Why should you use a shooting rest? Well, if you just finished mounting your optic onto your rail, and now it’s then time to see how it performs after zeroing it. It’s a familiar task that you’ll encounter every time you swap out a handguard or do maintenance work on your upper that requires you to take off your sights. Perhaps you’re in a spot or at a private range where you’re limited to a few shooting positions - which can make it really challenging to keep still and achieve a tight grouping. You inevitably ponder: is there a better way to do this?

In a setting where all you have is your body and perhaps a backpack, you have a couple options to give yourself more stability. Some shooters sit in a cross legged position with the knees raised up to become a surface for their elbows to rest against as they shoot.

But in the wise words of Patrick Star, “We are not cavemen. We have technology”. A shooting rest is one of the most common and affordable precision shooting equipment used today to stabilize your shots more comfortably and more efficiently than your knee caps. Zero in your optic faster, and you’ll enjoy more range time doing actual shooting.

How does a shooting rest help?

A shooting rest helps to mitigate recoil significantly and ensure stability. Your barrel and handguard lay on the front rest and your stock sits in the rear padding, forming a vise-like contraption. As mentioned before, a shooting rest is one of the most convenient pieces of equipment to zero in a rifle or carbine with these advantages. It’s also very useful in testing different types of ammunition so that you can be confident and aware of how your build or loads are performing before they are affected by your own skills or other external factors.

One of the benefits of using a shooting rest is that it allows you to be able to see where your shots are hitting with a spotting scope and be able to reposition yourself exactly to where you were before when shooting for your next grouping of shots. Getting through a few rounds on the shooting rest first can also help flush the jitters out of your system and rid you of any sort of flinching that can be detrimental to accuracy.

For those getting into any sort of long distance shooting, shooting rests help you to solely focus on aiming and good trigger control rather than bracing for the impending recoil. If you plan on hunting, sometimes patience involves being still with a rifle for hours on end. An AR 15 shooting rest will take the weight of the firearm off of your arms but typically, hunters won’t be using a shooting rest like the one you take to a local range - most likely it would be a tripod setup instead.

What are some of the best shooting rests?

Whether you’re looking for affordable options for solely zeroing purposes or for a shooting rest that you’ll be bringing with you to hunting trips and matches, these are a few products that deserve your attention.

Caldwell Precision Turret Shooting Rest

The Caldwell Precision Turret sports a sturdy steel frame with a rotating clamp on top of a tripod stand. It was designed for a pistol grip pattern firearm like a typical AR platform. An adjustable rear platform allows the pistol grip of a rifle to be supported at rest, but it isn’t compatible for use with rifles that have other grip patterns such as a sporting stock or bullpup patterns. While the angle of the rear base can be adjusted, the base cannot be moved forwards or backwards.

This can make accommodating small pistols and long stocks difficult. The adjustable legs of the Caldwell Precision Turret shooting rest can quickly make the frame into a portable package for easier storage and transport. While the Caldwell Precision Turret can be had for around $149.99, it is still a decent choice, as far as shooting rests go.

Pros

• Strong steel frame
• Easy for transport and storage
• Aesthetically pleasing turret design
• Ideal for ARs and common rifles of pistol grip pattern
• Fits most types of rifles
• Plenty of traversing

Cons

• Expensive compared to other shooting rests
• Rear base cannot be adjusted horizontally

Caldwell Matrix Shooting Rest

This shooting rest on the other hand is designed for zeroing in not just your rifle, but will also fit your handguns perfectly with a center cradle to seat the handgun frame on. However, reviews of the Matrix have reported that smaller pistols may not be able to comfortably rest on the center platform as it is not adjustable in elevation. The center cradle, when the rubber lid is removed, acts as a clearance space for the protrusion of magazines as well as bipods.

The front rest platform is adjustable for up to 4.5” with a spring loaded knob. Users report that during operation that the front base can begin to slowly creep down, but report success in fixes with taping sandpaper to the plastic teeth track.

While the plastic construction is not as sturdy or as stowable as that of the Caldwell Precision Turret, the shape of the Caldwell Matrix Shooting Rest encourages maximum stability for everything at an affordable price of $59.99 at retail.

Pros

• Cost effective
• Good entry level shooting rest
• Lightweight
• Supports most firearm patterns

Cons

• Front rest may slip down
• Center cradle can’t be adjusted
• No traversing. Meant for only zeroing sights

Primos 2-Point Gun Rest

The 2-Point Gun Rest by Primos Hunting is a shooting rest built to work with any tripod using a 1/4-20 threading. This gun rest is made with one-piece sport stocks in mind and is not meant to perform as an AR 15 shooting rest. Primos Hunting developed this rest to work with their gen 2 trigger stick, but it will function with their Trigger Stick Gen 3 variant with an adapter mount should you not have your own tripod shooting stick already. The 2-Point Gun Rest itself runs at $43.99.

Pros

• Good quality build for value
• Lightweight and easy to carry
• Traversing

Cons

• Needs additional shooting stick
• Does not fit AR pattern rifles comfortably

Caldwell Lead Sled

Among all the products Caldwell makes, their line of 'Lead Sleds' are the best shooting rests you can buy for not only AR15 use but virtually any rifle or shotgun. They're rated to reduce up to 95% perceived felt-recoil when shooting, have high zeroing ability with wide range of elevation and windage adjustments that only take one move. Lead Sleds are easy to transport and incredibly lightweight considering it can be used for larger caliber rifles. While some may say that the AR15 will struggle with fitment on these shooting rests due to the detachable mag, the solution is to use a shorter GI style steel mag that perhaps is only 10 rounder. You shouldn't have any rifle fitment issues if you mount your AR15 to the Lead Sled in this way. 

Best of all, there's a fantastic deal on Midway right now that offers the Caldwell Lead Sled 3 along with a pair of bluetooth rechargeable ear plugs not too different from the shape of Gen 1 Apple Airpods and these have a noise reduction rating of 23 dB!

Can sandbags be used as shooting rests?

Yes! Sandbags can definitely be used as shooting rests. Of course, there are the nice ones you can by from Caldwell or other brands. There are also duct taped IKEA bags that can be filled with sand, which aren’t just for the poors who can’t afford proper bipods and shooting rests. Sandbags are an iconic feature of entrenchments and are versatile for range use in more than just acting as a shooting rest substitute.

Sand bags of various sizes can be extremely useful as weights for conditioning drills or even building barricades. While they may leak with repeated stress, they're as inexpensive as shooting rest options come. For your sandbag needs, check out the Sand Bag Store which offer discounts on bulk purchases.

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