I want a lightweight portable bench that I can haul out to the hills for shooting ground squirrels off of. It has to be small and light enough to easily go in and out of the extended cab of my truck and easy enough to carry up to top of the hills and set up.
I have a gift certificate for Cabelas here and I saw that they have a bunch of them listed.
Has anyone tried the Cabelas Elite bench, magnum bench, Big game shooting bench, Do-all Traps trigger happy adjustable bench or Mobile tech outdoor extreme? I'd love to get some feedback on any of them.

I'm kind of leaning toward the Do-all trap because it's so adjustable.

Here's another idea, may be a bit heavier than what you are looking for though.

http://www.varmintmasters.net/

50 lbs. bagged

I've seen those but the weight issue is important, carrying it from the road up to the top of the hills might be alot of work with 2 or 3 guns, all of the ammo and stuff already.

(I'm hunting private property and I don't drive my truck off of the 4WD roads)

Here are a bunch of options...In my experience, 3 legged tables are much easy to use since they are self leveling.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=001232

I bought one of cabellas cheapys was something like 100-125, sort of folds up, works great & it's light enough to carry.

I went through a lot of portable benches and never failed to check out someone else's offerings and think the booger bench at booger bench is the cheapest AND the most sturdy (least "wiggle") of any I've seen. I made myself two of them and they get a lot of use.

$bob$

LDH,

Where do you get the folding table legs from??
I want to make one of these ASAP..

sharpsman,



I got mine from two totally different sources. The first set I got was from a discarded "banquet" table. Someone had ruined the top and had put it out by the curb for the trash pickup. You can go to churches and community halls and ask them for discards or just buy a new table and toss the top.



The second set I purchased from Northern Tool and Equipment's Mail Order site. Some Choices



Probably These



Mine that I bought were "heavy duty" and they are heavier than the banquet table legs I got for free and for a shooting bench might not be any more stable. I'm not sure I can tell the difference.



Hope this helps....



$bob$

I built a whopper of a shootin' bench out of a 4x8 piece of plywood with a beautiful surface finish on it; I think it was maple or something like that. I doubled-up the thickness to make it 1-1/2 inches thick; it is 36" wide and 47" long with a 16" x 20" scallop for my lefthanded shooting. I used fold-up legs available from Northern Industrial Tool and Supply. They come in regular and heavy duty flavors. I found the folding mechanism to be rather chintzy and so used just the legs and the angle brackets. I drilled out the holes to use 1/4" bolts and made supports to hold the legs in positoon out of 3/16" flat strapping steel bought at Home Depot. My legs have to be unbolted from the center anchors to drop down flat against the underside of the table for transport but in the up position, they are solid as a rock-- no wiggle, no wobble, no fallin' down. It takes a few minutes to set it up, but I will take the time in exchange for the solidity of the system. I used the legs shown on the Northern website, just as was supplied under Some Choices by LDHunter. I bought two sets and used three legs. The copy lists them as 1" in diameter; they are 1-1/4" in diameter.

LDH,



Thanks much for the links.The dimensions of them seem pretty much the same except for the material they are made from.



The $16.00 set is made of 18gauge tubing and has a load rating of 800lbs.The $27.00 set is 6gauge metal and is rated to 2000 lbs.I can not imagine having more than 300lbs of table top, guns, ammo and my upper torso on the shooting bench at any one time,so for now, it's the $16.00 ones..



Besides, I found a great set of work bench frame/legs on the first link to the site for another $16.00!!I am just about to build a new wood working bench and they are the ticket!!



Thanks, you just saved me a day's labor doing carpentry on a shooting bench and a work bench.!!!

rootbeer,

Sounds like you've discovered a way to REALLY remove the wobble... I might do that to one of my benches.

I used some 1" Marine plywood someone had thrown out for both my benches. It's really good stuff and I used a good primer and then gray house paint to paint 'em with and will apply some kind of camo flat black for a camo pattern.

$bob$

sharpsman,

Sounds like you're on the right track... Now if we can just break you of suckin' eggs (K Hornets)...

Happy New Year...

$bob$

I wonder if the addition of a couple of rough terrain pneumatic tires to the bottom edge would make moving the bench easier? I have seen some 6-8" tires at Tractor Supply, which if one could rig a quick disconnect method, might make it much easier to get where you are going after leaving the truck.

The only advice I can give you is to have a 2 piece bench and seat combination. If you don't, every time you shift on the seat the table will shake.

Check out "www.unclebudscss.com" and look at their portable set-up. I changed the top platform and don't use the arm rest. I made my top from a piece of 3/4" High Density Polypropelene(plastic!!!!!) and shaped it like a regular bench. Less than 30 pounds still!! Will set up in a pickup bed or you can get it out and carry it!! GHD

Madison, You've got a private message. Ifigured out how to send it. Now you figure out how to retrieve it!! GHD

Groundhog Devistation:
I do not do private messages. Tomorrow's Gunshow [8th & 9th] is to close to the last one we went to in Salem. We try not to go to things at the Roanoke Civic Center.

madison, The only reason I'm going is that Southeastern ammo guys are supposed to be there and I usually get a bunch of powder from them in 8 lb cans since none of the locals carries it like that!! GHD

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sharpsman:
LDH,<br /><br />Where do you get the folding table legs from??

I just bought a? saw-horse we call them (a work
tressel) with fold up legs and a buttefly nut
to lockem open. Then added on a table top.
A canvas folding stool was a few more dollars.