Benchrest for beginners: you can go as far as you want

Guns Magazine, Nov, 2006 by Jacob Gottfredson

While benchrest competitors are both precision and accuracy extremists, there are other good reasons for learning good benchrest shooting techniques. Chronographing or tuning a load, sighting in a rifle, evaluating the capability of a rifle or scope, and testing loads are but a few of the many valid reasons for using the bench.

The technical rigors of competitive benchrest do not appeal to most shooters, but the activity's techniques are well known and should be considered by all shooters at the bench.

The use of flags, solid front and rear rests, mirage boards, mirage shields, and the science of tuning a load are things every person approaching a bench should consider. Benchrest competitors get every ounce from their rifles or find themselves at the bottom of the pack. Aggregates of five 5-round groups in the teens are now common at 100 yards, even in the unlimited class of 10 rounds. One thousand-yard competitors commonly shoot 5" groups at such extreme distance in mild conditions. Benchrest competition equipment is often quite expensive, and the rush for something new that might improve scores generates good revenue for those who supply them.

Most wonder what the fascination of benchrest competition is. After all, you simply plop the rifle in a fancy rest, use high-power scopes and punch holes in paper. How hard can it be? The fascination, of course, is mastering the art and science of punching them all in one little hole under any conditions. The accomplishment in doing so is worth all the hundreds of things you have to put together to do it, not once, but five times in a row for five or 10 rounds each. I hope I help get you started down this path or at least help you learn to shoot well from the bench and understand the reasons for doing so.

Prior Prep

May I suggest to you one of the greatest contributions to the improvements made in benchrest accuracy are the wind flag? The second is the common use of mirage boards and shields. In other words, our increased understanding of conditions has been more productive in reducing group size than the improvements made in barrels, stocks, ammo, scopes or anything else in the last few years.

Flags, mirage boards, and mirage shields are easy and inexpensive to make. As you look at the pictures provided, you will easily figure out how to make your own.

To avoid a frustrating experience, before you get to the range, check the scope for loose screws and the dials for correct tracking, then clean and inspect the barrel. Ensure the bolt is not touching the stock in the cocked position and its lugs are contacting evenly. Ensure the barrel is properly floated in the stock's barrel channel and the receiver screws are tight.

Arrive at the range and set up as close to dawn as possible. Conditions during this time of day are usually mild and more stable than later in the day. If that isn't possible, make it as late in the afternoon as possible when conditions are usually dying out. Remember, we are not practicing, and we are not trying to dope the strongest winds at this point. We are interested in the capability of the rifle, not our wind doping ability.

Taming Mirage

There are three aspects of mirage to consider. The first is created by heat rising off the barrel. The second is the mirage seen at the target, and the third is the mirage everywhere on the range between the muzzle and the target. Shooters who do not use a spotting scope in conjunction with the scope on their rifle seldom see the third type of mirage. But whether you see it or not, whether your low-power scope does not show the mirage as much or not, the optics still bend the light rays and make the target appear to be in different places.

Mirage moves the target in the direction of the wind, that is to say, the same direction the wind is blowing. For example, if the air was relatively calm with no mirage running, the shooter may hold center and hit center. When the rifle is recovered, the shooter notices the wind and the mirage are moving from right to left, the shooter holds to the right (into the wind) the amount the wind will push the bullet. The bullet will still hit slightly to the left of the group. This is because the shooter took into account the wind but not the amount the target was optically moved to the left by the mirage. Since the target the shooter wants to hit is really to the right of where it appears, the shooter is aiming at a point left of where the target actually exists. He has just offset the amount of wind he wanted to overcome, but not the mirage.

If the wind is calm, heat will rise straight up from the barrel when it gets hot from firing. When this happens, mirage will rise from the barrel's surface, distorting the scope's image. A barrel mirage shield is easily made or purchased from Hart, Sinclair or several other sources. A piece of paper or an old target will do the job. The shield attaches to the barrel and extends the length of the barrel from slightly behind the scope's objective lens to the barrel's tip. You can simply tape it in place. This forces the heat waves from the barrel to move up and around the scope's view, keeping the image clear and undistorted.