I have a short bed pickup and want to construct an extension to use it as a mobile shooting position.
Any solutions to offer?
Any solutions to offer?
Short Pickup Truck Bed Solutions
- Thread starter SporterII
- Start date
You have many options, depending how you want to do it.
I've a small truck with a rack I built on the camper shell. then made a platform that slides into the receiver hitch to stand on. I also have a set up that lays upon the hood to shoot off. Before I installed the camper shell I had a fold up bench that sat in the bed. An before that I had a folding chair and shot across the tail gate, plus a piece of plywood that fit across the bed and I would stand beside the truck and shoot across the bed. You can read the Terrain while driving in a pick a good spot for most any angle you want the truck on. I also carry wood ramps I built to angle the truck if it's a table top A/O.
You are only limited to your thinking, an don't worry about item movement. In fact I prefer the stand/items to move at times, as I have dropped/tagged many a target using a tree branch or piece of rope as a support. A Rock solid bench teaches you little about real world.
Without great travel I have limited properties to use. Stable prone position in the bed is useful to me particularly with load development/ doping. Bench does not interest me as I sat at a bench far too many decades shooting rimfire because it fit my local. S. Florida.
What kind of truck and what is the bed length? I have an F250 with the short bed (6.5 ft.) and shoot prone out of it all the time with no additions, did the same with the short-bed 2500HD I had before that. Some 1/2 ton trucks now have even shorter beds (I just found that out recently), and of course the smaller pickups may be shorter. I'm kind of average-height, but I could still fit if I were a couple inches taller.
If you can't fit in your existing bed, then mcameron probably has the easiest solution.
If you can't fit in your existing bed, then mcameron probably has the easiest solution.
I built one for the back on my Silverado 1500. Maybe good to 400 yards on prairie dogs on a still day. With anything over 5 mph, I had to be front into the wind and by 10 mph, was not useful past .22Mag range.
35" tires and a 6" lift might have hurt me some. But I was amazed how much movement there was. It's a five foot bed, GMC Canyon.
I concider attaching a panel directly to the inside of the tailgate. Wood and some QD fasteners, minimal wind age.
I concider attaching a panel directly to the inside of the tailgate. Wood and some QD fasteners, minimal wind age.
If you're gonna use a bed extender, get this one. It's called the T-bone. Very strong, very stable and is available in lots of colors if that's important.
My wife bought one for me and its been used to carry kayaks, a Gheenoe and plenty of lumber
I like the bed extender.
I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan with the Mopar hitch. I'm figuring that what would work for the pickup should work similarly well for the Caravan.
I agree about wind disturbance, which should be/probably is even more apparent with the van. I figure that a pair of recycled car jacks under the rear corners of the chassis could add a small upward pre-load to the suspension, thus nullifying suspension play, could go a long way toward steadying the platform.
Greg
I drive a Dodge Grand Caravan with the Mopar hitch. I'm figuring that what would work for the pickup should work similarly well for the Caravan.
I agree about wind disturbance, which should be/probably is even more apparent with the van. I figure that a pair of recycled car jacks under the rear corners of the chassis could add a small upward pre-load to the suspension, thus nullifying suspension play, could go a long way toward steadying the platform.
Greg
The above suggestion is exactly right, but ideally jack all four corners of the vehicle. Old scissor jacks are dirt cheap on CL or at a pick and pull. Get one for each corner of the frame (and bases made from 12"x"12 piece of 3/4" ply) will add perfect stability. You'll go from swaying in the wind to rock solid.
