Eley Tenex for Slow Fire CCI for TF & RF?

First topic message reminder :

Does anyone do this: Shoot expensive Eley Tenex* or Pistol Match* or ???, just for slow fire and then switch back to a less expensive CCI or Wolf/SK for Timed and Rapid?  I know with my rifles switching is a big NO because sometimes you might get several out of group shots and the POI might even change.

- Dave
*I'm not sure if either shoot well in my gun but I was curious if anyone does this.

More to the point: I spent about 6 hours at the range today working the Random Rest, poorly. I wasted at least one hour trying to pound a set of grip inserts on upside down (I’m not very smart).

A fellow shooter came up to me towards the end of the day and asked, “Are those all Ransom Rest groups?”

“Yes,” I said.

He said, “Those aren’t any better than what you usually shoot in league.”

Now I remember why I haven’t done Random Rest testing in 5 years.

dronning wrote:Does anyone do this: Shoot expensive Eley Tenex* or Pistol Match* or ???, just for slow fire and then switch back to a less expensive CCI or Wolf/SK for Timed and Rapid?  I know with my rifles switching is a big NO because sometimes you might get several out of group shots and the POI might even change.

- Dave
*I'm not sure if either shoot well in my gun but I was curious if anyone does this.

I shoot CCI standard velocity because it groups in the same place as Eley Tenex with my gun, switching for the short line should not cause any problems.  I'd try a few different short line ammo choices and make sure they have the same point of impact before match day.

john bickar wrote:More to the point: I spent about 6 hours at the range today working the Random Rest, poorly. I wasted at least one hour trying to pound a set of grip inserts on upside down (I’m not very smart).

A fellow shooter came up to me towards the end of the day and asked, “Are those all Ransom Rest groups?”

“Yes,” I said.

He said, “Those aren’t any better than what you usually shoot in league.”

Now I remember why I haven’t done Random Rest testing in 5 years.

New inserts are very tight. The first time I used my rest, I had placed the left side plate on the other side of an ammo can. I became distracted and forgot to put it on. To clamp things down, I needed to reverse the star nuts. It still worked. 

My current process is to mount the rest on its range mount, a 3/4 inch steel plate on a six inch pipe leveled. And set in a buried 55 gallon drum of concrete. The same plate is drilled for a barrel tester, but I mount the Ransom Rest (non windage version) with two clamps at the rear and one at the front.  I mount the gun in the rest and tighten it initially.i adjust the rest elevation and windage to insure that the Gun is on target at 50 yards. Then I fire 10 settling shots and usually find that I can tighten another 1/4 to 1/2 turn. I don’t really wrench it down, but I want it snug. 

Recently I have begun placing a water bottle on the board that the rest is attached to and only firing when the water has become still. A 15 or 20 second count would likely do the same thing. I Fire the number of shots planned, usually 30 for my gun or whatever number the person that I am testing with wants. I always reset by pushing down on the ledge on the right side of the rest, I brace my thumb on the restvand use my index finger to trip the trigger. If I notice that the group seems to be expanding vertically, I check the lock nut on the elevation adjustment. It has loosened in the past. We will check with the scope or go down range to measure as we finish each batch of 10.Finally I pull the target and label it for future reference, I will sometimes scan the target and add it to results that include tests that Jerry Keefer and Lou Siegel did in the mid 90s. It’s kind of like a load catalog. The value is somewhat limited because there are 3 different 45s and 5 different 38s. But it has helped find starting point for loads that I would have never tried when Bullseye was hard to get and if you could find it it was $40/lb.

I also learned from Ransom Rest testing that I have magazines that are more and less accurate at 50 yards, They are numbered so that I can tell the difference. I had the same results with the same two magazines in both the ball gun and the wad gun. In each #1 shot round smaller groups, and #2 shot more elongated groups

All of that said, I know that you have been described as a machine rest in the past.