Front rest for sighting in use/load testing/prarie dog use with hunting rifles

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silvermesa

Guest
Hello all!

My first post here. Over the last few weeks I have considered a front rest would be helpful for sighting in my elk hunting rifle. I also thought maybe this could be used for hunting prairie dogs in the future. I have never owned a front rest and decided there has to be something better than a jacket placed under the gun for sighting in. This is the reason for my post. Have read about coaxial vs non coaxial etc. And am still confused.

My elk hunting rifle is a Remington Model 700 in 7mm magnum with synthetic stock.

I am willing to spend whatever is necessary to buy once and get the correct product for my application. Please give me your thoughts on what would fit the bill and be exact as far as what bags would be needed.

Thanks in advance!
 
I have heard of rests by the name of Loh, Farley, Sinclair Competition Rest, Hart base with shadetree top and others. I am hoping to make this purchase on this upcoming monday 9-27-2010. Again, I am willing to spend what is necessary to make this purchase once hopefully!

Maybe some good sandbags will do the same thing?

Your recommendations again are greatly appreciated!!
 
Silvermesa ...

silvermesa said:
I have heard of rests by the name of Loh, Farley, Sinclair Competition Rest, Hart base with shadetree top and others. I am willing to spend what is necessary to make this purchase once hopefully!
Click to expand...

The Loh is for knob twisters and will set you back $875.00 just once. The Farley is a coaxial or joy stick manipulated. It's $849.95 At Bruno's.com. They're both top-of-the-line models. I recommend you sit behind one and play with it for a while. I went with the Loh because I could never get comfortable with a joy stick. There are plenty of others but these are right up at the top. Good Luck. :)
 

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It's your money of course, but for a hunting rifle a Harris swivel bipod will work very well for the fraction of the cost of a good pedestal. I shoot and sight in my live varmint rifles from a bipod with its feet resting on a carpet sample on the benchtop. A Protektor rear bag, bunny eared if your rifle has a cheekpiece or a rabbit ear if it doesn't will support the rear of the rifle well. The bipod will also serve for hunting, you don't really want to drag a large heavy pedestal around hunting.

Sinclair sells a swivel lock that's superior to the one that Harris supplies and which is very handy for field use. A bipod and swivel lock from Sinclair won't cost much over $100, although I haven't checked prices lately.
 
Low BR model Harris bipod, I HATE the swiveling versions unless they lock.

OR....... even more accurate, take the swivel studs out and get'cherself either a Dog-Gone http://www.dog-gone-good.com/ or a Bull's http://www.bullsbag.com/ bag for the front..... get the long one, don't bother with the 7X package unless you want something that will puke fill material all over your universe.

Fill it with sand. Nearly any sand will work but you can buy a bag of clean white stuff at Lowe's/Depot for 5 bucks.

Now you'se need some rear support.

I'll suggest an appropriate Protektor http://protektormodel.com/ bag, the model 14B.5CDSDBB is wicked trick.

All the bench rest rests you've read about are essentially worthless for a hunting rifle altho everyone who owns one will cobble some sort of bag onto them just because...... they ARE very adaptable, just not worth the money for hunting rifle usage.

Buy a roll of non-slip motorhome rubber and whack up a stack of plywood sheets on yer table saw, deburr the edges and slide the pile into the appropriate sized crate.

NOW go spend the money you saved on one of these http://www.battenfeldtechnologies.com/caldwell/catalog.asp?product=Stable-Table or better yet a Varmint Masters swiveler if you can find one.



opinionsby





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I love using my Farley for prairie poodles. I use a rotating bench and scan the horizon. The side knob gives me rough vertical adjustment and the joystick makes target acquisition very quick which is often important for catching the nervous ones just before they dive for cover. I just got back from CO where my kill ratio was between 775 and 800 out of 850 shots fired. Closer to 800. It may be expensive but it is the most manipulated part of your setup next to your scope power adjustment and probably more important.
 
If you hunt prairie dogs from a table by the side of the pickup get a front rest and rear sandbag or a long bulls bag. If you walk and go belly down use a Harris bipod or similiar. I used a Harris bipod for years and considered nothing else. Then age and back surgery cought up and now I use a front rest and rear bag on a swiviling table. I own a Sinclair front rest and also a Caldwell coax. For my use I can't tell much difference except the coax might be a second quicker. And maybe not. Max
 
It sounds to me like you have your mind set on buying a new rest Monday morning.
I used the new Sinclair, when it first came out, & found it to be a good rest for the things I do. I shoot 600 & 1000 yd BR & some varmint/live varmint stuff too.
The old Sinclair rest is a little cheaper and has worked well for many over the years, it has (in my opinion) a better windage adjustment than the new one. I do recommend a windage adjustable rest.
If you call Sinclairs to order your new rest ask for a sales representative that shoots, tell them the width of the forearm of the rifle you will be shooting & they will sell you the right bag. Cordura nylon is the only bag material I use.
When it comes to the rear bag you will have to measure the width of the stock where it rides between the ears of the bag and get a bag with the ears set wide enough for your stock to set down in them, the Sinclair salesman can help with that too. The taller ears might provide more stability but on a hunting rifle they may interfere with the cheek piece if you have one. Get a rear bag with a hard bottom, I use protector brand bags for most of my rifles. (With the cordura nylon ears.)
A good rest is usually the beginning, this should help get you going.
Welcome to precision shooting.
 
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Whenever you use front and rear bags with a hunting rifle REMOVE THE SLING SWIVEL STUDS. You can always screw them back on later. :)
 
Thank you all for your responses!

Thought I would follow up and let you know what I did and how I like it so far. For awhile I considered purchasing all of the options suggested and then keeping the one that worked best. However due to finances, I narrowed my selection down and purchased a bipod with swivel lock and a Dog-Gone-Good bag in large size with the Protektor rear bag model #14B.5CDSDBB. I have only tried the bag set ups and I can say for sighting a hunting rifle in they are just about perfect! I feel they hold the gun very steady and can't imagine it getting any better. The bag construction is excellent and they are a product being newly carried by Sinclair so I was able to purchase both bags from them. I'm very pleased with this purchase.

The story on the bipod is I purchased the swivel Harris bi pod from Cabelas in Billings, Mt. A store manager helped me and stated he has lived in the area his whole life. He likes the Harris bipod for mule deer hunts and antelope hunting in the eastern plains of Montana. Note that due to me being 5'8" in height I purchased the S Series model 25 since it is slightly shorter. As suggested, I ordered the swivel lock from Sinclair and it is backordered presently and am waiting.

I'm sure the front rests suggested could work well also. If in the future my needs change i will definitely check them out as well.
 
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