Benchresting a handgun

[My Toy]

If you don't own or have access to a Ransom Rest and want to do some accuracy testing of a revolver or pistol-- what is the best technique for shooting the gun over a rest? I've seen shooters at the range doing this by resting the actual frame of the gun on sandbags with the grip frame sometimes supported and sometimes not. Also seen the handguns fired with both hands and only the wrists supported.
So what is the best technique? Is there a difference if it is a pistol or revolver?

[NoSecondBest]

Rest the frame on the bags. Do not let the barrel touch the bags. Do not let the grip frame come in contact with the table. Put your elbows on the table and grip the revolver/automatic with both hands. Get a consistent grip. Make sure your trigger finger in on the trigger in the same same spot every shot. One other thing, get the bags up high enough so that you're not bent way over to see the sights. The higher up your head is the better.

[g.willikers]

Here's a good picture and descriptive article on the subject:
http://www.chuckhawks.com/shooting_h...bench_rest.htm

[James K]

I recommend a two hand hold, resting the wrists on the sandbag, and with no part of the gun touching the bench or the sandbags. The worst way is to have the gun butt or barrel touching a solid surface such as the bench.

Jim

[My Toy]

Thanks to all for the info. Sometimes I get really good groups with my handloads and sometimes the same loads will perform poorly. I think a lot has to do with my inconsistent benchrest technique especially allowing the grip frame to contact a sandbag on the table.

[feets]

I do a lot of 200 yard handgun work on paper and clays. It's all done either from a rest like the one picture below or Creedmoor. There are two major things to remember: rest and grip.

Have the barrel and the grip on soft but unmoving surfaces. Just like shooting precision rifles in the field, hard to soft. Hard to hard wiggles and jumps. Soft to soft mushes and squirms.

Here's a shot of my Redhawk on one of the rests we made:



It works great. If you don't have sandbags or something like that to shoot from then you can use wood or other hard surfaces by folding a towel over a couple times and placing it between the gun and rest. Be sure it's not squishy. Also, remember that if you get the rest within a couple inches of a revolver cylinder gap it's going to get burned. For an auto, make sure the slide does not contact the rest.

When shooting you MUST maintain the exact same grip on every shot. Changing the grip pressure, moving the hand into a different position on the grip, and changing hands will alter the point of impact.

It's kind of easy to see the three shots I made with a different hold on the gun. This is a 12 shot group.




It might take a little while to get it working for you but the task is not difficult to master.

[aarondhgraham]

It's a plastic cheapie I got from Cabela's,,,
But it does a decent job of allowing me to get consistent groups.

Click here please.

I know it would work better if it were heavier,,,
But it still does a nice job of letting me to get a tight grouping,,,
Without this I'm just too shaky in my aim to be able to adjust sights precisely.

I use a beanbag on the rear when I'm using it with a rifle,,,
Not optimum for sure but better than nothing.

Aarond

.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I don't really think it makes much difference if you rest the frame or your wrists on the bags. Personally I usually rest my wrists on the bags just because that is easier and more comfortable. The key is to be consistent. You are trying to imitate a piece of machinery. So hold the gun exactly the same for each shot. This means holding it just as tightly for every shot, so the gun recoils the same amount every time. The comments about trigger position and trigger pull are also good. Same with being comfortable. Be sure you are sitting comfortably and can sight the gun without scrunching over. Do what you need, whether it means taller bags or adjusting your seat. If you are sitting comfortably it will be easier to be consistent in how you hold the gun.

[DealHunter]

Also, remember that if you get the rest within a couple inches of a revolver cylinder gap it's going to get burned.

I have a few revolvers (.500, .460, .454) that I've never rested due to concerns about damaging the "rest" platform. What kind of clearance between the gap and "anything else" would be needed for calibers like that?

[James K]

When fired, a handgun vibrates like a tuning fork and, like a rifle, the goal is to minimize the effect of those vibrations. If any part of the gun rests on something hard (or even semi-hard) the vibrations are changed. If the gun is a range toy, fired only off a specific rest, results will be consistent, and the gun may be accurate. But it might not shoot to the same place if hand held in the field.

Jim

[feets]

DH, it doesn't matter if its a 500 or a 38. A couple inches is safe. The blast goes out, not forward. The frame limits the vertical blast. Be sure the muzzle clears the rest.

James is right. Point of impact will likely move .

[44flattop]

Frame rested on leather sandbags, forearms supported, butt floated. Resting the butt introduces inconsistency. The blast from the barrel cylinder gap will destroy cloth sandbags in just a few rounds.

[WESHOOT2]

I use a Millett Pistol Perch.
I rest the barrel on the perch, and sandbag my hands/wrists.

I dedicate myself to each shot being fired accurately; I take my time.

[feets]

Frame rested on leather sandbags, forearms supported, butt floated. Resting the butt introduces inconsistency.

Once again we seem to disagree.

When resting a handgun for groups I will rest the grip and the barrel.

ANY floating at all will introduce the inconsistency you suggested. After all, it's floating.

Which is more stable, a unicycle or a bicycle?
Since we don't have room to make it a tricycle you should take all the support the gun can get.

Handgun barrels are short and stiff enough that they can support the nose weight of the gun without being bothered with harmonics like a rifle. The barrel stresses are MUCH lower too. Add in the fact that handguns get shot at relatively close range and barrel harmonics are really not a concern.

If your arms or elbows are on the table they will drag rearwards before rotating under recoil. The drag is inconsistent and it really does change the point of impact.

When shooting my Contenders at longer range I rest the gun as shown in my pic above. My arms do not touch the table. Both hands are on the grips. This has earned me cloverleaf groups at 100 yards with the 7TCU and the 45 Colt. Moving out to 200 yards I am able to put rounds on target better than many of the rifle guys. 30mm clays designed as BB gun targets can easily be hit with the 7 at that distance.
When I shot my Encore pistol from a rest it was dead on consistent with both the 22-250 and the 308 barrels out to 400 yards.
I did not rest the 460 S&W. Recoil was far too brutal in the Encore and wrist damage was possible under recoil. That was a stand up and shoot it like a man kind of thing. That way the recoil went into your shoulders and upper body. It was far more forgiving when shot standing.

It took me a long time and hundreds of rounds to figure out how to shoot handguns accurately at extended ranges. Once the proper rest is figured out the shooter's grip on the gun becomes the primary concern.

Shooting Creedmoor is incredibly stable too but that takes a lot of practice and is not allowed at most public ranges. The first time I fired a 44 magnum revolver it was from the Creedmoor position. The result was a hit on a ram at 200 meters. Three more shots gave me two more hits. I'd call that fairly good considering I'd never handled that gun before and it was my first day to shoot from that position.

The pic is an example of the Creedmoor position:



A cylinder gap blast shield is needed when shooting a revolver but it's an amazing way to shoot once you learn how. If you get the chance to try it I'd strongly encourage it.

[Prof Young]

Now wait. When I rested my 44 mag Raging Bull on a sand bag the side flash burned a hole in the bag.

Does the Raging Bull have an extra ordinary amount of side flash or is there some misinformation here.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young

[44flattop]

Once again we seem to disagree.

That's fine, I take my cues from shooters like John Taffin, Brian Pearce and Ross Seyfried. My testing seems to agree with their conclusions and refute yours.

No, floating the butt does not produce inconsistency. It may be slightly less stable as you study the sight picture but it is not inconsistent. What is inconsistent is the interaction between the butt and the rest during recoil.

[Guv]

I have to agree with 44, if you are just shooting from a rest then no big deal resting on the butt. If your hunting though and can just rest your wrists or the frame then the elevation will be different do to a different amount of gun rotation. I'm sure different guns will do this to different degrees though.

[BWM]

There is different way to build a hand gun rest. Jest look at some on here and build your own.

[Longshot4]

I sure like all the discussions on how to test pistols for accuracy. My past experience was first find the load that I wanted for hunting. Bullet, Powder and primer... for my super black hawk 10.5" barrel. That is when I would test accuracy. I used sand bags do to my budget and I only rested my arms on the bags since in the field that was what I will have with me. Also when I rested my barrel on the bags or a tree the groups would change location. After much testing I practiced more for trigger pull along with off hand shooting. I developed a fist size group at 100Yds. with my arms resting. I found it was most important to practice off hand for accuracy only after all testing was done.

[feets]

Longshot, if you normally shoot from the field you are correct in resting at the bench the same way you rest when hunting.

Flattie, toss all the names you want. They usually shot with hunting in mind. For utmost accuracy I rest the gun as solidly as possible. If cloverleaf groups at 100 yards aren't good enough then I don't know what is.
When you come over to teach me how to use my precision measuring instruments I'll put some 30mm clays on the 200 yard backstop and hand you my pistol. We can take turns. Don't worry, I've got a whole box of clays. If you're nice I might help you hit one or two.

[44flattop]

Last I checked, when you bench test you shoot with accuracy in mind.

Condescension won't get you anywhere. Please try not to assume you're speaking to a moron, we'll have a much more harmonious outcome.

[feets]

Flattie, I never suggested you were a moron. I must say that you seem to have strong opinions and don't take to kindly to other points of view.

Remember, in shooting, as in most things in life, there is more than one way to go about it.

I was under the impression that the OP wanted accuracy results. To me, that means better than the fist size groups that are perfectly adequate in a hunting scenario. What I shared was my most accurate handgun shooting method. I think you'll find it extremely popular amongst the specialty pistol crowd who believe the fun begins at 200 yards. The 1000+ yard handgun guys (you read that right) will not float the grip. Those guns get anchored nicely.

[feets]

Now wait. When I rested my 44 mag Raging Bull on a sand bag the side flash burned a hole in the bag.

That tells me you were a little too close to the bag. I've holed a nylon bag with my 454 Super Redhawk. Sliding the gun back a bit so there was about 2 inches of distance between the cylinder gap and the closest part of the bag fixed the problem.

If you can't get that distance you will need to use a wrist rest method and take what you can get.

[Guv]

feets, flattop,

I think what we have here is a different technique for shooting while hunting and benchresting. I use my Contenders for hunting and not bench rest shooting, I can't use the same type of rest from the field or my blind as I could from the my bench. If I rest the butt on my 357MAX it will rotate on the butt, if I rest my arms it will rotate somewhere in the center of the my grip. Believe me, this has caused significant change in point of impact for me. If you are going for ultimate accuracy then by all means use the most solid rest you have, but if your in the field your better sighting your gun in in a manner you are most likely to use there. All this goes out the window if we're talking about 22's.

[Prof Young]

feets

So, I understand, but wouldn't that put the barrel on the bag? I thought that was a no-no to put the barrel on the rest?

Live well, be safe
Prof Young