Another Home Shop Front Rest

[Half Scale]

There have been a few posts of people either building or wanting to build a front rest, so here is my home shop rest.

First and foremost I am not a professional machinist, just an old retired guy with a home shop who enjoys shooting with friends, no formal competition. When I started looking for a front rest I was enlightened, what I liked I couldn't afford, what I could afford I didn't like. Printed a few pictures of what I liked and sketched what "I thought I would like" for our purposes. Looked around the shop, had Bridgeport, lathe, surface grinder, etc, had a stock of alum, steel, brass, and threaded rod that people had given me over the years. I now had everything to build my own rest, well....maybe short on ability. Went to work and this is what I came up with...not perfect by any means but it serves out purpose.

 

[Tozguy]

Wow that's a beauty!
Great way to do the forend stop.
You can be very proud of it.

 

[lal357]

damn thats nice

 

[Half Scale]

During one of our "senior citizens " outings one of our guys wanted an adjustable rear rest with the rear bag set at about 15 degree angle to match his rifle stock. He said he didn't like reaching forward to adjust the front rest. We are not only old but we are lazy too. So....went back to the shop and sketch pad this is what I came up with. It has about 1" of both vertical and horizontal movement.

 

[ShootDots]

An absolute beauty!!

 

[Steve Ladino]

Quite nice ! I especially like the addition of wood to the machine and the carry handle is perfect!

 

[Steve3]

Tears to my eyes. I made my own shooting sticks and the satisfaction of building my own is just great. I can just imagine how you feel. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[BigDMT]

Wow! How can you say that you are not a professional machinist??? That rest is an absolute work of art. Well done

 

[dtucker]

A work of art and function absolutely, great job. I sold off a rest i had and will be looking for 1 sometime soon in the near future. If you should ever want to build another like it i would be interested in buying 1 from you. Keep up the fine work.

Take care,
Dan

 

[jonbearman]

Super job on that rest. Do you have a prototrack mill.

 

[CanusLatransSnpr]

Half Scale you're selling yourself short on your abilities as a michinist! Those rests are awesome, to say the least, and if I were to make them I would be as proud as a strutting rooster !

Mike

 

[Barlow]

Wow! Barlow

 

[M-61]

Absolutely a work of art. There is some amount of planning that went into this. Handle is perfect.
Do the front bag side supports (at an angle) screw back to a flush position for a wider fore end?

 

[Half Scale]

Jon: I have a Bridgeport mill w/ Accurite DRO, South Bend Heavy 10 Lathe (3 jaw, 4 jaw, Collet att, steady and follower rests, Harig surface grinder, Ammco 7" shaper, and a Jet (Roll-In copy) bandsaw. Nothing to bragg about..... but they do what i'm capable of. I also build semi-auto fully functioning 1/2 scale BMG's (1917,1919, and M2) in .22 cal.

By the way, have you shot any of those old 168 gr Hornaday,s yet?

Cecil

 

[Half Scale]

M-61, yes the front bag supports retract to 90 degrees and the screws have replaceable bronze pressure pads as does the windage adj screw The legs also have threaded bronze inserts to eliminate wear in the alum. Don't know if they were really needed or not, but I put them in anyway. I had the bronze and the time, so I figured it wouldn't hurt.

 

[sailhertoo]

Work of art for sure! I too, like the wood carry handle. Great design.

 

[Phil]

Cecil,

Those rests are fantastic!!!!!!!

I would be very proud of them.

Also, i`d love to see some of your half scale guns, that sounds very cool......


Phil.

 

[Half Scale]

OK phil. They are 1/2 scale fully functioning .22 cal scale models of the M2, 1917 water cooled, and 1919 air cooled BMG's. I use a Ruger 10/22 as a donor gun for the upper, lower, and barrel. This gives a transferrable ser # if needed. The receiver and barrel are modified to fit the housing but everything else is scratch built including the 1/2 scale ammo cans, tripods, transit cases, etc. The sights are cut down 03 Springfields. The belted ammo is for asthetic purposes only as the guns maintain the Ruger rotary mag feeds. The M2 is shown with .17 HMR ammo since it is a bottle neck cartridge but actually is a .22 LR. The Pepsi can is for scale.

 

[Cigarcop]

Wow & Wow...... Great work all the way around!

 

[Phil]

EXTREMELY COOL...... 8)