Armednfree,
I've been using the Caldwell The Rock Benchrest rifle rest, in combination with a Caldwell, rabbit-ear bag for the rear for a decade now. It's similar design (and weight) to some other heavy front rests, and have shot many 5-shot (not 3-shot) groups less than .2 inches off it using my 6mm PPC bench rifle, and a number around .15.
On the other hand, my everyday front rest is the standard Caldwell Rock, which is a basic tripod rest weighing less than 1/4 as much. Partly as an experiment, I used it with the 6mm PPC rifle last year when I forgot to take the "big rest" to the range. Was trying a new bullet and powder, so seated the bullets a little shy of the lands (usually seat them touching in this rifle) just to see what velocity/pressure was before proceeding further. Turned out all the groups had four shots in around .16, with one "flier" that opened them up a little.
Was that due to the lighter rest, or seating the bullets a little off the lands? Dunno, because testing conditions and my schedule haven't coincided since. The weather went from windy, dry and very warm(a new 70-degree local record for December in this part of Montana) to well below zero within two weeks.
But might have to compare groups off both rests this spring....
Ordered a Rock BR model today. That “climbing” Lyman (sorry) is a piece of junk. I thought it was a neat idea at first and then watched my groups go inconsistently to hell….I rubbed both brain cells together and noted the higher you Jack it up, the more wobbly and unstable it becomes. Just what I needed to shoot little bitty groups. I’ve got two Caldwell shooting bags, where your rifle rests in between two rolls…..pretty decent, but I can do better.
