Rifle Rests

[Mags]

There's snobbery in the shooting community?

Humph. Nope, not at all

[Redthies]

I’ve never used my rest, I just bought it on a whim as I have a couple of hunting rifles I need to get dialed for the season (which opens here on the 10th of sept). 99% of my shooting is offhand, or maybe with a tree to lean against. I just figured if you get your scope dialed on a solid rest, it will be as accurate as possible by removing the shaking human from the equation?

[Mistered]

I grew up using bags for rests or whatever was available as make do rests. Also, not a lot of my shooting, any more is with rests.

Ditto this. Even this morning when I was somewhat 'serious' about my shooting my rest was nothing more than a couple towels folded up on a hard case range box and it was perfect.
The 'firmer' the rest is the greater chance of the gun shooting 'away' from the rest - one of the reasons it is said to never rest a handgun on a hard surface to shoot but rest the forearm and hold the gun 'free'.
No doubt a rifle will sight well in a rest but may very well be 'off' again once shot in another position.

[JEBar]

while I do find the range of comments about sighting in a rifle to be interesting, I can't help but feel we tend to over complicate it .... simply put, sighting in a firearm is a matter of making whatever adjustments are necessary so that the bullet hits the point of aim in the crosshairs, red dot, open sight, whatever .... once that is accomplished, no matter how the firearm is held, the bullet should hit the point of aim .... to me sighing in from a rest makes the most sense because it removes variables ..... once it is sighted in, it then becomes a matter of holding it in a position where the point of aim is where you want it when the trigger is pulled .... to me, sighting in a firearm and subsequently using it to hit a specific target are two very different things

[Redthies]

How will it be “off” when shot from a different position? Unless of course the recoil is 100% stifled by the rest, and then present in other positions. Will point of impact be different if I shoot my long range hunting rifle from it’s bipod, rather than say braced on a low tree branch? I’m not being argumentative, just trying to get the best out of my rifles as they are pretty much just here to provide food for my family (well, some of them are pretty cool to look at too!).

[Mistered]

A rest eliminates most 'human' influence on shooting a rifle.
When shouldered drop, pull and cheek weld CAN result in the rifle being pointed slightly 'off' as opposed to nearly straight on with a rest. The rifle is STILL shooting to POI as adjusted on the rest but the way it is held can influence POI. Ever heard of 'canting' ? 'Cant' the rifle to the left or right and it will most likely shoot to the direction it is 'canted'.

[Redthies]

Ok, that totally makes sense. Since I’m not looking for 1000 yard shots (most of my hunting is 60-80 yards due to brush), I should experience less of that effect than those shooting longer distances, but once I get zeroed on the rest, I’ll put a few down range from various positions. My longer range rifle, as I mentioned has a bipod, and that should negate the issue, and my up close gun is a .44 mag so it’s not going to be spectacularly accurate to begin with. I’m just looking for MOD* accuracy...

*Minute Of Deer

[JEBar]

When shouldered drop, pull and cheek weld CAN result in the rifle being pointed slightly 'off' as opposed to nearly straight on with a rest. The rifle is STILL shooting to POI as adjusted on the rest but the way it is held can influence POI.

key word - "slightly" .... all of the folks I know who participate in long range, precision shooting do so from a solid rest .... for those folks slightly isn't acceptable .... in my case, once a rifle is set to deliver a bullet to the POI as indicated by the cross hairs a scope or to the red dot in an Aimpoint, its my job to have that POI where I want it when I pull the trigger .... that's where practice comes in .... I like the Minute Of Deer concept, that pretty well sums it up for me ....

[ESquared]

Even if it's a 100 yard shot (or further), and even if the placement is slightly "off" from the exactly zeroed POA/POI achieved when the scope was sighted in, when it comes to the type of game that you'd be hunting at these distances (the kinds that require a scope), the area you're trying to hit is still about an 8" circle, so JEB is right, we're probably over-complicating it and overthinking it, as someone else mentioned.

But, it's still a great conversation, because we all want it to be as good as it can get during the set-up of Zeroed-In, and, the answers offered here point out that there's no single answer. Different strokes for different folks, depending on many factors. As in most things, there's no single, best "right answer." The other thing I know I've learned is that, no matter how you set it up to begin with, and from whatever distance, it always pays to double-check from time to time and from other distances, just to make sure things are still zeroed.

It all adds up to make all this a "sport," it strikes me, which has made this learning journey (so far) so much fun and so rewarding. Thanks so much (again) to all of you for sharing your experiences and perspectives.

I've settled on this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B ... UTF8&psc=1

And this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/172740434811

...just to get me started. I may still need some help along the way at the range, but I believe this sets me up to become much more self sufficient and confident in what I'm doing. I'll soon find out, huh?

[clovishound]

There's snobbery in the shooting community?

Only by those who use the wrong equipment.

Those of us who use the right stuff are perfect little angels!

[Mags]

....And this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/172740434811

Not the best choice in bore sight. That one is really meant for pistols (short shooting distances). That bore sight goes on the end of the muzzle and requires that the muzzle end be precisely cut off square to the bore and sights on the firearm. Even the muzzle end canted off a thousandths of an inch, the laser will not be pointing at POA. Maybe not noticeable out to pistol distances, but it will be more so at rifle distances.

[ESquared]

....And this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/172740434811

Not the best choice in bore sight. That one is really meant for pistols (short shooting distances). That bore sight goes on the end of the muzzle and requires that the muzzle end be precisely cut off square to the bore and sights on the firearm. Even the muzzle end canted off a thousandths of an inch, the laser will not be pointing at POA. Maybe not noticeable out to pistol distances, but it will be more so at rifle distances.

Well, it's ordered, so we'll see. Reviews were pretty good, mostly from rifle owners, so we'll see. If it's a bomb, I'll send it back.

[Lyman]

Make sure to spin the laser on the barrel to check the run out. There are some good videos out there showing what to look for.
These bore sighters are just meant to get you on paper but I have had real good luck in the past. I have a scope mounted on a marlin that was zeroed out first try.

[ESquared]

Make sure to spin the laser on the barrel to check the run out. There are some good videos out there showing what to look for.
These bore sighters are just meant to get you on paper but I have had real good luck in the past. I have a scope mounted on a marlin that was zeroed out first try.

Great tip, thank you, Lyman. I realize the limitations of the boresights in general, and the crapshoot nature of them in general, but this one made one of those "Lists" that floats around the interweb, so I took the plunge. All I really want to do is get it on paper, as you suggest, then I think I can go from there, but I figure it's better than starting from square one.

Thanks again!

[Mags]

Well, it's ordered, so we'll see. Reviews were pretty good, mostly from rifle owners, so we'll see. If it's a bomb, I'll send it back.

If it bombs, not likely the fault of the laser, it be a muzzle not squared off precisely. You'll know as Lyman has said when you spin the laser on the end of the muzzle.

[ESquared]

We shall see what we shall see.

[ESquared]

Well, it looks like the muzzle of my BBS/357 is square and true. Attached the magnetic laser sighting tool, rotated it and the dot didn't move a bit.

Rested it on the bag rest and peered through the scope and it looks to be exactly on, based on where the smith set it up.

Of course, my "range" was across the room from my dining room to the far living room wall, but the crosshair was just above the laser dot, so my desire to be about "an inch high at 50 yards" looks to be right on.

Will confirm the trueness of the muzzle of my SGC, just to see how much Henry is on their game when if comes to "squared off."

[Mags]

Well, it looks like the muzzle of my BBS/357 is square and true. Attached the magnetic laser sighting tool, rotated it and the dot didn't move a bit.

Rested it on the bag rest and peered through the scope and it looks to be exactly on, based on where the smith set it up.

Of course, my "range" was across the room from my dining room to the far living room wall, but the crosshair was just above the laser dot, so my desire to be about "an inch high at 50 yards" looks to be right on.

Will confirm the trueness of the muzzle of my SGC, just to see how much Henry is on their game when if comes to "squared off."

Looking good so far, but across the room is pistol distance. For the next check try the trueness test at 50yds or further. That it didn't budge even a tinsy, tinsy bit is a good sign.

[ESquared]

Yep, range is next. 50 yds is all I'm going to get indoors, which is where it was sighted in to begin with.

May be outside this weekend, but not sure how that laser is going to show up at 50+ yds in bright sun.

We'll see, but encouraged so far.

Not one tinsy, tinsy bit...

[Mags]

My laser worked fine in full sun 50yds as long as the target face itself did not have direct sun on it. Leaning or turning the target slightly to avoid that.