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Benchrest Benches

Our range in St. Johnsbury has taken some criticism because of our "horseshoe shaped" shooting benches and I would like to research it. I personally like the U-shaped benches because we are a general purpose range and they work good for general purpose shooting. For competition, though, there may be a better design. In the following, which shape do you prefer? Why? What dimensions do you suggest?
 

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+1

I should have Quoted dansig when I did the +1, to mean the same as him. ( DUH )

Bench #4 is my choice too...........
 
I would suggest you mock up whatever style polls the highest, with the idea that you will be very willing to modify the mockup. My vote would be for #4 with the back 14-15" wide, and the offset to either side a foot, for a total front width of 38-39" I would make the sides of the widest part (coming back from the front corners), about 22 inches. For the length, 48" should be fine. If you want to use a large concave radius, instead of the angle, where the tail of the bench transitions to the front, but don't know of an easy way to form the shape, I can tell you how to do that, easily. One more thing, a bench height of 34" has been well proven at the Visalia and Fresno ranges. What sort of base will you be using?
 
Another vote for #4, the "standard" that is used locally. Bench top heighth above the surface between 32" & 34" maximum.
 
Without question #4. I built concrete benches for 2 clubs, and I radiused it like Boyd said. For the radiused area I used Trex for the form in that section.....I still had to kerf it to get the proper radius.
I used 2 different pier methods.....concrete block and poured concrete using 8" sonotubes. I prefer the poured concrete legs .....more leg room and less prone to vandalism.....an idea that came to mind after seeing new benches shot-up at the Sulphur Springs club.
 
Number 2 lets me set beside or behind the gun.

I copied the benches at Wright City, M

Terry
 
I think a radius type would be better.
Used 4"x 1/8 aluminum as the form
For right hand/ left or behind the gun.
I poured these at the local range.
And made some with 4" pipe legs that can be moved with a machine
( they weigh 650 - 700 lbs)
The tail is 16"wide
John H.
 

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When we made our forms, all I had were wood working tools, and a friend had a bandsaw. I formed the tops as rectangles that were length and maximum width of the benches. Inside that rectangle I attached blocks that formed the tail of the bench and the radius. The rectangles were formed with 2x4s that were joined at their corners with dados in the long pieces that the ends of the end pieces fit within, with threaded rod across the ends of the forms. Inside the "box" solid blocks (4 x 12 Doug Fir header material) were attached that filled the areas on either side of the "tail" of the bench. By using solid wood to form the curves, all that had to be done was to lay them out and cut them to shape with the band saw, no kerfing, molding, or glue and clamp.
At the time this was taken, it had been left outside and neglected for about 15 years. This was not my decision. The spacers that properly located the side panels were missing.
benchformfromrear.jpg

This is one of 42 benches at the Fresno range that were poured at the Fresno range with a set of six forms. 28 were poured at the Visalia range. They are monolithic, reinforced concrete, poured in one piece, in place, with rebar running from holes in the slab, through the base, and into the top. Building the forms and benches was a lot of work, all volunteer.
FRPCbenchside.jpg
 
LHSMITH said:
I used 2 different pier methods.....concrete block and poured concrete using 8" sonotubes. I prefer the poured concrete legs .....more leg room and less prone to vandalism.....an idea that came to mind after seeing new benches shot-up at the Sulphur Springs club.

Don't understand the mentallity of going out shooting and then shooting up the benches, backstops, signs... At one range they have taken to shooting trees until they fall over... then leave the mass lay, shells, brass, tv's what have you... no respect... should not have possesion of a fire arm in the first place.
 
Reed- I will get photos to you in next few days, but the tops look very much like the ones Boyd posted above. I made only one form, poured, stripped it, removed top, then poured another, etc. I tried to eliminate all hard corners and have radius edges throughout....you can see a radius in Boyds picture on the top surface as it transitions to the sides.....a hard edge digs into your ribs and tends to chip off.
 
drgun......Every range I've been to has similar damage. Those clubs with a live-on caretaker suffer the least. One club I belong to has pretty much stopped the damage by using several video cams which continuously records on tape (up to 2 weeks).....but a club officer scans the tape daily.
 
Reed, I think you will find that the "T" shaped benches are the most versatile & space efficient. MGGOA, Dublin, GA uses that type, and we traded them some skeet machines for the tops for our benches at Pinetucky in Augusta, GA. Dublin made their tops 3 1/2 blocks high, I made Pinetucky's 4 blocks high, much prefer the taller benches. With the drummer stool type seats most shooters use these days, it's easier & more comfortable to go a little higher than try to bottom out everything to get down to the lower height. If the Dublin benches have a design problem, it would be that the tail section is too long, so you can't sit behind the bench to shoot & still get the barrel out past the front edge of the bench. Will be glad to send you a photo in a few days.
 
Thanks, Joe, appreciate your insight. I'm pretty well settled on the "T" design after lots of input and emailed pictures, but still gathering info. I'm thinking of going with something along the size of: tops 36" wide, 48" long, 9" inset both sides with 18" center section. Think I'm going to mock up a couple of wooden tops just to get the feel for the different dimensions.
 
IMO the reason for whatever width the tail is is so that you trigger arm will be completely supported while you are shooting, The benches at Visalia are a scant foot wide at their tails, and they only leave the tip of my elbow unsupported. That is why I think that 15 to 16 inches would be plenty. On the other hand, the offset gives you the room for your ammo block when shooting a rifle that has the loading port on the opposite side from the bolt handle, and supports your arm when using a windage top. The benches at Visalia have an offset of around 11 inches, and this would be the minimum that I would go with. More would be better. I have seen benches that were configured so that shooters are forced over near the edge of the bench, and there is a lot of wasted space on the other side. The T shape, built with adequate offset avoids this problem. Building prototypes is a great idea. I suggest that you do one with more offset than I have recommended and then cut it down a little at a time, doing a little shooting off of it with a typical competition rig at each offset width. you can do the same thing with the tail width by having a variety of shooters sit, in shooting position at the bench and noting how far across the tail of the bench their arms extend. This sort of design workup would have benefited any number of ranges.
 
Good points, Boyd. The purpose to a wider center section was to address the possibility of sitting behind the rifle, which I had never seen or thought of.
 

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