Varmint shooting crows nest

[Buckshot]

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.............This is what the shooting ground looks like, pretty much 360* around you. WHile it looks flat and is for farming purposes it still has mild ripples and 'Whoopties'.

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Shooting off something like this, or a real portable shooting bench places you at a shallow angle to the ground. These shallow undulations you're looking over can hide several feet of ground from view. A ground squirrel sitting up a few feet behind one will only show a head. If running around on all 4's they're hidden.

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Once you get elevated by even a few feet it opens a whole panorama of ground you were unable to see previously. BruceB on the left. Ammohead on the right, who went all out maximizing the elevation possibilities short of renting a helicopter. More then one person on a vehicle is problematic due to movement. Leaning forward or back, turning and firing your rifle will move the other shooter's crosshairs a considerable amount. Even if the vehicle is isolated from it's suspension, like blocks and/or jacks from the ground to the chassis, movement can still spoil a shot. Just a few thousandths movement at the bench can translate into a total miss at 200 yards.

As a result I decided to fab up a varmint strafing tower. First of all it had to be easily vehicle transportable, so no piece could be over 5' long. It had to be easily set up by one person, so no piece could be too heavy to deal with. It also had to be simple to put together and not require a 12 drawer rollaway tool box full of tools to erect. Finally it had to be sturdy and dependable.

[Buckshot]

Dealing with the sturdy part, since I'm not a structural engineer I opted to go by intuition, with a large dose of Soviet construction technique :-)

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Left photo This is the cental piece that everything evolved from. It contains the 3 horizontal leg sockets, and the central post socket. It's all tied together with a 1 ft square, 3/8" thick plate. Right photo These are the legs, and are 2x2x1/8 steel tube. The only thing they're missing here is their stop collars and paint.

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Left Photo Legs assembled to the base section. The 5' piece of tube is in the central post poisition to get an idea of height. More cogitating on overall design required. Right photo Milling the 4 flats required to get 2" OD ROUND pipe inside 2" OD SQUARE tube. This 2" pipe is what the seat bracket will rotate on.

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Left photo Boring the 2 hole in a bearing plate. There will be 2 of these plates. One will be stationary and the other sitting atop it will form the bottom of the seat bracket assembly. It will be able to move about the central tube in about a 30* arc. Right photo And this is it! It's about 95% finished in this photo. The seat appears to be floating there without support, but the flash didn't light it very well.

[Buckshot]

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Left Photo The central base with the first central post in place. The 2" square steel tube telescopes into the center socket. Atop the central socket is a pinch collar. Right Photo A closeup of the pinch collar. This was a 1-1/2" wide piece of trailer receiver pocket. It had a 1/4" slot milled through. Two sides welded to the central socket, and a 5/8" bolt across the slot. When the nut is tightened it closes tight around the central post in the socket. This eliminates the clearance required to get he central post into the socket.

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Left photo The seat spindle, bracket and seat. The seat is on a 1" pin and may rotate. The benchtop spindle is sitting on top of the seat spindle. Both rotate around the 2" round steel pipe. Right photo The seat bracket is bolted to the seat spindle which rotates around the 2" steel pipe. The seat spindle has the 2nd (top) steel plate welded to it on it's bottom end. The steel 2" pipe is in the top of the 2nd center post and the spindle slides down over the pipe and comes to rest against the bottom plate. You can see the 2 bearing plates here. The bottom one is welded to the top of the second central post (whose bottom end fit's into the top of the first central post). The bottom plate does not rotate. The seat spindle is thusly supported solidly and may rotate against the bottom plate.

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Left photo This is the underside of the bench table. The table is 3/4" oak verneer 11 ply, plywood. I won't have a chance to get any stain or finish on it before we leave for Paradise Valley Monday AM. The benchtop frame is welded to a spindle which sits down over the 2" OD round pipe. It rotates exactly to follow the seat, so they're always in the same relationship.
Right photo Same photo as in the previous post, but I'll describe it and it's assembly. The entire unit is comprised of 10 pieces. 1st is the cental base which has the 3 leg sockets and the central post socket. Next you have the 3 legs, then the first central post, fitted to the base piece and extending about 4' up. At it's top is one of the pinch brackets. The 6th piece is the 2nd cental post which spigits into the top of the first central post. It has the 2" round steel pipe in it's top.

The 2nd central post has the seat spindle and bracket set down over the 2" round steel pipe and is the 7th piece with the seat being the 8th piece. The 9th piece is the benchtop spindle and bracket which also goes down over the 2" round steel pipe. The 10th and final piece is the benchtop which sets down over a 1-1/2" pivit pipe on the bracket. The only tool required for assembly is a Cresent wrench to tighten the nuts on the 5/8" bolts of the 2 pinch brackets. I have the design for the ladder but just won't have time to get it finished before we leave. I'll have to take the stepladder.

................Buckshot

[9.3X62AL]

I'm liking this--a lot. Given its stated ability to pivot about, I'm uncertain whether to christen it The Barstool From Hell--or considering the Nevada winds, a most generously-proportioned weathervane while occupied by Senor Buckshot. Should be interesting.

I have a ladder rack atop my pickup, and ran three 2" x 6" stringers lengthwise and positioned a 4' x 8' sheet if 3/4" plywood on top of those. The tie-down regimen survived about 300 miles of freeway driving, so I'm calling it 'good to go' for the trip. The Death From Above Rat Platform (pat. pend.), AKA "DFARP", or "D-Farp".

[Doc Highwall]

Buckshot, nice job as usual. I cannot see in the pictures where you put your feet and how you change direction when you are up sitting and shooting.

[legend]

WOW! you kids really know how to do it!

[PatMarlin]

Cool looking rig cuz. Have you been up thar to test the weather yet? ...:mrgreen:

[Maximilian225]

I have to know one thing.
Do any of us Really ever sleep?

Great looking rig Buckshot. :drinks:

[Nrut]

Buckshot...
You are going to have that shooting tower OSHA inspected aren't you?
eh?....[smilie=1:

[Boondocker]

That some nice fabrication there Buckshot. Nothing like a mig for the light stuff. Reminds me of the hunting buggy my boss had down in south Florida for hog huntin. It was an old GP with a 10 ft platform built out of 1" square tubing with a school bus seat on top. I didnt like riding up there but it sure helped you see over the horizon. :drinks:

[Buckshot]

.............The photo's were taken Saturday the 11th, and as mentioned was 95% done. Sunday after Easter dinner at the mother in law's I welded on two 3/4" gas pipe unions, one on eaither side of the upper central post directly under the stationary bearing plate. That would be in my 3rd post, middle set of photo's. The pic on the right clearly shows the stationary plate (lower one). I then used a couple 1' long 3/4" gas pipes for foot rests.

We got back from our ground squirrel strafing safari Friday night. Myself and a friend left my house Monday and went to 9.3x62Al's place in Ridgecrest, CA. There we transfered all out junk from my Sport Trac into his 1/2 ton Dodge. We arrived in Winnemucca, NV that evening. Tuesday was the first shooting day and was broken overcast with little snow flurries. While we were prepared for some 'Weather', it had a tendancy to keep the beggers mostly underground. I'm happy to report that the varmint shooting stand worked exeedingly well with one exception. It went up easily and was very rigid. With the swing I had in the seating and table I could cover from a fence line at our left to a set of big circle crop sprinklers off to our right.

The only problem was that I'd run out of construction time on the build, so was unable to fab up the ladder assembly. I had to use the stepladder to climb up onto it. While the rig itself was stable and rigid, the stepladder was less so and I had to use the very highest step before swinging my right leg over the seat. If I was 14 years old it probably wouldn't have been a problem, but at 56?

The footpegs were perfect. I could push with my left or right foot and smoothly traverse the entire arc while looking through the rifle's scope. Our 2nd day was completely snowed out with a constant and brisk wind to boot. The 3rd day was as beautiful as one could ask for. Due to the ladder difficulties I didn't use the lower central post, and instead just used the top one set into the base. This placed my head at about 7' above the ground (instead of 10') and proved entirely adequate. Also even with the stepladder, getting up and down was a simple evolution and no problem at all.

The bench top provides ample space for both elbows, the rifle on it's bipod or a benchrest and four 50 round boxes of ammo. I do need to add a lip around one side and I have some 1/8 thick by 1-1/2" wide aluminum strip I'll bend around and screw on. Ejected empties will then stay on the bench top. An adjustable umbrella holder would be a good idea. The third day was pleasantly cool, but the sun was brightly intense. I got my face burned pretty good. All in all the project was a great success. You have the ability for great elevation, and a wide arc of fire.

................Buckshot

[Just Duke]

I have to know one thing.
Do any of us Really ever sleep?

. :drinks:

No sir.