A blast from my past

[bobm]

Did you ever come up with a get rich quick scheme? I did once in the mid 70's. Black powder cartridge rifle shooting was taking off at my club and the area, too. Everybody was making their own cross stick rests. Some clever, some garbage. I came up with this design and went all in to make 100 of them, 50 each in two lengths.

I made a hammer type cutting die and even crafted a branding iron for that old west look. They work great. I spent three months during a winter cutting, hand stitching and assembling the 100 sticks. Come spring I bought a weekend table at a popular gun show.

Prior to the show my friend Jerry bought six of them telling me they would be gifted to relatives that shoot. That was the incentive I needed to push on with my show selling plan. And to my surprise I sold out by the end of the weekend show.

I visited my sick friend Jerry in Nebraska last week. After we knocked off a six pack of Corona bottles, my wife and I loaded all his reloading stuff into my car. He asked me if I still had room for this package. I ripped open the homemade paper bag to find the sticks he bought from me.

He bought them just to give me the encouragement I needed to be successful at the gun show.

I will miss my friend Jerry, the reaper will be by soon.

 

[ckaberna]

Sounds like you are blessed with a true friend. Enjoyed the story.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Thats awesome. Sorry about your friend

 

[hpshooter]

For me the toughest part of the aging process is saying farewell to the family and friends who pass before us.

 

[thebeav]

God rest Jerry's soul......Great story, great friend !

 

[SecretCode]

That Sir is a Damn good friend. We should all be so lucky to find at least one in our time.

 

[K22]

Sorry about your friend.

I'm an avid 30+ year user of shooting cross sticks. I do almost all my shooting off them including range practice and of course varmint and predator hunting. I get a lot of strange looks at the range until they see my target.

It took me quite a while to master them, but I love the ability to hunt any terrain and have a greater field of view than a bipod prone. One of the huge advantages is that no matter the surface, the sticks will hold a consistent point of impact whereas with a bipod I noticed point of impact changes if the resting surface hardness significantly changes. Also, they are great for stalking, I can adjust the elevation quickly by just changing the spread of the sticks.

I have my own design, but the principle is similar. I use mine sitting on a lightweight portable sportsman's chair which gives a relatively stable position.