The last straw was our interest in leverguns, and trying to sight them off the bench with our existing rests. Sandbags are fine, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to leave the gun exactly in position while you adjust a scope, and with sandbags you STILL can’t work the lever...
Even though we are lucky enough to have a very meticulous and organized shop...
...we wanted all our parts to be something you could get at the local ACE Hardware; no strange fittings or welded-up parts. We wanted it to be something we could build in a single afternoon for fifty bucks or so. This project was prototyped with pine, but we found some scrap oak and maple for the final version.
We wanted an adjustable length overall so a kid’s .22 and a Garand would both work:
We wanted it to be strong and rigid, so we relied on rods rather than screws to make sure we had fully squared posts up front:
We wanted to be able to level it if need be - here’s the adjustment detail for leveling. The same setup on the single rear foot serves for fine elevation adjustment - a threaded-rod splicer with a rubber foot over one end - helps if you bang up the threads a bit so it has zero 'wobble' (you can use two nuts and a lock washer on the non-adjusting front leg), and the adjustment level:
In case we wanted to add weight, we wanted a removable tray that can hold up to 100 pounds of shot:
Combined with a leather and inner-tube-over-bent-steel-bar rear stock rest, it could absorb significant recoil if we needed to sight in a break-open 12 gauge with slugs, or something similarly unpleasant:
For the forend rest, we wanted something sturdy, simple, and adjustable for narrow forends as well as for wide forends (simply rotating the horizontal support 180 degrees before tightening it selects an infinite range of widths):
The front rest wingnuts quickly enable it to be locked in place (they push OUT against the very rigid front supports) once you select the coarse elevation position you want. Here’s the front rest half removed as you would for adjustment, and the front rest removed completely:
We wanted to make sure it was wide enough for beavertail forends, and yet snug for narrow forends:
We also made sure it had clearance for lever, clearance for magazines, and clearance for pistol grips:
All the parts except the leather ans scrap wood were from the hardware store (fender washers, rubber tubing, round and square leg caps, etc. plus the stock bolts, nuts, threaded rods, and square and angle and flat steel stock).
It's the only rest we use now!
who were a bit wild shooting paint cans on the ground in front of it with a .45 ACP.
