Designed by sniping expert, Major John L. Plaster, the Choate-Plaster Rifle Stabilizer steadies any firearm. Lightweight, rugged and fast, it is guaranteed to cut groups in half.

WHAT'S THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE RIFLE STABILIZER'S EFFECTIVENESS?
Competitive high-powered rifle shooters have long realized that the most accurate shooting requires steadiness from skeletal support, while also alleviating the tremors of respiration and heartbeat. The Rifle Stabilizer's simple but sophisticated design addresses all three. The best high-power shooters tuck the supporting elbow down and tight to their body, then lean back - so the rifle's center-of-balance is above the supporting hip -- to achieve skeletal support from the hip and leg bones. By likewise channeling support downward, the Rifle Stabilizer achieves a similar effect without contorting the shooter's body. Accomplished competitive shooters also reduce the potential tremors of respiration and heartbeat by training to time their shots, learning to control their breathing, and wearing adjustable shooting jackets. The Rifle Stabilizer, too, reduces such tremors by shifting a large amount of support from the shooter's arms and chest - where the trembling effect is greatest - to the hip, away from the effects of breathing and heartbeat. Further, the Stabilizer reduces shooter fatigue by relieving the supporting arm of approximately 85% of the rifle's weight. No other shooting support systems -- not bipods or tripods or shooting sticks -- so well address exactly how the human body affects steady, accurate firing.

HOW DID MAJOR PLASTER COME UP WITH THIS DESIGN?
About ten years ago, Major Plaster was watching an instructional video being filmed, and noticed how remarkably a device called a "SteadyCam" supported the photographer's bulky, heavy camera. Examining it more closely, he found that this device incorporated both counterbalances and a sophisticated body brace to achieve so smooth a steadiness that the recorded image seemed to float, eliminating the otherwise typical jerkiness found in hand-held videography. Having instructed sniping for 13 years, Plaster instantly realized this had applications for steadying a rifle - however, the SteadyCam apparatus was bulky and expensive, costing nearly $50,000. Still, the former Green Beret believed that such principals could be applied to shooting, via a simpler, less costly design. Initially, he experimented with variations on a military sling, which could be cinched tightly to a supporting arm's bicep to steady a rifle; though long established, he sought to modify the sling to reduce the shooter's fatigue and make it simpler and faster to slip into. These complex designs, he eventually realized, were not the solution. After that, he even experimented with a $5000 commercial gyroscope, which improved steadiness somewhat, but was much too heavy and expensive for practical application. Finally, in 1999, he came upon the concept of an extendable support arm, attached at the waist, which evolved through several prototypes into the Rifle Stabilizer, which achieves a great degree of steadiness without the cost or complications of a SteadyCam.

CAN YOU COMPARE/CONTRAST THE RIFLE STABILIZER TO OTHER SUPPPORT SYSTEMS, SUCH AS BIPODS, TRIPODS AND SHOOTING STICKS?
While offering nearly the same degree of stability that a bipod provides, the Rifle Stabilizer adds no weight, no length and no bulk to the rifle, leaving your firearm clean and ready for any kind of shooting situation. By contrast, a bipod affects a firearm's balance, while also adding bulk and weight to it. The bipod, though clearly effective for prone firing, does not assist other shooting positions - sitting, kneeling, standing - unless it's an extremely large unit, making it clumsier and bulkier yet. Various sorts of shooting sticks are even clumsier, must be carried in the non-shooting hand, and tend to get caught up in brush. Most riflemen want their left hand free, to help make their way through the brush and have their rifle ready for snap-shooting. Tripods, too, must be carried separately, take time to employ and adjust, and add weight and bulk to what the shooter must carry. The Rifle Stabilizer offers a steadying effect similar to shooting sticks and almost a bipod, but it's quick to employ - as fast as you can raise your rifle! - and it works best for the very position that most needs support, offhand shooting. Further, it's the only shooting support that's fast enough for snap-shooting!

HOW WELL DOES THE STABILIZER WORK WITH HEAVY-BARRELED RIFLES, LIKE VARMINT RIFLES, SNIPER RIFLES AND TARGET RIFLES?
The heavier the rifle, the better the Rifle Stabilizer works - because these barrel-heavy rifles are the ones most difficult for most shooters to hold steady. Further, because the Stabilizer shifts approximately 85% of the rifle's weight to the shooter's waist, it so reduces arm fatigue that he can hold it steady for a much longer period. Think of those situations where you've had to wait for an animal to clear brush before firing - and how fatigue began to degrade your steadiness. That's eliminated with the Stabilizer.

HOW DOES THE STABILIZER HAVE SPECIAL APPLICATIONS FOR VARMINT AND TURKEY HUNTERS?
As any accomplished varmint or turkey hunter knows, his slightest movement can send an approaching animal running, or preclude it even approaching. Yet, when employing a game call the hunter must both operate the call and have his rifle or shotgun at-the-ready. The Stabilizer solves this by allowing the hunter to keep his long-gun propped up and ready, holding it on the Stabilizer with one hand while operating his call with the other. Shifting from call to long-gun, then, is simple and relatively undetectable. Further, because the Stabilizer's adjustable arm length uses the same setting for sitting and kneeling as for standing, the hunter doesn't have to re-adjust it when shifting from one position to another, thereby keeping his body movement to the minimum.

IN COLDER CLIMES, WHERE HUNTERS WEAR BULKY OR LONG OUTER JACKETS, CAN THEY STILL USE A RIFLE STABILIZER?
Absolutely. Just mount it on a lengthier belt outside the jacket, which is how Major Plaster has used the Stabilizer for winter hunting.

DOES THE STABILIZER WORK WITH OPTICS -- LIKE SPOTTING SCOPES AND BINOCULARS?
The Stabilizer notably improves your ability to discern distant objects by steadying hand-held optical devices. To stabilize optics, use the same extendable arm length as used for supporting a rifle. Just place the spotting scope or one binocular tube in the yoke and lift it up to your eye. A version of the Stabilizer soon will be fielded especially for steadying hand-held still and video cameras, too.

HOW IS THE STABILIZER USED DIFFERENTLY WHEN FIRING A PISTOL?
Many shooters find the best handgun steadiness by placing the Rifle Stabilizer on the same hip as their firing hand - ie., right hip for a right-handed shooter. Using this technique, the firing hand is placed slightly forward of the yoke, so the Stabilizer is giving maximum support to the shooting arm. The supporting hand, then, is used as normal in a two-handed shooting grip. Of course, to obtain the proper length to support a handgun, the extendable arm must have its length adjusted, so that the yoke fits properly.

CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE?
The Choate-Plaster Rifle Stabilizer is guaranteed to cut any shooter's groups in half, period. In test after test, using a variety of shooters and guns, the Rifle Stabilizer so steadied their hold that there was a dramatic tightening of group sizes - at least by half. No matter the firearm, the shooter or the shooting position, just fire a group without the Stabilizer, then fire another with it, and if the second group isn't at least half the size of the non-supported group, just return it and your money will be cheerfully refunded.

WHY IS THE RIFLE STABILIZER SO REASONABLY PRICED?
Choate Machine and Tool, and Major Plaster, believe that hunters, along with military and law enforcement shooters, will find the Rifle Stabilizer so useful that it will be a must-have item. We're doing our best to keep the Rifle Stabilizer within the budgets of American riflemen, long-range shooters, varmint hunters, military snipers, police marksmen, turkey hunters and handgun hunters. The recommended retail price - just $33.00-- is comparable to a box of high-end, premium grade rifle ammunition; quite a buy for how much the Stabilizer enhances shooting.