Ransom rest results vs shooting off the bench.

I was always curious about the difference between ransom rest results (especially when they are claimed by a gun maker) vs. results of shooting from a bench just resting Your arms.resting on the bench.groups.
This morning , I shot my 952-2 at 50 yards with 147 Federal HST.  I set on a chair , rested my forearms on the bench and just shot several ten shot groups . All groups where 3.1/4 -3.3/4 " with no flyers.

How much better should this gun do with the same ammo from a ransom rest?

I would say that it depends on how good your eyes are. I like to put a larger power pistol scope on any pistol I test off the bench that way. I notice the groups tighten down a bunch if I don't have to depend on seeing the front sight clearly. But I'm 68, you might have perfect eyes.

Len

I was not using any scope or red dot. Just sights. I wear glasses and my vision is ok.

Just like offhand, depends who's running the RR or shooting from the bench.  I too use a 4X scope when possible.  My 50yd sand bag groups with the scope are typically 1/2"-1" larger than my RR groups. 
- Dave

Using irons, not even close, with exceptions.

So basically if I get 3.5" groups at 50 yards off the bench using iron sights, gun will shoot much better using RR?

Sheriff1962 wrote:So basically if I get 3.5" groups at 50 yards off the bench using iron sights, gun will shoot much better using RR?

Yes. Quality of pistol build will vary on grouping. It’s common to see 7-8 shots tightly clustered with 2-3 flyers just outside the group on a good match pistol. A lesser pistol will just have a group with minimal cluster of shots.
Jon

I will give you my experience.
I bought a ransom rest 2-3 months ago. I thought it was going to do two things.
1. Shoot consistently. I imagined that 10 shot groups would be relatively close as the human part of shooting would be removed.
2. Shoot better than I could.
Well, there is certainly a learning curve and I've had a dozen range sessions. I have followed ransom's instructions with mounting, and use 6 clamps on a concrete bench at the range. I use a shoestring to pull back the trigger bar, and make sure to bring the gun up and down like you see on accuracyx videos. Also, I use a cup of water and wait until it settles between each shot.
10 round groups very quite a bit. Sometimes my gun would shoot 2 inches, most times 3-4 inches. I have moved to 30 round groups, but these even are not as consistent as I would have thought. 
I have shoot 10 round groups on a sandbag that equal the best ransom rest groups.
I would say that 3.5 inches at 50 yards is pretty good from your 952, a ransom rest might make some improvements, but it may be less than you'd think.
I am having my gun accurized by a good smith and imagine this will help with groups, but so far I haven't been really impressed with the ransom. Maybe I need a big 2 yard concrete base to see good results though, but I can't see this ever happening as I live in the city limits.

Thank You for sharing.  I myself never had a chance to use RR. I always tested my PPC and BE guns just by shooting them off the bench simply resting my forearms.   Always use groups of 10 at 50 yards  fired with iron sights.  I read and watch videos of some custom gun makers showing accuracy of their guns by firing from RR with specific load. Makes me wonder , if a shooter takes the same gun with the same load and shoots 10 shots off the bench using iron sights, how close would they get to those 1.5 " groups at 50 yards.

Due to a lack of a proper bench to mount my RR to I have quit using it.  With my modified Hyskore rest and a 4 power scope on a gun I can get petty go results.  Good enough to tell if my reloads are good and the gun likes them.  All those rounds to settle in a gun in a RR can be used for practice and not just fired down range.  I normally run my labRadar at the same time as I shoot groups so I collect some petty good data and can often see why I am not getting good groups.  BTW low numbers from the chrono don't always produce the best groups.  Don