Building a concrete shooting bench

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Mirage416

New member
I am building a shooting bench top which is concrete and had a few questions. Basically it is a double joined T for 2 shooters. It is using a 4x8' sheet of plywood for the pour mold base. 2X4s will be framed on top of the plywood. So the concrete will be poured as thick as a 2x4 and mould removed when set up. The plywood has square cutouts for 5 total supporting 4x4s that are concreted into the dirt.

Will 8 feet of concrete over 3 inches thick require a bit of steel inside, rebar or threaded rod?
 
Any steel added will be better than not having it. sounds like you have a good plan other than the 4x4 wooden post. Wood isnt the best choice in my mind by a long shot. Why not use fewer uprights and stronger materials like concrete block or poured concrete legs. Did a bit of a footing into the ground and use some sack-crete for a footing to lay the block up on. Dont use wood unless thats your only option. Thats my opinion anyway. take it for what its worth. Lee
 
I used concrete blocks for legs on mine. Mines got rebar in the pad it sits on and rebar through the concrete blocks the top sits on. The blocks are kinda big but you get used to it. Had to cover the top to keep it from scratching my wood stocked rifles. My buddy used some kinda stuff looks like a cross between plastic and black rubber. Glued it on the top. Stopped the scratchs.
 
Mirage416 said:
Will 8 feet of concrete over 3 inches thick require a bit of steel inside, rebar or threaded rod?
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If I were doing a sidewalk that big, I'd score it so it would relieve the stress. That way it won't crack on its own. On something 8', I'd definitely use remesh in there. And with it cut into a T, I'd still expect it to crack. If I were dead set on 8', I'd radius the inside corners on your T. Give it a nice 6" radius so there's less stress point at the inside intersection. Otherwise, it's all but a cinch it's gonna crack there.

I"d probably sit a bit of weight on top of the form to simulate the concrete for a few days and let it settle the legs in, then pour. But that's just me.

There's a great thread on here from about 6 months ago where a guy did a bench in concrete with all sorts of photos and had all sorts of good input. Do a search for that and you'll get some more info.

/EDIT
Skeetlee above is the one who provide the thread I mentioned. Right here!
http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?75370-My-range-in-progress&highlight=concrete+bench

His bench is smaller, but, even there his inside corner is radius'd

And Al there, he's poured a pail of concrete or two.
 
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I did a double bench once. Its fine if you have a concrete saw available. When you buddy come over and flops his equiptment
on the other side, you will wish you had built two singles, and it won't take long to correct it
 
Bob Kingsbury said:
I did a double bench once. Its fine if you have a concrete saw available. When you buddy come over and flops his equiptment
on the other side, you will wish you had built two singles, and it won't take long to correct it
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While I have to somewhat agree with this, make 'em massive enough and no worries :)

I've got singletons that set 6' apart on a 4" thick poured slab that show movement when folks are walking around. On the 5 big multiple benches I've done I did break the rebar in case I had to saw them apart (I have the equipment in hand) and I've had people jump on the tabletops, drop sandbags and shoot large rifles . . . . . no movement. My lightest bench, the "temporary" one I've painted brown in the photos, I actually just poured an 8X16 slab four inches thick and fastened the table to it with rebar. This bench only weighs about 20,000lb but it's set on a rolled-in bed of crushed fillrock and it's stable enough when three shooters are using it. It does ring like a gong when you fire a big braked gun off it but no doubling problems.

Make 'em massive enough and they're like heavy equipment or large machine tools, they don't even acknowledge flesh and blood.

al
 
alinwa said:
While I have to somewhat agree with this, make 'em massive enough and no worries :)

I've got singletons that set 6' apart on a 4" thick poured slab that show movement when folks are walking around. On the 5 big multiple benches I've done I did break the rebar in case I had to saw them apart (I have the equipment in hand) and I've had people jump on the tabletops, drop sandbags and shoot large rifles . . . . . no movement. My lightest bench, the "temporary" one I've painted brown in the photos, I actually just poured an 8X16 slab four inches thick and fastened the table to it with rebar. This bench only weighs about 20,000lb but it's set on a rolled-in bed of crushed fillrock and it's stable enough when three shooters are using it. It does ring like a gong when you fire a big braked gun off it but no doubling problems.

Make 'em massive enough and they're like heavy equipment or large machine tools, they don't even acknowledge flesh and blood.

al
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Al, what size bench are you talking about here? I understand it's anchored to the slab, but, you mention it "rings", is it also a huge table top? Muzzle doesn't extend past the table? I can't draw a mental picture from the description.
 
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