Rifle rests

[JimF1969]

I will be buying a rifle rest one of these days. Now that I am getting into reloading, I want to take the , ( my bad, that was me ) out of the testing of my worked up loads.  I was just wondering what you all use. Cabela's has one or two on sale right now. They are Cabela's brand. How do they compare to others?  Lead sled,, Hyskore DLX,, Inventive Technology Sharp Shooter. Would like your 2 cents.

[necchi]

Not to slam anyone, but I never uinderstood why folks use those things. When you finally shoot the gun in the field your hold is going to be different than the rifle on a rest hold. I think it gives ME better practice for/with control.
 I've gotten by for years with just a bunch of sand bags up front to steady my hand, or in the case of my handis just in front of the trigger,,but I still default to holding the gun like I will in the field or off hand.
If I'm the one that blows the shot, I know it as soon as I pull the trigger.
 And yes, when you show that target with a great group, someone always hasta point out the flyer, "What happen to THAT one?"

[roper]

I will be buying a rifle rest one of these days. Now that I am getting into reloading, I want to take the , ( my bad, that was me ) out of the testing of my worked up loads.  I was just wondering what you all use. Cabela's has one or two on sale right now. They are Cabela's brand. How do they compare to others?  Lead sled,, Hyskore DLX,, Inventive Technology Sharp Shooter. Would like your 2 cents.

I'm more into having the butt end of the rifle in my shoulder and I'll absord the recoil.  I know some don't like the rest you mention since they put you higher off the bench  than a rest like the Caldwell BR that uses a rear bag.  Best thing  to do is get a set of bipods or use sand bags to find the height your comfortable to shoot off the bench and get a rest that give you that height might be a front with rear bag vs the ones you mention.

[Catfish]

I have used several different kinds of rest and most are no better than good old sand bags. I am about to make one for benchrest shooting out of and old crank up sissor jack I picked up at a junk yard. I will put feet on it with levelers and top rest that I can move by turnning a knob. You can put as much or as little in a rest as you want to spend. If you not want to spend much get acouple of shot bags and fill them with sand.

[moosie]

I think some of you are missing the point.  If I am going to "sight in" a new scope on a mule kicker magnum rifle, I would prefer not to have the snot kicked out of me each time I fire.  Without help from a shooting rest of some sort, there is no way I can shoot without thinking about the recoil and flinching a little.  For this purpose I love the Lead Sled, but admittedly do not own one.  The range I use has several that we can borrow for sight-in purposes.  When hunting, I shoot just like the rest of you do and hardly notice the recoil, but I want to know that if I miss,  it was me and not because the scope was off a bit.  Might be a good investment to get several friends to go together and buy one--cuts down the price and gives you the solid rest.
Moosie

[JamesIII]

+1 what moosie said. You need to eliminate the variables and "me" is the biggest variable when load developing or scope sightin. All of the ones you mentioned are good. You can probably get by cheaper but, I also prefer the leadsled. JamesIII

[flashhole]

I use a butterfly bag.  It grabs the gun snuggly to reduce felt recoil but still lets you snug the butt up to your shoulder and exercise good control when shooting.  It weighs about 16 pounds.

 

[Dave in WV]

IF you put too much weight on a Lead Sled you can crack the rifle stock. I've read several posts on different forums of folks having it happen. Yes, they work but you don't want to over do it with the weight. The rifle needs to move some.

[Siskiyou]

About thirty years ago this poor boy put together this rifle rest out of scrape.  And cutup an old dining room table for a portable rest.  I used some furniture material to cover the ends.  I do not recall where the original fabric came from but I did not pay for it.  The new front cover is from scarps the wife had after covering a foot stool she uses in the computer room.



I clamp it together with a couple of “C” clamps, better then bolting it down because it can be adjusted.

I adjust the rifle by moving it forward or back.

It might absorb a slight amount of recoil but now that there is fancy recoil reduction out there I might have to address the recoil issue/non-issue.  A bicycle tube might do the job.  Normally I hang a gun case over the shoulder if recoil starts getting to me.

The goal is to sight my rifle in.  I also have a Midway rifle rest but I keep coming back to the home made one.  If I had Dale C skills it would look better. 

I like to go to the high country to check my rifle.  Portable is the way to go because this location has over fifty inches of snow today.  When I am done and during a session I pickup and control any garbage..  I guess I should take a broom and remove tracks.

[roper]

Myself if I'm getting a bad recoil rifle I'll use one of these.
http://www.battenfeldtechnologies.com/past/catalog.asp?product=super-mag-plus-recoil-shield-ambidextrous

[jhalcott]

WhenI was younger and shot some real thumpers, I discovered it was BETTER to sit more up right at the bench. This allowed the recoil forces to spread around more instead of driving straight thru to your lower spine! I used a 2x10" plank with an "L" bracket screwed on one end. several shot bags were laid on the plank to rest the fore arm on. The "L" had a shotgun pad for my shoulder and the guns stock was rested against the front. I also used a device called a "LAHTI RIFLE EVALUATOR"  it looked liked the lead sled sold now.

[jasonprox700]

I've used the original Hyskore.  It's not too bad.  I think the new one looks a lot nicer.   

I really like using a rest, especially for sighting in and load testing.  Plus, using a rest eliminates the human error (or takes some of the error out!).  When I am doing load development, I am trying to find find the accuracy potential and what my gun likes, not what I can shoot well.   

[DannoBoone]

Jim, this is what you want/need:
http://www.opticsplanet.net/shooter-s-ridge-zero-kick-rifle-rest-shot-or-weights.html

Using it is much more "natural" than the Lead Sled. The strap which holds the rifle butt
in place is not noticeable when shooting, nor does it keep the butt away from your
shoulder the way the Sled does. Add a 25# barbell weight is all that's needed (it still
allows SOME kick which hasn't harmed any of my stocks). Few rests feature a horizontal
adjustment, but this has it as well as the vertical adjustment.

My 7mmWSM and Sav 10MLII could get pretty brutal after a few shots at the firing
range, but I can now shoot either, or both, all day without feeling beaten. It also
eliminates shooter-caused "fliers" completely (well, 99% of them anyway).

As for shooting differently off the bench than in the field, I use a shooting stick and
points of contact with the stock are close to identical in either case. The game haven't
noticed the difference.  

P.S. Hmmmm.......just noticed that Optic Planet's "Product Info" doesn't mention the
horizontal adjustment feature, but if you click to enlarge image, the aluminum colored
knob on the front rest is what is used to adjust horizontally.

[cjclemens]

I used to just throw my jacket across the hood of my truck.  These days I use a Lead Sled for sighting-in and testing loads.  I don't shoot many big bore rifles, so its heavy enough without any additional weight.  I still like to practice shooting free-hand and with shooting sticks as much as possible.