Looking for a portable shooting bench

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Dudedog

Dudedog

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Looking for a portable shooting bench. It needs to be able tol fold up and fit in the back seat of a small car, so it needs to be fairly small.

Saw this one on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Goplus-Portable-Shooting-Adjustable-Pockets/dp/B077G23FFX/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1535728663&sr=8-4&keywords=portable+shooting+bench&dpID=417Av8%2Bv1eL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
and was wondering if anybody had one of these and how it was.
Or if you have a different one how that you like, what type.

Building something is possible so if you built one info on what you built would help
Main use would be for me to rest handguns for load testing, then rifle second.

And no buying a truck to carry a better shooting bench is not an option at the moment:)
(currently using a cheap plastic folding table that sort of works but is not real stable.)
 
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I bought one of the Caldwell ones from Midway. It will do what you want but I found it to be slick and stuff like loose ammo rolls right off it.

I use one of the original Black & Decker workmates with a 2' x 4' top made from 1/2" ply wood. A piece of 1" x 4" down the middle with narrower strips running to the sides makes it easy to clamp in the workmate and 1" x 2" square around the edges solves the rolling off problem. This might be a little too much for a small car but's cheap if you already have the workmate. It is pretty sturdy and steady.
 
Hhhmmm the legacy one gave me some ideas.
Some kind of a nice thick top, 4 (possibly more) pipe flanges and some pipe for legs.
To bad I don't know a plumber to thread the pipe, need to check to see what that would cost. (or buy something to thread it myself but probably cheaper to pay to have it done.)
The legacy is a very nice looking bench but maybe just a few more $ than I wanted to spend.
Thanks for the link Oldfourtyfiveauto.
 
Dudedog said:
Hhhmmm the legacy one gave me some ideas.
Some kind of a nice thick top, 4 (possibly more) pipe flanges and some pipe for legs.
To bad I don't know a plumber to thread the pipe, need to check to see what that would cost. (or buy something to thread it myself but probably cheaper to pay to have it done.)
The legacy is a very nice looking bench but maybe just a few more $ than I wanted to spend.
Thanks for the link Oldfourtyfiveauto.
Click to expand...

Home Depot use to thread pipe for free. Maybe they still do.
 
I built one about like the Legacy many years ago. I finally got to old to enjoy wrestling it around and went to a lighter solution. Heavy is better for shooting of course but something had to give and it turned out to be me.
 
The smallest stable bench I have is poured concrete from a plywood mold that had female pipe couplers in it where the legs screw in. Might be better for the trunk than the back seat though.

2F693A77-CED8-41F3-B688-A44AF4F6049E.jpeg

FWIW 3 feet never rock back and forth like 4 will.
 
You carry a small wood wedge for the forth leg. Surprisingly it’s more solid than three legs. Stops the side to side movement you get at the rear unless you’re using 2” pipe or bigger and really tighten to take the thread slop out. Also the legacy benches are fairly light. We’ve been using them on our pdog trips and love them.
 
Of the ones that were mentioned, I didn't see any that were suitable for hand-gunning.
 
If you are “hand-gunning”, often you don’t need a bench at all. If you want to rest a hand gun any stable object that would work for a rifle will also work for the others.

Then again “hand gun” covers a lot of ground.

BBF35CA3-A8E4-40FF-983F-E45DA172DCBA.jpeg
 
I made a big "Oops" on my portable bench manufacturer. It's actually MTM. I have both Caldwell and MTM products and getting stuff mixed up seems to be more frequent as I age.

It's a pretty good product except for the fact that it has nothing to prevent roll-offs. A simple small trough molded into the top around the edges would prevent this. Other than that it's usable by both right and left handers and can be turned 180 degrees for pistol shooting. It's quick and easy to set up and fold up and fits nicely in the back of my jeep. If not for being in the way when using it for pistols I would screw 1/2" x 1'2" square strips around the front and sides and solve the roll off thing. I may put and easily removable strip on the front and go back to using it as it's somewhat handier than the workmate rig.
 
old wooden ironing boards
Click to expand...
Those are all probably considered "art" objects in my area of CA so $$.

Since I had a bunch of Amazon Smile points (they would cringe my smile charity is the California Rifle and Pistol Association)
I purchased the one linked in my first post. Used up about $50 worth of points. (paid Dental bills on my Amazon card, ouch on the bills but at least I got points)
Folds up nice seems fairly sturdy (better than my cheap plastic table) not to heavy.
The rest that come with it might be usable but I didn't plan on it from the picture.

I really thought about making one like jmorris showed but I figure a chunk of concrete that size would weigh 50 or 60 lbs and I am getting weak and scrawny in my old age and don't
want to have to deal with moving something that heavy in and out of the back of a Honda. Now if I had a only had a pickup......
 
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