Portable Shooting Bench

[Ben]

My friend Bryan was interested in a portable shooting bench. He is a south - paw, but his son is right handed.

He asked " Can we build a portable bench that a right hand AND left hand shooter could use ? "

My answer was " YES " ! !

So we went to work. Notice that it has 3 legs and sits steady with no wobble even on uneven ground.

The legs fold and retract , making for easy storage.
Before you ask for plans, there are none....We just started measuring and cutting and making the bench to fit his own individual needs for height, etc.

However, if you'd like to make one and have some rudimentary wood working skills, you can look at the photos and easily copy it and make it to suit your own individual needs. The bench is made of pressure treated 2 X 4's and 5/8 " thick decking. Attaching screws for the 29 " long legs are 3/8 " dia. X 4 " long bolts with washers and wing nuts at all points. Plated deck screws were used exclusively to put everything together with. If you'd like to add a little " over - kill " , you could also add some construction adhesive. That would make it " gorilla proof ".

Notice that when you sit at the bench and slide your knees under the bench, they don't hit any of the legs.

Thanks for looking,

Ben

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Photo0375.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Photo0376.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Photo0377.jpg

Here is my friend Brian and his new portable shooting bench :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Photo0380.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Photo0374.jpg

[slide]

Well Done Guys!

[Shooter6br]

Had one like yours for years.Was from NRA mag article.Great bench on uneven ground

[wv109323]

I like it. What is the overall length of the top? It looks like 58-60" by using the legs as 29".
I like the idea of having a seat that matches the bench.

[Ben]

wv109323

Sorry, I'm no longer in possession of the bench and cannot give a dimension on the length.

Actually the " tang " on the rear of the bench ( to rest your elbow on ) ended up a bit long. But......it allowed the rear leg to fold away so we made no attempt to shorten it.

Ben

[Artful]

I had made one, years ago that I no longer have but used the opposite direction.
square table with half circle cut out and two legs in back and single leg in front.
seat was non-adjustable brace attached to both legs in the back.
Each wing was wide enough to set up sand bags on, so you could do either side shooting.

Only issue I had with it was weight (used scrap 4x4 for outer framing and left over 3/4 plywood for top) and the fact that you had to step over the rear bench seat to get into position (not everyone's cup of tea but I was young then)

Now I have one a friend made from one of the plastic tables you buy at Sam's Club.