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#31
06-11-2022, 06:44 PM
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Thanks for the additional images Rick, seems all images on the post are excellent.
 Disney was good, grandsons loved it, and it was good for the soul to visit a happy place if you dismiss the bad, if that makes sense. State of mind thing. I keep revisiting and zooming in on your truck image, seems like last year I was standing where you snapped the image.... Allen 
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#32
06-11-2022, 07:13 PM
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Then you'll have no trouble remembering this while hazing the squirrels with Black Death.....(Holland-built M700, 223 AI, McMillan, Pac-Nor, Jewel, Leupold)  That was a good day with lots of 'bang - thwop!' sounds while watching squirrels fly.  Can't tell from the photo, but I'm guessing there's a big grin on your face right about then.
__________________
Rick in Oregon - The East Side, where common sense still prevails. NRA Life, OHA, VHA, Vietnam Veterans of America Last edited by Rick in Oregon; 06-11-2022 at 07:20 PM.
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#33
06-11-2022, 08:11 PM
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Varmint Stake
For those of you that haven't seen Rick's Varmint Stake, clip here to see his full description of it; Varmint Stake
Very cool indeed.
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#34
06-12-2022, 01:27 AM
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Love your rest.
Necessity is the mother of invention. I built my own portable shooting benches because I had to. I wanted rock solid, three legs infinitely adjustable from child sitting to me standing, and by God that’s what I’ve got three and a half of. When we shot more 600 yard chucks they were the real deal. I can set them up with one or two legs almost two feet down in a ditch and level the top up if I need to. I have one more top than I have leg sets right now. I’ve got a lefty that needed accommodated. I also built a three legged stool with swiveling bass boat seat and an adjustable post between my legs that has a Manfrotto video pan head on it for my 15x56 Swaro or a spotting scope. Nice for spotting for elk from the truck, even nicer for multi day varmint shoot. Anyone who sees me using it for either wants one. I’m going to replicate a couple shooting benches using 1/8 Baltic birch plywood laminated to one and a half inch rigid foam board for the tops and aircraft aluminum tubing for the legs. I want something we can pack in a quarter mile if we need to. I’m thinking a screw hook in the middle to hang a pickle bucket or canvas bag we can put rocks in will give them some mass. My benches are heavy, 1-1/2 inch plywood top and steel legs, they are heavy. One of the bench rest guys talked me into making him one and he has shot the best groups of his life off it. They simply don’t move. My home range has concrete benches, it’s where the big shoots are held. His home range was not conducive to him being able to get the kind of practice he wanted in. I think Russ Haydon (used to have Russ Haydon’s Shooting Supplies) is who told him I have benches like he was looking for. He has to worry about frost heave and the club won’t let him put in a permanent bench or even a concrete pad on the line. They shoot a lot of prone matches is what I think he was saying. With the bench he got from me and a three legged drummer’s throne to sit on he is really happy.
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#36
06-12-2022, 05:05 AM
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The stool is so cool. I had a friend who was in his 80s, lived alone, and just to get out and spend time somewhere other than in his house meant a lot to him. He used to love to go watch me shoot, but given his diabetes and other issues it wiped him out. That stool was a game changer. He was comfortable all day and could go with me for an entire weekend and not be unable to get around for a week after. Others who have used it love it too. The downside is that to get up and off it there is the seat back behind and the mast for the video pan head in front and you have to step out. It is easy to trip. I haven’t come up with a way to skin that cat… yet. I have a material list for the steel parts saved. If you would like it let me know. It has the parts list for one table and two stools. Last edited by JDHasty; 06-12-2022 at 05:32 AM.
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#37
06-12-2022, 02:03 PM
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#39
06-12-2022, 03:38 PM
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I’ll do that.
It is not the most convenient to set up, but it is far from the least too. I carry the legs for three benches and two stools in a Cabela’s hard rifle case with wheels on one end and it weighs north of a hundred pounds. A few things I have learned along the way: Fifteen degrees is about optimal for the splay on the legs of both benches and stools. A ~ two inch square foot welded on at 90 degrees is as good as anything and it works extremely well for everything I have yet encountered. If set up on concrete I have the flat against the floor, if on anything else I orient it so the point digs in or jams against rock. I suppose a triangle would work as well, but the square is easy to cut. It has enough surface area that once it settles in soft earth it does not shift around. A magnetic bullet level works better than the small RV levels that are fixed to the tables with double sided tape or screws. Those get destroyed in transport. I had a Starrett magnetic machinist level I used on my RV tongue and for the tables that I bought for $5 at an estate sale, once a concerned stranger told me what that thing was worth, I put it away and grabbed a cheap magnetic bullet level out of my garage. The magnet is so I can magnet it to the RV tongue to level it and it serves both purposes. Level both ways is really worthwhile and takes less than a couple minutes. That way the machine rests can be turned sideways or wherever and a shot taken without the rifle being canted. The kids prefer Harris Bipod and ours all swivel, but having the bench top level is still good. A screw eye in the front is a very good idea if kids are involved. A ~ foot long piece of nylon web with a QD sling swivel on one end and a dog leash snap on the other and the muzzle is pointed down range at all times. Works with a sling swivel stud and the Harris Bipods also accommodate the QD sling swivel. A Manfrotto 55X Pro B, that has a mast that can be set horizontal and right angle adapter between it and a video pan head set up to the left of a right handed shooter allows a spotting scope to be available, but not in the way. Canvas bag for a rock or a down-rigger ball on the ballast hook and it’s pretty crash proof. If both shooters are set up and shooting and spotting for each other this works really well. The 55X ProB is made in aluminum or carbon fiber, this is not going to serve double duty for back country regardless. The aluminum is fine and Manfrotto tripods can take a lot of rough handling. Pro tip. Pro photographers put these in the contract for government contracts all the time, then sell them when the job is complete. They show up on eBay constantly for $75 or so. The right angle adapters you are going to get soaked for though. A hand held range finder on a clip on tether or a lanyard is much better at the table than any fixed rangefinder for the guy shooting. We set up our G7 BR2 on a tripod and it’s not at the shooting table(s). It is beside the spotting scope the spotter is using. The hand held range finders are good to have to shoot a quick range when the spotter just can’t seem to find a chuck the shooter has spotted, we’ve all been on both sides of that, and decides to just go ahead and take the shot anyway. Or if both shooters are shooting and spotting for each other at the same time. Pop ups are not any better than the cheap golf umbrellas zip tied to lawn chairs for shade. Patio umbrellas are useless. The cheap umbrellas can be closed in two seconds when the wind kicks up, and then go right back up with the push of a button. With a pop up, sooner or later you are not going to tie it to the truck or sand bag the corners and on that day if you catch up to it in a barbed wire fence just east of Wolf Point, it’s a long hike back to Moses lake carrying a shredded pop up. Last edited by JDHasty; 06-12-2022 at 03:47 PM.
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#40
06-12-2022, 04:23 PM
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Well, it appears this thread has taken an off-ramp to shooting benches from Orygun rockchucks. So to stay on what has become a new topic, I'll offer up my answers to the two conundrums that JD is currently enduring.....bench and shade.
Bench (surprised?)  And since the mid-80's, the flea-market shade canopies have served quite well, but one must use common sense to avoid unauthorized flight issues. I pin mine down with the spikes provided; never had a problem. The Red Oxx Co. in MT who made all the ballistic nylon bag sets for my BRP whipped up a nifty bag that holds my shade canopy nicely with another sleeve for my three wind flags. They're now on year No. 24, along with my two benches. It was 96*F in the shade that day in N. CA.  One thing we've learned from decades of doing this, is to never attach any type of shade device to the bench. Wind blows constantly and will transfer any and all vibrations directly to your sight picture every time. My wind flags tell the story. When out for local rockchucks, my bench stays at home, as there's nothing more enjoyable (to me) than putting on my desert camo and boonie hat, grabbing my pack and rifle of the day and skulk through the sage and junipers, glassing rock piles and outcroppings to find a chuck splayed out on the lava rock or peeking over it. A few hours of that puts a grin on my face for the rest of the day.  My Cooper M38 20VT dubbed "Scooter" for reasons known to many here.
__________________
Rick in Oregon - The East Side, where common sense still prevails. NRA Life, OHA, VHA, Vietnam Veterans of America
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