What's New in Gun Rests?

Get up to speed on the latest aids for securing firearms on the bench

By Carolee Anita Boyles

When it comes to gun rests, every shooter has an opinion. Options range from simple sand bags to complex portable shooting benches, with everything in between; every shooter has his or her favorite.

At H&H Gun Range in Oklahoma City, Okla., patrons can shoot either handguns or rifles on one of 55 indoor lanes.

"The majority of our lanes are set up to handle high-powered-rifles," said owner Miles Hall. "Benchrest shooting really boils down to what you want to accomplish with the gun. What we've found is that there isn't a cookie-cutter answer when it comes to what the customer wants; there isn't one gun rest that works for everybody."

Hall said that what his customers use the most is sand-filled leather bags.

"That's also the simplest and easiest gun rest for a range to have," he said. "They work for both long guns and for handguns, and everybody 'gets' how to use them."

Hall said he prefers leather to synthetic materials because the leather wears better.

Brandon Butler, marketing manager of Battenfeld Technologies, said many ranges don't take as much advantage of manufacturers' programs for purchasing gun rests as they could. Tim Brandt, public relations manager for ATK, including Shooters Ridge and RCBS, agreed.

"I don't know if it's logistics, if they think they can't afford it or if they don't have the staff to put rests out or to be sure they get put away," Brandt said.

Butler said many companies have special pricing for ranges who buy shooting rests for customer use.

"We give discounts to ranges," he said. "We usually provide products to ranges at an industry price of about half the manufacturer's suggested retail price, which makes them very affordable."

Brant said Shooters Ridge offers a number of different types of bags that you can fill with sand, including those made of suede and regular leather. Shooter's Ridge also offers the Gorilla Bag, which provides seven different rest options for a variety of firearms.

The Deluxe Rifle Rest from Shooter's Ridge Photo courtesy of Shooter's Ridge

The RASS Shooting Bench Photo courtesy of RCBS

Shooter's Ridge two-tone sand bags (top right); Shooter's Ridge suede sand bag (top left); and Shooter's Ridge leather sand bags (bottom left) Photo courtesy of Shooter's Ridge

Battenfeld Technologies has a wide variety of bench-top rests in the Caldwell brand of shooting accessories, including its own versions of the shooting bag.

"The Tack Driver bag is an excellent choice for ranges," Butler said. "The Dead Shot bag is another great bag for ranges."

The Tack Driver has an H-shaped configuration that makes it suitable for rifles, shotguns and handguns; the Dead Shot is a two-bag system with front and rear components that make it versatile on the shooting bench.

Once you get past the basic sandfilled bag, there's a broad range of other rests for use on ranges.

"Personally, I particularly like the Zero-Max and the Pistolero Handgun Rest for ranges," Butler said.

The Caldwell Zero-Max Shooting Rest is a full-length tube steel construction rest with elevation and windage adjustment, a front sandbag and micro adjustment for elevation corrections. The Caldwell Pistolero offers five inches of horizontally adjustable hand support and three inches of vertically adjustable barrel support, so it accommodates almost every handgun on the market. It's designed for both indoor and outdoor use.

Clark County Shooting Park in Las Vegas, Nev., has typical concrete benches on its outdoor range, but supplements those benches with gun rests.

"We have rests that are easily adjustable," said Park Manager Steve Carmichael. "They're Delta rests made by Hornady. They can be positioned so the shooter can put the butt stock of the gun on them in several positions. It's a molded rest that's tapered so you have several different heights."

The Delta gun rest offers nine different shooting heights, three on each of its three sides. It can be filled with sand to make it heavier than just the molded plastic of which it's formed.

Shooter's Ridge has its Deluxe Rifle Rest, which is designed to minimize felt recoil. It's built of tubular steel with windage and elevation adjustments, a vinyl-coated butt rest and a front sandbag for a solid shooting platform. Both right-handed and left-handed shooters can use this shooting rest.

If you're looking for a simple pistol or rifle rest, the Allen Company has its Shot Saver Bench Rest. It's a small bag mounted on a three-legged rest with removable pointed anchor pins.

MTM Case-Gard has a new benchtop rest, the K-Zone Shooting Rest. Unlike many other rests, this one is plastic, which makes it lighter and easier to handle than heavier models; it has compartments you can fill with sand to add weight if your customers wish. It has a hand-wheel elevation system and will fit bolt-action rifles, modern sporting rifles, lever-action rifles, slug guns and handguns. The overall length can be adjusted as much as 7^1/2 inches to fit different firearms.

Also from MTM Case-Gard is a recoil-reducing rest, the Shoulder Gard Rifle Rest. An integrated recoil-reduction sling lets shooters with magnum and bigger bore rifles shoot with less felt recoil. You can remove the recoil reduction sling for use with lighter caliber rifles.

The MTM Pistol Rest is for handguns only. It can be adjusted to hold everything from a 14-inch Thompson Center Contender to a little Derringer; it locks into position so it doesn't shift from the recoil with each shot. The Pistol Rest can be used with or without a sand bag; the rest is made of polypropylene.

Vanguard's Steady-Aim gun rest is made of heavy-duty steel and has a precise micro-elevation adjustment. The central elevationadjustment dial provides a -5 to +20-degree angle range of movement; an anti-vibration bag securely holds a rifle's forearm, and a leather sling holds the stock. The feet adjust from rubber to spiked metal, depending on what you need for the surface of the benches on your range.

Some gun rests are built into stationary benches.

"Meggitt Training Systems has built a bench with a barrel notch in it," Hall said. "You can rest a rifle barrel or a handgun in it. But what we've found with that one is that people shoot the bench. They rest the barrel in that little notch, and when they fire the gun, the recoil makes the gun slip back. Then they fire again and shoot a hole in the front of the bench."

Battenfeld Technologies has two shooting benches, each with a couple of different models: the Stable Table and the BR Pivot.

"The Stable Table's claim to fame is that it's easy to move," Butler said. "The BR Pivot is more for a permanent shooting position. It comes with two tops: a wooden top and a synthetic top, both of which are suitable for outdoor and indoor use. The BR Pivot is adjustable for length, so you can use is with any type of firearm; it adjusts for everything from a handgun to a long gun. The center console is removable so it will accept a tacticalstyle firearm or a lever-action gun. You also can slide the rear portion off and leave the center portion in place, and you have a rest for a handgun."

From Shooter's Ridge, the Deluxe Shooting Bench comes with a shooting yoke and spotting scope arm. The vertically adjustable gun yoke allows for a 20-degree shot swing; this means 35 yards of coverage if the target is 100 yards from the shooter. The spotting scope mount swings in so your shooters can see their targets clearly without walking downrange. This bench has an adjustable seat, so it will fit almost anyone shooting on your range.

Other shooting benches offer different types of gun rests, each one of which is slightly different and offers different advantages. For example, some shooting benches have a rotary "dial" feature--much like those on some bench-top rests--that allows the shooter to raise or lower either the stock or barrel to get the scope crosshairs at exactly the right height on the target.

At the high end of the shooting bench spectrum is the RASS bench.

"You sit down on it and put the firearm in the gun rest that's on it," Hall said. "The gun rest that's on it serves a number of purposes. It's bulky for use on an indoor range, but on an outdoor range it's fantastic."

The RASS bench, manufactured by RCBS, has adjustments for elevation and gun-rest height, as well as seat height and distance adjustments, and has 360 degrees of movement.

"The RASS bench has been a really popular product for shooters," Brandt said.

With so many options to choose from, it's hard to decide which shooting rest is the "best." Ultimately, that will depend on whether you have an indoor or outdoor range, what kind of shooting your customers do, and your budget. One thing is very clear, however; for every range situation, you can find a variety of options that will meet your customers' needs.