portable concrete benches

Mike
Build your benches,any stress you introduce to the concrete or rebar will be inconsequential to the integrity of your benches and there are AWS welding procedures for welding rebar, if any one is interested this can be looked up in the American Welding Society welding procedures.
As mentioned super heated concrete can pop sending flying particles around the work area, I would recomend using proper personal protective equipment for any one in the work area.
The benches in Sacramento work great.
Good luck with your benches.

Tommy Leroy Johnson
 
There is only one thing wrong with your design. The knockouts need to be longer. The 43-44 inch width is ok, but make the length down the center 48 inches. Learned this the hard way. Wish I had designed our benches 48 inches long. You could also just angle the cut out, knockout, whatever about the middle side to about 12 inches wide at the rear. Works about the same. Welding to the steel in concrete. No problem after the concrete has cured if you take a little care.

Donald
 
Moveable benches

Al , I am from Iceland and have pictures from some homegrown concrete moveable benches but not the benches from WB in Sweden. Stefan Karlsson who posts here occationally is from Sweden and might help with those pics.

Here is a very good article about building benches in general and it has a pictures of "precast monolitically concrete poured benches" made in Sweden my gess is those are the same benches you talk about Al.

Anyway, moveable benches are much harder to make good and stable. If possible it is a much better choice for benchrest to make them fixt.

http://benchrest.com/articles/benches.pdf
 
Guys,

I wrote that article and the moveable bench on page 8 is one that I built. I will assure you that it is very stable. We built some for our club (San Angelo Gun Club) like this but without the middle 4X4 square tubing that runs across the front or the angle brace at the back and you can tell no difference.

I advise that you raise the bottom braces for a 3 1/2" clearance off the deck so you can run a pallet jack under for lifting and moving. Two men can slide the bench around on concrete and three can do it even better.

We are in the process of building 12 more of these for our club. There have been several clubs who have built benches using this design. Ask Dan Killough how they work. He has 20 at his range in Winters, Texas.

I will freely share my plans with anyone who is considering building benches like ours.

Concho Bill
 
.25shooter said:
Al , I am from Iceland and have pictures from some homegrown concrete moveable benches but not the benches from WB in Sweden. Stefan Karlsson who posts here occationally is from Sweden and might help with those pics.

Here is a very good article about building benches in general and it has a pictures of "precast monolitically concrete poured benches" made in Sweden my gess is those are the same benches you talk about Al.

Anyway, moveable benches are much harder to make good and stable. If possible it is a much better choice for benchrest to make them fixt.

http://benchrest.com/articles/benches.pdf
Click to expand...

Thank you for finding the article! I'd misplaced it and lost my link. Yes those are the benches I had in mind. And someone posted some other pictures a few years ago, of these and of another smoothly contoured bench also.

al
 
For everyone's information:

Alinwa probably knows more about concrete construction than anyone who writes on this forum. I have seen some photos of the benches that he has built for himself and they are a combination of engineering and art.

I have worked my whole life in construction in one form or another and when Al speaks, I listen.

There now, I have said a mouthful.:)

Concho Bill
 
Mike ...

What's your plan for having near level bench tops once you start moving them around and repositioning after the prone folks are done ??? :)
 
weld away

I have welded hundreds of chicken house truss legs to weld plates anchored in concrete stemwalls. you will not have any problems--I am going to use your idea myself.
 
abintx said:
What's your plan for having near level bench tops once you start moving them around and repositioning after the prone folks are done ??? :)
Click to expand...

Our concrete floor is sloping to the front and it is not a big factor. That is what the adjustments are for. Blocks under the legs could be used if anyone feels the need.

I doubt that the benches will be moved very often for shooters. The beauty of a moveable bench is that if they ever need to be moved, they can be. Who knows, the range might be moved someday. Think of these benches as furniture.

Concho Bill
 
concrete

I've not often used concrete and portable in the same sentence.:D That being said, I think you'll find a lot of the posts here are well intended. You've posted your prototype in the right spot.
 
Here are some moveable bench pictures from Sacramento.We host both the NBRSA 600 and 1,000 Yard Nationals and the F-Class Championships known as March Madness.
The benches are moved atleast once a week depending on who needs the range and it is extremely easy to do.Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the equipment used to do this as I never thought it important but at the end of the month I will take pictures of the whole process.
Sacramento is one of the best ranges in the nation with 40 covered concrete benches at 1,000 yards.Getting them level is not a problem and moving them is not a problem either as I do it quite often myself.Ken "Mr Sacramento" Schroeder and "Dangerous" Bob Dorton move these benches weekly and Ken is 81 years old.
Lets not make this simple process seem like a major undertaking as it is not.
Lynn aka Waterboy
 
Lynn ...

What's the weight of those benches? Where do you store them? In the open or covered? :)
 
The benches weigh around 450 pounds and are stored on one of the various berms usually in the open.
They used square tubing for the uprights and an old car axle and a pair of tires is used to move them.It has two "U" shaped uprights on it and when you pull it down to hook it to the trailer ball it lilits up the bench.
We have a match the 4th sunday of this month and I will take pictures of how it works and post them to Mike.
Lynn aka Waterboy
 
These are pictures of the portable benches at WWCCA along with the pallet truck.
 

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mike cockcroft said:
Having been in the construction business for 30+ years, we also set steel anchor plates in concrete and weld I-beam or pipe columns to them all the time. You are correct, the corner knockout needs to be 12 x 18. Might have to weld a cross brace between the front two legs and maybe a diagonal brace from the center of the back leg up to the channel iron.

That sounds like a really solid setup but spacing the benches so prone could be shot between them would be alot less hassle. Jon
Click to expand...
 
At one range, where we have fixed concrete benches, with fairly close spacing, I tried a little CF prone bipod work, from between the benches....LOUD
 
benches

I'm not a builder just a shooter but from what I see in some of the pictures there are some people shooting from the back of the benches. If I am shooting from the side of the bench as designed and the guy next to me is shooting from the back of his bench I get too much of his muzzle blast.
The pictures of the benches from abintx at the Austin range look about right. How long are they?
Also, I don't like bars and stuff that get in the way of my feet. Benches that are so high you need a bar stool to shoot from are another pain.
Benches that are too close for a LH and RH shooter to be next to one another are another problem.
alinwa let's see a picture of your benches?
 
Just askin'

Especially for those with "rises" or berms on the range, why not just make a plywood and angle iron "extension" to the existing benches and shoot prone off the top of the benches? I may have seen that somewhere (Colo. Springs?) indoor... you could even put safety rails on them to prevent the shooter from rolling off... {8>)... or not. The plywood extensions would definitely be lighter to move on and off. This way some could shoot prone while others shot sitting and all muzzle blasts would be equidistant. Or not.
 
Del
In NBRSA longrange shooting your muzzle must be in front of the bench.If you look at my last picture you will see a lefty next to a righty and the spacing is infinitely adjustable.

Dampatents
I think the plywood extensions are too flexible plus with the age of our shooters climbing on top of a bench becomes less inviting.
If you look at the pictures I posted you will notice the berms are quite tall.

I like the pallet jack idea but we are on ground not concrete.
Lynn aka Wterboy
 
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