Assembling the DryFire Shooting Stand

or "Zen and the art of flat pack assembly"

Package contents

Your package contains:

10 plywood panels
29 two-part Button-fix fixings
87 Pozi 2 wood screws

Rules and advice

"There is no such thing as a five minute job."
"If it can go wrong, it will go wrong."
"No one reads the instructions - and everyone regrets it later."

Assembling flat pack items can be frustrating and stressful so our advice, based on experience, is:

Dress comfortably with loose clothes - especially if assembling things on the floor - all that bending can become painful and stress generates heat!
Don't rush. Repeat: "don't rush. Allow an hour for the whole job - and take a break if you start to feel grumpy.

"Grumpy" is bad, "grumpy" breaks things - so sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit if you start to feel stressed - better than breaking something!
Lay out all the parts on the floor before you start to assemble anything - there is a photo below to help you with this. Become familiar with where each part goes and compare the parts with the finished assembly shown below.
Have the right tools at hand before you start - the tools are shown in a photo below.
Don't over-tighten screws - assembly isn't a Mr Universe competition! Screws should be "firmly" in place but over-tightening runs the risk of damaging the plywood.
Scroll down to look through all the photos in these instructions before you start - knowing where you will end up, and how you will get there, will boost your confidence.

Step by step ...

Your Shooting Stand will arrive like this:

You can discard the packing slip found inside:

You will find plywood parts, a bag of screws, a bag of black fixings and a bag of lime green fixings:

Remove the packaging from the plywood parts:

The most important step

The package contains 10 plywood panels and initially you won't have a clue how they fit together - so the first step is to see which panel fits where.

Lay out the panels as shown below - please don't skip this step.

Study the panels to see how each one fits into the fully assembled Shooting Stand shown below.

Don't move on until you are happy that you understand what goes where.

Compare the parts with this photo of the assembled Shooting Stand:

Tools, screws and fixings

You will need a Pozi Number 2 screwdriver - make sure it is "Pozi" not Phillips.

A short ("stubby") Pozi Number 2 screwdriver will be useful when tightening things up at the end of assembly.

You could treat yourself to a Bosch IXO battery powered screwdriver - every home should have one and the little beast packs more power than you have in your arm - an amazing tool.

Put the screws and fixings into some plastic containers so you don't lose any. Margarine tubs are excellent.

Start with the left side.

Single holes have been pre-drilled for the lime green circular fixings.

Don't over-tighten the screws - "firm" not "forced". Be careful of the power of the IXO screwdriver if you are using one - it is best to use it to get the screw part way in then use the manual screwdriver to "feel" the right tightness.

Now the middle side.

Note: there are fixings on both sides

This is the middle side turned over.

Now the right side.

The squarish back requires two lime green fixings at the top.

You can now fit four black fixings to the squarish back.

Note: each black fixing requires two screws but don't tighten them too far at this stage - leave them just free enough to slide in the screw slot.

Fit the black fixings to all the other parts. Remember to leave them free to move slightly.

Lay out the parts in the same way as when you started.

Now might be a good time to have a cup of tea before the final assembly!

Final assembly

Start with the left side and bottom shelf.

The black fixing clips into the lime green one and requires a sharp tap to locate it. The tap is best done with the edge of your hand against the plywood behind the black fixing. Pressing won't work - a sharp tap works every time - but don't go over the top - start gently until you learn how much of a tap is required.

Now add the middle shelf in the same way - note the location of the hole.

Don't worry if things wobble about a bit at this stage. everything will become more rigid as assembly progresses and your final task will be to tighten all the screws.

Now fit the middle side in the same way - best done with the parts upright.

Check the alignment of all fixings before tapping into place.

You can now fit the back - check alignment and tap into place.

Now for the right side and the longer bottom shelf. Note the location of the hole.

Fit the top to the tall part of the Shooting Stand then lay the assembly down on its front so you can fit the squarish back.

Check the alignment of all fixings before tapping into place.

Return the assembly to upright.

... and fit the longer top.

This is what the other side looks like - the view you will see when using DryFire.

Tightening up

However, there are gaps!

Now you can bring out the stubby screwdriver. A stubby gets into places that longer screwdrivers can't.

Lay the Shooting Stand on its back, push the parts together to close any gaps and use the screwdriver to tighten all the screws on the black fixings.

Job done!

Congratulations on getting this far without breaking anything - your Shooting Stand is now ready for use with DryFire. You will find that it is small enough, and light enough, to be parked away between shooting sessions.

Show us yours!

We like to see our stuff being used so, now you are proud to have assembled your Shooting Stand, why not take a photo of your DryFire setup and send it to us via an email attachment?

The photo below shows the one we assembled while writing these instructions.

This one included the note:

"All built. It was easy - but I should have gone straight to the web site instead of looking at the packing slip!"