Armory Sponsor
Posted: 6/22/2007 6:45:35 AM EDT
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I have decided to give up on the gun club where I usually shoot; I love peace and quiet when I shoot not chubby danish stained camo tee-shirt poking out of their tactical BDU knock off wearing know-it-alls chatting me up about how awesome they are at their other secret job. Lots of places close to my home to shoot without distraction but no facilities at these places. I need a bench from which I can shoot, something I can load and unload by myself from the back of a pickup truck. Any ideas? |
My brother (who had just bought a Shopsmith at a very good price) built me a terrific shooting bench. ETA for pics: This is the bench set up ready for use:  This is a detail of the table legs. The wood "wafer" under the galvanized pipe flange is a 5-6 degree wedge to 'splay' the legs, making it stabler.  Detail of the underside of the bench. The legs are held in place by tool holders (like for mops and brooms) while in transport. Each leg has a hole in it for the 5/16" bolt, to help tighten the legs.  Here is a detalil shot of the top of the bench. There are 2 trays routed into the bench for brass, parts, rolly-polly bullets & other stuff that won't stay put. The four dots you see are the upper side of the bolt holes for the legs.  Here's the bench, ready to be carried between house & vehicle. The handhole was preplanned for best balance. The cutout is big enough for my ample belly, and is for right-hand only.  The legs are made of 1" galvanized pipe, about 24" long, which is about the height of the average office desk. The legs also have caps on the end to prevent being stopped up with sand. The bench top is about 24 inches wide by 48" long. ETA yet again for prices: From the Web sites I see above, the lease expensive bench is well over $100. Mine has these beat! 3/4" plywood (1/2 sheet): $12 or so. 1" x 24" galvanized nipples: $4.00 or so each. Misc. hardware: about $18.00 (includes the mop & broom holders). 1/4 can of varathane: $4.00 (?) 3 plastic caps for bottoms of galvanized nipples: About one week of grumbling from his wife who missed them from the bottom of her ironing board.  Total: about $46.00. Cost to me (as it was my birthday present): $0.00 |
I often end up tinkering alot. While shooting prone is grand I like a place to fiddle and lay pistols, ammo, etc, out of the dirt and where I can work.
I love your brother! I think I will bang up something like it. |
We worked on it together, he was asking me for ideas for a custom table and we both did a lot of "minc experimenting." We did the whole thing in 2 days or so. Lots of that was waiting for the varathane to dry. It was a fun project! |
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