.22 LR Shooting Bench

Walkalong

Walkalong

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Alabama
I have been clearing out a couple of narrow lanes to shoot .22 Long Rifle pistols and rifles for a few weeks now (Very time consuming). The lanes go farter than they look in the pic. I put in three 4x4 posts a couple of weeks ago, and today I framed it and cut/installed the top from some scrap Corian that was going to be thrown away at work. I'll build a small deck around it one of these days, but for now I can shoot the rifle from it standing. I haven't put up any targets yet, but have two to get started. It will be shooting to the left of my 108 yard "range" I shoot everything at now.

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I will also commend you on that kind of work at this time of year!:eek:

What a great salvage! That is an expensive, and nearly impervious, bench top! I demoed out a fancy bar in town a few years ago and was rewarded with enough Corian to replace all the window sills in my house with six inch ledges built out of the bleached and doubled up bar top.

Jealous! Jealous I am! What a great shooting spot!
Infinitely better than an open, sun-beaten, field.

All it needs is a lidded bucket for the rimfire brass.:thumbup:
And a full cooler for afterwards.:cool:
 
Nice work and I envy you having the space to have your setup.. I had the space once upon a time but the world is flat as a pancake around here and neighbors have encroached closely enough that I wouldn't take a chance shooting even with a decent backstop now.

I DO NOT envy all those trees. Living all my life where there are no native trees makes me feel hemmed in and mostly blind when I do spend some time in treed environments. I like to be able to see a way over yonder---in any direction.:D No chiggers, no ticks, and few mosquitos in my world.
 
Demi-human said:
What a great salvage!
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I have two pieces of slate that I salvaged from the old lab when they gutted it, I could barely leverage them onto the dolly, into the trailer etc, very heavy, over an inch thick. No way I could have picked it up onto the framing for the bench. Maybe a lathe table top some day.
 
There is a small steel "hostage" target at 108 yards from the shooting deck with the other shooting table (top also scrounged), my older brother and I peppered it pretty good with the Bergara mid morning. I had the frame done when he got there, and finished after he left.

The steel flapper holds up to .22 LR & .223 just fine, but not the .308, not at that distance anyway, younger son proved that, he had to re-weld the "keeper' back on. Note to self, .223 and under.

It's just too easy at 100ish yards with rifles, I wish I had room to stretch it out. Still fun though. :)
 
Swampman said:
sympathy for clearing that lane in June/July.
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lol, yep, just wiped out after 5-6 hours, sometimes more in the Alabama heat/humidity working with the chain saw. I cut them down, cut them up, make brush piles for the critters with smaller stuff, toss bigger stuff into a ditch. Lay it parallelish to sit down in there better, leaves in the fall mostly cover it up. I have at least 4 days worth of cutting/clearing/cleanup in the lanes. Still needs some more, I'll do it a bit at a time. The big lane on the right with the deck started out not much wider, just kept working on it, I have a lot of days in it. It was just a portable bench and a sliver of light across the ditch when it started. Both directions have a lot of hill behind them.
 
Walkalong said:
My wife has some of that, I like it, feels cozy, and definitely cooler.
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My daughter is even worse than me about the hemmed in thing. I can stand it about twice as long as she can which translates into about two weeks for me and one for her and then it's time to head for the flatlands where a person can SEE. Nothing can sneak up on you on the plains.

I have a couple of trees out in the pasture courtesy of seeds blowing in from man planted trees elsewhere that have given up the ghost due to drouth. I'm planning on breaking out my little chainsaw tomorrow morning and reducing them into pieces small enough to haul into the city dump that runs them thru a shredder. I should get them cut up tomorrow and them be rested up enough to get them loaded Tuesday. I may save a few small chunks for the grandkids to shoot.Twenty years ago I would have had the whole job finished in one morning.
 
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Walkalong said:
lol, yep, just wiped out after 5-6 hours, sometimes more in the Alabama heat/humidity working with the chain saw...
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You might want to consider getting a good pole saw (I like Stihl). It really cuts down on the bending and stooping while holding a heavy chainsaw. It also lets you thin out brush without having to walk in amongst the poison ivy, snakes and biting insects.

The pole saw really comes into it's own when you're doing maintenance work on lanes with a lot of up and down to 'em. Instead of felling a whole tree to get rid of future drooping branches that obscure your targets, you can just lop 'em off quick and easy. :D
 
LoonWulf said:
Looks fantastic! I'm exceedingly envious of all you guys that can shoot on your own property!
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Did you miss the part about sweating his balls off in the Alabama heat and humidity? I'm envious of the people that can go shoot for free without having to mow/cut/trim/burn brush.
Ok, not really. I'm envious of anyone that has their own property to shoot on that hasn't had an Amish neighbor build a house ON TOP OF THE ONLY BACKSTOP AVAILABLE.

So yeah, I'm in the jealous crowd too.
 
Howland937 said:
Did you miss the part about sweating his balls off in the Alabama heat and humidity? I'm envious of the people that can go shoot for free without having to mow/cut/trim/burn brush.
Ok, not really. I'm envious of anyone that has their own property to shoot on that hasn't had an Amish neighbor build a house ON TOP OF THE ONLY BACKSTOP AVAILABLE.

So yeah, I'm in the jealous crowd too.
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Youll notice I didn't say I was envious of having to build the range!:p
I don't even like doing yard work in our fairly pleasant conditions!


Amish neighbors aren't something that I've ever really had to consider.......
 
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