Please Be Seated
December 15th, 2020I have a Shooting Bench
My latest creation is finished. I put the top on my new shooting bench, planed it, sanded it, and put more sealer on the wood. It’s ready to use.
I thought I was done with the metalworking yesterday, but then I realized the bench had no feet on it. The tubing on the rear side had nothing to prevent it from sinking into the ground. I fired up the dry saw and plasma cutter and made two 3″ by 3″ squares of 11-gauge steel, I ground the paint off the ends of the tubes, and I welded the squares in place and added truck bed coating. Done.
I also finished cutting wood for the top. I would have been done two days ago, but I had to go buy another two by six. I applied water sealer to the wood and left it out all night to dry, and today I was ready to assemble the bench.
I used 5/16″ by 3″ lag screws with big washers. I laid the wood out on a tarp, and I rolled the bench over on it so it was upside-down. I located and drilled pilot holes in the wood using the holes in the frame as guides, and I inserted and tightened the screws.
After this, I righted the bench. This was not fun. New pressure-treated wood is very heavy, and I had 36 feet by 5.5 inches by 1.5 inches of it to lift.
I got out some hand planes and made the top and edges of the bench a little friendlier. I sanded it lightly and rounded off the sharp corners. After that, I applied more sealer to the top, and I was done.
I’ve very happy with it. My welding got better and better as I worked, so there are a number of very pretty welds on it. The paint looks great. It’s very strong. I stood on it and jumped up and down, and it was not unlike jumping on a concrete driveway.
I have not gone through with my plan to add a way to pull it behind my cart. I’m thinking it over. It may be best to pull it by the bottom brace instead of the top brace. When the bench is tilted upward on the side with feet, it takes the weight off that end and puts more of it over the wheels. It would be easier to tow this way.
I was thinking of taking that strut off because I installed it by mistake, but now I see that it makes the bench much easier to move. You just lift so the strut is at chest level. All the weight goes to the axles, so you don’t have to hold the bench up. It’s like a balanced wheelbarrow.
This bench is very, very nice. It makes me regret buying a stainless table for my barbecue area. I spent well over $300. For maybe $150, I could have had a much stronger table set up just the way I wanted. It wouldn’t have been stainless steel, but truck bed coating and pressure-treated wood work very well outdoors.
There is no reason why I couldn’t build a less-robust patio dining table. I could use 1″ tubing and 1″ lumber. When you’re having lunch, you don’t need a table that can hold a ton. Of course, I’m assuming the wood wouldn’t warp like crazy. Pressure-treated wood comes full of preservative fluid, and it eventually evaporates, causing shrinking and warping. I guess I could use wood that isn’t treated, though. My outdoor dining area is under a roof.
I’ll try to put the bench in the pasture and try it out later in the week. If the cattle touch it, I’ll have them deported.
December 15th, 2020 at 7:09 PM
It came out great, now you have comfortable shooting too!! The great primer shortage is finally “putting a hitch in my get along”. I’m going on 223 rationing(1mag) starting tomorrow. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.
December 15th, 2020 at 7:11 PM
I’ll shoot some 762×39 off hand to make up.
December 15th, 2020 at 8:04 PM
Thanks for the support. Sorry to hear about the primers. Every once in a while, I see them pop up for sale. Either they cost 30 cents each, or they’re gone before I can check.
December 16th, 2020 at 10:04 AM
That, sir, is one seriously impressive piece of work.
Might we look forward to seeing some pics of it in it’s shaded shooting site, with the requisite equipment being deployed and engaged atop, as designed?
Oh, and a small bummer, here. I got the new Thompson-Center Compass rifle (6.5 Creedmore) up onto the bench and rifle vise, preparatory to mounting a scope.
Only to discover that of the factory-installed Weaver-type scope mount bases, the front mount was drilled about 5 to 7 degrees out of true and plumb, canted to the right as seen from the buttstock.
Phone to the 800 support number, a Return Authorization in hand, and I’m now taping up the box for it’s shipment back to the factory.
I don’t see how they’d be able to “fix” this one. I’m predicting a new serial numbered receiver/new rifle, as their solution.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
December 16th, 2020 at 11:43 AM
Thanks, Jim.
Sorry to hear about your rifle. What a horror story. The up side is that it appears to be a defect they can’t ignore or blame on you.
I’m surprised they could screw that up. You would expect them to have jigs and CNC to make things fast. One wonders if alcohol was involved.
December 16th, 2020 at 12:15 PM
Is it time to start working on a load for the Creedmoor?
December 16th, 2020 at 2:07 PM
Hoping to get to it soon.
December 16th, 2020 at 4:07 PM
Yep, first comes load, then you can build a dope chart, then you can hit stuff. Took a drive this morning, by the time I got up to the gate at the range there was enough snow to make it pretty slippery Nobody had been up since it snowed. Seeing that there was twice as much snow up at the range, I tucked my tail firmly between my legs and turned around. It was a pretty slippery drive down to the pavement. I guess that’s one way to save ammo!!
December 17th, 2020 at 1:38 AM
..Thanks, Jim.
Sorry to hear about your rifle. What a horror story. The up side is that it appears to be a defect they can’t ignore or blame on you.
I’m surprised they could screw that up. You would expect them to have jigs and CNC to make things fast. One wonders if alcohol was involved.
They Borked one, they likely Borked several or many others. I’d keep an eye on the T-C 6.5’s for “Factory Recalls” related to this?
Tubular Stock aluminum receiver. I can see how one would easily rotate it a jig, unless there were specific “stops” designed into the jig to “catch” on broached mag-well or ejection port openings.
If they didn’t have those “stops” before this problem, I’m guarantee you they have, by now. Doubt mine is the first, y’know.
Regardless. I’ll use the down-time to pick up on a one-piece Picatilly 20 degree base, to replace the Weaver two-piece bases that come with the rifle.
Better is Better, and the one piece will be Better.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
December 17th, 2020 at 1:40 AM
*picatinny*
I did not realize that spel-chunk operated even on a win 10 laptop?
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
December 19th, 2020 at 1:13 AM
This looks really good–it’s neat to see what can be made when you have good tools.