Shooting bench/table and rifle rest

So I’ve got several pellet/bb rifles/pistols that I plink targets with in the back yard:

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Thats only a few I had out. I enjoy pellet rifles/pistols because they are cheap to buy, cheap to shoot and challenging to get good groupings at distance. I did 29 years in the military and was trained to “sniper level” accuracy. I wasn’t a sniper, but I have a natural ability with shooting. One day when I was on a shoot, the range safety officer was impressed by my groupings with the browning 9mm. Turns out he was an “ex” sniper and he had a couple guys that were still snipers there that day. They took me aside and showed me a few things. Next thing I knew, I was on the base shooting team. So having developed the skill, I really didn’t want to loos it. Pellet rifles are a bit different in shooting characteristics from powder weapons, but the basic skills can still be practiced.

I usually shoot from the standing position, due to my broken back. Somewhere along the way I decided a shooting bench would be good. I checked prices and decided I could build something that fit my needs better, was higher quality and cheaper to boot.

So I grabbed some oak planks I salvaged from some cabinets that were being tossed out at work. Pulled all the nails, ran them through the planer and the jointer, glued them up and left them overnight. This morning, I cut out the shape, added a “stop” all around the table (to keep things from rolling off), welded up a frame from 1” square tube and attached it to the underside of the table to add strength/weight.

Then I finish sanded the whole thing and gave it a coat of “red oak” stain:



Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

Tomorrow it will get a nice coat of varithane and I’ll start working on the legs....

That looks really nice. Gonna make a chair to match it?

I had one of those crosman pistols like the one on the left. I don't know what ever happened to it. Such a nice little gun.

Neato. Ive been wanting to build a heavy shooting bench for a while.

@TheBeal, what in the WORLD is a "Burger Miser"?

loggers gogert wrote:

@TheBeal, what in the WORLD is a "Burger Miser"?

It's someone who cannot live without the invention of the cheeseburger. It is impossible for them to even entertain the thought of no cheeseburgers.






Nice little table you got there @TourMax! I like the finish.

Finished the folding legs today:




The legs are actually angled a but forward and rearward. Doesn’t show in the picture for some reason. Its probably the camera angle just not showing it.

Next I’m thinking of putting a copper inlay around the table top. Not much, just about a 10 gauge wire size. I was thinking of doing it in brass, but brass is just too expensive.

I’ll finish it up with a few coat of varithane and then start on the gun rest....

nice, so where's the chair you plan on using with it? Hoes does it feel seated?

Oh you're gonna build a rest for it? Sweet. I thought you were just gonna throw a varminters on top of it.

he he he....@Crazy_Carl said "hoes"  heh heh heh.......

Crazy_Carl wrote:

nice, so where's the chair you plan on using with it?  Hoes does it feel seated?

Right now I’m just using my roll around shop stool. It cushioned and height adjustable. Feels fine sitting at the bench and holding a rifle.

I am, however, toying with the idea of building a stool out of the same oak I used for the table....

Working in the rifle rest:




That’s just a very basic start. The rifle rest will be on the standing aluminum cylinder. It will be a screw jack for height adjustment. There will be another screw jack at the rear for fine adjustments on elevation. It will also be adjustable for windage. The front mount allows both those movements.

Still a long way to go, but its a good start.

I figured it might be hard to picture how a rifle will sit on that stand, so I dropped my Benjamin on it for a quick pic to give some idea of what it will look like:



Like I said, long way to go yet but its a good start.

Coming along:



Thats the “plinth” attached with the raising screw and knob.

Next up is the rest of the knobs/handles:



Thats a 2” piece of 6061, knurled, drilled and tapped for 7/16 NC. When I get back to it, I’ll part off a half an inch at a time to make more turning knobs.

This bad boy showed up today too:



Spotter scope. Up to 80x magnification. Works fine on 40-60x to see the pellet impacts on my back yard targets.

My backyard shooting range is coming together nicely...

I have a Barska spotting scope very similar to that. Once I set it up on a bigger camera tripod, it works great at my 50 yard range.

Little closer every day:





Slow but steady progress!

I’ve hit a bit of a stop though. My argon bottle ran out and the welding store isn’t open until Monday now...