free recoil or hard hold.

[INTJ]

Fair enough. But I would suggest that Tubb's skill allows him to get away with a hard hold, not that a hard hold is a part of his shooting success.

I think Tubb would do well at any shooting discipline. There is a lot of overlap in shooting skills and I am sure he studies, tunes, and practices using the best techniques available for a particular shooting sport.

 

[Longrange57]

It is all shooter preference. I can shoot both ways but prefer firm hold against shoulder! I know many world class shooters....some free recoil and some do not. Often, such as my case, a shooter with neck or shoulder injuries does what they feel more confident with. Some shooters with eye injuries may lean across the gun, etc. Neither one better than the other according to what I've witnessed through the years.

 

[urbanrifleman]

I'm not sure I'm going to ever believe that the guys that shoot 5 times without even looking at the target and barely touching the rifle are the most "precision shooters" in shooting.

Its actually a niche of very specialized equipment, and other than the ability to tune loads I'm not sure that style of shooting translates into any other kind of shooting. It's almost like shooting a machine rest.

I can shoot almost as small with my Tubb bipod and squeeze bag as I can with a bench stock. Using a hard hold of course.

 

[INTJ]

I'm not sure I'm going to ever believe that the guys that shoot 5 times without even looking at the target and barely touching the rifle are the most "precision shooters" in shooting.

Its actually a niche of very specialized equipment, and other than the ability to tune loads I'm not sure that style of shooting translates into any other kind of shooting. It's almost like shooting a machine rest.

I can shoot almost as small with my Tubb bipod and squeeze bag as I can with a bench stock. Using a hard hold of course.

LOL!!!! I have run into this "superior" attitude before from highpower shooters. Now not all highpower shooters are that way and the ones with good attitudes I genuinely respect and appreciate. However...............

My second or third year of LR BR I decided to stick my toe in highpower. A friend that was on the USAF rifle team sold me a half used up AR upper. I bought an appropriate lower, the other equipment I needed, and a bunch of Black Hills 77 grain reloads. I shot two matches, a 200 yd "Garand" match and a regular across-the course 600 yd match. Before the matches, many of the highpower shooters were very dismissive of me for being a BR shooter and were convinced I would finish dead last. I honestly had no expectations. However, in both matches I beat half of the field. I don't remember if there were 30 or 50 shooters. They were stunned and asked how an inferior BR shooter could do that well my first two times out in highpower. I laughed at them and told them that ALL shooting was simple. You just don't pull the trigger until the sights are properly aligned on target.

I didn't shoot any more highpower after that. I wasn't that impressed with it. You spent all day dragging junk around and it just wasn't precision shooting. A tight sling did make a reasonably stable shooting position, but it wasn't BR level. If I was going add another shooting discipline it would be Silhouette, as shooting 4 MOA groups offhand at 547 yds is almost as appealing to me as shooting 3" groups at 1000 from the bench.

I can definitely say there is a lot in competitive LR BR that applies to other shooting styles. Along with learning to tune a load like no one else, you learn precise trigger control and consistent gun handling (hint--a Light Gun is NOTHING like a machine rest). You learn how to read the wind. You learn that nothing is ever "good enough"--you most always strive to improve or you don't remain competitive. Most importantly, the systematic approach you apply to EVERY part of the process from gun building through loading and tuning to shooting allows you to find success in ANY kind of shooting--whether that is shooting pheasants over dogs, shooting running deer at 100 yds, shooting deer across a canyon, or embarrassing certain highpower shooters who should have kept their attitude in check.