pic of cpa rifle

the stock in the pic was a flat or straight bottom. I put the taper in it. works better for my style of shooting. we had our june egg shoot today. very windy I tied for 3rd with 18 my wife was 2nd with a 20 and a 21 won it. one of the guys asked me what bullets I was using when I told him he said that was part of the problem. he shoots a 223 and a 6 br. same thing as me 2 or 3 right there and the rest flyers. when he changed to a different brand everything got more consistent. I've tried different hold and firm not hard seems to work best for me. the smith that fitted the barrel is as good as they come. if I don't get something i'm going to call paul  ans see what he says. thanks for the help on posting the pic md

I agree that big flat forearms are good for bench shooting.
Are there any suggestions for using traditional slender round forearms when shooting from the bench?
My very limited experience with barrel sleds says they are not worth the trouble.
Chuck

I have shot off round barrel and round fore arm rests.  They can shoot very well.  I had a Stevens 44 1/2 32-40 in the early 90s that shot under 1" for 10 shots when I did my part.  Certainly shooting flat forearms and BR stocks make it much easier.

Barrel sleds take a different technique than shooting off bags. I nev er got mine to shoot as well as off bags, but I didn't put the time into it as there were very few opportunities to shoot traditional class.  It was a PIA putting it on and removing it and tansitioning tne scope settings back and forth from offhand to bench. 

What I discovered with my 33-47 shooting off the barrel or rounded forearm is the left hand rifling tends to widen the group as the rifle tends to torque out of my hand rather than into it as a right hand twist would do.

I prefer shooting off the barrel similar to Jack using a sand bag front rest. The only problem in doing so is most off the shelf front rest sand bags are not designed for one to successfully do so. I had Protektor USA make a custom front sand bag for me that fits my barrel and my own personal needs. Cost was basically the same as an off the shelf bag at 39 dollars filled with sand at the time. I just went over all of the specific details with David over the phone and had the new bag in hand in seven days. The barrel channel fits my barrel perfectly per my own wants and needs. It has a 3/4 inch radius barrel channel and a depth of 1 1/4 inches and my barrel dia. is 1.202 inches where it rests in the bag. The weight of the rifle thus forms a perfect fit from bag to barrel and also helps to guide it straight back during recoil. After receiving the bag I removed the sand and mixed it 50-50 with Parakeet Gravel and then re-filled it. The mix helps to keep the barrel from wanting to jump off the bag having no other way to put it and more importantly it helps to absorb unwanted vibrations. The barrel channel is 5 inches in length. The bottom of the bag to the bottom of the barrel channel is 11/4 inches. This keeps the front of the forend from hitting the rest and marring it and it is also the return to battery stop. The bag is 6 inches wide and I had three ears per-side installed with brass grommets in order to achieve a very stable and non moving bag attachment to the front rest top. If you might want to pursue doing the same and have any questions please feel free to ask. 

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JLouis

I do not believe much can be done to improve performance with that rear bag.  Not distributing the rear bag setup is the most critical part of the rifle setup on the bench.

guys I would like to thank each and everyone for their contribution. I got a little good from everyone. the one that blew me away is  putting the front bag  ahead of the forearm. I didn't have any match ammo but I had 100 new cases to fireform. I used 3 different brands a some h 380 I've had for awhile. with the change in the front bag setup, my fireforming loads were scary accurate. my wife shot several groups that were 1 hole. can't wait to make some match ammo. thanks again md i'll keep you posted