I thought this might make a good topic for discussion on a winters day in January. I got to thinking about how so many rifles today, both smallbore and bigbore are made as light as possible. The light weight is used as a marketing tool. But is this best for offhand shooting? If you need to carry your gun 10 miles over hill and dale to your favourite hunting spot I would agree. But I'd like to keep this topic to competitive club shooting. If someone wants to start another topic on best weight for hunting rifle that might be good. We can use more topics on this board.
Many competitions have maximum weights for rifles. I think silhouette is something like 8 1/2 and 10+. Nobody has minimum weight. It's been my experience that a heavier weight rifle is easier to hold steady and has a smoother movement. Something about inertia. A light weight rifle moves more herky jerky. (that is a technical term). This is all within reason for the shooters physical ability.
Now there are other important features too, such as a good trigger, balance and fit (including a full pistol grip). But I want to stay with weight for now.
Also a bit muzzle heavy has seemed better for me. Seems to effect inertia.
I got to thinking about this the other day while contemplating a rifle change. At 67 I am finding my Martini w/ scope a bit much in prone. I struggle to get off a 20 round string plus foulers and sighters. Kneeling and offhand are not a concern yet. (getting up out of kneeling is but that is another story.) I got out of the safe an old rifle I shot as a youngster before getting a true target rifle. It weighs 7 3/4 pounds. I tried some dry firing with it. Prone wasn't bad, but offhand I was all over the place. It balances further back in the hands and is much lighter than my Martini. It also doesn't have a full pistol grip. It is excellent for hunting, but not for offhand target shooting.
My personal solution for now is weight lifting. I am not interested in buying another rifle at this time, although the Anshutz 1912 or 2012 are tempting.
So I guess my opinion (and only an opinion) is that very few of the newer rifles are suitable for competitive shooting. I would suggest not buying a rifle specifically for for competition but take what you got and see what people are using in the competition you are considering before making a purchase. and then maybe a used rifle such as an Anshutz rather than buying the latest super lightweight g-wiz rifle. The older Anshutz 3p rifles fit and balance far outweigh any loss of accuracy they might have due to age. If you can't hold on target it doesn't matter how accurate the rifle is.
Many competitions have maximum weights for rifles. I think silhouette is something like 8 1/2 and 10+. Nobody has minimum weight. It's been my experience that a heavier weight rifle is easier to hold steady and has a smoother movement. Something about inertia. A light weight rifle moves more herky jerky. (that is a technical term). This is all within reason for the shooters physical ability.
Now there are other important features too, such as a good trigger, balance and fit (including a full pistol grip). But I want to stay with weight for now.
Also a bit muzzle heavy has seemed better for me. Seems to effect inertia.
I got to thinking about this the other day while contemplating a rifle change. At 67 I am finding my Martini w/ scope a bit much in prone. I struggle to get off a 20 round string plus foulers and sighters. Kneeling and offhand are not a concern yet. (getting up out of kneeling is but that is another story.) I got out of the safe an old rifle I shot as a youngster before getting a true target rifle. It weighs 7 3/4 pounds. I tried some dry firing with it. Prone wasn't bad, but offhand I was all over the place. It balances further back in the hands and is much lighter than my Martini. It also doesn't have a full pistol grip. It is excellent for hunting, but not for offhand target shooting.
My personal solution for now is weight lifting. I am not interested in buying another rifle at this time, although the Anshutz 1912 or 2012 are tempting.
So I guess my opinion (and only an opinion) is that very few of the newer rifles are suitable for competitive shooting. I would suggest not buying a rifle specifically for for competition but take what you got and see what people are using in the competition you are considering before making a purchase. and then maybe a used rifle such as an Anshutz rather than buying the latest super lightweight g-wiz rifle. The older Anshutz 3p rifles fit and balance far outweigh any loss of accuracy they might have due to age. If you can't hold on target it doesn't matter how accurate the rifle is.
