Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Shooting rest for load testing…..what’s working for you?

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....

Caldwell Rock. Jr. front rest and rear Protektor rabbit ear bag.

John, I commend you on this post. Thanks.

Thats almost like coming out of the closet on live TV.

Naw I tried in another thread to get JB to disclose that little tidbit, nope buy my book. 👌 Got too damn many now.
Anyhow about 6 or 7 years ago I got into an online postal match or something like that for 22 rimfire. Rules were simple use an ARA type target @ 50 yards. 50 shots for score. No bench guns or machine rests allowed. You could use sandbags or any solid non adjustable front plus a standard rear bag. My solution was a Mann-Niedner type v-block with a small sand bag filling the v notch and a cheap Caldwell bag stapled to it, It actually worked very well.



Conclusion was that while not as easily adjusted or bag stable 😂 , it was still solid enough to get good accuracy.

A friend of mine picked up a '70s LH 700 BDL in 25-06 that had a very crppy scope mounted on it. We were at the range one day shooting some guns and he offered me a chance to shoot it. Moving over to the bench he was firing on he had a 4"×4" with a straight sandbag on top under the forearm. I got behind the gun and put five shots into a sub ½ moa group at 100 yards shooting Remington Core-Loks. Last time I talked to him no one has been able to duplicate the group, honestly I doubt I could do it again myself.
We had a Factory Class at our club benchrest matches. Ole Mr. Wright was pretty strict on the rules governing what constituted a factory gun. The rifle had to have a factory barrel, stock and trigger, no forearm adapters or lead sleds allowed. I shot a 700VS in .223rem that would agg in the mid .3s, I got my a$$ handed to me by a very good shooting Cooper in 6ppc.
If doing load testing I prefer to use the most stable rest setup available...

I met Dick when Randy Robnett and I traveled to Holton, Mi. for the IBS Score Nationals in 2010. Dick and Jeff Aberegg took us to dinner one evening and we enjoyed a few adult beverages together.

Good shootin'. -Al

There used to be some fellers from Arkansas that came to our F Class matches.....

Backed up to the bank opened up his tail gate got a bag of deer corn.....walked to the mound threw it on the ground and proceeded to kick everyone's azzz.....

Got to love it.

I use the Caldwell BR also, with heavy sand bag on the rear stock. The Caldwell BR is decent, better after some polishing and lubricating on the metal parts. https://www.caldwellshooting.com/rests/shooting-rests/

I quote this only for the AJ300 comments.
That was basically the rules in factory class since I started shooting score about ~91. But as all things change in match directors who was a full blown BR shooter whose word was gospel fugged it all up. How many factory deer or varmint rifle have fixed 36x or higher target scopes?

Al, Dick and I used to have Berkley cars. He shot a lot of 2015BR powder and I traded him 8lbs. We shared a love of walnut stocked customs. Old Jeff, he still likes a good beverage. We still talk or email. If you have an email address for Mike Bigelow would you share it.

Swifty,

I don't recall that thread.

Do recall mentioning a thread where I mentioned a more involved test I'd done with various rests, including shooting off a piece of ponderosa pine firewood with a trapdoor Springfield .45-70, to test various long-time beliefs in how forend rests affect accuracy and point-of-impact. I wasn't about to put all the details in a Campfire post, primarily because most Internet readers won't read more than three paragraphs. But it was published in RIFLE.

And yes, if there's a lot of information on some subject, I do prefer people to read my longer essays on the subject, rather than guessing.

Lately just a couple sand bags and an old towel. Tried all the lead sled set-ups and don't care for them. Will sometimes use small camera tripods.

Phil

I had a buddy bought a lead slead....biggest piece of crap I ever tried to shoot off of.

If you can shoot a good group off that thing you'd probably be a world class shooter off a good set up.

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.