A couple of
years ago, I was searching for a high quality, solid, and easy
to use machine rest for use in rifle and scope testing. I had
previously been using a combination of sandbags, wood blocks,
and an Outers Varminter rifle rest. The sandbags are
great for stability, but are very awkward to use with a lever
action or semi-automatic rifle that has an extended magazine.
With a lever gun, the rifle must be lifted from the bags to
cycle the action. A semi auto such as an AR-15 has to be blocked
up high enough to clear the magazine. The outers rest would
almost get the rifle high enough, but was severely lacking in
stability. It is a good concept, but not sturdy enough for
precise shooting. Neither the sandbags and wood blocks nor the
lightweight gun rests on the market were satisfactory to squeeze
the best accuracy from a test gun.
At the 2001
SHOT Show in New Orleans I ran across a gentleman
named Wally Brownlee, of Target Shooting Incorporated,
who was displaying his new gun rest to the amazement of a
gathering crowd, of which I was included. The versatility,
ease of use, and quality of materials and craftsmanship soon had
me parting with my hard-earned cash and packing one of his rests
back to Tennessee.
I have been
using Wally’s gun rest for almost two years now. I am
constantly receiving inquiries asking about the rest that is
pictured in our test articles, so I decided to write this piece
explaining some of the features of the Target Shooting Inc. Gun
Rest.
First of all,
the Gun Rest is very easy to use. If a rest is
cumbersome to set up and use, a shooter would be as well off
piling up various sandbags and other apparatus upon
which to lay the weapon. This Gun Rest is made primarily from
powder coated cast iron, but still weighs under eleven pounds
and sets up ready for shooting instantly. Both the rear
buttstock portion and the front fore-end portion of the rest are
adjustable for elevation, and the rest is also adjustable for
length, to accommodate any conceivable rifle configuration.
After the rest is adjusted to place the sights on target, the
elevation wheel is rotated to fine tune the crosshair alignment.
When testing
the accuracy of a rifle, stability is paramount. The Target
Shooting Inc. Gun Rest holds the gun in a solid position to
allow precise and repeatable shooting. Many times I
receive accolades for the tight groups that are fired with
various rifles in our feature articles. With a good rest, I can
train a teenage girl to shoot good groups in about five minutes.
The key is, that the rifle must be held absolutely steady when
the trigger is pressed. This demands a solid rest. You cannot
rest your rifle on a rolled-up jacket from the hood of your
pickup and expect the same results. Target Shooting’s
Gun Rest gives this repeatable stability.
One other
great feature of the Gun Rest is the ability to use it in the
field when hunting from a fixed position, such as in varmint
shooting or from a stand. The front of the rest pivots a full
360 degrees to allow the shooter to rest the fore-end and pan
laterally over the target area without lifting the rifle from
the rest.
Since I
purchased my Gun Rest, Wally has made a few improvements,
resulting in a lower overall gun position and a greater bench
contact area.
Target
Shooting incorporated also offers several accessories for the
Gun Rest such as a flat top adjustable fore-end rest, gun vise,
and pistol rest. I haven’t yet tried the pistol rest, as I
have had excellent results using the Gun Rest as is for testing
handguns by adjusting the length, as can be seen in the photos.
The Gun Rest
retails sells directly from Target Shooting
Incorporated in Watertown, South Dakota. Check them out online
at: www.targetshooting.com
or call toll free at: 1-800-611-2164.
Jeff Quinn
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