Shooting Bench

[tkcomer]

Hey all. I'm looking for a portable shooting bench. I've been trying to make do with a card table, but it's too wobbly. I also shoot left-handed. I've seen some plans for tables, but I'm not sure about that “18 degree” angle they cut into the base for the pipe that threads in. My luck, I'd end up with a stout table that wobbles worse than what I have now. And are the three leg designs really that stable? I want to be able to put this in a pickup and drive to different areas of the farm to set up for different distances. So what do you use? Store bought? Home made? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[aka108]

Almost anything that sets on the ground will have some play unless it is so heavy you'll get tired of hauling it around. Might be good to select several areas on your land and build a permanent bench on each that has legs set into the ground about 4 feet.

 

[Hutch]

Three leg system is actually more stable than 4 on uneven ground. Simple geometry... 3 points define a plane, and the fourth point (or leg) may or may not be even. That's why nobody mounts a machinegun on a 'quad-pod'.

 

[tkcomer]

I don't want permanent sites. These areas are in hayfields. Kinda why I want a portable unit. Glad to hear the 3 legged tables are stable. I have a friend that has a chop saw and welder. Might be able to talk him into rigging the leg supports up. Father-in-law works with wood so I might be able to get him to come up with a top. Been searching the web for ideas, but thought I'd ask for advice on what works and what doesn't here.

 

[Dean C]

I have a table I designed. Problem is it's in Autocad and I can't seem to get it into a .pdf format. If someone can help me out here, I'll post a copy.
dean

 

[Steve H]

I use a Balck & Decker Workmate as a base. It's pretty solid for having 4 legs. On top of it I have a ~2' x 5' piece of carpeted 3/4" plywood that I can set my leather bags on and have a fairly steady shooting platrorm. For a seat I use an old metal tractor seatmounted on a stand that is seperate from the Workmate. The whole thing allows my guns to shoot better than I can.

 

[tkcomer]

Here is my wobbly setup: http://www.pixagogo.com/8855594622 Click on a pic to make it bigger, then click on Original to make it even bigger. I use this area for 100 yard short range site-in. That and pistol practice. Most of the ready made stuff I find are table and chair combos. They don't look too steady to me, plus that left hand thing again. The simplest plan I have seen is to take two sheets of plywood, glue them together and cut out the shape. Kind of a “Y” design, for lack of a better term, for both right and left handers. Then you use 1½” pipe for the legs. Now I can't find the website. I'll keep looking for it.

 

[CZ223]

The three legged designs are quite stable

Here is what I would do.

Find a design for the top that you want by looking at some of the comercially available designs. An L shape with rounded corners is pretty standard.
Get your friend the woodworker to buy you a sheet of either 1/2" or 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood. They come in 5'x5' sheets so split it down the middle, double it up and cut out the design. Seal with exterior paint or poly. Make 3 harwood wedges at desired angle app. 5"x5" and glue them to the underside of the table where the legs should go. Get 3 pipe flanges and 3 pieces of threaded pipe app. 30'' in length. Set the flanges on the wedges and drill holes all the way through the wedges and top. If you want to countersink the carriage bolts, and I would, drill 1/8" holes first, flip the top over and countersink carriage bolt heads with a 1" forstner bit, then redrill with the appropriate sized drill. Bolt the flanges and screw in the legs. The plywood will cost you between $17 and $25. The flanges are about $3@ and I don't know what the pipe will cost. The Baltic Birch Plywood is the best for this application because there are few if any voids and the multiple layers. 1/2" is usually 9 ply and the 3/4" is 13 ply. Real stable stuff. Because of the the multiple layer it shapes and sands really well. I would round the edges with with a router bit then sand until smooth.

 

[CZ223]

WOW!!!!

I just visited a web site for Stukeys portable shooting benches. While I really like the idea of the angle-iron triangle for support I would never pay almost $400 for it. The top is not even made of good plywood but rather 1/2" cdx or something similar. If you are right handed and you don't have any lefties that will be using your bench you do not need the ambidextrous desing of his unit. The picture of the truck sitting on the four benches was impressive however.

 

[tkcomer]

Here is that web page: http://www.larrywillis.com/shootingbench.html Looks like a design that fits lefties like me, and right handed shooters also. I saw that Stukey's site. Nice, but you could buy a stout kitchen table for less than that. I just got back into shooting a couple of months ago. I used to shoot off the hood of the truck, but everyone said I couldn't the accuracy that I was after from that setup. I don't hunt. Coyotes ate my targets. Groundhogs. Kinda of a love/hate relationship with them.
Don't like 'em, hate groundhogs even more. But I like shooting at targets. Hence the need for a solid, portable bench. And practice. Plus a better scope. The Tasco on this gun is fuzzy.

 

[carterbeauford]

I use this bench, it is rather heavy duty in my opinion. The front rest unscrews if you want to use sandbags or a rest, or you can use the front rest with a rear sandbag.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

I'm also left-handed, but my situation is different. I'm looking to build a 4 station permanent range. I know I'm gonna lay a concete pad & use a three-leg design for the benches. But I'd sure like to find some blueprints as to how it's been done in the past. I remember the Stukenhoff range in Casper Wyomng to have excellent benches on that model.

900F