TargetTalk

Frankly I don't shoot especially well from a rest - either resting the pistol on a bag or block, or resting my forearm on a support. It's not that I shoot poorly, it's just that the groups that I achieve are only marginally better than my good offhand groups.

But I've seen some shooters who can shoot extremely well from a supported position - and many who only shoot from one ;)

For people who've developed a good technique for shooting supported, how are you doing it?

My specific interest is in rest testing my 1911's for the purpose of load development.

Assuming you do not have access to a Ransom or other type of shooting "rest" then you may try this.

Get a very firm pillow, or roll of some thing to support the gun just in front of the trigger. A bag of shotgun shot works pretty well or an empty bag of shotgun shot filled with either sand or uncooked rice. They also make shooting rest bags, but making your own is easy and inexpensive. Actually you may need two to three bags to get the support that you need especially if you have long grips on the gun.

Place the bags on a bench or on the ground if you can shoot prone. Position them so that they will permit the gun to rest on them with the gun fully supported. In other words cradled or settled in a manner which pretty much permits the gun to be sighted on the target and the grip not touching the bags or the bench or ground.

Now pick the gun up, load it as you normally would for any accuracy test and get into position with the gun re-set to the bags. Take time needed to make sure the gun is cradled so that no movement is needed to align sights or dot onto desired aiming area. With a supportive grip break your shot. Re-position the gun if needed as needed and shoot more shots repeating the process.

This may take some trial and error for best results, just as using a Ransom rest takes more than simply putting the gun in it and shooting shots for absolute best results.

Note that your "zero" may differ from a normal shooting position and if you shoot very soft loads then you may get some cycling or feeding issues since the gun will recoil differently. Bottom line is use this for accuracy testing not for ultimate zero and not for reliabilty tests related to cycling.

Good luck,

MJ

Just like all shooting that does not have a complete mechanical aid, rested shooting takes sight alignment and trigger control. Dot or irons makes a real difference too.

I place an armed chair sideways on the shooting table. I rest my elbows on the seat, the gun frame pressed into the away chair arm for stability and exercise the fundamentals using two hands on the grip. My off arm reaches undrer the near chair arm and my right arm is in front of the near chair arm. One important thing is to rest the frame only with the 1911. Let the slide be free. Still this method depends so much on grip and fundamentals, my groups vary a lot. I can really tell when the group is good as the shots click off.