Making a new shooting bench

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I got really tired of rebuilding wood tabletops. So i am going concrete. And i will be building a glass walled weather tight building around the bench. I already have 5 pieces of sliding door glass. for the walls. Also there will be a propane heater so i can shoot in the winter.
The only thing i am concerned with is noise reflection off of the walls. But i am considering ceiling tiles between the shooter and the muzzle of my firearm.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
Plexi or lexan with a port hole to get the muzzle on the outside .
I've dedicated many hours to inter cranial shooting shack design .
Especially rifles and even more so if you're shooting anything full power need to get the muzzle out of the box .
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Just don't do like a friend did. Round concrete patio table, only a couple inches thick. Jack hammered the thing when they couldn't get it off the ground.
 

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I just thought of another imp. question.
The hole in the front of the shooting house. Which has a moveable door when shooting. How big (or small) should it be?
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
2' is probably enough, 2-1/2 would give you a little more wiggle room.
you just want to make sure you can see out it if you have a tri-pod set up for a spotting scope.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Seriously, pour it in a form off the ground. Goodsteel used a fork lift to get his top on the supports. Commercial box stand window is 2-2 1/2' by 1 1/2' and works good. Light off a 223 inside without muffs and you won't hear anything for a while. Acoustic tile won't do much and gets soggy easily. Heavy cotton curtains will be better. IF I were doing a shooting shed, I'd build it with hinged panels to be awnings, solid bottom half.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
For sound deadening you can use empty Styrofoam egg containers stapled to the ceiling and walls. Not perfect but they do dampen the sound quite a bit. Inside an enclosure every little bit helps.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
some of those cheap foam insulation panels combined with the egg crates work very well for sound deadening.
it also adds about a 3-4R value pretty cheaply.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
straight out from the wall is fine, they already have the angles and convex surface.
 

JonB

Halcyon member
The Video shows concrete benches at a Range in Hutchinson, where I shoot. These were build several years ago for the 50 yard rimfire range. Two decades ago, I helped built benches exactly like those for the 100 yard range and 20 years later, they are still in great condition and still rock solid.

The blocks are 'glued' with construction adhesive, and setup on a cement slab with an excellent deep gravel base, since this club is mostly swampy type ground. The Tops were poured 2 weeks before we planned to mount them. They were super heavy, we used a large skid loader to lift them into place.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Man, Jon, that wind was blowing every direction except up.
 

JonB

Halcyon member
Yeah, the tall side berms create a canyon effect...it's good practice for the urban snipers that have to deal with strange winds due to tall buildings ...said the armchair warrior who's never really been in a city with tall buildings, let along do some shooting around 'em, LOL)