MLR....due to the distance to any sanctioned matches or any other kind of long range match where BPC rifles are fired I haven't been to one in several years. Perhaps I spoke out of turn and things have changed in the last 7-8 years.
Back when I was active and had a 520 yard range in my back yard we never rested the barrel on cross sticks, always the forearm. Also, when shooting from a bench with front sandbag adjustable rest and a butt bag we never rested the barrel on the rest. Always the forearm. To my knowledge that's been the preferred way of shooting off a rest of any kind for a long time. My groups and the groups of my contemporaries at the time were nearly identical, whether shooting from cross sticks or a rest. It took MOA out to 500 yards to win as we didn't shoot only steel silouhettes. In addition to silouhettes we had bulls eye and gongs. Usually the person who took the bulls eye string won.
Any time a new guy showed up and was resting his barrel on the sticks or rest we just waited. I don't recall that anyone using that method shot well and almost always said something to the effect that he didn't have all the bugs worked out of his load and/or rifle. Usually someone would suggest he rest the forearm and not the barrel and shoot a group on the bulls eye just to see if it mattered. Every time it was as if a light came on. When the barrel is rested on a solid object it will bounce around in a most inconsistent manner and accuracy will suffer accordingly. For whatever reason, it doesn't when the forearm is rested.
As I said, perhaps things have changed as I see cross sticks advertised that have a sort of sling to rest the forearm, or barrel, in. I suppose resting the barrel in something soft would have a different effect from resting it on something hard. I've never used such sticks so I have no knowledge or experience with them.
How does your rifle shoot from a bench when using proper front rest and butt bag? If it shoots good then it should shoot good when using proper technique from cross sticks. Ultimately you should use what works for you. For me, that was always off the forearm. Resting the barrel threw groups that looked more like a shotgun pattern than a rifle group.
I'd be curious to hear what works best for you. Ain't never to old to learn!
Vic
