Dust Up Over Rifle Rests Educates Spomer

Tripod Adds Support for Precision Shots on Game

Reader Educates Spomer on The Value of Rifle Rests I just received feedback about my article on shooting supports (“Supporting Shooting to One Degree or Another,” page 20, Rifle Magazine No. 260, January 2012) and I post it here because it raises a couple of issues I hadn’t considered:

"Ron, I read with interest your article in Rifle magazine about shooting rests. I appreciate your views, however, I would like to point out a couple things that jumped out at me, that you had overlooked. I did, just recently, purchase one of the "cheating" type rests at the SCI show from one of the vendors there. My reason was twofold. First and foremost, I purchased it for my wife of 43 years, who suffers with Multiple Sclerosis, She enjoys the outdoors, and hunting, and refuses to let the MS get her down. Over the past 10 years, she has gotten progressively weaker & weaker, and it has been harder to hold her Browning Micro Medallion steady. I think this rest is her ticket to continued shooting. Second, is my 10 year old grand daughter, who truly loves to hunt & shoot. I have found that she does not have enough strength herself yet to hold her little Rossi .243 steady enough in field conditions for a clean shot. She does well from a bench & bags. I think this rest will be great for her until she matures a bit more. So, there's my point, they do have a valid use, for youth and handicapped shooters. Not for me, as I use shock corded sticks that work just fine. Thanks for your time and for hearing me out." --Frank

In case you can’t find a copy of the magazine, I wrote in it that some hunters think some rifle supports are excessive and using them amounts to cheating. I’m all for the various bipods and tripods on the market, but I personally draw the line at complicated horizontal bars, yokes, levers and arms that virtually shoot the rifle themselves. I hadn’t considered how such aids can assist physically challenged hunters of any age. Thanks, Frank, for pointing this out. Ultimately we all get to choose our degree of support, and I can’t find fault with any that improve the chances for a precise shot and quick, humane kill. For a detailed description of portable field rests for hunting, go to Shooting / Field Rests. # # #