SEB NEO Front Rest — Unique Features of This Co-Axial Design
Our friend Sebastian (“Seb”) Lambang recently released some photos that illustrate the “inner workings” of his advanced SEB NEO Front Rest. If you’ve ever wondered how a joystick front rest works, and how the parts go together, study the photos below. In addition, for those who use a NEO rest in competition, Benchrest Champion Mike Ratigan offers some PRO USER Tips that will help you get the best results from your NEO.
Unique Features of the SEB NEO Front Rest:
- Lots of Travel — 43 MOA Vertical and 48 MOA Horizontal via joystick alone. The NEO offers more joystick travel than any other coaxial rest.
- Variable Joystick Movement — The NEO is the only rest that can be configured for reverse action mode. That means you can optionally set it to lower the rifle with an up movement of the joystick if you prefer. (Standard setting raises rifle with up joystick movement.)
- Rack & Pinion Risers — The NEO has dual support columns with Rack & Pinion system, offering a very broad vertical adjustment range.
- Optional Counter-Weights — The NEO comes standard with a spring-loaded top mechanism to help hold up the rifle. Optional counter-weights allow you to reduce spring “pre-load”. Many people feel the counter-weights also allow a smoother, less jerky movement.
- Reversible Base — The NEO’s base can be set-up with either the long leg in the rear or the long leg in the front. Putting the long leg in front gives more room under the rifle.
- NEO Packs Flat — The SEB NEO is easily dismantled for transport, and can pack nearly flat. This is a big advantage when traveling.
SEB NEO PRO TIPS from Mike Ratigan:
Counter-weight Function and Calibration: “With the Seb NEO, equipped with the optional static counter-weight, the shooter can calibrate the counter weight to the rifle weight. The counter-weight is used to hold up the rifle. Clamping pressure of the sliding plates is NOT used to hold up the rifle like other coaxial rests on the market today. Other coaxial rests apply enough clamping force to the rest top mechanism sliding plates to resist the downward movement of the top when the rifle weight sets on the rest. This one feature of the Seb NEO almost completely eliminates bullets falling out of the bottom of your groups because the rest moved (or falls) down when you fired the rifle. This function is very important.”
On Hand Position: “I try to keep the palm of my hand grounded to the bench at all times. To do this at the closer distances, the handle will be laying flat (bend to the side) while shooting on the bottom of the target. To move to the top up (for right-handed shooters) I rotate the handle counter clockwise, which [raises the top] while maintaining my palm grounded to the bench.”
On Front Bag Fill: “Give some coarse sand blasting sand a try with the small stuff screened out. This will help reduce compaction from daily use.”
Forum member Ed L. (aka itchyTF) owns one of the beautifully-crafted SEB NEO front joystick rests. These units are in short supply — creator Seb Lambang can’t keep up with demand. Anyone lucky enough to own a SEB NEO would naturally would want to keep it in perfect condition, and Ed is no exception. Ed put together a system to cradle and protect his SEB NEO during transport and storage. Ed tells us: “I decided to give my NEO its own home. I only wanted to remove the leg before storage so I decided on an empty Pelican Storm IM2450 case and added my own foam. This IM2450 case is a little wider than it needs to be, but I couldn’t find anything closer and still fit the other dimensions. The blue and white foam is more rigid than the typical gray foam. The Allen wrenches are placed in the rear piece of white foam.”
