Which shooting mat?
- Thread starter elmerdeer
- Start date
Asa Yam
New member
Elmer,
A good starting point is - a piece of an old indoor/outdoor carpet. Primary purposes of the mat are to keep you out of the dirt, and to keep you from slipping around while firing. A piece of carpet does those just fine. What the carpet lacks is padding to make lying on the ground comfortable. This can be fixed by laying a thin foam camping mat under your "mat".
Save your money at first for loading supplies. Good, used gear can sometimes be found at matches. Or, look on boards such as this one, or at long-range.com or nationalmatch.us.
DISCLAIMER:
I am an Admin at both long-range.com and nationalmatch.us. However, I derive no benefits (monetary or nonmonetary) from being an Admin.
A good starting point is - a piece of an old indoor/outdoor carpet. Primary purposes of the mat are to keep you out of the dirt, and to keep you from slipping around while firing. A piece of carpet does those just fine. What the carpet lacks is padding to make lying on the ground comfortable. This can be fixed by laying a thin foam camping mat under your "mat".
Save your money at first for loading supplies. Good, used gear can sometimes be found at matches. Or, look on boards such as this one, or at long-range.com or nationalmatch.us.
DISCLAIMER:
I am an Admin at both long-range.com and nationalmatch.us. However, I derive no benefits (monetary or nonmonetary) from being an Admin.
While I agree with Asa to a large degree on this - i.e. don't get too set on having to have a complete kit of gear before starting practice; you can build it up over time and 'upgrade' stuff as you go...
To answer your question, Creedmoor Sports makes some very nice mats for conventional High Power. They can be custom ordered with extra padding in the front section if you need, and several other options.
At the other end of the spectrum i.e. ultra-lite and compact with minimal padding in the elbow area... the TAB Gear mat rolls up tight into a package a little bigger than a Thermos and works beautifully. Looks like they've gotten kind of spendy for what they are, though (picked mine up off a prize table a few years back).
To answer your question, Creedmoor Sports makes some very nice mats for conventional High Power. They can be custom ordered with extra padding in the front section if you need, and several other options.
At the other end of the spectrum i.e. ultra-lite and compact with minimal padding in the elbow area... the TAB Gear mat rolls up tight into a package a little bigger than a Thermos and works beautifully. Looks like they've gotten kind of spendy for what they are, though (picked mine up off a prize table a few years back).
C
ChipEckardt
Guest
I use an old comforter that I sprayed with ScotchGuard on both sides. Works great. Cost me $7 for the ScotchGuard to waterproof it. Never mix it up with anone else's 
-Chip-
-Chip-
J
JeffVN
Guest
Asa hits the nail on the head. I have an all-in-one carrying case mat that i use for transport and shooting my matches, but a piece of carpet is going to work just fine. I have been looking at our kitechen floor rug, and plan to confiscarte it in another few months for my ragne use.
JeffVN
JeffVN
Although created for BPCR shooters in mind, the SPG mat http://www.blackpowderspg.com/access.html#mat is larger than most, with wings for the elbows & weights in the corners to prevent the wind from picking up the corners. Pricey, but in my opinion worth it.