Which rear bag for a sporter stock

[TCups]

For a Winchester 52C, which would be the best choice for a rear bag for 50 yard BR shooting? I have a couple of Protektor bunny bags, short and long leather ears, but need something more stable. I will be upgrading my Caldwell Rock rest, probably with either a Fudd top or perhaps a Farley Compact II, and will also want to upgraed my rear bag. Thanks. Presuming I do nothing to change the contour of the stock, which size or model of rear bag would be most appropriate for a sporter? Thanks.

 

[Fred J]

Sad to say, but that model 52C will not pass the weight test. Your front rest is a bit on the light side, and your rear could use taller ears.
PS:Your bench is also a bit narrow.

 

[TCups]

Insightful comments to be sure. The rests you see are strictly for photography, but I suspect you knew that as well as the fact that wasn't my real shooting bench as well.

Weight tests or limits don't really matter to me. I just want to attempt to get the best accuracy I can achieve with my Win52C, strictly for my own pleasure, even if I finish dead last in every match and am disqualified for being over weight. To do this is going to take something better than the rest and rear bag I now have.

The only RBA matches at my local range are basically "Unlimited Class" anyway, and they don't seem to mind what I show up with, as long as I pay the registration fee and shoot safely -- a nice bunch of guys, actually.

So, again, respectfully, is there any reason to buy one particular style or shape of rear bag instead of another particularly if you are shooting a sporter stock and don't want to modify a classic rifle? Thanks!

 

[Jody]

Edgewood

Get an Edgewood Talll Original rear bag directly from edgewood.

 

[Fred J]

Then what you featured in your last photo is fine. You just threw me when you suggested you were looking for a bag to be used in a sporter configuration. Unlimited and Sporter are two different disaplines. As to your bench, again the second photo looks pretty good. It's when you get to a real match, what will work there might be different. Go out and give it your best shot. you never know. I won several national and international championships with a similar setup and a Factory 52D.
PS: I'de put a good scope on it and see if your scores inproved.

 

[TCups]

She wears a Ken Viani rail w/ Weaver T-36X dot & Burris Sig + quick release mounts, or Redfield International w/ Gehman iris rear + Olympic front + sized acrylic insert front. I can shoot sub-MOA 5-shot groups with ether, but I am struggling with the very different skill of a 1-shot "group" followed by moving to sight the next target, etc. I am fighting w/ the rest and struggling to keep the rifle level from bull to bull. Last weekend was the first outing w/ the T-36, and it really revealed to me the inadequacy of my current set up. Guess that is ever the problem with a new, more accurate rifle or better scope.

PS: I am sticking targets to blueboard w/ a light spray of Scotch 77 adhesive. The holes look elongated from peeling printer paper off the backboard. The holes are clean on official paper targets, not key-holing.

 

[Fred J]

Get a 3" adapter for the fore-end of the stock, as well as a 3" front bag. our rea bag looks okay, so practice your setup and try to shoot free recoil. What trigger do you have? A lighter trigger will help alot. There are sever out there that can modify a factory Micromotion trigger that will go down to about 4 oz. Then Pactice, Practice, Practice. We all have the same problem, when switching from group to twenty five single shots. Make sure you use the prper powder on your leather bags. Stay away from Silocone sprays on leather.

 

[TCups]

Micromotion trigger, yes, but I believe set to more like a 1.5# pull with little or no perceptible travel in the trigger. Using talc (baby powder) on the rests. I have a 3" wide, polished corian skid plate coming, custom made by a new friend on the RFC, but I must confess that it somehow seems less satisfying to put a skid plate on a classic rifle than it would be to be able to score without any modification or addition to the rifle's stock. But if I always end up shooting in "Unlimited" crowd in their monthly matches, I guess I will need to use this and any other advantage I can muster when shooting my venerable, old 52. I have only had the rifle about a month or so, but I really love it.

BTW, Fred, I coincidentally found that if I take one or even two 5# barbell weights and slip them over the shaft of that little front rest in the first picture before attaching the top rest, and aim with the rear bag position, it actually does almost as good as the "Rock".

 

[blades]

If you are using baby powder, you might want to check the label. Most of those are made with corn starch not true talc. When it gets humid it will get sticky.

 

[TCups]

A final follow up

I did contact Farley Mfg. regarding a Compact Coax top. That model has been discontinued, although there were several customers who apparently ordered these before they were discontinued. So they plan one more run and then these will no longer be available. So I snuck in an order for a Farley Compact top just under the wire, though it may be a couple of months or more to get one. I have a polished Corian front skid plate just under 3" wide coming for the rifle's front rail as well.

I also looked in to an Edgwood Original / Tall rear bag. I hate to sound cheap (guess I am), but even ordered directly, discounted and unfilled, these would run almost $140 now. To that, add the cost of heavy sand and shipping heavy sand from Sinclair, that is going to put a rear rest at well over $150. Frankly, I am just not at the level yet that I want to invest that much in a rear bag.

I did order, at about half that price, a Protector Deluxe / cordura rear bag w/ handle, filled. I hope and expect this to meet my modest needs for the next level of shooting with the W52C. I also ordered a set of Tru-Kote superfeet for the Caldwell rest which, together with using the rear leveling screw as the fine tune for elevation, should make a substantial improvement. Will see. . .

http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/s.../Protektor_Deluxe_Rear_Bag_w_handle___Cordura

Thanks all for your input and help. I will be lurking here, and may post a score or two if I do anything noteworthy as I try to learn a bit about BR shooting.