From skeg foam on the cheap end, to those awful wobbly mechanical rests that have appeared that hold your gun on a quad or out the door.
In the end, I just make up a rest from 25NB extra-light galv pipe, bent to suit whatever vehicle, in my pipe bender and covered in a suitable pipe insulation foam.
But I always found that the sun kills the foam really quick, and the sling swivel studs slice through it when the gun recoils. Pretty soon, when used on a daily basis, they shred and need replacing too often.
So again, on the heat-shrink crusade, this is how the rests look and perform when protected with this stuff. I keeps the water and sun off, and because when it shrinks it doubles in thickness, never abrades or rips. Or damages the firearms. It's still soft enough to keep the firearms POI exactly the same as it is when sighted in on your benchrest.
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This frame just bolts to the cage so as not to weaken it in any way, via "Downey" fittings welded to one side. It also provides a place for a small light bar away from being beaten up by brush and cattle, or throwing distracting light down on you from above. Where tree branches will rip it off anyway.
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You can see how far this stuff shrinks. The ends of the pipe have Downey end-caps in case you are thrown into it, and the heatshrink almost shrinks right down over it. Also protects those safe queens from hitting the metal ends.
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Even on this single seat mentally fast buggy, you can make and fit a great steady rest at the exact height where you are comfortable. Again, covered with the heatshrink.
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Everything is out of the way so nothing hits you when driving, or when getting in and out.
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These little jobs make an amazing difference to accurate shooting, especially where headshots are required for standards or for wasting nothing when meat shooting.
Well worth doing the job once and not having to worry about it again.
