First of all, let me clarify what I meant by a bench rifle. I meant a rifle with a stock that is specially designed to be shot off of the bench, with no compromise in the design for any other purpose. Additionally, the rifle would be shot off a front rest and rear sandbag that are specially designed for that particular stock, purpose and, shooting style. Beyond that, rifles of this type often are built so that there is sufficient weight on the rear bag, so that contact by the shooter is not required to stabilize it at that end, or in many cases to shoot it. These rifles have flat forends, that are placed in bags designed for them, which are mounted in rest tops that allow for adjustment of side tension. Rear bags may be unsuitable for bag squeezing techniques because of their shape and/or construction, and degree of fill. Generally for the short and medium ranges (1-200 & 600) the caliber/bullet weight to rifle weight ratios are such that free recoil is common and may be done with some confidence as to consistency of performance.
On the other hand, sporter stocks are generally not designed to be flat bottomed, parallel sided, or stiff enough to do their best work when supported as bench rifles generally are, and the design of many of their butt stocks are such that the toe angle is excessive for best use by letting the rifle recoil for some distance during a shot. For these designs of stocks, rifle weights, and the diversity of calibers, rifle weights that may be found, etc. I find that shooting with stocks shouldered, and my trigger hand pulling the butt into my shoulder helps a lot. Also, I have found that moving the front bag back so that its back side is about 3" or so from the front of the action helps. Beyond that, I do not pull down on the rifle, or put excessive cheek force on the comb, preferring only light contact to let me know that I am where I want to be. The reason that I made such a strong statement was that I have seen so many shooters that try to emulate benchrest techniques with rifles that are entirely unsuitable by their design, and which would give much better results if they were shot in an appropriate manner. For rifles of this type, I shoulder, cheek and, to one degree or another, depending on the likes of that particular rifle, hang on to the rifle. By way of encouragement to those who doubt that they can shoot small this way because there rest, bag and bench setup do not allow them to hold the rifle without seeing motion of their cross hairs on the target, a better bench and rest/bag setup should solve this problem, and although I am too old stiff and lazy to do much shooting off the ground, do not believe that it would wiggle like a bad bench. I hope that this chapter ;-) will serve to answer your question.
Boyd
