Santa Claus, er, uh, the UPS driver arrived this afternoon with my new Smith front rest. I felt like a kid at Christmas opening his present. Good thing I'm not a kid though because Chip packed this rest to survive pretty much anything UPS could throw at it. As I started going through all the layers of packing material, wrapping, and tape holding everything together I was thinking "This guy must have gone to packaging class". By the time I finally got all the boxes and things unwrapped I had changed to "No, I think Chip must have been the instructor of the packaging class". I've honestly never seen something as carefully wrapped. Everything was in perfect condition when it arrived.
Setting up the rest is completely intuitive. The main body is fully assembled so just add the legs, pads, top bearing and spacers, and the top. I got the Protektor sand bag from Chip as well and it is a perfect fit for my Daystate CR-X. I’ll bet the LG-100 fits just as well. Once the gun is on the rest, there are a pair of screws on the edges of the top to push the sides of the sand bags against the stock of the rifle. Man, does this create a tight fit, and really locks the gun in solidly to the rest. I held the gun’s stock and shook it back and forth. The gun didn't move at all in the rest and the rest didn't move at all on the table. The table was rocking back and forth!! This rest is SOLID.
I adjusted the feet of the rest to level the gun then checked out the rests range of movement at 50 yards. I can literally cover every piece of the entire 4 foot by 8 foot plywood backstop at the back of my range with the cross hairs. The horizontal and vertical movement felt a bit firm as I was doing this, but when I started shooting I really appreciated it. You can really make very precise minor adjustments on this rest. There is no interplay between vertical and horizontal adjustments at all. The vertical adjustment is belt driven between the vertical turret on the back and the mechanism up front that raises the top. Again, I think Chip nailed it between being firm enough that nothing moved on it’s own yet easy enough to turn the adjustment knobs. And these are big heavy easy to grab knobs! There is a really nice bearing system between the top and the base of the rest so as you are panning left to right, the angle of the gun and top can change without binding the sand bag on the gun when it’s firmly locked in. A very nice feature I didn’t have in my previous rest! The stainless steel feet of the rest have a very nice padding at the bottom. I now have no fear of scratching up the dining room table (er, uh my range table) and invoking the wrath of the wife. Hey! I can tell her I had to buy this so I didn't scratch up the table!!
After using it for an hour it is clear this is the best front rest I’ve even had the chance to use. If one had it on a solid table that was well grounded I think you’d be as close to approaching zero movement of the rifle as you could get. I really look forward to using it in the future and I can honestly say I have completely cured my upgraditis in the rest department. I have zero desire to look at anything else.
I hope the pictures below can convey what an outstanding machining and finish job Chip did on this rest. It’s as visually pleasing as it is functional. For an air gun, it’s perfection in a rest and worth every dollar.
Setting up the rest is completely intuitive. The main body is fully assembled so just add the legs, pads, top bearing and spacers, and the top. I got the Protektor sand bag from Chip as well and it is a perfect fit for my Daystate CR-X. I’ll bet the LG-100 fits just as well. Once the gun is on the rest, there are a pair of screws on the edges of the top to push the sides of the sand bags against the stock of the rifle. Man, does this create a tight fit, and really locks the gun in solidly to the rest. I held the gun’s stock and shook it back and forth. The gun didn't move at all in the rest and the rest didn't move at all on the table. The table was rocking back and forth!! This rest is SOLID.
I adjusted the feet of the rest to level the gun then checked out the rests range of movement at 50 yards. I can literally cover every piece of the entire 4 foot by 8 foot plywood backstop at the back of my range with the cross hairs. The horizontal and vertical movement felt a bit firm as I was doing this, but when I started shooting I really appreciated it. You can really make very precise minor adjustments on this rest. There is no interplay between vertical and horizontal adjustments at all. The vertical adjustment is belt driven between the vertical turret on the back and the mechanism up front that raises the top. Again, I think Chip nailed it between being firm enough that nothing moved on it’s own yet easy enough to turn the adjustment knobs. And these are big heavy easy to grab knobs! There is a really nice bearing system between the top and the base of the rest so as you are panning left to right, the angle of the gun and top can change without binding the sand bag on the gun when it’s firmly locked in. A very nice feature I didn’t have in my previous rest! The stainless steel feet of the rest have a very nice padding at the bottom. I now have no fear of scratching up the dining room table (er, uh my range table) and invoking the wrath of the wife. Hey! I can tell her I had to buy this so I didn't scratch up the table!!
After using it for an hour it is clear this is the best front rest I’ve even had the chance to use. If one had it on a solid table that was well grounded I think you’d be as close to approaching zero movement of the rifle as you could get. I really look forward to using it in the future and I can honestly say I have completely cured my upgraditis in the rest department. I have zero desire to look at anything else.
I hope the pictures below can convey what an outstanding machining and finish job Chip did on this rest. It’s as visually pleasing as it is functional. For an air gun, it’s perfection in a rest and worth every dollar.
