Wondering if this would help to better see the bullet impact on Prairie Dogs with my Savage M12 LPV in 204 Ruger. Another option would be to hang weight onto my bipod.

Have any of you done or thought about this??

I have done that with a couple of rifles. It does help, adding the weight plus the bipod should allow seeing hits up to 16x or so.

Line the hollow forearm with Duct Tape, pour & level as much lead shot into the void as you desire or it will hold minus 1/4" on top layer for Hot Glue (very hot - it will self-level) to hold the shot firmly so it doesn't move, slosh around or make noise.

The Duct Tape is so if you decide to remove it will not mar anything. The Hot Glue over plug can be removed with a Cork Screw and Voilá - just like original without mars or glue remnant.

Remove the recoil pad and do the same with the buttstock, filled either horizontally or vertically to balance. I used a combination of lead shot & sand in the buttstock as the lead will overwhelm the weight and balance if completely full.

My 7mm Rem Mag Savage Tactical w/synthetic stock now weighs almost 16 Pounds; you don't want to carry it very far but is a real Pussy-Cat on the Bags.

The 204 Ruger should almost be recoiless with that much weight.

Good Shooting!

What power scope do you have on your .204? I would think that even at normal weight that the "jump" would not take the dog out of the sight picture with as much as 18X -- depending on how far away the dog is. However, additional weight will certainly help, particularly if it is added forward of the center of gravity of the rifle when held in the normal shooting position. In other words, weight in the fore end will help more than weight in the butt.

Also, shooting off of a "hard" rest like a bipod tends to give a little more jump than shooting from a "soft" rest like sandbags. In fact, if you'd toss the bipod and use sandbags instead you might find that you don't need extra weight on your rifle (and most rifles shoot more accurately without a bipod attached to vibrate against the barrel/action bedding).

Good stuff fellas.

I am using a Vortex PST 6x24 and I usually shoot it at 24 once I zero in on a PD...never thought of that....so yes I would see allot more air time at lower power.

I am wondering if going through the trouble of adding weight to the forend will be worth the effort, or maybe I should just hang a 5lb weight to the bipod and leave the gun as is??

Whatdaya think??

quote:

Also, shooting off of a "hard" rest like a bipod tends to give a little more jump than shooting from a "soft" rest like sandbags. In fact, if you'd toss the bipod and use sandbags instead you might find that you don't need extra weight on your rifle (and most rifles shoot more accurately without a bipod attached to vibrate against the barrel/action bedding).

O.K. ..... go ahead & try it.

I agree with Stonie 100% - personally, I am not a huge bidod fan and for the reason he states - they tend to "bounce" on hard(er) objects; concrete shooting benches spring immediately to mind leaving the unsuspecting wandering around the range soliciting solutions to accuracy issues.

I've also tried a 27" bipod in a One-Man blind but prefers shorter shooting sticks - rock solid when you know how to use in combination with your knees but that's on Terra Firma, not a bench.

I'll agree the weight hanging method works excellent when hung from the underneath of a camera tripod when using a Chrony in windier conditions.