and the couple that are there
are worse than the ground...
 
There seems to be a general idea that bench is better but I've never seen a solid argument for why.
Certainly close enough for any given person to say "this is better for me".

Concrete benches on concrete floor under a roof are better than grass and random rocks in the rain!
 
There seems to be a general idea that bench is better but I've never seen a solid argument for why.
Certainly close enough for any given person to say "this is better for me".

Concrete benches on concrete floor under a roof are better than grass and random rocks in the rain!
look at it this way, 600 yd br is shot off of benches at an x ring that is about 1" and has a 5 shot record of aprox 0.3" . 600 yard f class is shot off the ground but has a x ring that has aprox SEVEN TIMES the area of br.
great shots are made from prone, the best shots are made from solid benches. depending on the size of the steel either may work just fine.
 
look at it this way, 600 yd br is shot off of benches at an x ring that is about 1" and has a 5 shot record of aprox 0.3" . 600 yard f class is shot off the ground but has a x ring that has aprox SEVEN TIMES the area of br.
great shots are made from prone, the best shots are made from solid benches. depending on the size of the steel either may work just fine.
That's a good start but is that really apples to apples?
What are the gun rules each way?
Can the BR shooters put out their own wind indicators?
Any other differences?
Need to compare score shooting to score shooting, not group.
 
Most BR shooters shoot LIGHTER rifles than the 22 lb F Class things. Of course BR shooters use wind flags. Most competition ranges have them all over the range and you can add your own. I laugh when near all the F Class shoots show their shooters with perfect or near perfect scores. Could not understand that until I got my first look at that huge target center.

Somehow just getting down and then back up off the ground, dealing with mud, wet, rocks, fire ants etc has minimal appeal to many shooters. I just keep thinking ranges like F Class long-range shooting because they have physical and financial issues offering good, covered benches.

I have had a new matt a relative gave me years ago so I could shoot with him at one of his shoots. I opened it up on the living room floor and about fell asleep. It felt good to lie down, then rollover looking for a pillow. That relative now shoots br with me at times. I have yet to go with him.
 
That's a good start but is that really apples to apples?
What are the gun rules each way?
Can the BR shooters put out their own wind indicators?
Any other differences?
Need to compare score shooting to score shooting, not group.
sorry you loose,,the subject is STEEL....not group nor score
 
sorry you loose,,the subject is STEEL....not group nor score
lose, not loose

The subject is bench or prone.
You started what I thought was a reasonable argument that bench is inherently more accurate and I was hoping we could improve it. I'm assuming there is a great deal mjore data on BR and FC than shooting long range steel. To use those we'd have to compare fairly, eg score to score. Group is useless to us since f-class doesn't record groups.

We'd also need to guess at how much difference factors other than simply bench vs prone make in any difference in performance. Brakes in BR and not in FC could be very significant?

I never realized the 600yd BR target was so much smaller than the 600 yd f-class.
At the local 200 yd score BR I go to they use f-class sized targets.

I'm prepared to believe bench is inherently better but having shot a ton of prone and a moderate amount of bench I have trouble understanding why it should be.
 
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lose, not loose

The subject is bench or prone.
You started what I thought was a reasonable argument that bench is inherently more accurate and I was hoping we could improve it. I'm assuming there is a great deal mjore data on BR and FC than shooting long range steel. To use those we'd have to compare fairly, eg score to score. Group is useless to us since f-class doesn't record groups.

We'd also need to guess at how much difference factors other than simply bench vs prone make in any difference in performance. Brakes in BR and not in FC could be very significant?

I never realized the 600yd BR target was so much smaller than the 600 yd f-class.
At the local 200 yd score BR I go to they use f-class sized targets.

I'm prepared to believe bench is inherently better but having shot a ton of prone and a moderate amount of bench I have trouble understanding why it should be.
you are steel( pun) wrong.
"There are a couple of shoots coming up that I'm hoping to go to, both being 600 yard steel shoots."
prone or bench for a steel match.....not small groups on paper.
stay in context, bye
 
you are steel( pun) wrong.
"There are a couple of shoots coming up that I'm hoping to go to, both being 600 yard steel shoots."
prone or bench for a steel match.....not small groups on paper.
stay in context, bye
Er, wut?
You introduced a comparison between BR and FC in post 13.
When I try to follow up on it I'm wrong because the subject is steel?
 

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