[Brian Carlson]

I am wondering if my problem with shooting consistently small groups from the bench over sandbags is that the sandbag which I rest my Ruger revolver on is too hard. I have tried both a bunny ear leather bag stuffed with fine sand and a lead shot bag full of shot. Both are quite hard and I wonder if the gun is kind of bouncing off of the bag. Could this be a problem? Should I be using a softer bag? Thanks, Brian C.

 

[Marshall Stanton]

Brian,

Yep, bet you're hitting on the culprit with your handgun shooting consistantcy!

Try taking a carpet sample (&#361.00 from carpet shops around here), roll it up, and tie it into that roll with a string or strong rubber-bands. (spelled inner-tube cut into 1" rubber bands)

Use this as your rest, placing the roll directly ahead of the trigger guard, and supporting the front of the frame and the rearward most part of the barrel.  I've found this to give the most uniform performance when testing handgun loads, and by-the-way, for you lever action shooters, this rest seems to duplicate a hand held rest, and not be too far from sight zero when using the rolled carpet rest!

Too, the carpet is very resistant to the flame and flash at the cylinder/barrel gap, unlike most sandbags.

This should help!

God Bless,

Marshall