Shooting Bench on Skids

[TXBRASS]

I dont shoot much from a bench (prefer prone) but a friend of mine is a big bench shooter and wanted a bench to shoot from at my home range. Put the welding skills to work and built this bench....put it on channel skids so we can pull it back and forth down the range (385 yards max shot) Have it sitting at the 100 yard line now letting the paint get nice and hard.

 

[Pete E]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

Looks an excellent job! Plus a nice range you have there! What size is the berm?

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

Berm is about 40' wide and about 6' tall....on the right side the berm comes out to make an L shape about 10'....I did this to keep the fragments (when shooting steel) from heading towards the house which is a couple hundred yards in that direction (to the right)....
Cant really see it in the pic but I have one of the 50% 500 steel targets from Ryan (osuarchitect) mounted on a 4X4 post....LOVE shooting that steel!

When it gets a little more dry I plan to increase berm height by about 2-3' so I can shoot head targets at 6' tall without the chance of fly overs. Pretty safe with just a few of us and bolt rifles, but my officers come out regularly and blow thru .223 ammo with their patrol rifles and when that happens seems the berm is never big enough! Rather be safe than sorry!

 

[Pete E]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

Cheers for that!

I have access to some farmland in the family, but its pancake flatso I've often thought about building a small berm on like that if I could get permission.

I'm guessing that it was probably a no more than mornings work for JCB or similar?

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

I have 20 acres....On one side of me is my family's (undivided) 180 acres and on the other is my aunt's 10 acres. My aunt and I have posts marking our property lines but no fence. This past winter she hired a bull-dozer to clear her back fence line....The morning he showed up he got confused and bulldozed a few of my big trees by accident. The guy was really sorry and asked if he could make up for the mistake with some complementary bulldozer work.....SHOOTING BERM!!! With a D-7 CAT dozer it took him all of about 15 minutes to push up the dirt. Main problem was the dozer was so heavy (and my land is very sandy) that when he began to crawl the berm to make it higher it would crush it...so 6' was as tall as it got. Have a backhoe that's gonna come out to build it taller this summer.
The right-of-way was already clear except for some of the limb trimming.

 

[Pete E]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

I really envy you guys who have their own range like that especially the ones that can shoot out the back door so to speak!

I need when to win the lottery and move to Scotland I think!

 

[hso11974]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

What did you make the top out of?

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

The top is treated 2" thick boards covered by a weathered (dried) piece of treated 1/2" plywood. I covered the plywood with a layer of fiberglass bondo resin and then primer and painted it. Will see how it holds up to the South Texas sun/heat.

 

[Pete E]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

If your worried about the weather, a PVC tarp cover like they use for garden furnature might provide a bit of extra protection...

 

[vman]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

Thats legit!

Your very lucky to own your own range

 

[sotexhill]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

Man, that range is nice. And thanks for posting the pictures of the bench. Can you add a picture taken from the side?

Thanks again.

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

Will be gone most of the day tomorrow for Easter at in-laws, but give me a few days and I'll get more pics up for you....

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

More pics as requested:

 

[sotexhill]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

That's great. Thank you very much.

That terrain resembles the Greenwood Gun Club's range at Brazoria, Texas.

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

I'm not too far away from that.....Hallettsville, TX

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

Well, after 9 months in the weather the top of the bench is cracking and peeling BAD. Gonna bring it back to the shop, sand and fill the cracks, smooth it up with some bondo, and have the top sprayed with bed-liner......that should do the trick.

 

[jackh]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

what is the table top part of it made of?

 

[TXBRASS]

Re: Shooting Bench on Skids

top is 2X12's covered with plywood.