Looking for ideas, just picked up 16- 6" discs, 1/2" thick. Someone here posted pics. of some handgun targets a while ago, might have been Bobdog but I'm not sure. They'd drop when hit, I liked those. Whatever I make, it has to be portable. Anyone have a creative design that could utilize these 6" discs? Primary use will be pistol calibers, but rifle out to 400 / 500 yrds will be designated for a few. Now, I've seen the dualing trees, the poppers, the swing gongs, etc. And this is why I ask. What would be a cool/ fun design? Something you haven't seen available, but thought about building yourself? I'm all ears.
Here's the link to the fall-down targets. The Handgun thread It would be cool if you could make these so they have multiple "stops"....maybe 3. You'd have to pitch them forward a little bit so they wouldn't fall straight down and miss the next stop. Having multiple "reactions" per stand is going to help the portability factor.
Thanks for the link. Great idea on making these with multiple "stops", that would be the ticket. Pop-n-drop, I really like the idea.
This is the best picture I have of mine (taken from 40’ in the air so the angle is weird). They’re 5” disks I attached chain to and sandwiched the chain between two treated 2x4’s then ran a bolt through the lumber and the last link of each chain link. I just pound the legs in the dirt about 8" so it's portable. It’s held up so far from close to 1000 rounds of handgun, .357 mag through a rifle, and I have no idea how many .22’s I've shot since I built it in July. I’d probably have to beef it up some to shoot 5.56 at it, but for something I threw together in 30 minutes with scrap chain and lumber it does the job. It sure beats punching holes in paper.
1/2" AR500 will hold up well, especially simple geometric shapes. I have some silhouettes with sharp 90° inside corners and they are starting to crack. I have since bought some with radiuses and they should be better. My steel is 6yrs old. I host shoots and also have some of the Sheriff Dept shoot at my place. It's seen tens of thousands of rounds, everything from .17HMR to 7.62x54R. I even have a 6" square I bought the test some M2 AP (30-06) and .50 BMG API. The .50 API is the only thing to punch through the target. These were shot from 200yrds. Green is .50, Red is M2 AP. The M2 might have had a chance if it wasn't free swinging, but it only left a mark. This steel is only used for testing stuff. I wouldn't feel comfortable shooting pocked up steel for regular practice or drills. Here's 30-06 (M2) vs 3/4" mild steel (tie plate) Almost made it through Steel is fun, but be cautious about the type, condition, angle of deflection and distance.
Nothing wrong with AR400, just have to keep in mind what you're hitting it with. Just tonight, finished a target stand using 3" AR400 discs. Primary use will be .22LR, but I know it will see 9mm on occasion. They should be fine, I'm more worried about the frame.
A handgun tree is extremely fun. I built one this november. Requires a certain shaped ar500 plate, shaped like this Amazon.com : 6 - 6" 3/8" AR500 Dueling Tree Paddles & DOM Tubing Set AR500 Dueling Tree Targets : Sports & Outdoors But here is video of the one i quickly made. Need to try and fix some aspects of it but still fun IMG_3298.MOV
Getting closer to -Lukem's- thought on the 3-drop target. There's a little more to this design than meets the eye. 2-3 weeks, I might be ready. Let you know.
