Which do you prefer? I'm just starting out and enjoy benchrest shooting. Which will be most consistent?

GOOD sandbags/rests will often provide better results.


Many precision shooters I know downright despise bipods and only recently am I starting to see why.

Most of my precision shooting in the past has been done with an accurized AR15.    This AR15 is both heavy and VERY mild recoiling.    It sits on a bipod just about the same as it does on a set of sandbags.


Moving over to my newest bolt action rifle, a 300WinMag PSS Remington 700, the bipod is starting to show itself as a nuisance.    Under high recoil the bipod is almost literally "bouncing" off the bench as well as off the ground.   The rigid legs can impart forces not condusive to precision shooting, atleast that's what others tell me and now with this big boomer I'm getting ready to believe them.    My first set of groups I fired with my 300WinMag were fired off of a bipod from the prone.    The next time I go out I am taking my hiking pack along to use as a rest to shoot from the prone, will be very interesting to see if I can't get a little more consistency shooting from the rest instead of from the bipod.


To a smaller degree I can see it happening with an AR15 when shooting from a cement bench, having the bipods ringing like a tuning fork whenever a shot is fired.    Compare to a set of good sandbags or a quality benchresting rest which are perfectly dead to any sort of vibrations.


Next time I take my AR15 to the range for a day of precision shooting I'm gonna be firing from sandbags rather than a bipod to see if my group sizes shrink any further.

Bi-pod for anything up to 308. Anything bigger and I like bags better.

It depends on the situation, For benchrest and a fixed position, bags are preferable.
For rougher terrain with movement involved, the Bi Pod is the only way to go!

You always find oddities with every weapon you shoot and the equipment used. The best thing to do is set up your equipment depending on the intended use. You see bench shooters using teflon tape or baby powder on the leather bags, some of which have a seam sewn in to minimize the friction. I was told that if you want to use a bipod to bench, polish a metal plate and lube the bipod legs to allow free recoil.

I found out that while using a pillow bag to rest the hand grip of my Thompson Center if I didn't use baby powder on the bag, the shots went high and right. The grip would not slide without the powder and cause it to torque the weapon.

Bipods, depending on the surface they rest on, give you different results. Firm or hard surfaces will not allow the vibrations to be absorbed as well and will affect the shot.


Set it up on how you are going to use it and practice under different conditions/positions to see what happens. I don't bench rest as in competition shooting, so I prefer a bipod or nothing at all. I do know that Gunny Hathcock prefered his pack or whatever was around to use as a rest. And I've never seen a benchrest shooter use a bipod.

Mark

Well I have a Harris bipod on my AR-10T .308.  At the range I probably like sandbags better, if I have some at my disposal.  However, I still love my bipod.  I actually use my AR-10T for deer hunting too, and if I'm stalking then the bipod is very useful.  It's not like I can carry sandbags with me.  [:D]

A good rest/rear bag setup for benchrest shooting, no question.  You can't really lug all that with you through the bush, though, so if you're doing anything other than punching paper, the bipod would be better, even though they're not perfect.  

I shoot my Armalite from the bench so much I even ground off the rear swivel so it would ride the rear bag better.  

I forgot to add, if you do decide to get a bipod, I recommend getting the Harris swivel bipod.  It is great for shooting on flat surfaces, inclines, or declines.

I was shooting off sandbags for a while but finally picked up a Sinclair benchrest (see [url]http://www.sinclairintl.com[/url]) and Protektor rear bag.  I like how I can set the windage and just spin in the elevation for each shot.

Sand bag for the show & Bi-pod for the on the go. I prefer a burlap outer to alow for recoil slide on the bench. A good swivel style bi-pod  is the way to go for prone and on the move shooting (IMO).

Doesn't that come out if you take the bottom screw out of the stock?