DIY Bag Rider

[phaedra1106]

Thanks to reading Ovenpaa's post about his very nice shiny bag riders I thought that it may help me as I can't get comfortable lying prone due to dodgy knees, hips and shoulder.

I took a 1/4" drill to my Steyrs adjustable butt plate and fitted an 8" solid stabiliser from my compound bow (I'm cheap if nothing else)

Took it for a try yesterday at Ponteland, after zeroing the scope I managed sub MOA at 100m (which I'd done before) then moved back to 200m, this is where I start to get problems with being unable to hold still, after sorting out it was about 3" low and 1" left I aimed off to compensate and surprisingly (for me) again managed sub MOA, best group was .5 MOA worst .8 MOA so pretty happy with that :shakeshout:

Here's the Steyr set up and ready to go,

[Christel]

Did the bag rider help you with the position that is normally causing you pain?

[phaedra1106]

Didn't help with the pain but made it easier to get a more stable sight picture, only problem was that after each shot I had to adjust the bag/rider position as there was quite a lot of movement. My son tried it and hated it!, he prefers the "normal" shooting method!.

[Christel]

You mean it was sliding on the bag?

[ovenpaa]

It should track forward to back in a straight line and require very little input to get back on target, if you are having to move the rifle left or right to get back on target it is hopping (probably left) How far are you having to correct after each shot?

[phaedra1106]

Yes to both smile2

It's sliding back on the bag about 3 or 4" but I think thats because of my position, because the butt plate is slid down I can't get it into my shoulder properly and am holding it with my left arm bend at 90deg coming under the butt and my left hand touching the front of the rider.

The front end is def. jumping, I was watching someone else have a shot of it, that said he got 1 MOA at 200m with it as well.

Next outing isn't until May 20th so I'll have to wait until then to try and get my left arm forward to hold the fore stock or under the mag for a better grip. Unfortunately my left shoulder doesn't like my arm being put in that position and I also have limited grip as most of my left forearm is numb and I have no grip/feeling in my left little and ring fingers.

[ovenpaa]

So you need to bring the plate back up to get your shoulder behind it which means you can no longer use the rider...

The bag riders do make a huge difference to accuracy and I just use my shoulder as a mechanical stop when I use Christels rifle which has one fitted, this is why I add a plate so the rider can sit underneath and still allow you to maintain the pad in the right position. Do you have any material to make one out of? I make mine out of 8mm or 10mm 6082 T6 aluminium depending on what it is going on and how light it needs to be. The awkward part is cutting it to the shape of the butt plate, it would be so easy if they were all the same...

The SincInt bipods do tend to hop a bit unless you get them right down.

[phaedra1106]

My engineering skills are limited by a complex formula . . . . . . . . . whatever is lying about x what I can whack it with? / can I use a drill on it? + chance of ending up in hospital (squared)

I'll have a closer look at the butt plate assembly, the adjustable pad runs on a metal dovetailed channel, the butt assembly with the "fixed" side of the channel is about 1cm thick and looks like it's fastened onto the ABS stock and may be removeable so (in theory) something could be inserted between the two with a mounted rider underneath (if that makes any sense!). I'll try and strip it tomorrow and see what it looks like.

[ovenpaa]

Post a picture when you get a chance?

[phaedra1106]

Will do, just fed the kids and now about ready to collapse into bed!, going to try and get a couple of hours while the meds kick in :)