I'm looking to buy a pistol shooting rest and came across the Caldwell Pistolero Shooting rest at Midway. My main criteria is:

1- Inexpensive
2- Lightweight/portable
3- Reasonably steady

This rest will be used only a few times a year for testing accuracy of a new gun purchase and/or testing the accuracy of my reloads. With that in mind I don't want to spend a bunch of money on something that doesn't get used much. I've already checked out several YouTube videos and it seems be a decent product. Anyone here use one of these?

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I use it for my basic pistol class students for the initial bench rest shooting position in the classroom and on the range. The student can get a feel of sight alignment and trigger control while sitting down and then transitioning to the standing position from the bench rest position. Enjoy it and practice.

Nick

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NRA Instructor\GCA Gunsmith

It looks decent, but the best handgun rest is 3-4 sandbags, so that you can shape them to fit the gun, and never rest the barrel, just the frame. I fill my bags, (25 lb canvas shot bags) with old used up corn cob tumbling material. It is much lighter than sand.

Caution: Revolvers will damage shot bags by the B/C gap and after awhile will cut through the canvas. I carry an old piece of leather roughly a foot square and cover the top bag to avoid this. (P.S. keep your fingers behind the B/C gap, you only forget it once).

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

My experience matches HRichard: resting the barrel makes the gun shoot high. I would not use the Caldwell rest except maybe teaching sight alignment. IMHO sight alignment is easy, trigger control is hard.

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Science plus Art

So on a Auto Pistol..................

Resting the frame, which is under the slide, which houses the barrel............

would not hurt or change the groups down range..............
or would be a type of resting on the barrel?

I'm cheap. I've used a piece of rolled up carpet. The surface is soft and won't damage the gun in any way and it seems to work well for me.

I bought this one:

MTM K-Zone Shooting Rest

Got it on Amazon for $40 shipped. It will do pistols and rifles. You can also add weights inside if needed. Absolutely the cheapest, and the quality isn't bad.

Hmm, guess I need to do a little more research then. All of my guns are semi auto with the exception of the Ruger Super Redhawk 44 so most would sit with the frame on the rest instead of the barrel. The other exception would be my Ruger MKII.

I've got one of the old Bulls Bags for rifles which is great but bigger and heavier than I need. Might look into making a few sandbags out of old denim jeans. Just have to talk my wife into doing a little sewing for me.

I have one and use it frequently for load development for my semi autos and revolvers. I have modified the base with 2 1"x2" pieces of wood screwed longitudinally to the base to increase its sturdiness. I also add a piece of carpet to the front gun support and replace it after it has been soiled. From my point of view, it will meet all of your stated criteria.

My LGS uses a similar model. As you can imagine it gets a lot of use and all of which is by a non-owner. Be careful with the screw adjustment on the front end but with proper care it should take care of your needs.

I have posted this before, but for those that missed it; The best handgun rest is homemade and will take you about 20 minutes to make. Cut two pieces of 2x6 board to about 14 to 16". Take one and cut a "V" in one side to about 1.5" deep feathered out close to the ends. Cut a couple of pieces of old carpet 2"x 12". Tack those two pieces of carpet into the "V" with very small nails (tacks). Nail and then screw from the bottom of the uncut 2x6 the "Ved" piece centered. This creates a perfect benchrest rest for shooting any handgun to the utmost of its (your) accuracy. DO NOT rest the butt of the handgun on anything except your hand. DO NOT rest the barrel across this rest. Always use the frame shield or the forward edge of the frame for revolvers on the bottom of the "V". Minimal cost and maximum performance. This is the next best thing to a Ransome Rest. Plus the POI and the POA will almost always coincide with a good offhand hold. ..............

As mentioned above a rolled up carpet works just as well Or cut some wood. We have the wood ones at the range .

I have one of these for rifles but it works for pistols also. There is a less expensive Junior version

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/41...-shooting-rest

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/68...-shooting-rest

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Still Running Against the Wind

Pics please.

I use the Pistolero routinely with M&P9, S&W 1911, CZ75, and Ruger Mk III. It should prove adequate for your purposes for any handgun except pocket rockets the size of a Ruger LCP.

The butt-base is sufficiently adjustable to allow the frame or even the trigger guard to sit on the front rest. Sometimes ridges on the adjusting wheel interfere when the butt is very close to the front rest, but a little bit of adjusting can get them out of the way. Finally, with pistol grip laser sights that place the laser alongside (rather than under) the barrel, some care needs to be taken to avoid blocking the laser (sloping front rest).

Using any pistol rest can lead to a different POI than your personal free-hand shooting does simply due (eg) to a changed recoil pattern among other possibilities. However, I've used the Pistolero for comparing handguns, loads, and laser sight-in and I am happy with it. It's not a Ransom Rest lol, but it does the job just fine.

Well, after reading all the posts here I went ahead and ordered it. For $30 shipped I think it will do what I need and if not I won't be out much. I did see a lot of comments about the base being flimsy but should be an easy and free fix since I already have the wood and screws to do that. Maybe once it's dialed in I'll get some pics and do a quick review on it.

I use the canvas shot bags full of either sand or tumbling media.
First I put the filler in zip-lock bags and then into the canvas.
The I sew the canvas shut.
That's the only hard part.
Then the whole thing goes into another canvas bag.
CANVAS SHOOTING BAGS | Brownells
They last forever unless you get careless with a snubby.

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

Here is a version of Big Cholla's rest. I have one like the OP is buying and found that the adjustment in height is very useful so I designed it into my version.

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I had that one. Didn't like it so I gave it away. I ended up with two MTM rests. I liked the first one (rifle/pistol) so much, I bought a second one just for pistols.

Front Rifle Rest and handgun pistol rest by MTM

K-Zone Shooting Rest by MTM - PSR-30

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Thugs that comply don’t die!

2x4's of various stacks with carpet over the top. (and before any funny comments not 8 footers ha ha smiley didn't show here)

Sand bags and rolled up carpet too as already mentioned.

After you get that shooter sighted the way you want it get busy with using your hands and arms!