Please help me design my Shooting Bench

J

jamo002

Guest
Everything I know about BR shooting I learned on this board. I have 2 rifles both 6mm talldog. One's a Time Precision/Hart BBL HV and my LV is an OLD Dwight Scott Sleeved Rem 600 with a fluted Shileen and a re-chanbered Hart, built for that funny writer what's-his-name from "Precision Shooting" Magazine that build's a new gun every year. I think he shoot's .22 WallDog's now.

I've never shot a match due to some health issues that preclude long distance travel but I have turned in several .100's with my HV @ my local club. (See ya just wait till the wind dies........)

Anyhow, I recently bought a farm to retire to. Building a house for me & my wife and giving my daughter/son-in-law/grand kidz an acre to build themselves a house.

First thing I did was build a shure-nuff proper 200 yard rifle range. Berm is done. Now I need to build benches for one shooter @ 50 (I have 2 BR-50 guns) and 100 yards. The 200 position is for my vintage black powder buffalo rifles and cross sticks. Yup, I'm a cowboy shooter too, "Moonshine McBride". Don't laugh if'in ya haven't tried it!

I need help designing the 2 benches with P.T. lumber. No, I don't want concrete, just don't know how to work with it. I built the bench I shot all my .125's and .100's off of and I don't mind spending the money to do it right in wood.

HELP PLEASE!

Bob Jamieson
Austell Ga.
 
Bob, you need to ride up to Dawsonville and shoot a match with us at River Bend gun club. 2nd Saturday of each month. Next month will be a group match. A few of us get together most Thursdays to cheat, aka practice. If you want to come up let me know and I will have you as my guest.

For your benches I would recommend concrete blocks for the "tee" base. You can purchase 'concrete glue' to glue them together. This stuff looks like Elmers white glue but it is amazingly strong and totally weatherproof [ it also comes in much bigger bottles than Elmers ;) ].

Then just add a wood top. You could laminate two or three layers of 3/4" plywood to make a stout, heavy top.

I don't think wood legs are going to work out in the long run. Warpage, rot, etc.
 
How well

crb said:
For your benches I would recommend concrete blocks for the "tee" base. You can purchase 'concrete glue' to glue them together. This stuff looks like Elmers white glue but it is amazingly strong and totally weatherproof [ it also comes in much bigger bottles than Elmers ;) ].

QUOTE]

does the glue hold? Last?

So you are saying just put a thick bead on the edges of the blocks and lay the next on top until the achieved height is reached?

If it holds up I may just have to use blocks for the legs instead of square tubing.

Then again how hard is it to mix a few pails of ready crete and fill the block cavities with.....
Click to expand...
 
This is an interesting idea. I was about to build myself a new bench, and this sounds like a solid method.

Do you have any photos of a similar bench for setup suggestions?

Thanks
 
I once used this glue for a [ long forgotten ] project. The only thing I remember about this project is that when I no longer needed it I wanted to reclaim the concrete blocks. A few of the joints came loose but some were stronger than the blocks themselves. I would pick up a pair of the blocks that were glued together and throw them to the ground trying to bust the glue joint and it held up just fine. I never did bust the joint apart.

I would lay a thick bead of glue on both surfaces and allow the glue to soak into the concrete for a few minutes. Then stack them together and prep the next joint.

We will have to come up with a scheme for attaching the wooden top to the concrete block legs.

I will go out to my shed and see if the glue says it will work on wood.
 
If I remember correctly you may end up needing a solid 1/2 block at the top of the stack of concrete blocks. This solid block will be the key to mounting the top. I am envisioning some sort of turnbuckle set up so you can adjust the tension and really pull the top down onto the base.

Hmmm, if you turned the uppermost full sized block on it's side you would have access into the interior of the block. Carefully drill a hole down into this cavity to accept a 1/2" bolt coming down from the top. When laminating the plywood pieces that make up the top you could place said bolt between the layers so it is below the top surface.
 
If you want to use PT 4 x 4s (or 4 x 6) for legs that's fine too (they'll last for many years). Dig holes down to below your frost line (3-4'), center up, brace, and level the posts, then dump a bag or two of ready mix cement into the hole (add water or wait for rain). Add your wood top and your ready to go.

Also: there are several threads on these forums all about bench designs (do a search) as well as this article:

http://benchrest.com/articles/artic...hes/Theres-a-need-for-a-few-good-benches.html

Say, when you "gitterdone", come on back and tell us all about it including some pictures if possible :D
 
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When we rebuilt our range and put in concrete "T"'s and concrete tops we used liquid nails to glue the T blocks together. Then we filled the cavities with concrete sack mix and re-bar. Set the precast tops on them with a bead of liquid nails all around the top of the T. The tops weigh about 400+ lbs and cannot be moved. Very solid and very stable. I built a take apart 2x4 frame for casting the concrete tops. Over the winter we had them cast at a place that manufactures concrete burial vaults. They use a very strong concrete mix with what I call fiberglass hair in the mix. Since they always have a bit of extra mix left over when they cast the vaults and tops they just used it on our tops. They charged us about $20- $25 each for them. A very easy way to build good solid benches. You do need a few guys to set the tops on the T's.
Donald
 
Jamo,

I can personally vouch for the four legged wooden bench in the bench article on this site. If you can make a steady picnic table you can make these benches. You can make them in your barn or garage and deliver them to the site. I would at least set the legs on concrete stepping stones to keep them off the ground.

We had these at our San Angelo Gun Club for at least 20 years and they were very steady.

http://benchrest.com/articles/articl...d-benches.html

Concho Bill
 
Glad I found this forum as I am about to build a bench. Does anyone have any dimensions for a T bench, I am about to make a bench with a concrete top and set it on metal post and concrete them in the ground. I don't have a range near buy so I don't have anything to really go buy as far as what size most T top benches are.
 
I just finished my 500 yard bench today.

I used five 4x4 legs concreted into the ground. The top is two sheets of 7/16" plywood laminated together, outside dimensions were kept 4'x8', in a double-T configuration. There is a 2x4 frame built around the top of the leg posts, to level and brace the top board from any flex.

I painted the top with 2 coats of latex primer and then a latex top color. (It is hunter green, but the picture appears turquoise.)

The T bases are 14" square cutouts. The distance between them on the insides is 30".

For the floor, I used around 4x10.5 feet of 16" concrete tile with a 2x4 frame around it.

bench1ku2.jpg


bench2og3.jpg
 
Next step

put a roof over it and then enclose it.

Not sure how cool the winters get there but I do plan on enclosing my 1000 yard table at the farm and eventually the 100/200 yard line at a later date.

Gets mighty cool during our lovely Canadian winters.
 
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