Need advice: pistols and tripods

[Tundra Tiger]

Happy Saturday gents. I need advice.

I have a CVA single shot Scout V2 pistol, in .243. I have an 85 grain Barnes load that shoots really well. I have talked with my PH and am thinking to take it to Africa as a second gun. I can hit my 8 inch gong every single shot at 160 yards (farthest our range allows) with it - off my bag. Today I tried it off my tripod (a Bog Pod) for the first time and I couldn't hit squat. The eye relief was difficult to resolve, and I was just plain wobbly with it.

I know practice, practice, practice will help, but I have a limited amount of load resources currently, so I don't want to throw a ton of ammo at it just trying to figure it out.

So... for those of you who shoot handguns well off a tripod, do you have any advice? Thanks in advance.

 

[JimP]

Your eye relief is going to be the biggest problem, at least it is for me when shooting my Thompson Center Contender. I try and leave the scope cranked down to the lower powers for the best eye relief.

As for using a rest, you are just going to have to practice, dry firing will help a lot. I try and get the rest as close to the guard as I can. A lot of it is muscle memory and your stance. With dry firing you will be able to see if you are moving your sight picture when you pull the trigger if you do it at a closer range.

Another thing that I try to do is to sit down on my rear with my back against something and then use my knees or the side of my leg as a brace. Back when I wore cowboy boots I would just the top of the boot and the side of my leg to rest the pistol on.

When I am hunting javelina in Arizona I usually get me a yucca stem to use as a walking stick and brace for my Contender, but for those longer shots I still try and sit down on my rear. A friend using a shooting stick will just kneel down or sit on his foot while he uses the stick with his Contender.

 

[CD24]

I'm late to the party but if you're still looking for options look no further. I use a rest from trifectahandgun with a cheap ($30) monopod. The owner of the company is awesome and the product is exactly what a mobile handgun hunter wants. I know for a fact I'm minute of squirrel from 75 yards from a standing position with a Nosler independence 7mm-08. Give him an email or a call and tell him Chris sent you. We have worked together a good bit over the last several months. I use the hybrid hunter 2 but you might be able to get away with the smaller one.

home - Trifecta Handgun

trifectahandgun.com

 

[Red Leg]

Use a rifle?

 

[NDWoods]

I have the same pistol in a different caliber and I have to keep the magnification down near the bottom of the scope to shoot off a tripod. That is the only adjustment I made and shoot it just fine.

 

[BourbonTrail]

@Bearskinner might be someone to ask. He had a pretty extensive pistol Safari as I recall.

 

[meigsbucks]

I employed a low bipod (not Africa viable) or some short sticks. I had to kneel or sit. They are light weight and easy to get into shooting position.

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As others have stated, eye relief is an issue, so low power or red dot sight.

 

[Bearskinner]

I have a Big pod rest on an adrenaline tripod, with a one hand trigger camera mount for adjustment. It is a fantastic shooting platform, set up for me, mainly shooting scoped revolvers.

 

[Bearskinner]

It’s the lightest tripod I’ve used, that has lock down legs for height, not the twist to tighten legs. Twist legs will collapse with light pressure. The head pops off on one pin, (switcharoo setup) so you can carry a spotting scope on a mount and switch easily. It is an extremely stable platform to shoot off of, and makes it as stable as a shooting bench. I altered the camera mount QD and bolted the shoe to the bottom of the shooting rest. I can set the gun on the platform one handed, use the trigger for adjustment, and get on target quickly. It has NO effect on magnification.