Shooting rest for load dev.

[FEENIX]

bill123,
You may want to go over to benchrest central and look at how to get your rifle to slide(track) accurately in the bags ( front and rear) and what to use as a "lube" on your bag (s) so the rifle dosen't skip on recoil etc. Also be sure to remove the sling swivel studs ! And you may also want to look at items that attach to the forend of the rifle via the sling swivel attachment point to the stock or the sling swivel stud Ferrell such as the SINCLAIR forend benchrest adapter to reduce/prevent the rifle from "torquing" in the bags when fired. Watch the LED SLED. Items like this can result in damage to the rifle action or stock due to it being captured and not allowed to recoil so all that energy is focused on the rifle. There are some products out on the web that are like the LED SLED in that they hold the rifle instead of the shooter that have built in recoil dampening that dissipate the force off the rifle ( think recoil system on an artillery piece) but they can be expensive. Hope this helps!

Thanks Phil. I have a rail on the bottom of my stock that will most likely interfere with tracking. Good to know about the LED Sled. I'll stay away from it.

I have the older lead sled and have been using it for a while now without any problem other than poor cheek weld.

When used properly, it has it's benefits. Where problem starts is when people used them to eliminate recoil by putting excessive weight (i.e. 50+ lbs) to eliminate recoil. Well, guess what, something has to give, whatever the weakest point (stock, scope, etc ...) is will fall under Murphy's Law ... and he does not discriminate.

I used it during barrel break in as I can easily transition from shooting to cleaning the barrel securely and then back to shooting again. Also, use it in load development.

Once I'm happy with the load, I refine it using my bags, bipod, and bipod buddy ... then go to prone.

 

[Greyfox]

For load development I have used the same set up for several years with several rifles. It a Caldwell Rock and a Sinclair rear rabbit ear bag. I will match up the front bag adapter as close to the rifles forearm shape as possible. I will generally remove any pic rail, studs, etc off the fore end. The Caldwell has served me well, including BR competition. Just want to make sure the screw that attaches the head to the body of the rest is Locktited. I make it a point to use the same hard hold shooting technique for load development that I use for hunting/competition. I can generally keep my POI very close/same when using a bipod, or other rest when load development is completed using this set up with the right shooting form.

 

[IAHNTR]

I went through this just a few weeks ago. I ended up with a Shadetree Engineering top because I wanted a joystick, but didn't want to pay Farley or SEB prices. For the bottom I used a Sinclair heavy varmint tripod. I ordered the bottom without a top and got the F class feet for it.

If you already have a bottom section, Butch (owner of Shadetree and avid benchrest shooter) can make a post to fit it. He didn't know me from Adam, but was very helpful on the phone with my newb questions. In all the research I did, he was talked of highly and I can see why. He was great to talk to, easy transaction and very fast shipping. One of the many things that I like about his rest top is that the rest moves the same direction as the joystick, whereas the SEB that I used was opposite. I know I would get used to it, but it was awkward at first. Now I haven't used this extensively yet, but I have used it a couple times and so far so good.

Good luck. I know I spent many hours researching decision. Feel free to pm me with any questions.

 

[Trickymissfit]

about thirty years ago, I built my first front rest. Boy was it a crude piece of junk! I then built another, trying to get the rifle lower to the bench. Still ended up about eight inches high, but the design was better. I then built a couple more over the next two years, and they were much better. Yet still not great unless I was seven feet tall. I sat down one day and designed one on the PC. The idea was to eliminate as much lateral slop as I could. Still ended up a little too tall due to the nut and bearing setup. I built it anyway, and it worked very well. Still at seven inches was too tall for me. I then got real serious, and started looking at ball bearing manuals. Decided I could get by with two Conrad type ball bearings instead of the Timken bearing. Then the screw and nut became the problem. I was locked on a ten thread per inch screw, when what I really wanted was a twenty thread per inch screw. Keep in mind that I had no serious idea about the top rest part; let alone how they were made. Dumpster diving one day at work I found a small ball screw and nut, and decided I had found something near perfect. WRONG! Then on another recon expedition, and found several nice ground thread screw and nuts (about a half dozen). They were perfect, and even had the ten threads per inch. The nuts were steel with a Moglice thread, and about .001" at the max. I knew I had hit the big time. Smooth as glass, and about as tight as it can get. The threads were hard, and the steel on the nut was soft. I studied the nut for about a week trying to figure out how to mount a ball bearing pack on it. Came up with a plan to mount ball bearings on both ends. Worked like a dream, but would lock up on you when it got warm in the sun. So I then made a new nut to fit the screw, and also fixed two new problems. At the range a guy offered me three hundred dollars for the rest and a simple flat top. I then started on another rest using one of the harden screws. But figured out a way to make it five inches tall. Now I've been using that one for ten years. Also went thru about a dozen rest tops. Never quite got the top I want, but what I have works well. My real issue is that I used a 20mm o.d. thread that had 10 threads per inch. If you build one, use a 3/4-10 thread. Avoid all threaded rod, as it's just not good enough.
gary

 

[bill123]

Thanks everyone. That's a lot of great advice.