garage spring target stand?

From my personal experience, when 1 spring breaks, the other will break shortly. I believe garage door springs are sold in pairs like shoe laces. Your half spring will make a good target stand but that welded joint will be the weak link.

Trust me when I say those springs are no joke. Do NOT try to replace if you don't know what you're doing.

As for shooting at your broken pieces as you say, it will probably hold a target but when you eventually end up hitting the spring I would expect a ricochet that will end up who knows where.

There are better things to use as target stands.

Did that exact same thing; with the right base and target material; it makes a great reactive target

I saw an old driveline welded atop a pickup suspension spring used as a target stand once. The target was an AR 550 ppc shape (welded to the driveline) and the spring was welded to an old truck rim.

It probably weighed 250 lbs, but it lasted for ages. The target swayed when it was hit with a rifle, that took a lot of the impact energy away from the plate...

Stay safe!

Sir. We need you work on your skills for “Forged in Fire”
You can be the Highroad entry

To prove you are worthy of this honor, you must take your garage door springs and build a fully functional Browning BAR

You will have just 5 days from today to complete you project.
Time starts now

Years ago I had a wooden garage door that went through springs quite often and did make one “resetting” plate target out of “the good side” during replacement.

Problem A is that the plate won’t always reset perpendicular to you, so you are asking for ricochets.

Problem B is that it falls apart with the first impact on the spring.

I hate throwing things away though but the only thing that I have made that’s been useful, using old garage door springs, is a bump gate. I still can’t believe that now cow or horse ever figured it out after all these decades. I used a shorter broken section to return the gate to closed no matter the direction you are driving.

jmorris said:

Problem A is that the plate won’t always reset perpendicular to you, so you are asking for ricochets.

Problem B is that it falls apart with the first impact on the spring.

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I hafta agree with jmorris on all of the above. Much better options out there for target stands.

Be very careful with those springs, you can get injured or killed if you attempt to remove one without the proper tool/technique because they are under significant pressure while mounted on your door.

Mr. Hill said:

Be very careful with those springs, you can get injured or killed if you attempt to remove one without the proper tool/technique because they are under significant pressure while mounted on your door.

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Second this... read up on the process or hire a professional.

jmorris said:

Years ago I had a wooden garage door that went through springs quite often and did make one “resetting” plate target out of “the good side” during replacement.

Problem A is that the plate won’t always reset perpendicular to you, so you are asking for ricochets.

Problem B is that it falls apart with the first impact on the spring.

I hate throwing things away though but the only thing that I have made that’s been useful, using old garage door springs, is a bump gate. I still can’t believe that now cow or horse ever figured it out after all these decades. I used a shorter broken section to return the gate to closed no matter the direction you are driving.

View attachment 807858

Click to expand...

I like how you welded that gate to that tree.

Rereading the OP, I’m not sure it the question was on reusing the springs or changing them.

I used 2 three foot long rods that fit the holes. First thing I did was to mark the unbroken spring and fully insert the first rod to unwind it and loosen the jam bolts. Then just alternated the rods from hole to hole (paying attention like I was holding two venomous snakes) until there was no more tension.

The number of revolutions was written on the dry wall right above the springs.

Install the new springs and tension them to that number to start. Make sure the opener is disconnected if you have one and open the door half way. If it try's to go up you need to back off the springs. If it try’s to close you need to add tension.

I stop short of saying it’s safe because I know people that have been hurt mowing the yard, one killed riding a bicycle and a couple that have died driving a car, one just changing a tire on the side of the road.

If you can pay enough attention to say reload your own ammunition, and acquire the right tools for the job, you should be fine.