Mushka, Some were, some weren't. Bench matches are shot with ML rifles that are built with false muzzles and massive barrels and were/are designed for shooting from a rest. So are Chunk Guns like the ones that used to be (and probably still are) popular in the eastern mountains for match shooting. Typical Pennsylvania, Southern Mountain, Poor Boy, Trade Rifles, and Plains Rifles are designed and built for off-hand shooting and many of them have the stocks slightly cast off, so crescent butt plates can be rested on a shooters upper arm instead of in his shoulder pocket. My recommendation would be NOT to shoot any heavy caliber ML rifle that has a crescent buttplate with the buttplate pressed into the shoulder socket. Ever. If you're doing that, you are placing your shoulder in position to resist the recoil rather than ride with it as you should. Worse, you're resisting recoil force that is concentrated on two metal-shod points instead of the entire surface of the butt plate. It's like being hit on the shoulder with a blunt rock pick .... twice. Ouch!
There's no reason to shoot that way off the bench unless you're into pain. If your rifle has a castoff in the stock and the rifle butt is comfortably located on your upper arm when you're shooting from rest, the sights should line with your eye.
