SmallCaliberCentral

As many of you know by now, I sold the patent and the rights to the BR Pivot shooting bench last year to Battenfield Technologies, makers of the Caldwell line of shooting equipment. I get emails, PM's, phone calls and letters almost daily asking if there are any remaining units available, not just here on the 204um, but others as well.

The wait is over. Battenfield sent me one of their new BR Pivots and the less expensive Stable Table for testing and evaluation this week - photos of both below.

They got it right too, the new Standard units with all aluminum cast parts and steel legs is almost an exact recreation of my original benchrest. Only a very few minor details to attend to, and it will be an exact duplication. We're only talking hardward here, nothing major in regard to design features. I'm told the Lite model with the girder-style legs will follow a bit later. My Lite model weighs right at 49 lbs and is steady as a rock for LR shooting.

Conditions here prevented any outdoor field test, so the photos were taken in my garage, sorry for the non-field presentation.



The cast alloy base and leveling assembly is identical to my old models:



No mistaking the new units from my old ones:



Here's a side-by-side comparison of the BR Pivot and the Stable Table, an economical version of a decent field bench. It levels via one leg only, but is completely servicable and portable, and much less expensive: (the tennis ball is the windshield "stop" marker for my Audi A4 in case you were wondering... what the......)



Both benches are now in stock after a year long wait, so contact MidwayUSA if you have the need. I'll be giving both of these puppies a workout in the varmint patch very soon.

Rick, that doesn't look too bad, but as you know I'm a Quality Assurance Manager in my other life, so I'll have to give it a good look see when I see you in a couple of weeks!

Rick, congratulations on your deal with battenfield technologies with your shooting bench. You got any thing new in the works going on now? Or is it just on to the rat fields for now and good times.

Captqc: Less than two weeks now bud! Yep, they did a decent job on the new benches; I think you'll approve. In regard to our trip....I'm just finishing up another 100 rounds of 39gr SBK's for The Silver Princess of Death to "give" to Skippy. As you probably saw from maj's post, the little ones are up now too! Oh the joy of a target-rich environment!

Lee C.: Well, now that I'm retired, more time for building and tweaking rifles, wandering the desert and the woods here, doing a bit of writing for some magazines about our passion, more time in the varmint patch for sure, and doing a bit of consulting for some of the suppliers. You may soon use some cool stuff in the field and not realize it originated in my feeble brain. Stay tuned....

Rick, thanks for the update. I checked our supplier and still does not have any benches. How much shooter weight will the lighter bench hold? The table on the lighter bench seems pretty small. Is there enough room for a rifle and any other items on it?

Those Shootin benches have always caught my eye and I had noticed that Caldwell was making them now, congrats on that deal.

BTW - I had to put up a tennis ball in my garage too, but it is for my wife.....