Shock machines are used to test various equipment to shock loads during operation, transportation or due to force-majeure circumstances, for example, the accidental freefall, which is unacceptable for the equipment or object. After such fall, a spill of active liquid, fire or other negative impacts on the environment may occur. Shock testing uses different types of equipment, which differ significantly in the reproducible peak impact accelerations, pulse durations and pulse shapes. The wide variety of test objects, varying in size, weight, and geometric shape, led to a variety of design solutions for impact machines. The most widespread are vertical stands, in which the vector of shock accelerations is parallel to the vector of gravity. In such machines, energy is accumulated due to the lifting of the test object to the required height, followed by a free or accelerated fall due to the use of accelerating devices. For a few objects, the use of vertical machines is impossible. The reason for this is two factors. The first is due to the requirement to simulate operating conditions, when the gravity vector is perpendicular to the shock acceleration vector. The second factor is the large dimensions of the test objects, leading to the design irrationality of constructing vertical machines. The paper examines various options for the design of horizontal bump machines from the point of view of their structure and shock impact on the surrounding workshop equipment and provides a comparative analysis of them.