front rest placement

[dangerranger]

 Ive read in the FAQs that best accuracy with a handi will be had with the front rest under the hinge. I shot a  rimfire Schouetzen match last mo, and this mo its center fire. Im going to try the BC. I did very poorly in be bench rest  but scored high enough to post a second place in the off hand . most shot using a hand rest. the only place I have on the BC to atach a hand rest will be the fore end screw. how much difference did it make moving the rest from the fore end to under the hinge?or is this new country? thanks DR

[necchi]

It's going to depend on your rifle and what if any work you've done to the forearm.
 I've done a few things to my forearms, RTV bedding and a setscrew under the forearm screw, that leaves little differance where I hold or place on the bags at the bench. I still bag under the hinge and pad the base of the butt plate when doing load development. I want to eliminate as much human error (wiggle) as possible, but I can hold the forearm with my hand and see little change.
 Best bet is to try different holds proir to the match to see what changes might happen.

[cwlongshot]

Off hand is far easier on the fro-end then bench shooting.

When shooting form the bench, always try to rest at the hinge. When offhand shooting hold the forend, the hinge just stay off the barrel. NEVER rest the barrel on anything when shooting. It will ALWAYS recoil off any hard surfaces.

Just today I was shooting off the Lead Sled and found accuracy only so--so and this surprised me. I took the rifle out of the rest and shot it off the bags like I do usually. Accuracy returned. I don't know what was happening, but it effected accuracy to the negative.

I have a Remington's 14 that will not shoot off the beach no matter what you do. But stand up, and shoot it offhand and you are rewarded with nice round groups. It's got a factory peep and absolutely refuses to shoot less than 6" off a sandbag or the lead sled. I have tried at least a dozen different loads and it doesn't seem to make a difference. One day in a fit of frustration, I stood up and shot about 8-10 bullets offhand at the fifty yard bull, fairly quickly. Guess what... ALL ROUNDS printed inside 2"!!!

There are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule, so try things for yourself and see what happens.

Have fun,
 CW