Finally upgraded my shooting benches.

[Topstrap]

Long story short I had two really solid wooden benches for my longrange rimfire matches, one U shaped and one T shaped. Where the U shaped bench was located it wasn't comfortable for lefties. I'm amazed how many lefties show up, at one point I had either four or five backed up waiting to use the T bench. Gotta accommodate the shooters so I started gathering scrap lumber/blocks and steel. Finished one today and will pour second tomorrow.

Made them a bit wider than normal to accommodate our wide Rempel bipods. I wanted an attached pivoting seat to use all positions of the bench. I used 1 1/2" acme thread to have 12" of verticle adjustment. I also wanted to allow in and out movement to allow more adjustment by pulling two pins and sliding it in and out. I made cushioned seats covered with military canvas. This was my first attempt making seat cushions. Pretty satisfying to create something from stuff just lying around.

Won't get into details but if anyone wants more info on any part I'll give more details. Lots of pictures though.



Topstrap

 

[GotRDid]

Brilliant!!!!

 

[Topstrap]

 

[Topstrap]

Finally found time to make up a crude picture with measurements on the concrete benches. Not sure I'd change anything but next April when the matches start I'll get a better idea of how everyone likes or dislikes them.

Used 6" concrete block shaped in a T pattern with one row buried in the ground. It's super packed limestone base so time will tell how it holds up thru the winter frost/thaw cycle but I think it'll be fine. I used an epoxy to glue the block together instead of concrete and dropped five 40 inch pieces of rebar down various holes and filled with concrete using the rebar to make sure each cell was filled to anchor them all together.

I used what scrap steel I had lying around to make everything else. Probably could have gotten a tighter fit on the seat pivot by searching and buying a tighter fitting outside piece but it's less than an 1/8" gap so it should be fine. I got carried away and made mine adjustable in and out while also swiveling and screwing up and down with about 12 inches of adjustment. Probably wouldn't do that again but a nice touch if a smaller person or child needs to get closer to the bench. The slide was two reese hitch recievers that slide on the frame with two guide rods on the bottom to help it slide in and out. Two hitch pins fit into grooved notches on each side of the reciever to lock it in each position and keep it from wiggling. 1 1/2" acme threaded rod is used for the elevation adjustment which I think worked better than a regular all thread rod.

The bench tops are 35 to 36 inches off the ground and are leveled both directions although my range starts out lower than the benches my Son had no problem adjusting the Rempel bipod down and easily getting on the lower 25 yard targets, it's is nearly perfect the rest of the way out to 197 yards. I made the top and elbow area wider than the concrete benches I've see that are factory made to allow more room for stuff we need on the bench top. The top is not glass smooth, it was colder and was setting up slow and I didn't want to stay up all night waiting to get a super finish on it. I kinda like the rougher finish which may help the bipods to sit nice and not slide around like some concrete benches I've tried. I'll also have a thin soft rubber mat which we've found is nice.

Didn't really copy any pattern but took some info from other benches and what we've found we like and mustered my way thru it. Not World Class but should accommodate both lefties and righties along with the ones that don't know which way to go and just do it in line from the rear. (that's me too)

Topstrap

 

[nmkid]

Good job!

 

[NF1E]

Well done. I could use one of those.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Nothing like a cement bench. Good job.

 

[Fred Baker]

Looks great