I have a gamechanger bag that also works fine as both a front and rear bag.

You might notice the weights on the gun. Heavier guns are more stable and having them balance on the bag where you aren't fighting the balance of the gun to stay on target is helpful.

Thanks for the photos. It’s always good to see what other people are doing.

Regarding using slings to improve stability, that’s something I should explore more. I have had some success when going from just employing a sling as a carrying strap to using it for added stability, but not as much as I probably could if I was more consistent in using it. In the disciplines that don’t permit artificial supports like bipods slings for support are of course commonly used just as they were used by the military and others for decades.

I have seen other methods of using various straps, and not necessarily slings per se, to add to stability. One Scandinavian YouTuber has a method of attaching a strap between the rifle and his pants belt to add pressure and stability. I acquired a similar strap, but never got around to trying his method. Another method I saw involved the foot pressure mentioned, but the video was of its being used on a steep downward slope like the side of a mountain, and I couldn’t get it to work on a normal horizontal shooting surface.

I believe that the main reason I haven’t looked into using slings for added stability more is that my precision rifles don’t usually have them attached and I therefore don’t even think about them. Plus some of the methods are pretty fiddly to attach and configure and therefore wouldn’t be popular for shooting on the clock.

The whole technique is nevertheless something I should probably experiment with more when I don’t want to go out into the cold and snow.

When you said shooting from elevated positions, I thought you meant you were on top of a ridge line firing down at a steep angle at a target hundreds of yards in distance and a greater than 20% declining angle from your position.

I have some deer and hot hunting experience in this setup and also ran some M60 ranges in the Army where the 400-800 yard part of the range was way down a hill and up the incline on the other side. People instinctively see those targets as being farther away than they really are and they shoot over the top of the target.

Shooting long distances up or down at steep angles is a different topic, but worth some discussion.

There may be factors that affect a shooter’s eyeball range estimate, but there are also the considerations of our old friend, external ballistics. Even if the accurate distance from the shooter’s position to the target is measured exactly by something like a laser rangefinder, if that distance alone is used for the dope setting of our sight and the angle is steep enough and the distance is far enough, then the bullet will indeed hit high.

The reason for that is because the bullet’s flight is affected by gravity for only the horizontal distance to the target, not the slope (or slant) distance, and the horizontal distance will always be less than the slope distance. The illustration shows what I’m referring to. The shooter is at the top of a hill that’s 60 yards above the target. The horizontal distance from his position is 150 yards, but the slope or measured distance is 162 yards.





Some laser rangefinders have angle sensors and will use the viewing angle and the measured distance to calculate the horizontal distance. Many people who know a little about the subject will then say, “Just use the horizontal distance for your dope setting.” But although that may be better than using the slope distance, it’s not completely correct either. The reason is that though the bullet is affected by gravity for only the horizontal distance, it’s also affected by atmospheric drag for the slant distance. Therefore, the horizontal distance dope won’t be exactly correct either.

In my illustration the dope values for the horizontal and slant distances will be very similar for most centerfire cartridges and targets, but it becomes critical for small targets at steeper angles and longer shooting distances. Good modern ballistic solvers will compensate for both the horizontal and slant distances and calculate proper dope settings, but there is something called the “Improved Rifleman’s Method” of using the cosine of the shooting angle and the measured slant distance dope to achieve more accurate estimated results if a good ballistics calculator isn’t available.

I have a Bog tripod and should have bought a ball head tri-pod, it's still useful.
Making the switch to an Arca system and went with an IWI 15.5" arca integrated rail.

The Arca-Swiss is a great system. I still have Picatinny rail mounts on some of my rifles for use with tripods or bipods, but I find the Arca more convenient and versatile to use.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
The Arca-Swiss is a great system. I still have Picatinny rail mounts on some of my rifles for use with tripods or bipods, but I find the Arca more convenient and versatile to use.

I added an Area 419 Arca rail to my PRS gas gun rifle because of how well it works. Pairs really well with a RRS Tripod as well as the Harris bipod that I added an ARCA adapter to.

It was a little spendy to get it all set up right but it is a much much better system than the standard harris sling attachment method.

I wound up getting a Sunwayfoto t2830cs tripod with an integrated ball head.
Rated for 44 pounds.
3 pounds and a lot smaller than the Bog.


QD clamp that works with arca and pic rails.


I like these twist to lock better than the throw levers.


7"-57" tall. Can adjust the tension to hold the rifle in place and still move smooth.


Seems sturdy enough for my .308 and the dual rail clamp works but I'm not liking the short section of rail with only two 10-32 screws holding it on.
I located a full length rail that will use all five of the mounting holes.


It's threaded on the bottom for a hook but seems stable enough without adding weight.
They have one with 32mm legs but 28mm is fine for what I have.
A lot more stable than the Bog which is kinda jittery and doesn't move very smooth.

Good looking setup.
If I didn’t already have a (pricy) system myself that works as well as it does, I’d definitely be looking at what you have. It appears more compact, is probably lighter, and seems to be sturdy enough for anything reasonable.

Thanks for the show and tell.