Or roof of a sedan.

For twenty years, my truck was my benchrest. Maybe a pillow under the forestock.

Thousands and thousands of rounds, mostly 30-06, or 30-06 AI. Mostly with an El Paso Weaver V7. Doing load development, experimentation, and measuring group size.

Point being, using a rig for a rest is no handicap, especially when 2 MOA is plenty good enough.

You could have just fired into the air and achieved similar results.



As long as you don't insert the bullet into the case sideways...you have reached 2 moa load development.

That's how I do it. I don't have a formal range, but use sandbags over the hood for load development, sighting in, and getting actual dope at long range. Then I test it off a bipod, to make sure that POI doesn't change. I'm sure each rifle would do better off of a concrete bench, but this works pretty well for me, and what I do with my rifles.

Idaho Shooter: I shoot lots of Varmints and predators off of the hood of my VarmintMobile, and off of the roof and on occasion the tailgate.
BUT.... shooting for "groups" finds me at my ranges cement benches or out of my friends super sturdy table inside his all weather shooting shack (100 yards only) at his private range.
And when shooting for groups (i.e. load testing, sight-in verifications and checking the accuracy potential of Rifles) off of these solid "shooting tables" I use my Hart front bench rest stand and a quality rear rabbit ear sand bag.
Of course I am seeking the 1/2 MOA to 1/4 MOA results.
Don't you have easy access to a range with benches?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I do that. I also carry around a lawn chair and set a bag on my open tailgate.

I only shoot groups from my weak side off of a teeter totter at the park.

JC, my quest was for .75 moa. Which I acheived with many loads.

2 MOA is what I think would be required of a cop to instantly immobilize a mass shooter from 180 yds using his patrol vehicle as a rest.

I did all my sight-in and load development that way for many years, but use a portable bench rest now...

Bench shooting off the '95 F-150 been berry berry good to me!

Sure, but what I'm really interested in is how many times you creased the hood?

Yes, but that is not as cool as Jon R Sundra shooting from the roof of his Lamborghini.

2 MOA is you goal?


gawd just buy Privi Partizan and haul your reloading set up to Goodwill?

Here hold my beer---------

My brother did that with Dads new pickup, just left a faint mark on the hood.

Read my subsequent posts. You are usually more astute.

I’ve blistered the paint on my truck hood more than once, just saying. Burnt a hole with a revolver in more than one good shirt too

When I am in tune I expect 1 MOA or better from the drivers seat and closed door.

More than one varmint on the ranch that didn't expect it and now is in varmint heaven.

Hahaha!


It's one an done here.

You might go on to explain you were shooting bench rest championships off the truck hood later....don't change what you first posted.

A loaded rifle touching a vehicle will get you a big fine here.
If you are shooting an animal, you lose license too.


The only loaded gun that can touch a vehicle is a handgun being used
in conjunction with a carry permit.

Even leaning a loaded gun on a tire is a crime.

Wardens used to cruise a slate bank that a lot of people used to
zero before season. Just looking for someone shooting over a hood or
tailgate. Or even just mistakenly lay a loaded rifle down.

Magazine is the same as chamber too.

Me thinks johns got a man crush goin on

One crease in the hood of the 65 GMC K2500. Two in the hood of the 75 Dodge W200. None penetrated. Trucks were made of real steel in those days.

Nor did the creases devalue the trucks any when I eventually loaded them on the trailer and hauled them to recycle.

They paid by the pound.

I eventually learned to drop the off side front tire in a badger hole to lower that side of the hood away from the muzzle.

I have never heard a complaint from any prairie dog yet.

State to State laws vary.

In Wyoming lots of stuff can be shot from inside the truck and as long as one foot is on the ground everything can be shot.

Can't be on a maintained public road.

You do type like a hottie.

Got any pictures in something scanty?

The warden has no business on my private property.

Besides, this is Idaho.

It sure isn’t hard to make a shooting bench. I guy on here sells brackets. A little wood, three pieces of pipe, your in business. It has got to be more comfortable and a hell of a lot more accurate shooting

Way to Butch up....dummy.

Use your imagination, it seems to work pretty well for you.

I have never shot my own vehicle (yet). My son knocked a hole in a steel carport roof with a .22 and couldn't believe he missed an easy shot at a rabbit until I pointed it out. LOL

I was a game warden for 30 years and don't often criticize one, but that is chickenshiet if they do that.

As to using a truck hood for a bench rest. I didn't know there was a better way than a hood and cloth bags of corn.

Done it many times when I needed to check zero in the field.

I bet there's still some prickly pear pads with holes in them, too!

More comfortable, yes. More accurate, no.

I do it all the time in my lower field. I have flags on the hand line sprinklers that are the 100 yd marker, 150 yd marker, and 200 yd marker and a target set up all the time. I shoot early in the morning when there's no wind.

It's a quick way to sight in and test loads. We have a lot of blow sand, and the wife sews small sandbags made from trouser legs.

On it.

Can you type "I am a Wizard just like you, Growl"? It would help.

I keep sand bags on my Broncos hood when it is in the carport. When I see a coyote in my field I go out the front door with a rifle and am ready for action, never had to worry about 1 or 2 moa.

Have done it many times, one incident though I cracked the windshield of a Jeep shooting over the hood. Just the blast. Plus it was -4 degrees.

Hanco, I have built a welded steel bench with 5/8 plywood top. (Since replaced with TREX decking). I liked the plywood better. It had six 1" tube steel legs driven 12 inches deep in the Earth.

Not very portable. But I have since, virtually given up shooting over a vehicle. Though I do somtimes still use the bench I built to fit in the truck's receiver hitch.

Actually, standing behind a truck, shooting over the hood is about as comfotable as it gets. I used to shoot 100 rds in an afternoon from a Win 670 in 30-06 with 165s pushing 2900 fps. Quite frequently.

Accuracy potential? The bench has a slight edge. I use an actual front rest and sandbag from the bench. Those pointed feet on the bottom of the rest would scar the paint on the hood as badly as bullet creases.

A friend of mine had the same thing happen on a F-150 while sighting in a .338

Had an acquaintance who had a body shop for many years. He always liked to tell how much he liked pronghorn season as he would get maybe half a dozen hoods to repair that had bullet holes or gouges in them.

I myself have never done that (yet) but did shoot out the window at a rock chuck once with my .22-250, muzzle blast blew the glass out of my trailer towing mirror on my truck. Sadly, my Lovely Bride was with me and after 20 years or more still reminds me of it from time to time.

I wanted to build a range that had a refridgerated beer tap and the shooters lanes would have old f250 doors as rests. The county denied the request for funding.

Shooting PDs in Wyoming from inside the cab is legal off a public road.

Funny story with name dropping.

I was shooting with Jerry M and the M family and Kay busted the passenger side mirror from muzzle brake blast.

Jerry was a bit annoyed but a few hours later his mirror on the drivers side was broken. I still give him grief.

That was their first time shooting PDs and now days they do it at a Doctorate level.

Glad we don't play by the same rules you do. Nightime works great too.....

The very best way to shoot jackrabbits

If I was smart enough to post a picture of my shooting "bench" I would, but......oh well, it may be one of a kind.
Cutting firewood many years back gave me a bright idea. You know, when the light bulb comes on is us dummies.
Anyway, I hauled the 39" x 8' stump end of the Ponderosa via backhoe to where I could shoot out to 600 yards. Dug a hole and set it on end so when a rifle was placed on sand bags it was shoulder height. My Sako 30-06 likes it and last time out shot 5 shots at 218 yards you could cover with a quarter.

John

I do probably 75% of my sight-in work off the hood of whatever truck I happen to be driving at the time.

My Dad did the same until the one time back in 1990....He had a brand new '89 dodge ramcharger...And had just put a Harris bipod on his Interarms Mk X in 7 Mag. He decided that with the bipod, he didn't need no stinkin' blanket on the hood.

3 shots into a hair under an inch at 100 yards and 6 divots in the hood. He was Not Happy..... I laughed my ass off.

You need a taller pickup....er I mean gun rest.

What I like to do is tape a target to yesterday's round bale of hay.


As I hurtle by with my baling tractor, I take a cold bore shot at the target.


I do that 10 times.


It really gives good, real world load info.


Plus you can test penetration.

30yrs ago I was cruising the back roads drinking Captain & coke in my Ford Explorer shooting out the driver side window popping turtles with a .22 and scope. A favorite pastime of mine in those days. Well as things are want to happen when Captain takes over.... while putting the crosshairs on a turtle I didn't notice that the barrel was up against the mirror. Shot right through the dang thing.

Next day I drove to the dollar store and bought one of those hand held paddle mirrors, popped the mirror out the frame and glued it to my rearview mirror. (You know. Because I didn't want to be breaking the law for driving without a one)🤦‍♂️

Geeze man! That's horrible!

You should be ashamed!


Not for the drinking, driving and shooting.....that sounds decidedly Montanan....but what in the hell did those turtles do to you??

I think they are cute.

My only scope bite came from leaning across the hood of a 79 Ford F-150 using a H&R 30-06. Learned real quick to stop leaning in.

Truck hood makes a damn good rest when needed. So do the mirrors.
Just be aware when shooting some what downhill so that you don't put a nice bullet groove across the hood !

Well that is something the rifle I was shooting was a Boat paddle stocked Ruger 338! Muzzle was at least a foot from the windshield.

I’ve shot hundreds of groups over a truck hood.

Has no bearing on the police shooting you keep referencing.

+1 on Passenger side...

I did the Driver's side with and AR and learned an expensive lesson...

I figure pretty much everyone has shot groups or checked zero off of a vehicle at some point.

Trying to see what a rifle will really do, shooting off the hood was never the best for me when doing load development. Between the height being to high or low and the wind moving the vehicle just enough to makes things a little wonky. A quick shot or two to check zero, the hood will work.

I'd much rather go prone with a bipod or bag than shoot off the hood.

The first time I shot a group on paper that I was like “wow that’s awesome” was with my uncles riihimakki .222 over a truck hood in a pasture in Pa.

I haven’t punched any holes (to date) but the white hood of my 06 Chevy has burn marks from flakes of unique landing from shooting my .44 over it.

Also using the truck bed to prone out in is pretty handy too.

Iffin I'm shootin off the hood

its a 17 M2 off the hood of a Land Cruiser

P/dogs at the other end

LOL. And I thought I was the only one to use prickly pear for sighting in rifles in the field. 🤠

And no telling how many coyotes and hogs I’ve killed shooting them out the window of a tractor or pickup over the years.

Yep. Must suck where ever Dillonbuck lives. 😜

Turn the truck 2 o'clock from whatever you want to kill and let it rip. Use the steering wheel and mirror as a rest, if you can get the window frame involved even better. It's not a good idea to shoot a rifle with a muzzle brake off the hood.

out the window with a 15-22 with a high scope....

Why get out to shoot

What about bedsides??

AR-15....223.....62 grain BTSP.

Shot a lot of groups off of a truck mirror.

Trucks that had wing windows worked best.

Still do a lot of sighting in this way. Shoot a lot off of an old cable reel as well.

This is how I do it 90% of the time. Like my previous post, trucks with wing windows worked best.

Once……but have used the truck tail gate many times! memtb

Perfect, thank you.

I think that, back when vinyl tops were popular a lot of them were destroyed by muzzle blast.

Probably 20 years ago the Fed Wildlife folks did a report on the
Game Comussion, they blasted them for being more interested in
enforcement than game management.

They make laws against situations where you might break another law.

A guy might shoot a deer hunting small game.
It is illegal to use a centerfire to hunt small game.

Might use small game hunting as an excuse to hunt deer after tagging out.
No small game hunting during rifle deer season.

And as Hastings surmised by my post.
The wardens are largely chickensheets.
We are allowed to spot light, but not in deer season or after 11.
Prices will fine you if you are pulling in your driveway and back up to
see the deer your headlights lit up. Call it spot lighting.
Sure, guys could do it in fields to go around the law.
But they will fine you anytime they can kinda justify it.

I do know one guy who is pretty cool.
One. In my 53 years.

I did shoot off the seat of a three wheeler once, 35 Whelen with 225 gr SGK at 300 yards. The group went 2.5" which made me a happy camper.

JD338

I got flatbeds

U don’t damage them as much as hoods!

Sighted in my muzzleloader through the drivers window of my ‘84 Bronco , zero degrees outside with a stiff wind . My favorite ex brother in law was my spotter in the passenger seat . Cotton balls for ear protection and still pretty loud but it still works with those open sights after all these years

Brother shot a hole in his, I lmao because I warned him.

I have shot a bunch of critters out of our over a truck but never gropes

And what state is this, may I ask ?

Oh no

Another happy camper

This. Not that I shoot very good groups, but 2.5 -3 inches high at 100 seems to work out pretty close to somewhere about near dead on at 300.

Done it dozens of times

You ain't kidding......

Yeah, this.

Hahaha. GOD bless you, JG.

You know, I could go with you and help you spot game this year.

I hope and pray you get that 248 inch Booner this year.

I may just take you up on that Dr Jag......IF you find me one like yours!

That would be fun. I do hope you get that big one

Rugged.

LOL!

He is a man's man.

Like if all the men you knew were women.

That'd be him.

I can’t imagine living in a Nazi state like that
What state?

Dont know what state hes in, but thats how things are in washington. Cant even lean a loaded rifle against your tire while you take your pack off to get your keys out.

My brother let a guy shoot his 7mm Remington Magnum off of sandbags over the hood of his 1983 Ford Ranger. The muzzle blast cracked the windshield. My brother was pissed. I on the other hand had a good laugh about it.

Ron

Pa.


State laws about such things are weird.

Some allow loaded guns, some just loaded magazines.

Maryland used to require them be in a case, and I've heard
that a loaded, detached but close by magazine could be considered
a loaded gun.


I know guys who have been accused of having had a loaded gun
and roadhunting because there was a round on the floor.

They were guilty. The warden didn't have a leg to stand on, but
he ranted and raved like a fool.
I think just enraged that they were
smart enough to get unloaded without him seeing it.



As to bullets hitting the vehicle.
Two brothers I knew were riding up the farm lane and saw a Groundhog
in a hayfield. Mike slid out the drivers side and laid his 22-250 across
the roof of his Scout. His bullet came down through the roof and we out
the side about 4 inches behind Randy's head.

Close call, but those two seemed to always be on the edge.
Ok guys, grew up house that was literally falling down around them.
Within 2 years of the Scout shooting, Mike was dead from a
car wreck and Randy drowned in a farm pound we used to swim in.
Around 20 and 14. Darn sham.