I concentrate at being a BPCR and LR shooter   buttt, I do have a high wall in 32-40 that I play with   so!!  To start, I have been reading and rereading the articles by Harvey Donaldson in the last journal and have wondered about the early shooting styles noted in the articles.  Primarily, the fact that they rested the ends of the barrels near the muzzle like we do in BPCR and LR rather than shooting off the forearm .  Look at the picture on pg. 70.  Then I look at pg. 22 and there is Mr. McGee's beautiful Perigrine with the wide flat forearm that he had made to improve his bench shooting.  Why was the early style of shooting abandoned even though they seem to punch tiny little holes in the paper and why have most people moved to shooting with the rest under the forarm??  Can the rifles of today shoot better this way than those of yesteryear?  I also have another question and will put it on another thread.  P.S.  when are you going to move Etna Green closer to MN.

Like a lot of other things, its techno-evolutionary.  Donaldson was using a lot of powders that have gone by the wayside, powders too.  Benchrest shooting was simply a tool for evaluating loads back then.  the "real" sport was in the offhand shooting and most of the offhand shooters looked askance or worse at anyone who got "too involved" in benchrest shooting. 

However the technophiles continued to research and develop things and over the years benchrest shooting has developed into its own niche in the world of shooting sports.  (There are probably many more competetive benchrest shooters now than guys still preserving the offhand schuetzen tradition.)  the benchrest shooters have uncovered and discovered much that has spilled over into making all of us more accurate shooters---or at least  making our arms and ammo capable of being more accurate.  learning about barrel harmonics and better fore end rests and handling technique being just part of the package.

At Etna Green I have seen a few rifles with the early style "sleds" clamped to barrels, but being rested on modern adjustable bench rests.

Dave that is "fer shure" !   when I was shooting my browning 22rf low wall; the biggest thing that tightend my bench groups (after settling on ammunition) was whittling out a somewhat wider flatter forend.  Splinter forends, thin sporting stocks, let alone schuetzen style ones, are just not conducive to maximum bench accuracy.  I tried resting the barrel on the bags and it helped some but positionng was critical and the round barrel and thin stock was a pretty tippy combination.  I asusme thats why the old-times came up with those clamp on muzzle rests.  someday I'll have to get one and experiment with them on my old BSA.

The full-blown single shot bench gun with a max. allowable flat slab forend and flat bottom stock will be more accurate and a better ammo tester any day.  I guess that is one of those real personal judgement things and one of the attractions of our sport that we have a lot of latitude in what we decide.  Some enjoy the challenge of shooting their best possible with equipment that is more traditional in appearance, some respond to the challenge of ultimate accuracy and pushing the envelope (within the rules, of course).  I enjoy the challenge of the bench a lot, but my personal approach is that I want any gun I'm shooting to be capable of taking into the field or the woods