SmallCaliberCentral

I finally got out to do some varminting over this past weekend, it has been a late spring up here and there is still snow in plenty of places in the foothills where I hunt. On Wednesday of this past week they got a foot of snow on the land I hunt on so I was worried but the next 3 days of decent weather (15 C or 50 F) had most of it gone by the time I got out there.

This was the first time using the bench I had built over the winter. Here it is (with my first attempt at a camo paint job) in the collapsed condition, it is designed to come apart with no tools.


I obviously borrowed a lot of ideas from Ricks BR Pivot shooting bench.



Here was one of my first kills, despite the .204 he wanted to hang around some more.



This fella had the same idea but a weaker attempt.



I was really hoping for a red spray on the snow but alas it did not work as well as hoped.



I went through 116 rounds of factory loads, mostly close range stuff (longest would have been 275 yards, most under 200). As can be seen here the hills limit the long range shots and require me to move several times in the day.



This was my 3rd and final spot for the day, it was harder to get at (longer drive and 5 gates, 2 of which are not regularly opened) but because of that I had lots of kills as in this area Skippy has only had to contend with the .22 rimfire.


Introducing the .204 was an education for them, this fella got separated by 25 feet.


This next weekend I have some irrigated hay land to shoot on, hopefully can spend all day in one spot and if I am lucky with the wind I hope to set a new personal best for longest kill.

The shooting bench worked great, I love to being able to swivel while keeping my eye in the scope ready for victims. The flatter hay land will make better use of the rotating bench. There are a few changes I would like to make, such as a leveling system by adjusting at least one of the legs, but that and other ideas will wait till next winter.

As for now I will spend my spare time prepping the last of my brass, (about 800 of 1000 done so far) and reloading for the next weekend. This economic slowdown has me working about 4 less hrs per week but having friday's off, especially in prime varmiting season, is great.

Thats a great looking bench and some beautifull country to shoot in. I wish I could be there. I have been thinking of making a bench my self then I thought of buying one. Ricks BV piviot bench isn't on the market for some reason. It looks like you have some great shooting times a head good luck.

Nice pics! I love the looks of that country you shoot in. Looks like you did a good job on your bench, don't you just love to be able to rotate? Gary

Very nice country you are shooting in. I too got to use a nice rotating bench to shoot rats on. They are great and know that you will put it to good use.

Wow.
That is some sweet looking country you get to shoot in. That pic of you at the bench with the ranch in the background is awesome. Looks like pretty lonely country, and that is exactly what I like!

Looks like you had a great day. I gotta add in about the Country Side also, NICE!!!

Nice Pictures and bench. .204 ruger rules

Awesome pics. Very nice bench as well.

Our northern neighbor's are obviously doing their part in keeping the PD population in check.

Rained all weekend here...maybe have some time this weekend.....

surfclod--I really like your bench. It looks real solid and to be able to swivel around has to be a real plus.

I really enjoyed your photos. That is some mighty nice looking country around there. I also enjoyed the photos of the carnage, especially where the contents of the little rodents were spread around and sticking to the vegetation. That brought back memories of a PD hunt I was on back in June of 2006 over in Montana. I whacked the prairie dog below with a 40 gr. Nosler BT out of my Savage 12VLP in .204 Ruger. The title of this photo is: Hangin' Out!

Very nice nice photos of the landscape and carnage. Was supposed to go out yesterday but we have a very large forest fire burning nearby (1 mile away) and was told if the wind changes we would have a 1/2 hour notice to evacuate. Thank god it rained last night. The fire is now under control so hopefully I can hit the p-dog fields this weekend.

surfclod: You were right, that bench looks faintly familiar. Good job on the execution. The leg levelers can be a headache to get it right, as there is alot of mechanical stress involved.

Great looking country, reminds me of our ranch in central BC we had before I came down here. Walk all day with a pack and a rifle and not see another human.....sort of like here in the outback, exactly why I live here.

Glad you got the project finished and it turned out to your liking. The first time out with one of my prototype benches back in the early 90's, I swiveled to get on Skippy, torched off the round from my HB 223, watched the air show, looked back at wifey and said "this is almost not fair".......almost. I knew right then that a rotating bench was THE hot setup for squirrels and PD's. Nothing else even comes close. Good job, have a great season with our favorite rodent and your new bench.