My home built portable shooting bench

^{Some years ago I was heavy into Black Powder Cartridge Silhouette matches. I needed to refine loads for the rams (500 yards or meters depending on the particular range). I am 45 minutes away from the NLMRA range at Friendship, In and the range has a 500 yard range. However, the range has no permanent benches. Traditionally, people have built their own portable benches. I decided to make one of my own design. The design parameters were:1-It had to be sturdy.2-It had to be portable3-It should not be costly4-It ought to last nearly forever5-Most of all, it had to be suitable for the task (serious bench rest     shooting). I have shot ten shot 6” groups at 500 yards off this bench using my Browning 40/65 BPCR using 1 ½ fg Swiss and a poly wad to protect the bullet base. I had a couple of custom moulds made before I was happy. Walt Melander of NEI made me a fine four cavity mould as did Veral Smith of LBT. Either of the two moulds gave the results I was lookin' for. The bench top is made of two layers of 3/4” plywood glued and screwed together:}http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench_1600x1067.jpg.html> Underneath the benchtop is a “z” to minimize table flex.http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench-3_1600x1067.jpg.html> Note the angled blocks (made from scrap) to mount the pipe flanges. The flanges are bolted to the blocks before the blocks are screwed and glued to the top. It is important to angle the legs (by means of the angled blocks) to stiffen the table stance. I countersunk the bolt heads below flush with the blocks:http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench-4_1600x1067.jpg.html> Closer view of the angle block:http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench-5_1600x1067.jpg.html> The legs are cut to a length that gives you the proper height for YOU. I went to a big box store (Lowes) and bought a length of pipe and cut each leg to length and threaded both ends on their pipe threader. I use a pipe cap on the bottom end of the leg so the leg doesn't dig into the ground.http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench-2_1600x1067.jpg.html> Each leg has a hole bored clear through it to allow a rod to slip through to tighten it properly (that way you don't have to carry tools to the range - just the rod).http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench-6_1600x1067.jpg.html> I used sturdy webbing to bolt a “handle” to the side of the table so you can readily carry it from the car to the range. http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench-8_1600x1067.jpg.html> I painted it with a couple of coats of paint. Here is the completed bench. It has been MORE than satisfactory. I use a simple, but sturdy, steel, folding chair with excellent results. http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/Portable%20Shooting%20Bench-7_1600x1067.jpg.html>

Good Shooting! Dale53