Hi all,
I just brought a BR rest from caldwell, Could anyone give their opinions on them ?
Thanks,
mitchell
I just brought a BR rest from caldwell, Could anyone give their opinions on them ?
Thanks,
mitchell
caldwell BR rest
- Thread starter mitchellchandler_au
- Start date
Thanks for your opinion rayjay, does anyone else have any comments for me about the BR rest?
Thanks,
Thanks,
I'm new to benchrest shooting I have a BR Rest i just bought it's junk it doesn't have a smooth vertical adjustment it jumps up instead of smooth rise the horizonal i put a heavy spring in it still didn't work right so i just drilled so it don't move. For there bags like jayray said there no good either i wish i would have went to the range to see what others were useing before i went and wasted my money.
Bill
Bill
I did have to grind down the area of the locking bolt where it contacts the vertical threaded shaft. This is probably where you are getting the "jumping".
I was using mine today and noticed that there was some wobble in the top plate. At the limit of horizontal travel the plate was lifting a bit [ it doesn't seem likely with the weight of the rifle on the bag so I wonder if I noticed this before I sat the forend on the bag. If so it wouldn't be an issue. It was hot and windy so I was a bit tired ]. Anyway, there is a nylon bushing that the windage adjuster works against and I am going to turn this on a lathe so that there is an angle for the plungers to bear against and force the top plate downward. I just have to make sure that the plungers don't bind up at the limit of travel.
If you want to adapt one of the available commercial toggle rest tops to your caldwell I have a simple, cheap and effective way to do it. Just acquire some 1" x .120" steel tubing and make a bushing. You will probably have to polish the OD to get it to fit the caldwell's 1" bore. Then drill a hole in the bushing you just created to allow the caldwell's locking bolt to pass through and you can then slide the industry standard 3/4" stem through your new bushing.
I ordered a 12" piece of 1x.120 4130 from Aircraft Spruce. The shipping was more than the tubing. The total was about $12 and there is enough to do 3 bushings.
I was using mine today and noticed that there was some wobble in the top plate. At the limit of horizontal travel the plate was lifting a bit [ it doesn't seem likely with the weight of the rifle on the bag so I wonder if I noticed this before I sat the forend on the bag. If so it wouldn't be an issue. It was hot and windy so I was a bit tired ]. Anyway, there is a nylon bushing that the windage adjuster works against and I am going to turn this on a lathe so that there is an angle for the plungers to bear against and force the top plate downward. I just have to make sure that the plungers don't bind up at the limit of travel.
If you want to adapt one of the available commercial toggle rest tops to your caldwell I have a simple, cheap and effective way to do it. Just acquire some 1" x .120" steel tubing and make a bushing. You will probably have to polish the OD to get it to fit the caldwell's 1" bore. Then drill a hole in the bushing you just created to allow the caldwell's locking bolt to pass through and you can then slide the industry standard 3/4" stem through your new bushing.
I ordered a 12" piece of 1x.120 4130 from Aircraft Spruce. The shipping was more than the tubing. The total was about $12 and there is enough to do 3 bushings.
I'm new here, first post.
The squeeze bags that come with it will work but a Protektor bag is definitely an improvement. Check the screw that attaches the top to the center post to make sure it's tight. If the top starts to wobble on you later that would be the first thing to check. Also, if you have a problem with the top plate rocking slightly from side to side then pull it off and you'll find it rides on a couple of nylon bushings. You can shim those bushings to take out the slack,or replace them with Delrin). Replacing the spring for the windage adjustment may help it move to the left a little easier. A little grease on the bearings under the handwheel will help. And in case you didn't know,I didn't), get the elevation close with the handwheel, lock it down and use the rear leveling screw to zero.
I bought one late last fall. My first mechanical rest. There's some room for improvement but I don't think it's bad for the money. MidSouth has them for $125-130 and I saw them somewhere else for $120. Adding a better top would help but it works.
Tony
The squeeze bags that come with it will work but a Protektor bag is definitely an improvement. Check the screw that attaches the top to the center post to make sure it's tight. If the top starts to wobble on you later that would be the first thing to check. Also, if you have a problem with the top plate rocking slightly from side to side then pull it off and you'll find it rides on a couple of nylon bushings. You can shim those bushings to take out the slack,or replace them with Delrin). Replacing the spring for the windage adjustment may help it move to the left a little easier. A little grease on the bearings under the handwheel will help. And in case you didn't know,I didn't), get the elevation close with the handwheel, lock it down and use the rear leveling screw to zero.
I bought one late last fall. My first mechanical rest. There's some room for improvement but I don't think it's bad for the money. MidSouth has them for $125-130 and I saw them somewhere else for $120. Adding a better top would help but it works.
Tony
I took my top apart yesterday and made some major improvements. I found another short spring with a similar spring rate and put that in with the original. I then made a spacer sleeve app. .300" long to go under the head of the bolt that retains the spring. This keeps from coil binding the windage spring while allowing a bit more preload.
The next thing was to smooth and polish the 2 pads that the top plate's nylon buttons ride on. Use a long bastard file to keep the pads close to the same height as you smooth out the rough machining marks. Then use 400 and 600 on a flat surface to polish to a super smooth surface.
There is a plastic bushing that the windage adj shaft bears against [ the other side is the spring loaded plunger ]. I 'machined' this plastic bushing to create a curved surface for the adjuster and plunger to bear against. This curved surface is oriented so that the force of the spring loaded plunger creates a downward pressure on the upper plate.
I then used a single edge razor blade to smooth out the painted surface where the pivot bushing rides. After you are done carefully reassemble the rest top and locktite the appropriate fasteners.
I will post a pic of the 'machined' plastic bush later.
The next thing was to smooth and polish the 2 pads that the top plate's nylon buttons ride on. Use a long bastard file to keep the pads close to the same height as you smooth out the rough machining marks. Then use 400 and 600 on a flat surface to polish to a super smooth surface.
There is a plastic bushing that the windage adj shaft bears against [ the other side is the spring loaded plunger ]. I 'machined' this plastic bushing to create a curved surface for the adjuster and plunger to bear against. This curved surface is oriented so that the force of the spring loaded plunger creates a downward pressure on the upper plate.
I then used a single edge razor blade to smooth out the painted surface where the pivot bushing rides. After you are done carefully reassemble the rest top and locktite the appropriate fasteners.
I will post a pic of the 'machined' plastic bush later.
I have a Caldwell, The windage adjustment doesn't track side-to-side reliably and has vertical movement, there isn't enough travel to cover a 50/50 target, the front bag that came with it is cheesy. I'm not going to fool with it any longer and will replace it with a quality rest. On the bright side, it was cheap! You gets what you pays for.
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