OzFclass

Looking for ideas please . I shoot at a range with heavy pea gravel mounds and I'm trying to get some stability to the front rest . Spikes don't go into the gravel very well and the whole rest skitters around on recoil with one side usually dropping down putting everything on a large Cant making a mess of the scores and a lot of readjusting needed between each shot ..
So I'm looking for ideas .. the best of which so far is to make a large doughnut bag and plate to go under the front rest to get it on some form of flat base .. I've looked in the rules and can't see anything that mentions such a device (its in there for the rear rest) .. what's your thoughts ? And if anyone knows of a rule against such an idea could you please reference the location in the rules .
Regards Clint

viewtopic.php?t=14465

also read here: https://nqra.org.au/news/2015/07/13/rul ... -ftr-rules

I thought a device based on the old TV lap tray but substitute the styrene balls in the padding with sand to lend weight and stability. Some experimentation needed but its an idea.

There can be nothing on the plate that stops it sliding. No pins, legs, mesh or padding.


1. You may place carpet or similar flexible matting under both front and rear rests.

2. You may place a flat plate or board under both front and rear rests. These front and rear boards may not be connected. No levelling screws or protrusions are allowed on either.

3. If a Plate or board is used it must be FLAT on both top and bottom, with no design features that that give a firmer or tighter grip to the ground. Note that this bans plates such as the “mesh” plates queried by South Australia. In some circumstances such as gravel or dirt mounds, a mesh plate could embed itself into the ground much more firmly that a flat solid plate. i.e. the plate/board should be free to slide horizontally in every direction.

4. You may stack additional flat plates or flexible matting on top of the bottom plate if needed to raise the rear bag. This often occurs when there is a lot of slope on the mound. Again no protrusions are allowed on the extra plates.

5. NOTE:- Both front and back plates/boards or matting have a limit on their size. See Rule 20.40. (2 inches on any given side.) That means 2 inches bigger on every side. The Bipod plate/mat may be 12 inches deep.

6. You may place or glue flexible matting or material to the top of plates/boards, as long as the surface remains flat.

7. The plate or board may not have side rails or raised edges, and the rear bag and also bipod must be free to move horizontally in all directions.

8. Some shooters put a Sandbag directly on the ground and then place their rear sandbag on this. This is permissible.

9. Some shooters put a “Dead-Bottom” bag (doughnut bag) directly on the ground and then put their rear bag on this. This is permissible.

10. You may put a “Dead-Bottom” bag (doughnut bag) or similar on the rear plate. This is permissible as long as the doughnut bag and rear bag are free to move in any direction.

Clint. This home project is way over the top - I have way too much time on my hands, but it may give you some ideas. It works well, but attracts sufficient attention that I generally only use it at home range.The scope mount does work great too.

Some of the above posters may have missed the F-Open in the heading? Front rest instability should not be a major problem in F-Open because there is no weight limit other than what you're capable of carrying onto the mound. So equipping the rest with very large and heavy conical "F Class" feet with maximum allowable length spikes is what I did for loose gravel mounds and it worked very well. I was able to change the feet to suit other surfaces such as the artificial turf at Bendigo or concrete at Canberra.

AlanF wrote:Some of the above posters may have missed the F-Open in the heading? Front rest instability should not be a major problem in F-Open because there is no weight limit other than what you're capable of carrying onto the mound. So equipping the rest with very large and heavy conical "F Class" feet with maximum allowable length spikes is what I did for loose gravel mounds and it worked very well. I was able to change the feet to suit other surfaces such as the artificial turf at Bendigo or concrete at Canberra.

Thanks Alan
I've looked at the f class feet that some others have and while they do seem to help a lot they still scratch around on top of some of the bigger rocks .. do you mind posting a pic or link of the type you used to see if they are the same as I have seen .

John Weigel wrote:Clint. This home project is way over the top - I have way too much time on my hands, but it may give you some ideas. It works well, but attracts sufficient attention that I generally only use it at home range.The scope mount does work great too.

Ohhhh that's a long way down the rabbit hole isn't it..... Haha
Looks brilliant

Apologies for missing the F Open.

Here is all I could find in F open for the front rest.

20.2.4 - An unattached front rest must use either a sandbag or the shooter’s forward hand as the only contact with the rifle. The area of contact between the front bag and the underside of the rifle fore-end may not exceed 76.2mm wide x 76.2mm long. It may have up to 3 spikes which can be pressed into the ground up to 50mm, unless the use of spikes is prohibited by local conditions.

ClintonAsh wrote:.. do you mind posting a pic or link of the type you used to see if they are the same as I have seen .

This is one of the heavy F-Class feet I mentioned. Total weight of each foot assembly is 1.3Kg. It was fitted to a highly modified Caldwell Rock rest. The knobs and conical feet were done by a local machine shop on a lathe. The length of the spike below the foot is adjustable with a lock nut. Overall height is adjustable with a large lockable wing nut.

Most people use something similar to these. https://sebshootingproducts.com.au/prod ... lum-d-2-5/

The spike / cone prevents lateral movement while the flared section prevents the rest settling vertically.

The spike can be up to 50mm long and there is no restriction on the flared section.