Hight seat users.

[Tikkat1x]

Right chaps, iv recently bought a high seat, as its my first i just went for A1 decoys £200 5m one, now iv set it up nice and its sturdy and in a good place, when i set a couple of targets up to practice i was all over the shop, as in football size 5 shot groups, when i was looking at some others after id bought this one i saw some were a box set up around the seat that had sides, which i thought would be good for somewhere to rest your arm and hopefully make for a sturdy shot, so i made a side bit for it and bolted it on today, which made a good bit of difference, when i was just looking though the scope at 100y it seemed steady as a rock and i held it on a tree and some old maize stubble and again it seemed rock solid, i then put a couple of targets up but my group size was a a good 5-6", no where good enough for roe,
so my question is, what can i do get a more steady shot off, maybe its because i was aiming at something small on quite high mag, as later that evening i was out with the 223 shooting a few rabbits when i passed the high seat and though id have a sit up there for a bit, a rabbit came onto the field 100y away and with the alpex 4k on x28 power it seemed a nice easy shot,
any ideas/thoughts.

thanks

Lee

 

[Tikkat1x]

.

 

[Xone262]

As well as being steady have you got your hand under the rifle and between the rail?

 

[The Singing Stalker]

Are you just resting the rifle on the cross bar so it can jump when you shoot?

 

[Bo Diddley]

Get some composite board or a scaffold board and form a shelf rather than a silly rail to shoot off. I always take a small bag up with me to shoot off,
My favorite seats have a cheap Temu one left up there all the time.

 

[Tikkat1x]

iv mainly just shot off the rail, with my hand on the barrel to try steady it, under the rail and on the forend with a small amount of down force, on the barrel under the scope,
i was also thinking of some kind of board set up so it was more like a high shooting bench, i was also thinking of trying some tower scaffold so i can be prone and that way it would be perfect,
i have some in the garage, i think the first lift is probably 6-7 foot,

 

[ColinBr]

iv mainly just shot off the rail, with my hand on the barrel to try steady it, under the rail and on the forend with a small amount of down force, on the barrel under the scope,
i was also thinking of some kind of board set up so it was more like a high shooting bench, i was also thinking of trying some tower scaffold so i can be prone and that way it would be perfect,
i have some in the garage, i think the first lift is probably 6-7 foot,

Hand on the barrel?
There's your problem. Don't touch the barrel when shooting.
Get yourself something soft for the fore end to rest on too.

 

[Tikkat1x]

Hand on the barrel?
There's your problem. Don't touch the barrel when shooting.
Get yourself something soft for the fore end to rest on too.

that makes sense
it has some foam on the front rail but its round and thin, the stuff i pot on the side bit i made is pretty hard and flat on the top, i was going to put some of that on,

 

[VSS]

Firstly, you have bought a very poor high seat. Slightly improved by your addition of side rails, but still very poor. It's almost impossible to get a decent steady shooting position in one of those.

As others have said, don't touch the barrel, or let it touch anything.

Get a beanbag or something that you can put on the rail to rest the forend on. I actually put my backpack on my highseat rail to give a really good solid shooting rest.

 

[finnbear270]

Anything touching the barrel that is out of your ordinary shooting method will alter your results, Google rifle barrel harmonics.
& as mentioned above, better high seats are available.

 

[Mike L]

19mm pipe lagging.

 

[Nimrod1960]

VSS is correct re quality of seat.
I bought a couple of folding jobs from A1 , flimsy rubbish, the others will be China made rubbish as well.

Spend not at lot more and get one from Keiths High Seats or similar.
Go to the Stalking Show and compare with what you have.

Never touch barrel and fair play to you for wanting the right grouping.

I find that being up high can alter perception of distance so I usually pace out from the seat and note or leave a discrete marker at 50,100,150 m. Also suggest you shoot a group close in, in woods it is surprising how often a deer will suddenly appear close to the seat, sods law coming in from behind.

 

[pete evans]

Hand under the stock and nothing touching the barrel and I suspect your group will tighten up. Even just the hand off the barrel as that’s likely to be the majority of the problem, when shooting from sticks generally you wouldn’t have a hand under fore end

 

[Tim.243]

Right chaps, iv recently bought a high seat, as its my first i just went for A1 decoys £200 5m one, now iv set it up nice and its sturdy and in a good place, when i set a couple of targets up to practice i was all over the shop, as in football size 5 shot groups, when i was looking at some others after id bought this one i saw some were a box set up around the seat that had sides, which i thought would be good for somewhere to rest your arm and hopefully make for a sturdy shot, so i made a side bit for it and bolted it on today, which made a good bit of difference, when i was just looking though the scope at 100y it seemed steady as a rock and i held it on a tree and some old maize stubble and again it seemed rock solid, i then put a couple of targets up but my group size was a a good 5-6", no where good enough for roe,
so my question is, what can i do get a more steady shot off, maybe its because i was aiming at something small on quite high mag, as later that evening i was out with the 223 shooting a few rabbits when i passed the high seat and though id have a sit up there for a bit, a rabbit came onto the field 100y away and with the alpex 4k on x28 power it seemed a nice easy shot,
any ideas/thoughts.

thanks

Lee

Most of the commercial made seats the rail is to low by 4-6 inches, with them being so low and lack of a dead rest then the chance of a steady shot in not good also you cheek weld will be different as you will have your head in a different place.

I make my own seats as quite frankly the prawn cracker label ones are not great, there is one been left on a bit of ground I have (like yours) and I tried it and had to be one rung lower to get the rifle to get somewhere to get a decent line of sight
so just used my sticks and shot a good few deer from that spot but not the seat.

A "quick fix" I used to take with me on one estate was a length of broom handle with some pipe lagging across the seat sides on an angle to get a elbow rest as you need to be steady to make a decent shot.

 

[homer]

Firstly, you have bought a very poor high seat. Slightly improved by your addition of side rails, but still very poor. It's almost impossible to get a decent steady shooting position in one of those.

As others have said, don't touch the barrel, or let it touch anything.

Get a beanbag or something that you can put on the rail to rest the forend on. I actually put my backpack on my highseat rail to give a really good solid shooting rest.

I bought 4 of those seats many years ago, think 3 yrs was the most I got out of one before they rotted out. Cheap sh@#*.

 

[Mr. Gain]

I have several Chinese-made high seats, from Askari and X3M1, so all pretty old now, as well as a couple of better-quality Bushwear Panthers. None of them have "rotted out" (perhaps because -on the advice of the SD-, when setting them up, I drilled drain holes into the underside of sections that might trap water and greased all the fittings). Putting a paving slab under the feet was also a good move.
I also find I can shoot accurately from them, even from some quite contorted positions (twisted round, crouched down, leg extended onto a lower rung, etc.) and still knock things over reliably out to 160m or so.
How? It depends. Partly, I simply use the rail as a guide, and otherwise support the rifle as though I were shooting offhand; partly, I use my bipod shooting sticks, either to support the rail or the rifle. It depends on the seat, angle and degree of urgency. Practice sessions, mostly with the air rifle, have played their part as well.
As for covering the shooting rail, my preference is plastic grass, since the neighbourhood jackdaws love ripping foam apart, and the buzzards' talons shred the rest, but the plastic grass resists very well, and requires no more maintenance than a couple of new cable ties every now and then.
Please note, I am in no way saying cheap Chinese seats are as good, let alone better, than locally-produced UK ones, but they may be good enough for what you need, and I've been "getting by" successfully with mine for years. The oldest are 20+ and the youngest 6+ years old. I have not had to scrap one yet either - except for one a farmer reversed a grain trailer into and put beyond repair.

 

[The Singing Stalker]

Ohhh, plastic grass, never thought about that, good shout.

 

[Tazz]

Up a high seat you want to try and be as solid as laying down with bipod. I use pipe insulation on the shooting rail, then try and unsure your back is solidly against the seat/tree, next try and a sure your shooting elbow is supported I leave a 2x1 up the seat that can go across the shooting rail at 90 degrees, two key points don’t put the for-end on anything metal also don’t have your fingers on the barrel

 

[Greenmist]

Buy a cheap barricade bag and drape it over the bar, or better, a plank of wood with a bean bag or cushion

 

[Mr. Gain]

It is true that the "designers" of Chinese high seats routinely appear to stop bothering when it comes to doing the shooting rail.