Gentleman,

I have an 8' bed, 85 Ford F-150 4x4. I'd like to turn it into a seasonal gopher/PD shooting platform.

I'd like to be able to remove any additions so I can use it for elk hunting/hauling. So additions must be removeable with resonable ease.

My initial thoughts are for a shooting bench in the bed that could be swiveled 270-300 degrees. The "bench" area should be large enough for two shooters.

Hate to reinvent the wheel, I'm sure tons of rgeat rigs have already been built. Anyone have any ideas or photos??

FN in MT

One thing to consider.......in some states...particularly CO its not legal to shoot from the bed of a truck. Its not even legal to shoot from an attached trailer.
I like the trailer idea with a swivel table on it.

It will be used in Montana so zero problem there.

FN in MT

Maybe something like this. I stole this from another thread.

[/QUOTE]

Life is tough out on the prairie.

look in the varmit hunters magazine, there's several in there

quote:

Originally posted by Jay Johnson:
Maybe something like this. I stole this from another thread.

Life is tough out on the prairie.[/QUOTE]

That high platform two-wheel trailer looks kinda shaky. It does appear that it has a couple of jackstands at the rear, which along with the tongue stand would make it a little more stable, but even having one other person up there with the shooter, not to mention just a puff of wind, looks like it would make it a pretty challenging platform. But maybe I'm wrong -- the extra height would be useful oftentimes so long as you could keep the gun still.

FN: I used to simply place a wooden picnic table in the back of my truck. It may not work like a fancy swiveling chair, but then the fancy swiveling chair may not work like you might think, either. The picnic table is simple, stable, and allows you a wide latitude of aiming without adjusting your seating.

Nowadays I use a dedicated (but convertible) trailer with benches bolted to both sides so that two shooters and two spotters sitting in the middle can simultaneously attend to targets that present themselves on opposite sides of the rig.

I know that a lot of prairie dog shooters like to "go native" by using Ghillie suits, stalking, crawing on their bellies, etc., and running up the highest number of kills possible. That's fine, and I have no objection if that's the way you like to hunt. On the other hand, by having a group of shooters/spotters together, everybody gets to enjoy everyone else's sport. It's much more social, and it's about as much fun to spot as to shoot. Besides, the beer cooler is alot handier sitting there on the trailer than when crawling through the grass burrs on your belly.

Don't want to do a TRAILER. Looking for ideas on something to put in the back of the pickup. Using the word "platform" was not the best choice, sorry about that!

I'll have to chk out the Varmint Hunters mag.

As far as a beer cooler........One should never mix gun powder and Coors, seen it lead to too many complications.

FN in MT

Curly:
Just a couple idea's created from reading your post.

Weld up a couple pcs of pipe to small plates and bolt them thru a stake pocket.

Get a plastic high backed chair, bolt a small plate to the bottom with a shaft welded to it. Just set that in the pipe. On the bottom plate, facing forward, weld a sq tube about
1 1/4"x6", make another sq tube that'll slip into this socket, bend it up about 45% to another plate fastened to a table top set up.
All this will pivot on the seat pin. IF you want some shade, just bolt thru the back of the seat to another plate w/socket and drop a pole w/shade on it. Don't have to be an umbrella, just a wire frame to stretch some cloth over.
I think this would be slicker n' hell myself.
Just need to make it high enough to turn it around and over the side of the bed. OR mount/lay it in the middle of the box and not anchor it down to the sides/stake pockets. First idea could provide two on each side IF you want company.

No pics, no sketchs either, just the idea I'm working up for a table.

Good luck, have fun,

George

Here's a couple of pics. This is my buddy's flatbed and him shooting my Savage Striker. Seems to be about the right height for pistols. A taller seat would be needed to get comfortable with a rifle.

Nashcat

Nashcat, You have the winner but I think your buddy needs to check the tread on those tires.

I have a 5 x 10 trailer that I haul along behind my 4Runner....

But you can do the same thing I do in the bed of a full sized pickup....

I just use a plain old 4 or 6 ft folding table... like you see at schools, or churches or in company meeting rooms.. cheap.. you get them at Office Max or Office Depot of Costco for like $35 to $40.00....

That and a plain old folding camp chair etc... works just fine... breaks down easily.....

Clem;;;

ON Nashcats, friends truck... I think a lot of old beater pickups in Tennessee have 'tread' about like that...

As I use to tell them.. It was about time to drop down by the Paint store and get some more paint, so they could paint some more tread back on those tires....

some guys have a problem with having a set of tires worth more than the truck that they are mounted on...

Finally got around to posting pics of what I use for varmint shooting as mentioned above...

the first guys to try it out were a couple of young gentlemen from Germany that were touring the west coast when they got out of their University Studies and before they started their new jobs..

They contacted me via AR here...so they were up this way, so I loaned them some rifles and took them out for a day guiding them....the varmints were not out in full force, but they had a lot of fun....

cheers
seafire


http://www.imagestation.com/album/review.html?id=2102115354

Seafire/B17G: What a generous and sportsmanlike thing for you to do there with the German tourists!
Hooray for you!
I also have taken friends from Germany Varminting!
None had EVER shot a Varmint!
I am not sure they had ever shot a Game Animal either!
They loved the fun and intensity of the sport though and in typical German fashion were observant and quick learners!
They were also safe shooters to the point of being "slow"!
Also this Seafire/B17G, what are the curved hooks for hanging down from the "ceiling" of you cool "platform" trailer?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Well VG....

The curved hooks are actually hooks for hanging bicycles on... the trailer has double duty as a trailer hauling my son's boy scout patrols gear on campouts...

I put the upper rack on there, and from all of those hooks we had 20 bicycles hanging off of them, when I took them down to the Coast in Northern California and we took 15 boys for a 15 to 20 mile bike ride on the old decommissioned part of US 101, south of Crescent City... which goes right above the shore and thru the Redwoods...

I left the rack up there, because those hooks actually come in handy when you are out varmint shooting...

The trailer has kinda morphed into a Swiss Army knife of trailers...

It has a Canoe on top of it now that I keep a couple of Army Stretchers up there, which come night time, I just lay them cross wise on the trailer and make a bed out of it...hang a latern from one of those hooks, and if need be, have some large tarps that I can throw over the canoe and make a big tent out of it...

I also have a big hunk of camo'ed burlap I picked up and we can camo part of the trailer and provide a mobile varmint blind....

I can break it down in a hurry if I need to remove all of that stuff.. or put it back on there in a hurry if we need to do that also...

It was originally intended for Boy Scout work, but I quickly saw the possibilities of making it do double duty as a mobile varmint platform and camping rig...plus I can haul a lot of extra crap back there....

Kinda slow behind a 4 cylinder Toyota, but if I keep the speedometer right at 50 mph, it averages about 18 to 19 mpg with that unit back there...

Those hooks and then a batch of eye bolts all over the place plus a big bucket of bunge cords....I can do all sorts of stuff with that trailer... it ain't pretty but it sure is functional... and the sage rats never seemed to care what it looked like...

cheers
seafire

I use a Roto Bench in the back of my truck and Yamaha Rhino. Easily removed and super steady.