The shape of benches.

M

murphy

Guest
A new public rifle range is going in in my district,if we can ever get past the red tape and My job will be to build the benches. Bench demensions is not a problem but my question is this? Why are bench rests made in that scolloped shape? On my own private range I just have a heavy wooden table and it seems to work just fine. Wouldnt it be easier just to make the benches square or is there a reason for that characteristic shape? Murphy.
 
Go to the home page here and click on "articles" - there's one on benches.

Shape of the bench top is for shooter comfort and to accomodate left and right hand shooters.
 
The Scallop shape allows the shooter to get a bit more work room on the bench.
He or she can have the gun running parralel to the side of the bench and when the shooter sits next to it in the shooting position they can have their eqipment and reloads in front of them and they don't have to reach accross the rifle.
This shape has also works best with the highly popular right bolt left port and left bolt right port benchrest actions.
And allows more shooters into a smaller area.
Ted
 
Riverbend uses benches that are basically square with a notch in the middle of the rear section for the shooter to sit. Works well for lefties or normal people.
 
The "T" shape ...

and its slight variations are very comfortable to shoot on. My suggestion: make them of ample size and use concrete. You won't regret it. They'll last for decades. One final suggestion. Make sure they're perpendicular to the target line! Art
 
Seriously, your question shows a lack of experience with bench design that could result in a monumental screw-up. No bench shooter that I know of would agree with the idea that there is nothing wrong with a square bench.

I was in charge of building a range for our club that has 42 very good benches. I personally spent many days building the forms, recruiting the volunteer labor, and actually building the benches. There were many to help. I have months of my time invested in that project.

Since then, I have taken an interest in range, and specifically bench design. I that pursuit, I have asked as many as possible of the competitors that travel to various ranges about the good qualities and deficiencies of the benches that they have used in various locations. The article that was referred to in a previous post is a good one. It is a good place to start. If I can be of assistance in any way, PM or email me and I will send you my phone number. There are enough badly designed benches in the world. For the same amount of money and effort, you can build great ones. Sorry if I have taken too strong a tone, but as you may deduce, I take more than a little interest in this particular area. Good luck
 
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Where are you located, Murphy? I'm sure that we can direct you to a range near you that has good benches, so you can see for yourself. I personally like the "T" shaped benches, as do most shooters who have shot off them. They give more "work" room than most other designs, are space efficient, and offer both left & righthand usage. As Boyd stated, let us help you & we will. Just like Boyd, I am rather passionate about this subject after shooting on all sorts of benches.
 
For reference take a look at the pictures in the recent Denton Match post and look at the benches. They are comfortable and are able to be used by right and left shooters. I like them better them some of the Ranges I have shot at.
 
I must be retarded or else the Riverbend benches must not be your typical 'U' shaped bench. Maybe they are bigger than most. They have plenty of room for your bag and rest and right elbow and the extra room to the left of the rifle is way bigger than a Tee rest. Also the extra room is on the same side as the shooter so it's more convenient than having to place stuff on the right side of the rifle.
 
Yet again

Dick Grosbier said:
Square and U shaped benches I have seen at ranges leave a lot to be desired.

(In more generic terms they suck.)
Click to expand...

We are in agreement on something Dick. Regardless of how the bench is configured, 90* corners are not the hot setup. Nice radiuses are a whole lot more comfortable to nestle up to. Personally I like to get behind my rifles, many benches are too long to allow this.
 
Some of the problems is probably the shape of the shooter :D I am skinny everywhere except my lil belly so I don't have any problem with the U shaped benches. I am also tall which helps me adapt.
 
abintx said:
and its slight variations are very comfortable to shoot on. My suggestion: make them of ample size and use concrete. You won't regret it. They'll last for decades. One final suggestion. Make sure they're perpendicular to the target line! Art
Click to expand...
Here is a picture of a modified 'T' bench that we have at Rachel's Glen. Works very well.
bench1.jpg
 
When I designed the benches the benches for the WBC7 i Sweden, picture in Boyd Allen article, my goal was a steady, comfortable T-shaped bench. I prefer T-shaped benches to U-shaped because the rifles is placed close to the centerline of the benches which means that the distance between the rifles almost is the same even if there´s a lefthand shooter next to you. Muzzle-blast from the shooter next to you can be disturbing and with T-shaped benches an almost fair situation is obtained.

I also like to have a bench that don´t need a lot of space. If the center of the bench are only some inches wider than you have need for you have two options, make the range wider or decrease the space between the shooters. On a range with many benches a narrow bench will make difference. That’s the reason why the rear end of the bench is just as wide as it needs to be, not more. To give right handed shooters with left port and vice versa more space for their ammunition and other things they need the corner in front of the shooter are rather narrow and wide.

Benches had to be open underneath if you don’t want to make them at least 20” wider. 20” unused space x 30 benches is not negotiable if you need a concrete surface to put them on and a roof. To give room a bench with rear end cantilevered can be an alternative. A one piece moveable bench with cantilevered design was not what came to my mind. It can be done if you have the centre of gravity in the front of the bench.
I decided to make a bench with the rear leg on the outer end of a longer top.

The top is 47” long, 36” wide at the muzzel end and 12” at the rear end. The top is 6” along the centreline and 3” at the outer sides. The distance between the rear narrow end and the wider front is 20 inches. From the inner pointless corner of the top to the inside of the rear leg it is 13”. The front leg is 32” wide and slightly curved underneath to get a steady bench. It is placed 4” in from the front.

Hope that this lines gives some interesting input.
/Bo
 
These are the Riverbend benches on our main range though we have T benches on our 100 yard only range, never had a problem or a complaint with these. An advantage of a T bench would be more room to catch your brass for those with ejectors.

r14.jpg
 
as a fat cripple

The bench I see with the green gun on it (Riverside?) looks good to me. That is if there is not a permannent bench in the middle of the U. I can put stuff on the bench, sit down and get set up with plenty of room. I have a blowed out back so every step counts as well as having to climb around like a normal ambulatory person. The earlier comment about making the benches perpindicular to the target line is spot on. I belong to a club that made a nice, no, a very nice range except for the fact that a body can not move his rest to the left far enough because the builder(a good friend of mine) did not pay attention to this most important detail. I also think T type benchs with rounded corners are nice too. The scalop would work if the front portion came over to the right or left enough.
LASER
 
I have shot a number of times on Mickey's benches at Rachels Glen and to me they would be hard to improve upon. I particularly like his placement of the third leg at the rear of the top thereby leaving plenty of room under the bench for stool and leg placement. The benches with the closed center,usually the U shaped, I personally find uncomfortable and too restrictive.
 
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