Know Your Limits Target

[JimD]

I made a new swinging target this week.  It combines pieces from Target Forge and things I made.  I bought the V shaped pieces to go inside 3/4 conduit pieces from Target Forge.  I think they call them "quickie".  They have a spring steel wire piece to keep them in the conduit.  They work well.  I also got the golf ball cradle from them and a "dangler".  The ball cradle works but you get a lot of pellets bouncing off when you shoot it.  I think it is from the golf ball, however.  I think the dangler was a waste.  I could have just attached the ball cradle with a wire. 

I also got these wire pieces for putting a playing card into.  You can orient it on edge, like shooter 1721 does in his youtubes, or with its face towards you and then you try to shoot the "dots".  They are around 1/2 inch so it's fairly challenging for me, even at 25 yards.  But in my backyard, I plan to just put the cards on my pellet trap instead of these pieces.  Other places the wires could be handy, however.  I got 12 packs of cards from Amazon for $13 so I have a bunch of these targets.

But my main target is the spinners.  I am too cheap to just buy these from Target Forge or elsewhere so I made them from 1/4 inch mild steel rod from the big box store (around here Lowes has it in 6 foot and Home Depot has 4 foot pieces) and washers again from the big box store.  Spacers are 1 inch PVC piping pieces.  I cut the rod to 14 inch lengths and clamped the end up against a piece of 3/4 plumbing pipe in a big vise.  The I used a 2 lb hammer to bend the rod around the pipe, revising the clamping position as I went.  I welded the loop closed later but I doubt that is necessary,  Last I welded a stack of washers to the rod.  One rod is plain, it is the 1/4 inch target.  The next is a 5/16 nut so it is about 1/2 inch.  They keep going up 1/4 inch at a time to 2 inches.  I used as many as 4 washers stacked up to get to a reasonable thickness.  The big ones I just used two.  I have not shot it a lot but with my 36 fpe or under air rifles, there has been no damage.  I welded the edge of the washers together too.  On a previous design they started to separate. 

The 2 inch target is obviously a lot easier to hit than the 1/4 inch.  I try to see how few shots I can take to hit all of them.  So far, my best is 9 shots to hit the 8 targets.  I have only shot it at 25 yards so far. 

[Bolillo]

Nice work and great shooting to hit all those in 9 shots. 

[customcutter]

Nice set-up Jim!  Maybe one day I'll get around to making one.