"Necessity is The Mother of Invention"
(So sayeth The Viper)
After countless dollars spent on rifle rests that always lacked something in either design features, stability or quality of workmanship, I, like a lot of shooters wanted to make my own.
I've competed in the 1,000 yd. bench rest and F Class games for a number of years and have seen some really neat rests. Some worked and some didn't.
Some of the features of the Viper's Rest I've found in other rests. Some were designed by Mr. James Stewart, an industrial arts educator for 30 years and he did all the tooling and blueprint work. He also fixes everything I manage to break. Some of the ideas came from Mr. Norman Barber of Ontario, Canada, who is one of the top bench rest and F Class shooters in the world.
I started with a list of WANTS:
Stability
Functionality
Convenience
Classy Look
Turn heads on the range
Had to be a rock!
The Rest had to lock down tight.
All moving parts had to be immobilized without a chance of them coming loose.
That meant, my list of building materials could not contain nylon, plastic or sleeves to wear out, move or fail.
Only solid ALUMINUM, BRASS and STAINLESS STEEL would be the materials that I would have to work with.
THAT'S WHY THE VIPER'S REST JUST PLAIN WORKS!