A couple of quick additions:
IMO anyone who can't learn to use sets in about 15 minutes of dry-firing doesn't have any business handling a loaded gun of any type. Also IMO anyone who doesn't regularly dry-fire their rifles will not do as well in the field as they would have if they had practiced dry-firing.
My friend Zimjohn Taylor (Zimbabwe John, originally from Rhodesia), when he was in the UK Army in England, was tasked with killing at least one deer per month as a part of his permission to hunt locally. I believe he said that the largest deer below Hadrian's Wall were about the size of a large dog, 100 lbs or less. Red deer in Scotland are much larger of course but that ain't England and the Scottish culture is notably different with regard to rifles.
I'm not attempting to tell anyone to stop using sets, I love 'em and always have, I find them a welcome addition to any rifle. I AM saying, however, that IMO the shooter will give up some level of accuracy under some circumstances off the bench. I'm also saying that I'd be amazed if anyone else's properly-conducted testing revealed any major differences from my own findings.
I first mentioned these results and my opinions back almost 8 years ago, on the old Shooters forum, and was immediately chastised, rebuked and accused of all sorts of things. Some fairly experienced shooters strongly disagreed with me and the discussion got somewhat heated to say the least.
However, to make a long story short, the furor and disagreement and accusations immediately, instantly and magically died out completely when I offered to bet some fairly serious money.
I'm not saying that perhaps you, shooting your own rifle, might not get results that indicate the opposite of mine. I AM saying, however, that I offered to bet $1000 that an independent shooter, shooting anyone's rifle(s) would get close to the same results that I got.
So far no takers, not even a serious discussion of alternative testing or wager modification, so I kinda consider my point proven to at least my own satisfaction. Mighta been interesting if someone had gotten up enough gumption to bet, though.
Regards, Joe
