Abstract:
The invention disclosed is a device for use as a shooting platform. The shooting platform may be attached to a receiver hitch on a vehicle and may be collapsed against the vehicle for storing and for transportation on the vehicle. The shooting platform may be adaptable for right and left handed shooters. The device may include a seat for the user. The platform and the seat may have height adjustments to fit the preferences of a user and may also have adjustments to permit the leveling and/or the preferences of a user for angular positioning.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a receiver mounted shooting rest for use on a vehicle. 
   2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
   Portable shooting rests are particularly designed for field varmint shooting. Since a shooter and a varmint are frequently separated by several hundred yards and the varmints are small, the rifle must be supported for accurate shooting. However, since the varmints may also be very mobile, the shooter must be able to assume a stable shooting position with the gun supported quickly. 
   The following U.S. patents and published applications are incorporated by reference herein: U.S. Pat. No. 203,184, 4,937,965, 5,397,147, 5,491,921, 5,664,717, 5,755,411, 5,833,308, 5,857,741, 5,933,999, 5,979,099, 6,058,641, 6,269,578, 6,338,218, 2002/0008364 and 2003/0168487. 
   BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The device of the present invention is a shooting support for a firearm. In particular, a device of the present invention is a shooting support which may be attached to a vehicle and may be transported and stored while attached to a vehicle if preferred by a user. In an embodiment of the invention the shooting support may be collapsed against the vehicle. The device of the invention may be used in a number of firing positions and is adjustable for length, height and level or other angular orientations, including left/right orientations, as preferred by the user. The components of the device may be assembled to fit both left handed and right handed users, as described herein. 
   The device of the invention may have a firearm supporting platform which may be used to support a firearm. The firearm supporting platform may cooperate with additional supporting elements and structures, such as sandbags and/or conventional firearm leveling supports, and similar devices. 
   It is thus an object of this invention to provide a receiver mounted shooting support for use on vehicle which may be assembled to fit both left handed and right handed users. It is another object to provide a shooting support which can be transported and/or stored in a configuration attached to a vehicle. It is a further object to provide a shooting support which may be adjusted to fit the size and/or spacial preferences of the user. 
   The invention summarized above comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated by the subjoined claims. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     In the accompanying drawings, in which several of various possible embodiments of the invention are illustrated, corresponding reference characters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings in which: 
       FIG. 1  is a right perspective view of a device of the invention mounted on a vehicle; 
       FIG. 2  is a left perspective view of the device of the invention mounted on a vehicle; 
       FIG. 3  is a right side view of the device of the invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a front view of the device shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 5  is a top plan view of the device of the invention shown in full lines for right-handed use and in broken lines for left-handed use; 
       FIG. 6  is a partial exploded view of the device of the invention; 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the device of the invention shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
       FIG. 8  is a further perspective view of the device of the invention shown in  FIG. 4 , partially broken away to show a recessed fastener for mounting the platform to the platform support; 
       FIG. 9  is a partial cross-sectional view of the device of the invention taken along the plane  9 — 9  in  FIG. 6 ; and, 
       FIG. 10  is a detail on an enlarged scale taken along line  10 — 10  in  FIG. 4 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a shooting support  20  is shown mounted to a receiver hitch, such as a Reese receiver  22 , of a vehicle  24 . Vehicle  24  may have a bed  26  and a tailgate  28 , as shown, or may be another type of vehicle such as a van, four wheeler and the like. As shown, device  20  has a vertical supporting element  30  which supports a platform  32  on a horizontal supporting element  34 . Device  20  also has a horizontal mounting element  36 . Elements  30 ,  34  and  36  make up a frame. Horizontal mounting element  36  includes a joining member  38 . Joining member  38  may be attached to a vehicle trailer hitch such as receiver  22 , as shown. Horizontal mounting element  36  and joining member  38  may be unitary or may be formed of a plurality of sub-elements, as described further herein. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  4 , and  6  through  8 , horizontal mounting element  36  and joining member  38  are shown as formed of a plurality of sub-elements. Joining member  38  has a yoke  40  at its proximal end. Yoke  40  may be unitary with joining member  38  or it may be a separate sub-element, as shown. The separate sub-element yoke  40  may be attached to the proximal end of joining member  38  by a pin  44 , or another fastener such as a bolt or screw, as shown in  FIGS. 3 ,  7  and  8 . Yoke  40  may be bifurcated, as shown, to receive the distal end of a sub-element  48  ( FIG. 6 ). 
   Sub-element  48  may attach to vertical supporting member  30  as a unitary piece or it may have an additional sub-element  50 , as shown, or additional sub-elements as shown in  FIGS. 6–8 . The proximal end of sub-element  48  may be removably connected to the distal end of sub-element  50  by a pin connector  56  or by an equivalent fastener such as a bolt or a screw, as known in the art. It will be appreciated that this connection may also be adjustable, for example by telescoping pin and bore connections, as disclosed for the other elements and sub-elements of shooting support  20 . 
   As shown in the drawings, upper flange  58  ( FIGS. 6–7 ) of yoke  40  may have a plurality of lobes  60  ( FIGS. 7–8 ) which are spaced to allow sub-element  48  to be attached to yoke  40  in several configurations. For example, shooting support  20  may be collapsed to the right or to the left to save space during storage or transportation of shooting support  20 . Each of the lobes  60  may be equipped with pin bores  62  to receive a pin connector  64  which cooperates with a bore  66  ( FIG. 9 ) on the distal end of sub-element  48  to fix shooting support  20  in the selected position. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  4  and  9 , device  20  may also be provided with a seat support  68 . As shown, seat support  68  is mounted through yoke  40 . A seat support tube  70  may be removably installed in bores  72  through yoke  40 . Seat support tube  70  may be held in position by a stop  74  attached to seat support tube  70 . Stop  74  cooperates with yoke  40  to position seat support tube  70 . The distal end of sub-element  48  may have a bore  76  through which seat support tube  70  passes and which permits sub-element  48  to pivot around seat support tube  70  serving as a hinge. Pin connector  64  with bore  66  acts as a latch to fix the hinge in a plurality of angular positions. Seat support tube  70  may receive a threaded support rod  78 , as shown. Threaded support rod  78  may have a wing nut  80  threaded thereon; wing nut  80  and threaded support rod  78  cooperate to provide height adjustment of seat support  68 , as described herein. 
   Seat support  68  has a seating platform  82  which may be mounted on a boss  84 , as shown. Boss  84  is connected to threaded support rod  78 . If desired, boss  84  may have a ball pivot connection  86  to threaded support rod  78  which permits angular adjustment of seating platform  82 . A jam nut  88  may be used to lock the position of seating platform  82 . In addition, if desired, seating platform  82  may have an additional fixture or fixtures  90  or  92  to fasten the position of seating platform  82 . Fixtures  90  and  92  may be conventional set screws, as is known in the art. 
   With continuing reference to  FIG. 9 , it is seen that proximal end of joining member  38  terminates with a cylinder  94  having a plurality of holes  96  about the circumference thereof for receipt of pin  44 . Pin  44  and holes  96  provide for angular adjustment of horizontal mounting element  36  with respect to joining member  38 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 10 , the position of platform  32  is also adjustable. Vertical supporting element  30  may be formed of several sub-elements. A lower sub-element  98  may be attached to horizontal sub-element  50 , for example by welding or by the use of conventional fasteners. An intermediate sub-element  100  may be attached to lower sub-element  98  by a yoke  102 , as shown. Yoke  102  adjustably receives intermediate sub-element  100  by use of a plurality of angularly distributed bores  104  which cooperate to fix the position of intermediate sub-element  100  around pivot  106  by use of fasteners  107 , as shown and as known in the art. 
   Intermediate sub-element  100  may receive an upper sub-element  108  ( FIG. 6 ) which may telescope into intermediate sub-element  100  and be adjustably fixed in place by bores and fasteners as previously described. Upper sub-element  108  is attached to horizontal supporting element  34 , as shown. Horizontal supporting element  34  adjustably receives transverse platform support  110 . Transverse platform support  110  is attached to longitudinal platform support  112 , as shown. Platform  32  is removably attached to transverse platform support  110  and longitudinal platform support  112  by conventional fasteners  113  the heads of which may be recessed as shown in  FIG. 8 . 
   It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that shooting support  20  may be constructed of a variety of conventional structures and materials. For example, the bulk of shooting support  20  is shown as constructed of conventional square tubing, which may be of steel, aluminum or other materials. However, shooting support  20  could use rectangular, circular, triangular or other tubing. In addition, other forms, such as channel, angle or I forms could also be used. In some of the embodiments shown, various elements and sub-elements are telescoped together. The telescoped component elements may be fixed by pin and bore connections, as shown. The pins may use spring and ball detents, also as shown. In addition, other fasteners may be used, including bolt and nut fasteners, machine screws or other equivalent fasteners. Various components may also be joined by welding, brazing and the like as known in the art. 
   Operation of the Device 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , shooting support  20  may be attached to a vehicle  24  by inserting the distal end of joining member  38  in receiver  22 , or an equivalent structure, and fastening the connection with a pin and bore fastener at a length adjustment preferred by the user. The user adjusts the height of seating platform  82  by threading wing nut  80  around threaded support rod  78  lifting threaded support rod  78  out of seat support tube  70 . It will be appreciated that seat support tube  70  may be threaded internally if desired. The connection between seat support tube  70  and threaded support rod  78  may be made tighter by inserting grommets, O-rings and other shimming structures into seat support tube  70  to provide a snug fit. Yoke  40  may also be shimmed at  121  to provide a snug fit with horizontal mounting element  36 , as shown in  FIG. 9 . Seating platform  82  may be leveled, or other orientation selected, by use of ball pivot connection  86  and the orientation of seating platform  82  may be fixed by use of jam nut  88  and/or either of set screws  90  and  92 . 
   The height of platform  32  may be adjusted by telescoping upper and intermediate sub-elements  108  and  100  with a pin  122  and a bore  123  connection shown in  FIG. 6 . In addition, the angular orientation of platform  32  may be adjusted by use of yoke  102  shown in  FIGS. 3 ,  6  and  10  acting as a hinge and with pin  107  and bores  104  serving as a latch. Further angular adjustment of platform  32  may be obtained by setting the angular relationship of horizontal mounting element  36  with respect to joining member  38  with pin  44  in selected hole  96  of cylinder  94 . A bubble level  127  may be provided as shown in  FIG. 5  for positioning platform  32  as desired. The angular orientation, left and right, of platform  32  may be adjusted by use of yoke  40  and pin  64  and bore  62  connection shown in  FIGS. 7 ,  8  and  9 . 
   When the elements of shooting support  20  are adjusted to the user&#39;s preference, the user sits on seating platform  82 . The user&#39;s feet may rest on the ground or may be placed on foot rests, such as elements  124  shown in  FIG. 6 . The user&#39;s firearm may be rested on a leveling support  125  ( FIGS. 1–2 ), which may be conventional, or the user may use a sandbag  126  ( FIG. 3 ) or similar device as is known in the art. In addition, shooting support  20  may be used in the prone or reverse prone position by lowering platform  32  and extending tailgate  28  of a suitable vehicle, as shown in phantom in  FIG. 3 . 
   It will be appreciated that platform  32  may be reversible to fit both right handed and left handed users. As shown in solid lines in  FIG. 5  platform  32  is mounted for a right handed user with cutout  128  on the right. However, platform  32  is removably connected to transverse platform support  110  and longitudinal platform support  112  by suitable fasteners  113 , such as those described herein. Transverse platform support  110  is also removably connected, and may be adjustably connected, to horizontal supporting element  34  by similar suitable fasteners. Horizontal supporting element  34  is shown as a channel form ( FIG. 6 ), but it will be appreciated that a tube, a plate, angles or other forms may be used. When platform  32  connections and supporting element  34  connections are disconnected platform  32  and longitudinal platform support  112 /transverse platform support  110  may each be rotated one hundred eighty degrees, as shown in phantom in  FIG. 5 . Elements may be reattached in this configuration to fit a left handed user. 
   In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained. As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.