Thank you. I just got a Heavy Varmint Rest from Brownells, I think something small like 3/16 will work. I’ll break out the calipers and measure.
Front Rest Feet on Concrete
- Thread starter 6ShotsOr5?
- Start date
This thread has been up here for a while and I wonder why it is and who here cares. I know many clubs have past rules that mandate the use of feet to protect their concrete bench tops from who? Do the steel peg, properly used, destroy the tops? I have seen pock marked concrete tops but then I have seen guys hammer their pegs into the concrete. Why not just ban the use of hammers? These pock marks are generally at clubs that host many bench rest matches. I’ll single out the Kelbly range, who had acne of the bench until they hosted the World Championships there. For that they mixed a concrete slurry and floated it on the benches. Presto-change-o. I don’t know if that was any different than cutting the grass, grooming the berms, or grading the road. It’s just another task associated with range management.
I use an Hayes Front Rest that weighs 38 pounds. I stripped the jackets off three 30 caliber armor piercing rounds and after drilling the pegs of the rest, I heated and press fit the armor piercing cores for points for my pegs. I use this rest on my concrete top at home and I don’t have to pound or tap the pegs to set them and I haven’t damaged the bench top one bit. So why the interest in super feet if you don’t need them? I will say that improper technique will move your rest around and if you use the super feet you may need the rubber bottoms. I don’t know, is this really an issue or am I being trivial?
I use an Hayes Front Rest that weighs 38 pounds. I stripped the jackets off three 30 caliber armor piercing rounds and after drilling the pegs of the rest, I heated and press fit the armor piercing cores for points for my pegs. I use this rest on my concrete top at home and I don’t have to pound or tap the pegs to set them and I haven’t damaged the bench top one bit. So why the interest in super feet if you don’t need them? I will say that improper technique will move your rest around and if you use the super feet you may need the rubber bottoms. I don’t know, is this really an issue or am I being trivial?
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
A lighter rest will move unless hammered in but will not move with superfeet. Lots more ranges are following brrc in st louis and requiring them no matter what feet you have
sorry but it is pretty well known that points DO DAMAGE tops.
think 50 to 80 lb rests, not just the std 30 plus sincllair
it is why most clubs REQUIRE feet under points on their benches.
think 50 to 80 lb rests, not just the std 30 plus sincllair
it is why most clubs REQUIRE feet under points on their benches.
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
Back when dohrman first came up with the superfeet concept he told me that he went thru a bunch of different rubber. Not just any rubber will work. Too hard and it slides, too soft and it causes vertical. Too thick is bad too. The only one out there that works right is the dohrman design sold by steve at benchrite. If the bench is polished smooth a drop of water under each foot will make them feel permanent.
For a standard rest which is best, the 2 inch or 3 inch Stabilfeet?
dgeesaman
Gold $$ Contributor
My club does not allow hammers. The benchresters are using pointed feet with no permanent damage. If anything I see cosmetic scratch marks from moving around a rest, but they go away over time.
David
BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
Years back, with the help of many volunteers, I ran the building of forms that were used to build a total of seventy monolithic reinforced concrete benches on two ranges, and was personally involved in organizing and doing much of the work involved in pouring 42 of those benches at what was then my home club. Over the years too have read several threads on this subject. Invariably there is some fellow that thinks that resurfacing benches is no big deal, and my response has always been, how many benches have you built for public use, with your own hands? To this I will add, how many have you resurfaced? I have months of my life in the construction of a world class firing line and benches and do not apologize to anyone for speaking out against all who take a casual view of damaging them. To end on a positive note, with sharp points, even my old Hart rest will stay in place on concrete, but that is on a bench that has not been steel troweled to a polished finish or had hardener applied as part of its construction. The problem is that people plop their rests down with the points extended and then drag it into alignment, dulling the points. Most do not have hardened points, and they rapidly become dull. The discs solve the problem of bench damage. I also agree that the only people that I have seen using a hammer have been benchrest shooters. Build a range and set of benches with your own hands and then come back and tell me how you feel about people who intentionally damage it.
Well, I have built benches for a range and I have re-surfaced benches at a couple ranges and didn’t find this to be as bad a job as some would think it is. Yes, it’s a job and yes, the grass still needs to be mown but it isn’t as bad as some would think it is. The problem is in the hammer or he who wields the hammer. And yes, if a range wants or demands that you use feet, so be it. Back at home I have three concrete benches that get a fair workout and I’ll have to take a few close up pictures to show no damage done by my 38 pound front rest with .30cal armor piercing core equipped pegs. And no damage from Paul’s, Eric’s, Dave’s, Todd’s, or Jerry’s rests. It’s a moot point to me.
BoydAllen
Gold $$ Contributor
A while back, at the Visalia range, Dennis Thornbury finally mandated the use of disks, this after much accumulated damage to bench tops, almost exclusively by benchrest competitors. In the past I had seen many examples of people using hammers not to just tap in points, but in a few cases to pound them in. During that time, one fellow seemed to have heard me saying disparaging things about the practice, and seemed to make a point of pounding them in with a 2# dead blow hammer while looking angrily in my direction.
Not all benchrest shooters have this figured out to the degree that you and your friends obviously do. One thing that can be said is that unfortunately the rules for club ranges have to take into consideration the worst that will be using them, which can end up chafing those who would not cause any problems with less restrictive rules. I have always viewed other builders of club benches as being in a special class. Good for you.
Not all benchrest shooters have this figured out to the degree that you and your friends obviously do. One thing that can be said is that unfortunately the rules for club ranges have to take into consideration the worst that will be using them, which can end up chafing those who would not cause any problems with less restrictive rules. I have always viewed other builders of club benches as being in a special class. Good for you.
Dusty Stevens
Shiner
Ive shot at ranges where its hard to find a crater to put your rest in. Like 1/2”+ deep divots a couple inches in diameter
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