Hunting Forum

The vanguard has a strap between the legs to adjust how wide they spread, thats the strap I was talking about. As for what part tp put on the yoke, I always put the fore-arm on it to, but for longer shots I try not to touch the barrel as it could counter the effects of free floating it.

Posted By jlowe69 on 13 Sep 2012 06:29 PM
The vanguard has a strap between the legs to adjust how wide they spread, thats the strap I was talking about. As for what part tp put on the yoke, I always put the fore-arm on it to, but for longer shots I try not to touch the barrel as it could counter the effects of free floating it.

Ah, that's why I didn't see a strap mentioned.  I did see the one you're talking about, though.  And, since I've been away from
hunting since I was about 17 (that would be in the mid-80s), I'm out of touch on some terminology (especially some I was
never taught).  Which part is the yoke?

I'm not sure if the barrel on mine is considered free-floating or not.  I don't think it is, though.

Thanks,
   --jim

The u shaped part that you rest your firearm in I have always heard referred to as the yoke. If you would like to know if your barrel is free floated just take a dollar bill and see if it will slide between the barrel and the fore-arm, back to the receiver, if it will its free floated. If it's not, it's not necessarily bad since some barrels like to float free, and some are better either bedded or even with slight upward pressure. It depends not only on the manufactures process but also on the particular set up within the same brand and model. Its all about oscillations (vibrations) that travel down the bore during the controlled explosion that happens when you send a round down range. Many folks think its an over rated concern as well. As with most things it all depends on if that 1/8 ' of group shrinkage at 100 yds means enough to you to even bother. In most hunting situations its very hard to tell any difference. IMO  I tend to be over concerned about the details, so I air on the side of cation and don't touch the barrel. Thats just me though.

Posted By jlowe69 on 13 Sep 2012 08:17 PM
The u shaped part that you rest your firearm in I have always heard referred to as the yoke. If you would like to know if your barrel is free floated just take a dollar bill and see if it will slide between the barrel and the fore-arm, back to the receiver, if it will its free floated. If it's not, it's not necessarily bad since some barrels like to float free, and some are better either bedded or even with slight upward pressure. It depends not only on the manufactures process but also on the particular set up within the same brand and model. Its all about oscillations (vibrations) that travel down the bore during the controlled explosion that happens when you send a round down range. Many folks think its an over rated concern as well. As with most things it all depends on if that 1/8 ' of group shrinkage at 100 yds means enough to you to even bother. In most hunting situations its very hard to tell any difference. IMO  I tend to be over concerned about the details, so I air on the side of cation and don't touch the barrel. Thats just me though.

Ok. thanks.  I understand now.

Later,
   --jim

I took a camera tripod and added a wooden block with a U groove then screwed it on lil camo paint and was good to go for blind hunting. I ALWAYS put my stock and not the barrel on my rest. It is a lil too awkward tor a walking hunt but works very well out of a blind. Being old I need all the help I can get for long shots. Also you can take the 2 screws out and still use it for your camera.

Posted By mowgle on 14 Sep 2012 09:10 AM
I took a camera tripod and added a wooden block with a U groove then screwed it on lil camo paint and was good to go for blind hunting. I ALWAYS put my stock and not the barrel on my rest. It is a lil too awkward tor a walking hunt but works very well out of a blind. Being old I need all the help I can get for long shots. Also you can take the 2 screws out and still use it for your camera.

I tried that with one of my tripods...the recoil snapped one of the clamps (for extending/closing the legs) after a few
shots.  Now it has two legs with the lower clamp broken (and taped up with black duck tape).  Still good for photography
as long as I don't need to close up the lower third of the legs....  But it's just not sturdy enough to use for a rifle.

Thanks,
   --jim

PS:  After what my first cancer did to my nerves, I need all the help I can get, too.  At 50 yards, on my first day out to
a friend's house to do some target practice on his makeshift range (he owns 80 acres...must be nice), I stayed within
the two inner circles on the big target in the middle for each three-shot pattern, but that's the best I can claim.  I'm
betting that a proper tripod will make that a lot better.  (Either way, aiming at a deer's heart/lung area, it'd be a kill
shot, but I'd like to see that pattern or better at more like 200 yards, not  50 [I'm not sure what kind of distance I'll
be seeing at the areas on the Eglin AFB range I'll be on]).

Check out YouTube. There is a video on how to build a set of safari shooting sticks for less than 10 bucks. Might be an option? I do have the Vanguard bipod and like them, they are light and have held up to recoil of a 7mm without any prob so far.

Posted By nathanj on 19 Sep 2012 03:56 AM
Check out YouTube. There is a video on how to build a set of safari shooting sticks for less than 10 bucks. Might be an option? I do have the Vanguard bipod and like them, they are light and have held up to recoil of a 7mm without any prob so far.

Thanks, but I'll pass.  Ask me to design a data (and voice, if you want) network that can survive disaster(s) --- how many
depends on the budget for the network --- and even after my cancer, I could do it (it would just take me a LOT longer).
Ask me to cut a straight line with a table saw and that guide thing that makes it cut a straight line, and I'd end up with
wavy output.  I have a battery-powered variable-speed reversable drill that powers my grain mill (for cracking grain to
use for brewing) and that's about my level with stuff like that.  :-)     I've built (back in the 80s) lots of stuff for Amateur
Radio---a noise filter, a transmatch (matches the impedance of an antenna to that of the transmitter, with loss of power
in the transmatch ... within reasonable limits, that is), my own transmitter and my own receiver, power supplies, and I
made my own printed circuit boards for all of those....but ask me to make a square box with wood (even if it has all of
the cuts marked on the wood), you'll get a disaster.....  Don't ask me why, as I have no idea, except that it just seems
to work out that way.

Thanks, though,
   --jim

If anyone has a chance go to your local schools and see if they have any old desk or short tables with the adjustable legs and then you have a pretty good shooting table for out in the field or at your own raange.

Posted By papa58 on 14 Oct 2012 08:16 PM
If anyone has a chance go to your local schools and see if they have any old desk or short tables with the adjustable legs and then you have a pretty good shooting table for out in the field or at your own raange.

Please keep in mind that, since my first cancer, I am partially disabled, and a very light bipod is much, MUCH easier to carry
in and out than a table or desk.  When cancer has nuked your energy levels AND your lungs (1st metastasis) were reduced
to near zero capacity, and have, after six years, only healed up to around 60--65% of normal, AND has left me perpetually
anemic, AND destroyed my body's ability to process B-12 on its own (lack of B-12 == fatigue, depression, weakness, and
so on, so I have to give myself injections every other Saturday), every ounce you have to carry can end up feeling like a
ton.....  Nice suggestion, but I'll stick with the "sticks" to lighten the weight (the ones I'm buying (Vanguard Scout B62
Aluminum Alloy Bipod) weigh in only 18 oz......

As for the range, I can't shoot where I live.  But, a fellow brewer friend of mine lives out in the country (you know the
directions, turn off the paved road, then turn off the dirt road onto the trail, and turn right at the third tree).  He's
already got his own shooting range setup, with a table for shooting.  :-)      (Btw, the directions to his place aren't
quite that bad...but another mutual fellow brewer friend's really are...those were basically the last part of the
directions to his place).

Thanks,
   --jim