Discussion on Front Bag firmness

[Mulligan]

As far as I know, all centerfire benchrest governing bodies and centerfire F-Class governing bodies allow only for a sandbag of various fill (it differs a bit by governing body) on the front rest. All prohibit the use of bearing or other hard surfaces for the front of the rifle to ride on. Additionally, most if not all require the front bag to be soft enough that it can be squeezed between the thumb and finger...... and that the Match Director has the purgative to test your equipment to make sure it is within the rules.

Considering the success of rail guns in the group disciplines, is firmer better?
Why is the use of hard surfaces prohibited in the bag gun events?

I recently talked to a smallbore BR shooter about a rest he uses. He shot his friends f-class rifle on his smallbore rest and cleaned the first two targets he ever shot in F-Class. He obviously was not shooting within the rules and that is not the point at all.


Are centerfire shooters leaving something on the table?

I plan to test this with three rigs, F-Class, LRBR, and SRBR rifles. Designing the test is always the work.

There is some very talented and experienced shooters on this forum. Please let me know what you have tested and/or your theory on this subject.

Kind regards
Clay

 

[Relic]

Hey Clay, not knowing the differences in those three rests can you please explain? I shoot f class so I understand those but not the benchrest version. Thanks

 

[dgeesaman]

“I recently talked to a smallbore BR shooter about a rest he uses. He shot his friends f-class rifle on his smallbore rest and cleaned the first two targets he ever shot in F-Class. He obviously was not shooting within the rules and that is not the point at all. ”

So is this anecdote basically saying that the f class rifle shot better off of what I assume is a one piece rest?
Anyway I think small bore BR leans heavily on wind reading and maybe the shooter did well because the skills transferred well.

I’ve been messing at the low power extreme end with air rifle benchrest and ‘harder’ rests are not easy to make consistent. I suspect it’s because the recoil energy is so low in an airgun that the resulting movement is small but inconsistent. My theory is that for a free recoil setup, there needs to be the right balance of damping, friction, and geometric consistency (firmness). This is more significant than minor differences in gun handling between one piece and two piece rests.

 

[Mulligan]

Hey Clay, not knowing the differences in those three rests can you please explain? I shoot f class so I understand those but not the benchrest version. Thanks

Great question.
But the truth is, I am a awful writer. The rigs I referred to are my rifles, not rests.
I plan to run a test with a Sinclair rest and a Randolph, if my Farley gets back from the shop in time, I will test with it also.

Hope this helps
Clay

 

[Mulligan]

“I recently talked to a smallbore BR shooter about a rest he uses. He shot his friends f-class rifle on his smallbore rest and cleaned the first two targets he ever shot in F-Class. He obviously was not shooting within the rules and that is not the point at all. ”

So is this anecdote basically saying that the f class rifle shot better off of what I assume is a one piece rest?
Anyway I think small bore BR leans heavily on wind reading and maybe the shooter did well because the skills transferred well.

I’ve been messing at the low power extreme end with air rifle benchrest and ‘harder’ rests are not easy to make consistent. I suspect it’s because the recoil energy is so low in an airgun that the resulting movement is small but inconsistent. My theory is that for a free recoil setup, there needs to be the right balance of damping, friction, and geometric consistency (firmness). This is more significant than minor differences in gun handling between one piece and two piece rests.

No, he was not using a one piece rest.
Clay

 

[dgeesaman]

So what was the small bore shooter doing differently than what’s allowed in F Open?

 

[Mulligan]

So what was the small bore shooter doing differently than what’s allowed in F Open?

Delrin blocks instead of a sandbag
CW