shooting benches

[smylee grouch]

I went to a paper shoot this last weekend and used another guys shooting bench to shoot some bench rest matches. His was alot hevier than anything I have made in the past and the one that I am making now. Looking over alot of the other shooters benches that were there you could see a full range of styles and construction methods, most made to bring to shoots where stability and mobility are desired. Just wondering what everyone else likes and uses as some times we uise the things out in the back 40 to sight in the deer rifles or for impomp shooting matches.          Gary

[Daryl]

Set of folding legs from Canadian Tire Corporation, sheet of 1/2" to 3/4" that measures 48" x 30".  Cut a radius cornered notch 10" deep on both sides to fit both "left or right hand shooters", from almost to the middle of each side, back to 1/3" the width at the rear of the table. This is similar to what I use for gopher shooting when on a 'stand'.  The herd didn't stand a chance.

[Eric Krewson]

At the house I use a folding saw horse to shoot off of, just the right height for me and with 4 or 5 sandbags I can really prop up well. I place it parallel to the target instead of perpendicular so I have butt and barrel supported .

[frogwalking]

I screwed 4 short pieces of 2x4 to the back of a piece of 3/4 inch plywood so it will stay in place on our lawn mower trailer.  Sand bags on top of that while sitting on two stacked 6x6 blocks works for me.  Now if I can get the sun to stand still while I shoot to stop the ever shifting sun/shadow on sights and target in my shooting spot in the woods.............

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

You gotta post pictures of these.......I could steel em and get rich selling a book on hillbilly shooting benches!!!    

[Standing Bear]

I like being able to sit erect and !@*%&@ near shooting from an off hand position only with the fore arm and my elbow rested, head up, etc.  At the range three  4" pipes concreted in the ground a foot or so and a 4" T shaped concrete table.

Makeshift and portable benches come in all configurations.  I've even seen one guy using the old lady's ironing board!     One was a plywood box that held the legs, had flanges to attach the legs and large handles - heavy but fairly compact and fit in the PU well.

I even built a "standing bench" that clamped to the pole at the range.  Rest for your forward hand is and for the elbow.  Adjustable for the different shooter heights.  That one was popular and stayed at the range all the time.  May even still be there.

[Mike R]

..just a bit of humor:  When I lived in Tulsa I had a buddy who was a sort of modern day Rube Goldberg. He decided he needed a take apart bench that he could easily put in his trunk for a trip to the range, but also wanted one that would grip his rifle tight and allow precisely alike sight alignment for repeated shots. He designed the thing and spent hours making it out of 2X4s and other items...this despite the fact that the little range we used had sturdy concrete benches already.  One fine Saturday we took out rifles to the range so he could try out his new device. I wish I could describe this contraption--it took him nearly 30 min to assemble it, while I poked holes in the 100 yd bull with my trusty deer rifle off the concrete bench and sand bags...satisfied with my groups, I watched him set up the device and bolt in his rifle.  He fiddled and fiddled and adjusted the darn thing, and finally touched off a shot.  At the recoil the whole contraption fell apart! This greatly disconcerted him as his object was perfect repeat shots--that is shots from the same "hold" and alignment each time--somehow he had not factored in recoil...it was all I could do to keep from busting a gut while he stared dejectedly at what must have been a weeks work, laying in pieces before him...we spent the next couple hours putting it back together and busting it up again before he gave it up as a bad cause....

[roundball]

I've thought a number of times about getting one of those 4 - 5' utility tables from Office Depot, attaching a 1/4 sheet of plywood on top for extra strength, then add a layer of carpet...the legs on them seem to have the same configuration as the legs on this one...then just sit at the corner of one end.
(but as long as I have the little place I shoot at which has a shooting table under a pole shelter, haven't had the need yet)

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

We've got two threads going here,  on the same subject ...I just posted some pics of my portable shooting table in the other thread.

[BrownBear]

I'm strictly utilitarian, shooting in the field rather than on a formal range.  My rest consists of the sheet of 5/8" ply that lives in the bed of my truck, a sawhorse and a folding chair.  Just drop the tail gate, slide the ply partway out and rest the end on the saw horse.  Put the chair behind it, and I'm ready.  Takes about 30 seconds of setup. 

When I'm shooting somewhere I can't position the truck right, I just rest the ply on two sawhorses.  With two sawhorses, if you keep them about 18" in from the ends of the plywood, the span between is plenty stiff for shooting work.

If the ground is uneven or for some reason the table doesn't seem stable enough, I just set a heavy shooting box or a few rocks on it right over the sawhorse(s).

[hanshi]

Several years ago I built a portable one with wooden legs that come off and topped with carpet.  It also has inserts to accept a portable brass catcher that I also made.  I've fired some of my finest groups off that table.  I'll try to get a pic posted.

[Ky-Flinter]

.....portable brass catcher.....

  To catch the furniture flung off your flintlock when you double load?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

-Ron

[Daryl]

This is Taylor's bench- mine is similar and uses the same hardware-store legs screwed to the bottom. I should note, both benches, Taylor's and mine are made from heavy plywood. The top for mine came from a (Down-South) rifle range when they went to concrete benches.  There is no flexing of the top surface and they need no extra support. I use mine every year for shooting gophers at long range.


Found mine - disregard the 'stuff'.

[cahil_2]

Old wooden ironing boards.  They fold up nicely for storage and you can use them to lean your rifle up against to clean it too.

[catman]

Tailgates are good and are included with the truck.
I use mine very often..

[beleg2]

Hi,
I shoot from my truck, mostly smokless guns.
Im left hand so I shot from the weel seat puting something like a shirt between the door and the outside mirror. Leaning my torax on the door it It works ok for me.
JMHO
Martin

PS: It is not a traditional rest.

[frogwalking]

Sometime back I got a new Thompson Center .22 to replace a Remington 404 that no one, including the Remington factory could make to shoot.  I put my scope on the TC and looked for a place to sight it in.  Well, my car still had the bicycle rack on the roof, so I thought I could pad one rail and lie across the top, thinking the bullet would clear the rack on the other side.   

I really think the bullet  hole in the bicycle rack is rather jaunty, don't  you?   

Be careful shooting from  you truck.

Frog