Ransom Rest questions

I am considering buying a ransom rest. I want to check my 1911s before and after rebuilding them and also to site in my dots.
The question is this the right rest for what I am planning on doing?
How does this rest work for accuracy?
Should I mount it to a board and clamp it to a table at the range?
How does it work with the grip safeties?
Any thing I forgot please throw in your ideas.

Thanks in advance
George

Ive owned several, tested many guns on them. They will give a relative good test provided you are very careful in the setup and use. you dont just clamp the gun in and start blasting. And the gun will only shoot as good as the ammo you use. You have to make sure the gun is clamped tightly, then you need to fire some settling shots and then make sure you operate it exactly the same for each test. You would need the ransom and the windage base, mount it to a thick wood base then clamp to a very sturdy table, most use tables or stands made of heavy steel that are set in the ground or concrete. I tested many 1911s most with kart barrels and found everyone of them could shoot well within the 10 ring at 50 yds. I used it more for load testing the rest of the time, and once i got several very accurate loads, sold the ransome.

My comments aren't much different from David's.

Much of what you'll discover are loads already available from others in this group. What I did discover was that my first Kart barrel in my wad gun, loved a very tight crimp. It's second Kart and my Kart in the Hardball gun likes a more normal .468/.469. After shooting hundreds of groups I found that 4.4 gr WST shoots great at 50 yards with a 200-210 gr bullet and 3.5 gr Bullseye shoots great with a H&G 130 196 gr. (those loads I could have gotten with a call to Neil at NSK) There is a small amount of satisfaction is learning the information by yourself, but the older I get, I feel fewer and fewer urges to reinvent the wheel.

Where I have seen benefit was testing 22 ammo. You can find certain lots of inexpensive ammo that shoots nearly as well as your match stuff. It may not be as dependable, but is satisfactory for practice sessions.

I do not have the windage base, but wish I did. It would really simplify things when testing a larger number of groups on one target. As David mentions, screw it down to a heavy plywood base. (1" thick) And make sure the table/bench is solid as a rock, otherwise the slight movement of the table will mess up any data you collect.

Make sure you have the gun gripped securely in the adapters and put at least 10 rounds through it to settle it in before testing.

FWIW

The only other thing I'll add is that the Ransom Rest isn't a good place to sight in your red dots. The RR and hand held sight settings are very different. I've found the best way to sight in a red dot is to bore sight it, if possible, and then refine your sight setting by firing it off-hand.

RR not for sighting - simply to see how it groups. Windage base not needed, elevation change olny needed for first setup if always using same table - fire several shots on cardboard then place target center over the holes. If table isn't exactly flat, use shims at ends of base and use 4 c-clamps to table. Rubber band around grip safety - needless to say gunis empty when mounting.

George

I hope that you don't mind if I piggyback on your post.

Today was the first time that I tried a ransom rest on a M1911. IThe rest is attached to 1" or more of plywood and that is attached to a plywood base that attaches to a concrete column. I've noticed that the gun does move a bit according to the dot sight. I've shot over 40 rounds through it and got an occasional good 4 or 5 shot groups but the pistol eventual moves a bit (the dot moves about an inch or more on the 25yd target). I've tightened the grips very tight by hand and the base bolts are tigthened with a wrench. Any suggestions are appreciated.

PS. I found out from a top shot that the grip inserts are worn out...time to buy my own inserts.

I made the board on which the RR is mounted, having a strip of wood on the front and back (running across) of the wood base. This keeps the RR above the structure on which it is mounted.

George-A wrote:I am considering buying a ransom rest. The question is this the right rest for what I am planning on doing?
How does this rest work for accuracy?
Should I mount it to a board and clamp it to a table at the range?
George

George;

I have spent almost 40 years, shooting / testing on the RR. One thing has become apparent during that time. Build as robust platform as possible. I have graduated to 2+ yards of concrete, covering approx. 1000 pounds of I beams, and steel channel re inforced/supports all welded together. The base mounting suggestions of one inch wood for the RR are meager, and with the slats on each end, flexes in the middle.. It really needs 4 inches of steel reinforced, laminated 3/4 in plywood glued and sheet rock screwed together. The RR base uses wood screws to attach to the wood. Poor at best.. Machine the mounting holes to accept countersunk bolts that pass thru the wood. 1/4 inch steel plates inlaid into the wood base on both sides aid in supporting and anchoring the base to the wood. Many will say "overkill".. but the guys at the top test frequently. You must know how your equipment is performing. Ammo, powder, barrels, lot to lot is almost always different. A gunsmith cannot afford to build guns that are not shooting micro groups. The shooters at the top are going to test your product.. It better be right.. I wish, I had the money,time I have wasted, rebuilding guns I "thought" were not up to that standard, because of an inadequate test rest. A very good smith, just this week traveled across two states to compare rests and test several guns on my rest. We discovered several things to the positive for him..because this super heavy RR is so very reliable. The old "settling shots" phase of the test is gone. It shoots good groups from start to finish. Dave Sams has a HEG rest. After veiwing and studying this rest, I feel as Dave does. It is far superior to the RR. I am in the last quarter of this ball game, so I plan to stay with the RR. Besides, it's quite difficult to find a HEG, and I don't have time to make one.. I have a close gunsmith friend that refers to the RR as the "Random Rest".. There is much more to this, but Joe would kick me off for taking up so much space..

Almost forgot to add...New guns and dots can be regulated in the RR. Simply shoot your group, and move the dot to the group.. This puts the zero in the black and aids the customer..

Jerry

In the late 1980's/early 1990's I had access to MB-1, the "off duty" range on Ft Sill, Oklahoma. At one of the far
ends of the firing line there was a concrete structure to attach a machine rest. It looked like a tank trap and
the word was the thing went many, many feet in to the ground. The "bullseye" marksmanship programs
were pretty much gone on post so never saw any armorers out testing pistols. I can only imagine what it was
like during the heyday of pistol marksmanship. At the time MB-2 was still there. The site of many bullseye
matches in the 1950's and 1960's. They pretty much leveled it during Desert Storm to suit the training
they were giving with the M9 to get folks up to speed before they were deployed.
I was talking to the AMU coach before the Canton Regional this year and he said about all the old bullseye
ranges are gone on all the Army posts.

Sorry for getting a little off topic there....
JLK