Shiloh Rifle Forums

I had aspirations of someday going to the Sagebrush Ranch and shooting with those guys. Now that Wind is gone I don't know if they still get together and shoot there. I haven't seen any new videos from them in awhile. I've enjoyed watching their videos the past couple of years that I've owned my Sharps rifles.

Never shot any sort of BPCR match, know next to nothing about prone, standing, sitting, kneeling, etc, etc, can offer a shooting stick recommendation for hunters, African Sporting Creations makes a beautiful set of hickory sticks, they're very sturdy as well as light, make a descent walking stick as well, you can order the small leather bag for the back of your hand that lops in the crotch of the sticks if you choose, they also unscrew with little cleats that securely bury in the ground for a very steady platform, perfect height for kneeling, sitting in a blow down, or rock pile getting a steady sight on the animals.

Wind's sticks are really nice if you were fortunate enough to buy a pair before he passed. Seemed like a great guy to know. Here are some of the sticks I have made for personal use. I make them from hard maple and sand them down to 320 grit and oil finish them. They have a brass channel on the spike end that prevents the wood from splitting out - also use a steel furniture cross dowel threaded 1/4"-20 to make the spikes replaceable - best of both worlds - angled spade type spikes for soft soil and 1/4" straight spikes for hard soil - they can be removed and swapped out for different soil conditions. I prefer the felt slip-ons to the leather strips as I think it allows the rifle to slip during recoil rather than grabbing on to the leather and moving the sticks back. Here are a few pictures of examples.

A few more pics:

A few more:

here are some bench cross sticks I made - these work really well but were time consuming to make - I think I had about 200 hours worth of work into them. They are adjustable with a handwheel to the left and have 1/4"-20 right and left hand all-thread for the internals - when you turn the handwheel the right and left hand threads act like a scissors jack and move the sticks inward or outward to adjust for elevation.

A few more:

After I made these bench cross sticks I ditched my traditional rifle rest. These sticks have a lot of elevation range that my traditional rifle rest could never achieve.

I like those bench sticks. Hmmm.

Woody

It is plane to see 200 hours in making those bench stix. You must be into making furniture also.
Excellent workmanship, and a good idea.

I glue a hard wool strip, 1/2" wide on my stix. It lasts for many years.

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

Bench sticks are nice if your using them on a bench or on a flat concrete surface. I build a set and they won't do well on grass or uneven ground. I drilled holes through the base so I could drive pole barn spikes through to keep them from falling over, but then the 3" spike rule throws that out.

Those in the photos are very good workmanship and thought behind the construction. Good work patchbox

Thanks guys! Yeah, not into furniture making which is a bummer for me - I would have a lot better furniture. Lol! Mostly into machining metal or wood parts and blending them together. There are a few parts on the regular cross sticks and bench sticks that were turned on a metal lathe and almost all the slotting or other features were done on a milling machine.