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American Air Arms Bench vs Tripod

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Dairyboy

Dairyboy

Member
Jul 23, 2016
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Washington, United States
This morning wanted to test my shooting with my standing height tripod. I recently saw a thread about adding weight to guns to help with shooting. Thought I'd try it and made a very redneck attempt and it's working great! Anyways wanted to shoot and see how it helped my shooting off a tripod with no other support. So shot off the hood of my truck with my mini tripod with rear bag and then with my large tripod for standing. I shot my Evol Mini and Tikka T1X .22lr. So I was pleasantly surprised that there were no real differences. The added weight upfront really helps alot. Both top groups off the "bench" setup were 6 shots and the other lower groups were 5 shots. Very satisfied. And clearly I need to work on not pulling shots on the tripod....my top Evol was a little wind gust not a Pulled shot but both the bottom groups had pulled a shot low and right.
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Interesting test and good shooting. I wouldn't call a mini tripod off the hood of a truck a "benchrest", however. I do a lot of shooting off a home made bench on the side porch of my house at 30 yard challenge targets. I've convinced myself that there isn't any magic way to shoot that will give me a 200 score easily. I bought a Caldwell BR rest and I can shoot well with it. But it needs a wide flat bottom of the forestock to help avoid cant and my guns don't have that. But with care, cant can still be pretty much eliminated and I can shoot well with it. But no better than I do with a bipod and my home made monopod in the back. Both rests allow me to move from target to target with a knob rather than repositioning the gun on the rest (or the rest) which I think is important for this bullseye shooting. Wouldn't be very important for shooting groups. I am more comfortable with the bipod so that is what I normally use now. I recently changed my bench making it twice as heavy but a bit lower. I was surprised that helped my "tall" bullpup, my Caiman X, and hurt my P35-22. Changing to a taller bipod seems to have restored things for the P35. But I take that as an example that getting my body in the right position is part of me being able to shoot well.

I am confident I could not shoot from either of these tripods as well as from my bench. But I believe I could still shoot pretty well. I also shoot sometimes sitting on a drywall bucket using sticks. I am not quite as accurate that way but much better than offhand or other positions where I don't have as much support. Sitting low on the bucket allows me to have my elbows on my knees aiding stability. If I need to shoot standing I look for a support of some kind. A post on my back porch, a tree or my standing bipod. I suspect your tripods would be more stable than my other standing positions and might be as good as sitting with sticks.
 
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Dairyboy said:
This morning wanted to test my shooting with my standing height tripod. I recently saw a thread about adding weight to guns to help with shooting. Thought I'd try it and made a very redneck attempt and it's working great! Anyways wanted to shoot and see how it helped my shooting off a tripod with no other support. So shot off the hood of my truck with my mini tripod with rear bag and then with my large tripod for standing. I shot my Evol Mini and Tikka T1X .22lr. So I was pleasantly surprised that there were no real differences. The added weight upfront really helps alot. Both top groups off the "bench" setup were 6 shots and the other lower groups were 5 shots. Very satisfied. And clearly I need to work on not pulling shots on the tripod....my top Evol was a little wind gust not a Pulled shot but both the bottom groups had pulled a shot low and right.View attachment 385981
Click to expand...

In red above, sixth and sevenths words.
How...can you test YOUR...shooting when you are using shooting aids ?
Or, are you shooting out to 100+ yards, then I can see using help ? 30 yards, should be done, offhand.

You aren't testing YOUR shooting skills, you are testing the guns capability's when you use all of the stability paraphernalia ! And there's really not much need for that, most guns today are plenty capable of shooting good groups.

How...are...your handheld / offhand groups ?

Mike
 
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Emu said:
I have never used a bipod nor tripod. My shooting rest has a thick sponge to absorb vibration at the shot.

I am a Hunter and it is not normally available a bipod to shoot when hunting. It is normal to try to rest the rifle at what ever you have at hand or get sitted and shoot rested in your knees.
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That's funny I never go hunting without the use of a bipod or tripod. Much more solid then resting on your knee or propped up against a tree. I use what's available as well but to limit yourself or your ability to be more accurate on live game seems bass akwards to me.
 
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When still hunting I carry a cheap Walmart shooting stick. I may or may not deploy it. Depends upon what type of cover is available. One thing a shooting stick(s) allows is that they keep me off the ground and away from things that might have ticks on them in the warm season.

Still hunting:

Still Hunting

www.hunter-ed.com www.hunter-ed.com

When shooting from a blind I have found my cobbled together tripod useful and stable enough to improve my accuracy:



Shooting from a solid bench on bags or a rest the rifle weight does not really matter, maybe even being heavy is useful. But from any sort of stick or tripod I find it easier to shoot well with a lighter rifle. This (aluminum) Marauder is 7.2 pounds as outfitted.
 
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Fly1ngWalrus said:
Good shooting! Do you happen to know the make/model of that mini tripod? I've been looking for one like that for months! Thanks in advance!
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Looks like a Leofoto Ranger LS-223, there are different attachments available which change the model number. I have a LS-223CEX and a LS-223C. The prices are all over the place I have found, since it seems Leofoto doesnt import a lot into the US. I got mine for about $70 on ebay and they are crazy nice for that price.
 
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MikeVV said:
In red above, sixth and sevenths words.
How...can you test YOUR...shooting when you are using shooting aids ?
Or, are you shooting out to 100+ yards, then I can see using help ? 30 yards, should be done, offhand.

You aren't testing YOUR shooting skills, you are testing the guns capability's when you use all of the stability paraphernalia ! And there's really not much need for that, most guns today are plenty capable of shooting good groups.

How...are...your handheld / offhand groups ?

Mike
Click to expand...
My shooting isn't paper like yours is. My shooting is on pests 95% of the time. 50yds are my close shots stretched out to over 100yds. So yes offhand at those distances shooting in the wind at small pests with pellets makes a large difference rested vs not. I use them to further my range I can take pests out as does just about anyone else. No ego here to brag about offhand shooting skills. Only thing i shoot offhand are springers, my Notos, pistols and shotguns. Different guns and shooting positions for different uses.
 
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