Home made rifle rests etc

[parfleche]

Has anyone on here made their own rifle rests or led sleds as some are called ? How about a few pictures , I,m in the process using a scissor jack supposed to work quite well but we will see! I am curious as to what is out there. Thx

[Arty]

Rifle rests have to approximate the same sort of support and 'give' that the human shoulder has. That's why benchrest pros only use a separate front elevation pad, and 'owls ears' rear pads to support the rifle butt. And a real shoulder behind the owls ears.

Anything else makes the rifle do weird things; including cracking and breaking the stock. The exception is bipods, but even those have to be planted on soft ground otherwise reverberations will knock the barrel all over the place.

[hogie]

Originally Posted by Arty

Rifle rests have to approximate the same sort of support and 'give' that the human shoulder has. That's why benchrest pros only use a separate front elevation pad, and 'owls ears' rear pads to support the rifle butt. And a real shoulder behind the owls ears.

Anything else makes the rifle do weird things; including cracking and breaking the stock. The exception is bipods, but even those have to be planted on soft ground otherwise reverberations will knock the barrel all over the place.

Bipod work on a bench if you know how to use them properly. It's recoil management and proper body position. I've shot off concrete with a bipod no problems.

I use bags or bipod to shoot off. Tried a rest that held the rifle and created more problems than solved.

[260 Rem]

I have seen several different “scissor jack” designs for front rests ... all of which looked pretty wobbly. Frankly, I think the commercial designs are more likely to give you better bang for your buck unless you can mount a cradle/w bag that is absolutely solid and does not move/shift or change shape under recoil.

[Arty]

Originally Posted by hogie

Bipod work on a bench if you know how to use them properly. It's recoil management and proper body position. I've shot off concrete with a bipod no problems.

I use bags or bipod to shoot off. Tried a rest that held the rifle and created more problems than solved.

Might be a bit more to the bipod than that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwJc...BZi0vDCIcEPxUn

[hogie]

Originally Posted by Arty

Might be a bit more to the bipod than that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwJc...BZi0vDCIcEPxUn

There is but that is a poor example.

Try these
https://youtu.be/sqFH0A7Py1Q
https://youtu.be/u8rkt1HRWdo
https://youtu.be/S8-zTfStha4
https://youtu.be/727AupokjMg

If you learn how to properly get behind and load the bipod the surface doesnt matter. It is all proper body position and taking the recoil so the rifle stays on target.

Lots of videos out there showing how to do it.

Maybe go to the range and try it.

[West O'5]

I use the "H" shaped Caldwell Tack Driver bag....it cradles the rifle really well.
For added stability/precision sighting/load development etc.,I've added a "home made" rear bag to the system.....it's a wool work sock that I stuffed a plastic bag into and filled with sand.
I've also tinkered with the idea of making liteweight sock bags for hunting,filling them with crushed walnut hulls/tumbling media instead of sand,but reality is I'd probly never carry them hunting anyhow?
Might be handy for a day of lying prone shooting gophers though?