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Post by Junior on Feb 19, 2021 3:03:12 GMT -7
For quite some time now, I have wanted to build a shooting bench that is built onto a small trailer with jacks in each corner so a fellow could take it out into the field, level it and have a stable shooting platform for shooting at a prairie dog town, or even just long range shooting at a gravel pit or whatever.
Today I decided to start looking at this concept again one place I found online sells such a trailer for about $12,000 (yes, TWELVE thousand) and it motivated me to try building a prototype and see how it goes.
Ideally, the trailer would be a single axle with a solid diamond plate floor that sits fairly close to the ground. I would want full size tires on it though for ease of taking off road. The bench, instead of being a traditional T shape bench, I want to go with a U shaped bench, because it gives more bench area in front of the shooter for ammo, dope cards, note books, chronograph, whatever. Ideally, the bench would also rotate 360 degrees on the trailer, using manual power or perhaps a small 12 volt winch off of a ATV or the likes. Also, I would want to build it with a removable roof to help protect the shooter from weather. Set up with a roof, the trailer could also be used as a ground blind for big game hunting as well. A locking tool box would be added for storing rifle rest and stuff, and perhaps a perch with a place to mount a spotting scope for a spotter of shooting long range.
I’ve built several trailers and sold them, and it’s been profitable enough that I bought land last year to build a shop on and start doing it a bit more. If I build the prototype for me and it gets interest, I may start building a couple of these to sell, although mine would be much cheaper, in the 4000ish dollar range.
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Post by missionary on Feb 19, 2021 8:11:49 GMT -7
And call it an all purpose trailer or "to your specifications" underselling the competition.
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Post by Junior on Feb 19, 2021 12:09:18 GMT -7
I don’t know how much of a market there would actually be up here in Alaska. Prairie dog hunting and stuff like that is nonexistent, and long range shooting isn’t really a thing either. But I still want one for myself.
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Post by missionary on Feb 19, 2021 14:53:27 GMT -7
That would be a good enough for me...
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Post by Bullshop on Feb 20, 2021 13:17:52 GMT -7
I saw one somewhere that was built to fit a receiver hitch. Not a trailer but a platform shooting bench. A trailer would require that it be licensed.
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Post by Junior on Feb 20, 2021 14:39:38 GMT -7
Actually “equipment” does not need to be licensed up here so long as it is meant to be moved on the road temporarily and then designed to be used not hooked to a vehicle. Think mobile saw mills and that kind of stuff. With the jacks on the corners to make it stationary, and the fact it won’t be able to be used to haul stuff, I could get away with that.
However, Alaska now has permanent tags and plates for everything. I think my 20’ car hauler I built was like 35 bucks for permanent tags, so it’s not that big of a deal to throw plates on it.
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Post by Bullshop on Feb 21, 2021 8:24:24 GMT -7
I have often though about building a mobile target. Something that would have about a 6' square steel plate for long range BPCR shooting. It would have to have some type of protected armor for the tires. My buffalo gong was about 300 pounds so not too easy to move about. That is why it was stolen because it was too much trouble to bring home after each shooting session so was left out in the hills.
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