DIY Target Retrieval

Just a rope and pulley system would probably work just fine, I imagine.

When I lived out in the sticks, we all walked our targets out, then walked back to shoot. We were to poor for anything else. Couldn't really afford ammo besides 22s.

Walking is also good for your health.

Auto reseting steel. Boostervision remote camera and a scroll type target?

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yeah, keep walking. That´ll stop the antis from giving society the image
that pro-gun people are always pro-gigantic-beergut people

Two old bicycle rims and some cable? Maybe attach a handle to the rim at the firing line to reel it back and forth?

I get most of my exercise walking 100 yards at a time .

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

Unless you've got a HUGE range, why not just hoof it back and forth like some folks already suggested? Otherwise it seems like a bit of a waste to me.

Assuming you're doing this just for the engineering challenge and not because you can't walk 10 yards, how about a regular cable & pulley system that you can power with a cordless drill?

Second option, have children and get them involved. My eleven year old is happy to run across the often muddy area on our property to replace targets if he gets to shoot the first round.

I have a rig that fits in a pickup bed and allows me to hang several targets. at once. Steel swinging plates are also great fun with a 22 or small to medium handgun calibers once you get bored of putting holes in paper. Just paint the 22 set different than the other set. My last one got destroyed by me hitting the wrong target.

As others have said, just hoof it...unless this is just an exercise in engineering. Some of mine are 200 yards out and I have to cross a sometimes muddy irrigation ditch. It really isn't that bad.

Yup. LTCs are great tools, but I figure it's for those damn rainy days that you don't wanna leave your hutch on.
And for that the rope and bicycle rim sounds like a great idea.

Wouldn't a simple garage door system work? Modified of course for distance and such...

Unicycle Rim

A Unicycle rim on one end of a bicycle rim system would provide a more elegant propulsion system while balancing simplicity (oddly very closely related to likelihood that it will not break down) with functionality and aesthetic value.

Unicycle Rim

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Or, cheaper and easier to find, the front fork off a kid's tricycle.

Whoa Whoa Whoa...

pro-gigantic-beergut people

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that describes me perfectly.
Joe

you can always get a clothesline pulley kit -- very affordable, and almost perfectly suited to just this sort of thing.

Just like the old clothesline.
If your'e too young to rember them, just watch an old movie on TCM. Anything based in a city always had an exterior shot of some babushka reeling in the old mans longjohns.

i feed & water the kids;
besides mowing the lawn, target retrieval is another use for them

Boba Fett said:

Wouldn't a simple garage door system work? Modified of course for distance and such...

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Smeg said:

I have a private outdoor range in the country (no electricity near for ~1/4 mile)

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And modified for lack of electrical power?

I think everyone's on the right track with either walking, or bicycle gears/wheels... The gearing system would make it easier to move the target out there faster with less effort on your part...

Jumping Frog said:

And modified for lack of electrical power?

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Smeg said:

I was thinking about trying to rig up something with a bicycle frame & gears to manually crank the target back and forth or maybe purchasing a 12V motor and car battery to do it, but I've never done anything like this before, so I'm not sure of what materials I might need.

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That should work. I'm not an electrician, but to the best of my knowledge, there should be a way to setup a car battery to power a garage door motor system.

You could always take two pieces of "C" channel and get an RC car. make the car run inside the channels upside down with the target attached to something hanging down off the car (friend made something like this for his indoor range)

oneounceload said:

You could always take two pieces of "C" channel and get an RC car. make the car run inside the channels upside down with the target attached to something hanging down off the car (friend made something like this for his indoor range)

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Now that is a pretty nifty idea!

An overhead pulley and cable system like you see in indoor ranges is not going to work well outdoors, even if you wanted to go to the trouble of rigging support pylons, clothesline/wire and pulleys. The slightest breeze will set your target swinging about wildly.