Full Metal Targets

[Beaverman]

Hey Daryl, did Mike Jaynes or Bob Nesbit come up with that devious water balloon?

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Beaverman...Daryl's away right now, putting to death small warm fuzzy creatures from a long way away.

Yes Mike and Bob started the Fort Shoot at Heffley years ago, and they devised the water balloon.

[Daryl]

I'm BAAaaaaaaaaaaaCK.  I need a couple days to weed through the e-mail.  All the 'targets' are now cold now, but none were metal.   

[Brian Jordan]

Here are a few targets at our club.

Metal ring 1.125 thick about 10" o.d. 8" i.d. hanging at 25/30 yards


Here is the groundhog that yip mentioned in an earlier post


This is a spinner target, some are large, some are smaller. It's a luck of the spin target


This is an all time favorite. 36" tall x 30" diameter propane tank on it's side with a buffalo painted on it. set at 300 yards. simply named the buffalo.

here it is slightly zoomed in.




 

[Daryl]

Turkey target- about 100 yards.



Steel Cylinder 109 yards



for longer ranged targets we also have a bunny - about the size of a snowshoe hare at 100 yards, fie or take a yard, as well as a fox that is about 8' through the back at 92 yards.  Other targets are closer, some large, many small.

[smylee grouch]

I made one from steel plate that was 2&1/2 inches thick, it weighed just short of 40 pounds and could realy take a licken. I got the steel from a salvage yard and had to use a pretty stout chain and tree limb. After 21 years its still doing its job.   Gary

[SCLoyalist]

we thinkin of a new target we, have a piece o' 4inch pipe with a longggg sweeping 90 on, that you shoot thur and ring a bell on the other side, this is still on the experinent side. i wish ya luck, keep on shooting!

Our club in Georgia has such a target, the "Chimney Sweep".    Face of the target is plywood painted like a brickwork chimney with a 6" steel plate at the bottom with a one inch diameter hole.  If your bullet goes into the hole, it enters a curved pipe with the 90 degree bend.   There's a piece of steel on the top of the chimney pipe painted black and shaped like a chimney sweep's tophat.  The hat is hinged so when the roundball exits the pipe, it tips the hat to signal a hit.  It's shot at a range of 20 yds, more or less.



At another station we have the "flying squirrel."  It's a swinging gong about 4" in diameter on the end of a 3 ft rod,  with rope routed by pulley so a range officer can bring the  rod horizontal to the ground.  When shooter is ready, the RO releases the rope allowing the squirrel to swing back and forth.   The squirrel is hidden from view at the bottom of its swing by a  plywood "tombstone", so you have to hit the  target either on its way down from horizontal or its way back up while it's clear of the stone.  The gong only swings two or three times before it stops clearing the tombstone.  

[doug]

      I just got back from a rendezvous and would note some problems with the targets.  Most of them moved but one was a tall narrow target and the support frame apparently had leaned back slightly towards a stump behind it.  The bottom of the target dragged in the rotten wood so that the gong did not swing when hit.  Shooters depended on someone hearing the hit or seeing the lead splash.  Many of the shooters are deaf hence a target that needs correcting.  On a different trail, one target appeared to be a large thick cover plate from a pipe.  I am guessing it was around 1" think but don't know.  In this case it apparently rarely moved simply because of weight.  Out of 5 shooters in my group, at an easy target, only one hit on the extreme side, turned it slightly.  All the rest were guesses based on sound and imperfect ears.
      All this comes back to my pet peeve of very heavy targets and medium or small calibers so that the target only moves minimally or is supposed to ring and be heard by someone who is not deaf and/or has ear plugs in.
     At our range we also decided to change one target that was not that thick (about 5/16") but was large and heavy plus around 70 yards away.  Many hit it and it did move but for most people not enough to be obvious without glass.  Virtually no one carries binoculars on our trail and a thinner lighter target was the answer.

cheers Doug

[Daryl]

We're trying to address the heavy, hard to hear/see targets on our new range, Doug.  We've got a squirrel rifle course of fire, that will most likely have 1/4" to 3/8" targets of a size that will deginitely move with a hit while we'll also have a smoothbore and rifle coarse of fire with heavier targets to withstand the heavier balls.  The rifle trail will have heavy targets that move well with .45's and up. We find thin plate works well at longer ranges, while the close targets need to be heavier material.  Our current trail gets hammered with everything from .32's to my .69 and Crispy's 12 bore smoothie. Some of the targets must be viewed through binocs to see hits with even a .40, while others move quite violently, even with small ball hits.  The big guns are hard on targets.
Steel quality, ie: hardness plays a big part.  A .40 will make holes or repeated hits with shoot through material that the .62 smoothies merely lead smear, simply due to the speed of the impact, while the big balls break welds. We've found a hole drilled through the material and hung with a clevis and chain to be the best way to present the targets.  Eventually, lead spashes (and misses) around the targets cuts down trees- ow well - that's to be expected.

[J.D.]

We've found a hole drilled through the material and hung with a clevis and chain to be the best way to present the targets. 

I have found the same thing. Here are two targets with  frames made of 1/2" round stock that is just pressed into the ground.

The smaller frame is probably 20 years old that originally had a 7" dia disc suspended by a welded bar. The weld recently broke, so I am reworking the frame to use replaceable targets suspended on 3/8" chain attached to the frame with clevises.

The original target, on the smaller frame, has taken untold numbers of hits, including probably over 250 hits a weekend at several club sponsored rendezvous, so the smallish frame has held up well.

The larger frame is new, as is the buffalo target. They are about ready for use, other than welding a coupla heavy ga, non plated washers on either side of the top frame, to prevent the targets from walking with repeated hits.

The good thing about this set up is that it is man portable, targets are easily changed/repaired, convenient storage, and cheap and easy to build.

God bless





God bless

[Daryl]

The hefley Creek club had a target like the crow.  My .69 spun it around 7 timers. Cool to see. I wanted to go for more spins, but didn't want to break the target with a hunting load.

[J.D.]

I haven't shot the crow target, but I did shoot the 7" disc with the bess. I shoot lighter loads than you do, even in the bess, but I don't remember spinning the disc. I have some free time tomorrow, so I plan to try 'em out. I don't shoot heavy loads with the 54, so I don't expect to spin the crow, but I suspect it will  jump a bit.

The crow is made of 3/8" material and the buff is only 1/4", but it's intended to be shot at 150 yards, so it should work out ok. I have another buff cut from 3/8" material for use at shorter ranges, and since these are for my personal use, they should last a while.

God bless

[Daryl]

If I remember correctly, the target I shot had a straight bar connected to the target.  The chain stops unwanted spinning, I suppose, due to the dynamics.  Love it whent he .69 flips a 'chained' target up on top of the bar, though, presenting only the edge for the next shooter.  This happens fairly often.

[Roger Fisher]

If I remember correctly, the target I shot had a straight bar connected to the target.  The chain stops unwanted spinning, I suppose, due to the dynamics.  Love it whent he .69 flips a 'chained' target up on top of the bar, though, presenting only the edge for the next shooter.  This happens fairly often.

Sure then the shooter that hit the thing has to go down the rocky hill  (or up) to straighten it out for the next rifleperson!  Or do you guys make the next guy go for the edge???  That would be cause for some 'discussion' around here

[Daryl]

"Shoot them as they lay".  We don't 'fix' targets that someone knocked askew.  "Complaining" will get you some paraphernalia to wear for a day or more.

[J.D.]

In at least one instance where something similar happened at a local rendezvous, the next shooter inline was given the option to pass or shoot. The option was given to several competitors before someone had the cajones to shoot.

That competitor received double points for hitting the edge of the target, in addition to the points earned from subsequent hits, once the target was "made aright"...and no it wasn't me.

God bless