SPOTTING SCOPE STANDS

[CHRIS EMME]

Iam looking for plans or ideas to build spotting scope stands any info would be helpful. I need to build 12 of them. Thanks for your help

[pdeal]

Chris: How much of it do you want to build. Just the stand or the whole thing (base, rod, scope mount)? And what facilities to you have to work with? I have made quite a few. Last year I made some club stands. The goal for these was to make a stand that would insure that our investment in spotting scopes would not wind up crashing to the floor. Also, to make a stand that would not walk off. They work great as club stands but don't travel well. I took a piece of 2"dia x 3" long cold rolled steel, bored a 5/8" hole in the end to accept the rod, put a set screw hole in the side, and welded 3- 1/4"x1-1/4"x10" long legs onto it. For rods I got some 5/8" o.d. steel hydraulic tubing. These work great for the purpose and are easy to make if you have a lathe and a welder.

[emme]

Chris: How much of it do you want to build. Just the stand or the whole thing (base, rod, scope mount)? And what facilities to you have to work with? I have made quite a few. Last year I made some club stands. The goal for these was to make a stand that would insure that our investment in spotting scopes would not wind up crashing to the floor. Also, to make a stand that would not walk off. They work great as club stands but don't travel well. I took a piece of 2"dia x 3" long cold rolled steel, bored a 5/8" hole in the end to accept the rod, put a set screw hole in the side, and welded 3- 1/4"x1-1/4"x10" long legs onto it. For rods I got some 5/8" o.d. steel hydraulic tubing. These work great for the purpose and are easy to make if you have a lathe and a welder.

[DonC]

Iam looking for plans or ideas to build spotting scope stands any info would be helpful. I need to build 12 of them. Thanks for your help

Chris,
This is low tech.....Cross lap and glue 2, 4 x 4 posts 18" long. Remove wood for the crosslap on the table saw and/or radial arm. Put metal furniture leveling feet at the 4 ends. In the center of the crosslap, screw a pipe flange 1/2" or 3/4". Screw in the length of pipe you desire for off-hand. Attach the scopes to the pipe with conduit stand-offs available at electrical supply houses. The standoffs can be secured to the pipe with wing nuts and adjusted for off-hand,prone,and kneeling. Attached to the other end of the standoff attach a small piece of horizontal wood with a hole in it. The scope can be attached to the horizontal wood platform with suitable "thumbbolt." all fittings can be adjusted without tools.
I'm sure there are better ways but all these material are readily availabe and low tech and inexpensive.

[randy8745]

I have a friend who is a machinest and highpower shooter and he has made scope stands for our club for the last four years. He has access to some very fancy CNC machines and has made some very good scope stands. He just charges just alittle above his cost for the stands, which is $190 plus shipping. It also comes with a scope head attachment. The stands have folding legs a center weight and three one inch diameter poles that screw together. I tried the smaller diameter stands sold by Champion's Choice and they tended to sway in light breezes even from the breeze put out by the ventilation system, especially with a heavy scope like a Kowa. If your interest let me know at my email randys@bigskytel.com.

[Jim B]

I found this on the NRA Website. It's actually a shooting stand, but I'm sure you could modify it to suit your purposes.

Jim