my first benchrest

T

thetman36

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I have about $800 to spend on my first benchrest. I have been looking at the sinclaire and the targetshooting.com 1200. I am open to other suggestions as well. Has anyone had any experience with these or know of a better choice within this price range.
 
If your speaking of Purchasing a front rest for shooting off of a bench there are a number of quality rests. If you could tell us what your intent is with the rest we may be able to help you with a selection. Are you planning on shooting registered Benchrest matches? Are you just going to use it to develop loads for your hunting rifle! Purpose is most important. If I were just going to use it for informal shooting such as tuning your hunting rifle or informal club matches I see no reason to spend $800.00 for a front rest.
There are some nice rests available for a couple of hundred of dollars. Go to Bullets .com and look at the Bald Eagle rest with adjustable windage control. I would do cast iron and the slingshot version!
 
thetman36 said:
I have about $800 to spend on my first benchrest. I have been looking at the sinclaire and the targetshooting.com 1200. I am open to other suggestions as well. Has anyone had any experience with these or know of a better choice within this price range.
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The two major divisions in front rest designs are the "stick shift rests", such as the Farley, and the rests that are basically an improvement on the old original Hart.

It comes down to preference. Shooters who go by the mantra of shooting very fast in a steady condition will probably prefer the stick shift. Shooters who hunt and pick the condition might not see the advantage.

http://benchrest.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=19063&stc=1&d=1487538863

http://benchrest.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=19064&stc=1&d=1487538914
 

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mass is your friend.
my shooting improved when i went
way up in total weight.
30 plus pounds
 
thetman36 said:
I have about $800 to spend on my first benchrest. I have been looking at the sinclaire and the targetshooting.com 1200. I am open to other suggestions as well. Has anyone had any experience with these or know of a better choice within this price range.
Click to expand...

I will say this....I'd not seen the targetshooting.com 1200 before. It looks pretty well thought out for a guy who doesn't shoot Bench Rest. My only gripe is the ht adjustment distance and the diameter of the center screw and it's perhaps not warranted. IMO it should be larger diameter and have more vertical throw available.

Sinclair (and others) are build by and for BR shooters.

IMO an inadequate rest will always leave you wondering.
 
Steelhead1 makes some good points. I disagree with one thought though...the lighter aluminum version of the Bald Eagle does the same thing as the cast iron version. There's no downward force involved and both will move if not "pecked in"....so to speak. That said, most folks will go with the heavier rest for whatever reasons.
 
thetman36 said:
I have about $800 to spend on my first benchrest. I have been looking at the sinclaire and the targetshooting.com 1200. I am open to other suggestions as well. Has anyone had any experience with these or know of a better choice within this price range.
Click to expand...
I bought the Model 1500 Pistol rest from this guy and am very pleased with it. It is well built and substantial. I know nothing about the rifle rest but I would be confident that it would be well built based on what I see on the pistol rest I purchased. I currently have a Farley, JJ and a Sinclair front rests. These were all bought before I stumbled across this maker.
 
the top of the line sinclair with a bag is going to be close.
you might be able to afford a second top.
( different rifles stock shapes, different bags/tops)
 
the 1200 does not appear to be switchable from right to left.
while you may never need the option it is nice.
(at just past 65 i had to switch from left to right, never say never)
the bags all look square, br stocks are, conventional and hunter are not.
the changeable top seen a bit high in cost as do the (super) feet pads.
 
SEB Neo rests?

I'm in the same position as OP who started this thread a few months ago.

I am interested in the coaxial ("joystick") method of aiming that Farley rests employ. For me, price doesn't usually get in the way of obtaining the best equipment, but the prices on the Farley rests feel astronomical for one just entering into this hobby.

My question is about the SEB Neo Coaxial front rest. It seems to be of extremely high quality, but I searched the Benchrest.com forums and couldn't find a single mention of it. That no one here has ever talked about it, gave me pause.

So, I'm dithering between a Sinclair and a TargetShooting.com rest, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with the SEB Neo rests and if they have any thoughts on them.

http://sebrests.com/product
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...-seb-neo-rest-design-features-operation-tips/
 
I am a score shooter ...

milleron said:
I'm in the same position as OP who started this thread a few months ago.

I am interested in the coaxial ("joystick") method of aiming that Farley rests employ. For me, price doesn't usually get in the way of obtaining the best equipment, but the prices on the Farley rests feel astronomical for one just entering into this hobby.

My question is about the SEB Neo Coaxial front rest. It seems to be of extremely high quality, but I searched the Benchrest.com forums and couldn't find a single mention of it. That no one here has ever talked about it, gave me pause.

So, I'm dithering between a Sinclair and a TargetShooting.com rest, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with the SEB Neo rests and if they have any thoughts on them.

http://sebrests.com/product
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...-seb-neo-rest-design-features-operation-tips/
Click to expand...

and switched from a Farley to the Seb NEO. I prefer the NEO. It is smooth as silk and the tension of the stick can be adjusted more precisely than the particular Farley I had. The NEO has been a great rest for me.
 
milleron said:
I'm in the same position as OP who started this thread a few months ago.

I am interested in the coaxial ("joystick") method of aiming that Farley rests employ. For me, price doesn't usually get in the way of obtaining the best equipment, but the prices on the Farley rests feel astronomical for one just entering into this hobby.

My question is about the SEB Neo Coaxial front rest. It seems to be of extremely high quality, but I searched the Benchrest.com forums and couldn't find a single mention of it. That no one here has ever talked about it, gave me pause.

So, I'm dithering between a Sinclair and a TargetShooting.com rest, but I'm wondering if anyone here has any experience with the SEB Neo rests and if they have any thoughts on them.

http://sebrests.com/product
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...-seb-neo-rest-design-features-operation-tips/
Click to expand...

Seb's original coaxial was discontinued in 09. He replaced it with his Neo line. I've owned 4 Farley Coax 2's, 5 of Seb's original coaxials, 3 Seb Neo's, 1 Seb Neo Max, 1 Dan Greenlaw homeplate rest, and an original Bald Eagle slingshot. I have 4 more Neo's on order from Ernie Bishop. The Farley is a pretty good rest, but can be improved in certain ways. The stock Farley front bag to me is useless. I always bought a new Edgewood or Protektor replacement bag. The tension screws should be replaced by the ones Butch Lambert sells. It improves the smoothness of the joystick. I also always replaced the stock Farley feet with a set of PMA stainless steel ones. Just doing those 3 things with turn it into a different animal. The only thing that I dislike about Seb's original Coaxial was that it didn't have a lot of height adjustment to it. When he came out with the Neo, that was not a problem anymore because the Neo had more height and side to side adjustment than any other joystick on the market. The newer generation Neo's are the cat's ass. He's made small improvements over the years since the first ones came out and it made it an even better rest than before. I've said this more than once on this forum. I've done great and I've done poor with all of them. There is no clear advantage as far as winning or losing using a specific model. Randy Jarvais has done very well with his Neo. I'm sure that if he had a newer Farley with all the improvement that I mentioned, he would do just as well with it. It's the shooter, not the rest that is going to make the difference between using a Seb vs a Farley. Out of the top 5 shooters for the 2016 IBS score shooter of the year points, all 5 of them used Farley front rests. In the end it all comes down to customer service and that's where Seb comes out way ahead of the Farley's. Every time I had a question, Seb has always gotten back to me real fast. That would never happen if you needed answers to a question, or parts that you needed for your Farley rest.
 
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To Jerry's point on flinching and a toggle or joy stick rest, the seb neo allows you to take your hand off the stick as you shoot. I have owned two sebs and they are a joy to use and as said before Seb is great with customer service. There is no lash to the movement of the stick and you can fine tune the amount of effort it takes to move the stick up and down based on your guns weight and balance point. Finger tip adjustments with no lash and no stick.
With your budget you might look at his new light rest he just developed.
Mike
 
Talking about those joystick rests, I found the "leverage" on the handle is quite a bit. When shooting rimfire score targets, I simply removed all tension such that the handle fell quickly when let go. Loaded and ready to shoot the next target it was pretty simple to move the crosshair to the aiming point and shoot. I know y'all ain't never tried that on a score target so give it a whirl. Doesn't matter what you think or what you believe.....give it a whirl.
 
+1 on Sinclair

...if you go with that style.

I'm very happy with it. I paid 600 and saw them recently for 550, though they are back up to 700.

I also have the DR Greenlaw adjustable bag top
http://www.drgreenlawmachining.com/adjustable_bag_windage_top .
I plan to get the non-windage version for the Sinclair. My stocks track better in this than the standard top with a bag
 
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