I'm in Birmingham. Where's the best place to pick up a cable spool? I'm going to make a shooting bench out of one. I want to conveniently move it from 50 to 100 yards on my range, and rolling one of those spools seems as good a way as any.

Check you local cable or utility company they will give them away. If you were in Huntsville area I’d give you a man to call they will help you load em.

I see them all the time on facebook marketplace

They aren’t treated and rot super fast left in their natural state.

Alabama Power just off 31 in Hoover usually has them.

Any job site after sunset usually has them. With wire too. 🤣🤣🤣

Coating in oil isn't going to be good for a surface you need to touch and lean on or put shooting bags and such on. I built a bench and several target holder frames to accomplish the same thing the OP wants to do. I actually have 10,25,50,75 and 100 yard target frames set up. I can sit in one spot and shoot multiple ranges. The target frames are made out of scrap lumber mostly and if it's not treated I use the oil/diesel on the frames.

We just built a dam, and the far end of it is cut into a hillside. I'm going build one target frame, and shoot into a solid backstop. Set a couple of marked posts at 10 and 25, but tables set for a .22 at 50 and another at 100. I've got a clear sight line to 200, but that distance will be a slight downhill grade

If you can get the spools for free, and have the space, could you set one at each yardage instead of moving it?

I'm happy enough with 2, but trying to bush hog/weed eat around 3 or 4, move them out of the way to drive across the dam, etc, etc, would probably be more trouble than it's worth. I'm thinking my 25 yard is likely to be nothing more than a couple of 4x4 posts with a 2x8 across them to lay a box of ammo on at the right yardage. As the distances work out, the 100 yard is just beyond the other end of the dam, so I've got room to mow around it. In the middle of the dam, not so much.

Place at the corner of oxmoor road and citation court in homewood used to have spools. They gave em away left and right. Had multiple sizes also

Came here to say this. Kid built a lot of his college furniture with stuff he found out there.

Priority Wire and Cable. I went by and the Yankee sitting at the desk told me that they don't sell or give away any spools. Use and re-use every one on the lot. I'll try APCO in Hoover tomorrow.

There’s a place between alabaster and Calera that was selling them on Facebook a while back. Like a year ago. It’s across from the model airplane park approximately

PM me. I have a few you can get for free tomorrow

It going to look like this?

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/504895808231045094/

That's pretty close. I'm not sure the seats on that version are very secure.

That looks like an easy fix.

Just run a 2x4 horizontally connecting the seat 4x4's and where the 2x4 passes along the spool attach it to the spool and that should make those seats sturdy.

They're like gold here right now. Most of the gun season elk hunters on the coast use them for holding cable mounted in their truck bed to pull elk out. It's crazy how far they will pull with the aide of blocks/pulleys.
Some use a chainsaw winch to do it, just slower.

Kodiak - thanks for the tip. That's ok. I wasn't really interesting in finding one in your neighborhood anyway.