I bought one of Joe Cowan's front rests and then when he came out with an improved version I bought one of those too.
He is a teacher and the students build a couple of runs of rests every year to raise money for tools and materials. They have also given some money to good causes.
Here's the newer one.
Joe can be reached by searching rimfirecentral or a google search should turn up his e-mail. He teaches at Greater Altoona High or Tech Center iirc.
Okay, here's a post of Joe's on benchrest.com from 10/08 about his program.
www.benchrest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56724
"With the fall ‘08 run of front rests nearing completion and shipment, it has become apparent to me that the April ’09 run is sold out. We have begun taking reservations for Nov of 2009. Wow! To me and my students, this is almost unbelievable, as we are now taking reservations for over a year away.
When we started this project we were taking a “bold” approach by building 12 rests, and we were concerned that we would not be able to sell them all. Now we are building and selling nearly 100 each year and can’t build enough to meet the demand.
We owe this extreme success story to you, the shooting community.
There are two main comments that I receive when an order is placed: (1) you like the quality and value of the rests. (2) You like the idea that they are made by students and the students receive all of the proceeds.
Keep in mind that all of the money goes to the students and it is used to rent uniforms, pay for class parties, field trips, class dues, purchase tools etc.
When a student leaves my program he/she has their own machinist chest that is well stocked with tools to take with them and call their own.
I am most proud of my students’ generosity within the school and community. Unfortunately, each year a few students and their families are stricken with personal tragedy. My students think nothing of donating $1K (yes, one thousand dollars) to the cause. Last year we sponsored a drive and collected over 10,000 items and sent them to our troops in Iraq. 4 years ago one of my students passed away on Christmas day. His classmates gave the family $2,000.00 to buy the headstone.
The selflessness that my students demonstrate is something that is often missing in today’s’ youth and cannot be taught from a textbook or a lesson plan. The benchrest project gives these kids a perfect platform to learn how to give to others.
This all got started by the thoughtfulness of two people:
Dan Conzo had the idea, and convinced me to try it out. Dan, I still don’t know what a corn-back rattler is, but I know they scare the heck out of you.
Gary Finch, AKA UNC on the rimfire forum, had the foresight of buying the first one and showing it off around the rimfire community. I hope you are resting in peace Gary, God love ya.
We now have rests in all 50 states including Alaska and Hawaii and 5 foreign countries.
Thanks everyone, Benchresters are “Good People”.
Joe Cowan
"
