When using sandbags or any other form of gun rest, if you dont hold the forearm, but just let it rest on the bags, does it hurt your accuracy as opposed to lightly pulling the forearm down against the bag to keep the gun from "jumping" when fired?

Does the bullet exit the barrel so fast that the "jumping" of the gun doesnt affect the trajectory?

yes

NO it shouldn't. That being said some cartridges have too much recoil to be shot this way. I have rifles that don't shoot well unless they are pulled into the bags, and they are cartridges that shouldn't posses excessive recoil. Shooting is more art than science. Generally speaking I think thatheavier barrelled rifles are better suited to shooting free recoil than sporter weight barrels.

I like to shoot free recoil if I can stand the punishment because it eliminates one more point of contact. Every place that I'm touching the rifle is another oppurtunity for me to mess up.

Be sure that you don't hold onto the thing too long. the longer I squeeze a forearm the shakier I get. I like to adjust my bags to where my POA is just slightly higher than I want. I get everything just right then I grasp the forearm and pull straight down into the front bag. As I'm pulling down I'm also beginning to apply pressure to the trigger. Once I have my POA correct I try for a true and clean break of the trigger. I say "try" because as we all know its not a guaranteed action. If it doesn't all come together fast enough and my arm starts to shake I release all pressure and begin again.

I personally tend to use 1 sandbag and grab my gun like normal then rest my had on the bag and still pull it into my shoulder, etc.. I figure that at best I'll be prone on a log while hunting so why wouldn't I set my sights that way?

I don't think a rifle recoil will effect accuracy. All things being equal. I mean, at around 3000 FPS . . . it's hard to immagine that a bullet that's already traveled over a 1/2 mile in the time it takes to say onethousand one could effect "recoil disturbance".

Some things that are known to adversely effect bench accuracy: Heated barrel. (Shooting more than 3-4 rounds). Bad form as in jerking the trigger. Barrel not "floating"in stock.

I try NOT to touch any more of the gun than I have to when bench shooting. This avoids the stock touching the barrel. I always put rest/sand bags back against trigger guard if I can to avoid this. Set rifle up on bags/rest on bench and run a dollar bill between the barrel and the end of the stock. If it stops at or around the sling swivel, then the stock is touching the barrel and that can change the harmonics of the barrel and throw shots off. Now, do the dollar test without resting on anything. It should slide all the way to the recoil lug area.

BTW . . . a guy at the gun club that teaches handgun classes claims that a handgun recoil will throw the shot off. That's why they spend so much time on the grip when shooting a handgun.

And Alfalfa! Nice hair!!

As a rule, the accuracy of a properly bedded rifle with a one-piece stock, such as most bolt action rifles have, will not be adversely affected by having the forend resting on a sandbag vs laying on your hand which in turn is supported by the bag.

However, the point of impact of certain rifles with two-piece stocks can shift significantly when the amount of pressure on the forend changes.

I have found the Ruger No. 1's are oftenaffected this way, so instead of resting the forend on a sandbag when zeroing one of these, I rest my left hand on the bag, and grip the forend the same way I would when hunting. This seems to allow me to zero the rifle and have it shoot about the same when in the field.

I always get better groups shooting from a sandbag. Your left hand isn't supposed to hold the forearm down, just provide a stable platform for sighting.

It's more accurate to shoot without firing while holding the forearm, since it seems that you're able to hold therifle more steady if you let the bag hold therifle instead of your arm that might flinch or move a little bit, and put your shot offhalf an inch.

I guess it mightdepend onhowpowerful the rifle is, a .300 Win Mag will "jump" more than a .223 Rem, I shoot a .308 Win, so "jumping" hasn'tever been a problem for me.