June 29th, 2007

New Lightweight Front Rest for F-Class

At the request of Larry Bartholome, current member and former captain of the U.S. F-Class team, Butch Lambert of Shadetree Engineering & Accuracy (S.E.A.), has designed and fabricated a lightweight yet stable front rest prototype. Larry wanted a unit that was less burdensome to haul between firing lines than the typical cast-iron or “heavy metal” front pedestal. If all goes well, the new aluminum Lambert design will replace the rest shown in the photo below. (That’s Larry with his spectacular “Captain America” Shehane red, white, and blue MBR Tracker stock.)

Larry Batholome F-Class Shehane Tracker MBR

Other than the steel center hub, the rest is built from aircraft-grade 6061 T-6 aluminum, which can be TIG-welded and hard-anodized. To keep weight down, the three horizontal legs are hollow tubes with flutes or slots milled top and bottom. Butch sent us these photos of the new rest, noting: “It weighs 2.25 lbs without the top. I set one of our unfinished rest tops on it. I moved the back leg to the front to get it out of the way. Larry is ‘wrong handed’, so I made it left-handed. I hope to get it TIG-welded together next week and plated. It is definitely easy to lug around, but I do consider it too light for benchrest shooting. For F-Class, under a 22-lb rifle, Larry believes it should work well.”

Lambert ShadeTree Engineering F-Class rest

Lambert ShadeTree Engineering F-Class rest

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