How to best use shooting sticks

[Big A]

I am new to black powder long range shooting and have a very basic question. In modern guns you would never rest the barrel on anything for shooting. Why do we rest the barrel on the shooting sticks with rifles like the Sharps and not the forearm. Thank you. Alex

[Don McDowell]

Resting these bpcr barrels on the sticks is possibly the most stable position outside of a bench rest or wrist rest.
The barrels on these rifles are stiffer due to their size and mostly offer more threads into the action that the typical modern sporting rifle. Keep in mind the muzzle of a great many of these barrels are larger in diameter than the breech end of modern sporting rifles.

[Distant Thunder]

Big A,

I will add one thing to what Don said, exactly where along the barrel of your BPCR you rest it can make a BIG difference in the accuracy and the POI. As with everything else about these rifles consistency will rule the day. There are many, many ways to achieve match winning accuracy but consistency is common to them all.

Welcome to a great sport. There is nothing in the shooting sports that I've ever experienced that is as satisfying as shooting a good score at 1000 yards with rifle design from the late 1800s and black powder propelling a lead bullet at insanely low fps. I was hooked after my first shot at 1000 yards. Twenty three years later I look forward to my next match as much as the first. Enjoy!

[Martini2]

There are several qualified reasons for placement of heavy barred BPCR on cross sticks. Just a few are location at a node conveniently 6 to 8 inches from muzzle. In addition my X sticks have a piece of leather belt fastened to each top end. This cradles the barrel and has a little bit of yield to absorb the barrel vibration and recoil. Primarily my cross sticks are essential to my being able to participate in silhouettes events at all due to health restrictions. For the same reason I must shoot from a high seat. These concessions I'm quite grateful for are allowed in local shoots. Indeed one would not wish to place the 30-06 skinny barrel on anything hard for key precision. The typical BPCR is a different gun. So far Heart problems, Full dialysis treatments and 77 winters have not silenced my rifles M2

[MikeT]

Big A,

You must be the judge as to where you rest your rifle on X-stix. I prefer the barrel immediately in front of the forearm. I have the best control of the rifle for cleaning between shots. Theoretically, a support out near the end of the barrel should give a more solid base to shoot from. I physically can not shoot prone so "the most solid" position is not an option for me. I do OK in the sitting position. My stix have 1/4 hard felt pads where the barrel rests. Every rifle is a little different, so experiment with yours to determine what works best for you.
Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

[beltfed]

As DT pointed out, we have very stiff barrels. There is also a Node/"dead" vibration point on the barrels that is usually closer to the muzzle.
You will definitely want to determine where that Node point is and mark it on your barrel. Find it by holding up the rifle by the action/barrel hanging down.
Then start "rapping" on the barrel with,for example a wood hammer Handle, starting at the muzzle and working your way back towards the receiver.
The barrel will "ring" and then when you get to the area of the Node, the sound will "go kind of dead/dull thump" then, as you keep on going, the sound will start to go back to a "ring"
Mark that "dead" spot. Tape or paint. Actually, a barrel may have more than one Node. But you want to use the Node closest to the muzzle, reason outlined below.
When you rest the rifle "out there" ( on the dead spot/Node) rather than on the forearm or in front of forearm, you have a longer distance=Radius to the support and therefore
a smaller angle of "error" of your hold variation at the butt/action as compared to the shorter distance at the forearm.
Similar to Mike T, I use wool felt pad in the crotch of the crossed stix (mine are cut from soft 3/8" felt Sorel boot liners). Advantage of the wool
is that even if wool gets wet or damp, the barrel will still slid freely in recoil so as to minimize any such effects of "sticking" on the stix
beltfed/arnie

[Kurt]

Arnie explained it well.
Years ago I was in the bench rest shooting and back then there was a popular thing called a barrel donut a lot of bench shooters used including me. I used a sink anode ball that is used on boat prop shafts to keep the electrolysis from eating the aluminum or steel holes plus other metal. The donuts dampen the harmonic wave flexing. The cross sticks properly placed will minimize the up and down motion close to the same at the same point at the muzzle as the bullet clears it.
There was a post no long ago about this subject that had a video on U-Tube of a test using the locations on the cross sticks on the down range effect the sticks had.

[kenny s]

I use the wooden cross benchrest sticks. I put leather sleeves on each side.
I have found that a tight, rear pull to the shoulder mitigates the heavy hammer blow of the 74 Sharps and accuracy is better.

[JKR]

We used my wife’s stethoscope to find the node in the barrels of my two Sharps rifles. She listened while I tapped with a nylon faced hammer.
The heavy barreled C Sharps was dead seven inches behind the muzzle. The lighter barreled Shiloh was seven inches in front of the forearm. The “seven inches” makes it easy for me to remember. Before a match I mark the spots with a marker or piece of tape. This is where I rest on the sticks.
Jim

[DirtySteve]

Ditto what Beltfed stated. Find the node or null spot on your barrel and mark it. I used a dot of nail polish because it is durable and easy to see. I actually bought purple for this since I can see it but it is not as obvious as red or blaze orange.