shooting rest?

[will52100]

I'm thinking of getting a shooting rest like the "lead sled", will that give enough clearance for leaver?  I'm thinking of building a shooting bench and setting it up just to see how accurate some of my rifles and loads are.  I've put off getting one for a long time, but I'd lilke something better than leaning up side of my pick-up bed.

[litl rooster]

You thought about shooting sticks?

[will52100]

I have a set of cross sticks, but I'm looking to lock the rifle down as much as posible and see what's posible.  Mainly want to check loads and such.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I took a quick look at the Lead Sled that Midway sells on their web site. According to what I saw on the picture, it looks like there might just be enough clearance for a lever to swing, but it is hard to say.

I do all my rifle accuracy testing with a nice set of sticks that a friend made up for me. They are designed to be used at a bench. They consist of an oak base, and two 'sticks' that can be pivoted trough a bunch of positions using a bunch of holes on the sticks and the base. The sticks have leather cushioning right where the forearm rests. I use these sticks with all my rifles, from 22 RF to 45-70. I rest the forearm on the sticks, I place the butt against my shoulder. I get very good results with these sticks from the bench, and there is plenty of clearance to operate a lever.

[Fox Creek Kid]

I will tell you this based on my experiences, the Henry rifle (I'll assume that's what you're going to shoot since this is the Henry Forum) does not bench shoot worth a hoot in my experiences. I've owned three and all mine have acted the same. It is because the barrel has no forearm and as such the barrel harmonics are absolutely whacko. My current Henry will shoot the 10 ring out at 25 yds. (nominal CAS distance) offhand but if I sandbag the forearm(?) the groups are all over the place. Maybe others have had better luck but I have not. My '66 carbine shoots great either way.

[will52100]

Yep, I mean to shoot a Henry in it, though it'll be for other rifles too.

So what your saying is that the henry shoots fine off hand, but the barrel rested in a rest makes it shoot all over the place?  Never heard that but I've never rested my barrel on any thing but my off hand before eigther.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

Will, what FCK is referring to has to do with the Henry's unique mag tube that is machined from the barrel blank.  I said "unique" and there MAY be another gun or 2 made that way ... but I don't know of any.

Any-hoo, your hand will allow the barrel harmonics to do their thing with minimal effect on the harmonics.  Put it on a solid rest and the game changes - apparently for the worse!  Those Italian Henrys have a great reputation for accuracy, and it's all because of the stiffness of the barrel/mag-tube assembly.

Under these situations, I'd consider perhaps a rest, but with your hand doing the actual resting on the support:  you know, rest on the bench then hand placed on rest, then rifle placed over the hand so that our hand is between the mag-tube and the solid (to the bench) rest.

Perhaps a better idea is the way Driftwood and others have suggested already! 

[will52100]

Now all I need is the time to get the shooting bench built and warm enough weather to shoot in!  Snow's still on the ground down here and I"m huddled by the fire place.