What equipment are you using on the bench?
IME, a decent front rest and a rear rabbit ear bag help a great deal.
Your mention of 'crosshairs wander' makes me bring that up - ideally, you adjust the rest until the crosshairs rest on the target with no influence from the shooter. Then, the trick is, for the shooter not to move the crosshairs on the target.
If you're using a rolled up towel for a front rest, and no rear bag, don't expect much.
You might try a book on the subject of bench shooting, too - there are a lot of bench specific techniques. Your local library may even have something.

 

If you want to learn what the gun and load are capable of, you've got to eliminate as much of the shooter from the equation is possible. You can't begin to do that without at least some rudimentary equipment, and as Jack pointed out, a rolled up towel for a front rest just won't cut it.

Presuming you have a solid front and rear rest, I'll give you the same advice I got from a really nice old shooter, back when I was just getting into reloading my own ammo. He said to touch the gun as little as possible, keeping your off hand (my left) entirely off the gun. Then he explained that you want to pinch the back of the grip on the rifle and the trigger equally until the gun goes off. Another key is to really calm yourself before you even get into the act of shooting by taking several deep breaths. For the shot, the old advice about taking a fairly deep breath and squeezing the trigger as you let it out is still a good way to go about it. Your heart rate will be slowest about half-way through letting out a deep breath, which is when you want the sear to break.

It also bears repeating that it should genuinely surprise you when the gun goes off. If it doesn't, you're probably jerking the trigger. And the last bit of advice is to shoot at least 10 rounds of 22LR for every shot you fire from a big-game rifle. It's easier to practice good shooting habits when recoil is a non-issue.

 

Here a picture of a rest and bag http://www.6mmbr.com/gunweek079.html

You don't need a rest like what in the picture but it give you an idea. If you notice the shooter hardly touches the rifle and sometimes that hard if shooting a mag rifle.

With a good rest that fits you, you should be able to set the rifle up and you back away from the rifle and the cross hairs should still be centered at what you were aiming at. Were shooter go wrong when they decide to grip the rifle and move it to get the crooshair in place.

Take a page from the BR shooters they line the rifle up in the rest first and they want the recoil to come straight back and then you move the rifle forward. You should have a rest that doesn't jump around from recoil. If your shooting off a leather bag you can put alittle talcum powder (baby powder) make the bags slick.

I shoot whats called free recoil even on my mag rifles and it's pretty much like the picture that my rifle right hand barely touches the stock. As to the cross hairs wandering if the rifles set up right in a good rest to get that you not taking the same sight picture. In a good rest you should try a shooting like this http://www.mytargets.com/target102 grid square center.pdf what you do is put the CH on one of the corners of the red square shoot then adjust your rest and shoot at another corner etc. what your trying to learn how to do is take the same sight picture get your thumb and cheek in the same position every time. You may have to mark you stock as the the thumb were it should be.

Depending on caliber you should be able to get a snap cap
http://www.harbourarms.com/index.php?main_page=index&c

You can practice at the range or if you have a table at home on your breathing and trigger pull. At our gun club we have guys who mark the tables as to where their rest sit.

I shot BR still have my rest and you can have all the fancy equipment from rifles on up and the basic haven't changed sight picture/trigger pull and breathing. I've just taken up archery and I got a lesson on shooting thru a peep sight and how to work the trigger release and I had to stop and laugh almost reminds me of shooting off a rest. Well good luck

 

Something with a long barrel time (slower bullet) will really teach you good form from the bench. These folks have given you very good advice in using a quality rest. If the gun won't sit still pointed at the target, then something is wrong. It's in a bind, you're in a bind, bench isn't solid, etc.

So.... if you really want to work on this form, and do it cheaply, and get immediate feedback..... I would get an accurate .22 rifle, put a good scope on it, and get a trigger job done if not already. Shoot at 50 yards and try to pick days it isn't too windy, if practical.

A scope of maybe 6x or so should let you see bullet holes at 50 yards depending on the light. That's the part about immediate feedback, see your shot right after it went off. I have a scope that goes up to 12x on a CZ 452 and it sure lets me know when I did something wrong. For higher magnification, an adjustable objective is very good to have. Otherwise you may get some eyestrain.

Watch where each bullet goes, watch how the crosshairs jump, and repeat.

Needless to say if the trigger pull is more than the rifle weighs, you aren't going to get much out of the exercise. Once you get a little trigger control, then you can move to rifles with heavy triggers or those that need to be held tightly and use the same principles.

Good luck and have fun.

 

Sir,

No doubt that a fellow would be able to keep a solid rest withe fore and rear rests mentioned. I am a little less equipment oriented, takes too long to unload the truck at the range as it is. I figure the real secret of the front rest is to make sure that its high enough, and my range bag does a real adequate job of this if I don't have all day.

My rear rest is the one the good lord provided, I bring my left hand back and hold the stock in my shoulder pocket, and that gives my elbows a natural bipod, X frame kind of thing. A real shooter taught me this around ....oh....86, therabouts, and I've used it ever since. I make sure doing this that the heel of the stock stays level with the top of my shoulder, so as to eliminate muscling.

Its not as stable as the bags, as one would imagine, but I reckon I ought to practice a little myself while I'm working out the gun. Reckon?

Best to you Sir.

Steve

 

My rear rest is the one the good lord provided, I bring my left hand back and hold the stock in my shoulder pocket, and that gives my elbows a natural bipod, X frame kind of thing. A real shooter taught me this around ...

One more vote for buying a very good set of rests.

The rear rest the good Lord provided me seems to have become a little dilapidated lately. I need to eliminate me as a rest if I want to find out what the gun can really do. Anything else is only what I can do, because all of my guns will shoot better than I can if I actually hold the gun.

I find my best groups seem to come when the actual breaking of the trigger is just a little bit of a surprise to me. If I concentrate on being still and squeeezzzinnng slowly, the actual shot seems to go off in its own sweet time.

 

in the field I am a SHOOTER, but on the bench it seems I just have too much time to think or something; crosshairs wander, trigger squeeze is feeling forced, head popping off the stock, basically; not a pretty picture.

Just out of curiousity, what calibers are you shooting. May or may not be a factor but having a tough time pulling the trigger and raising your head off the stock sounds like a bit of a flinching problem to me.

Otherwise, I'll echo everyone elses advice about getting a good set of bags to shoot off of. Also as broomjm said, keep your left hand OFF the gun. Focus on breathing. Practice doesn't make perfect....PERFECT practice makes perfect. Volume isnt a substitute for technique.

 

Is alot of "tricking your mind" as I see your question DES. Good rests help a bunch.
You mention that you are a good game shot. Good! You've likely noticed that you don't much hear or otherwise notice recoil or noise/blast when hunting.

Gotta move that to the bench. I "try" to see the impact of each shot as though it were the only shot I was going to make!

Don't reflect on the previous shot. Don't even concider the group! Make one shot only!

Tough to get "focused" like that. Real hard for me.

Somedays I can't miss. Other days I just as well find something else to do! Have to "want" to shoot good. Having time to shoot don't work very good here!

Hope I'm on topic?

Cheezywan

 

One thing my gunsmith does when accuracy testing a rifle he's built is (1) take the sling off, and (2) take the front sling post out of the stock. Both can hang up on the front rest in recoil and throw your shot and render useless any other consistency in hold that you have. Honestly, I get lazy and usually don't take the sling post out, but make sure it's set far enough ahead of the front rest that it won't hit in recoil.

For the light kickers like the 17 Rem and 243 Win, I always kept my hand off the forearm - as others have suggested - and always seemed to shoot better. Never liked doing that with the harder kickers for big game, for two reasons. One, the muzzle jump off the front rest, and two, I would always be holding the forearm shooting at big game so I wanted that consistency in hold between aim-in at the bench, and in the field. With no left hand now, the rifle forearm rests on my forearm, at least shooting offhand, or on a front rest of some sort (pack, log, etc), much like at the bench. Who knows, maybe I'll start shooting better!

 

As much as I shoot, I still have my good days and bad.
Since my rifle barrels are cleaned regularly, I always shoot a fouling shoot before I try to shoot groups for accuracy. You will noticed that most of the time, the first shot out of a clean barrel is an inch or so away from the other shots. At least for me.
Secondly, allow enough time between shots to let the barrel cool. In Texas, that can sometimes be several minutes between shots.
Third, after you have a good, solid rest, go through your shooting motions exactly the same every time. Be consistant.
My front rest is a screw up/down, solid v rest, and the back rest is sand bags. I was taught to just squeeze the rear bag until the rifle rests almost by itself, right on target.
This has always worked for me. But, again, I have my good days and bad.
I have rifles that are capable of 1/4" groups but I don"t always shoot that good.
When I go hunting, I make sure that I am not hunting with a clean barrel so that I get the same results.
It is interesting to me that any new rifle that I have ever bought, seems to improve accuracy after the barrel has 50-100 rounds put through it, and has been cleaned a few times.
Good Luck

 

Squeeze the rear bag to move the gun up and down, that's what I was taught too. But when I get to the .338 Win Mag, or my .444 Marlin, that's where I have to hang on to the forend......

 

I do the 'squeeze the rear bag with your left hand' also.
Removing the front sling swivel is a great tip - that alone will make a big difference.
The whole idea is to get the rifle to slide on the bags the same every time. That front sling swivel WILL hang up on the front rest and mess up your groups.
I definitely have good days and bad days at the range. During a session of bench shooting, I can tell pretty quickly if I'll have a really good day or not - I just never have been able to predict it.
One trick I've found when shooting groups with rifles with 2 piece stocks - move the front rest back father than you would with a bolt rifle. I try to get the front rest back towards the rear of the forend. I have found, almost always, that a 2 piece stocked rifle shoots better groups that way.

 

First of all you will never know what you are doing wrong or how to improve if you don't use wind flags. The daisy wheel type are the easiest and one of the best. I last bought mine at Ace hardware. Get at least 3 for 100yds and 4-5 for 200 yds or more. After you have learned how to use the flags you can work on shooting skills.

One of the most important is trigger squease and breathing. but one that most shooters overlook for bad shooting is how to hold the rifle. A very light hold is best, especially if you are shooting off good bags like on the earlier post. If you are using sand bags then just hold the gun steady but let it recoil on its own. When you try to hold so stout as to prevent recoil you will never get consistant results, and consistancy is what accurate bench shooting is all about.

 

DakotaElkSlayer, what are you shooting? It's hard to have fun with a 338 magnum.

Ditto on most of what the others have said. I will add that you make sure that you're shooting the same way every time. If you're going to have your hand on the foreman, then have it there every single time. Other wise the gun will shoot/recoil different every time and that affects the bullets negatively.

Make sure you have a steady table of some sort. Make sure it's not too low, because then you'll have to bend over into a weird and uncomfortable position. Otherwise then you'll get the full punishment of the recoil and start flinching anyway. Plus a comfortable position will allow you to relax as you shoot.

As far as rests and whatnot go. You don't have to go broke. Some sand (I prefer rice, it's a bit lighter and it doesn't leak all over) bags will do fine.

I really think that shooter comfort is the most important thing. Make sure you are in a comfortable position when you shoot. You'll never get a good group otherwise. Unless you're a glutton for punishment.

And some ear plugs will help too.

 

DakotaElkSlayer, they guys are giving you good advice. Whether your shooting heavy stuff or light recoiling stuff, the drill is the same. Being in a comfortable position, having the rifle bagged or mounted in a secure rest and your head in the right place so you can practice good technique.

I started with solid rifle rests and then moved to bags. Sand bag and pinch bag up front, behind the sling stud and just int front of the action and a rear eared bag, on top of sand bags if necessary, then a Past Recoil Shield, even with light stuff if Im going to be shooting more than 20 rounds.

Once the rifle is in place where I can sit behind it with my shoulder in the right place for me and the scope is on target, I dont dink with it.
Im right handed and I touch the stock only enough to get into position to pull the trigger.
My left hand controls the bag under the butt of the rifle. Squeeze for down, relax and let it settle for up on my POA.

Breathe and relax.
Shoot.

Somedays are good, some days I go home early because otherwise Im wasting time and ammo.

I find it makes me a better field shot because I really feel confident in where the bullet is going. And yes, I do practice field positions when Im at the range after shooting from the bench.