DIY target stands

[feets]

A friend has a membership to a high-volume private 200 yard rifle range. It is a supervised slow fire range that is access controlled and only open when a range officer is present. No 50s are allowed. Last year all the steel targets were removed due to fear of bouncing rounds off the range.
He and I brainstormed a bit and came up with a target stand that angled the plate down and used the plate to protect the stand itself.
To help it live longer than most stands, we made it articulating and gravity powered. It is easy to repair in the field and the repair will actually improve the endurance, buying much more time to play with it.
The best part is that it was built with scrap metal I had laying around.

Have you guys tried anything like this? If so, how did it work in the long run?

This one is more of a proof of concept. The range has asked us to make more so we'll incorporate some improvements in the next one.
Here's a quick and dirty video I threw together showing how it is built and some of the initial testing video.

 

[Riomouse911]

Is the bumper on the bottom of the backside necessary, and if it is off will it ring a bit more when hit? The target is really well built and looks like it’ll last a long while, but the plate gives minimal feedback to the shooter other than a clink and a brief swing. When it comes to fixed plates like this one I think bit of an audible ring adds to the satisfaction of the hit.

You could also look Into a small scale animal silhouette like a hog shape. Silhouettes are always big fun for everyone when I drag my “AR500 farm” out to plink with.

Just a thought for the next one(s). Your idea looks ready good!

Nice job.

 

[feets]

Thanks!
The backing plate and counterweight dampen the ring more than I like but they were necessary.

The board of directors overseeing the range made us remove all the old steel plates due to fear of rounds deflecting off the range. In this design the entire device is behind the plate. With the downward angle all the spalling goes down and there is little to no chance of upward deflection.

Without that fat counterweight the steel was hanging at 54 degrees. It was a horrible angle for shooting and did not provide much protected area behind it. The weight brings it down to 22 degrees. Yes, it hits the arm but it is held in with two half inch flat head bolts. Banging around is not going to hurt it.

I have silhouette targets but due to range restrictions I can't use them. The best I could do would be mounting a top swing mount that is anchored into the ground and is completely protected by the target.

 

[jmorris]

I have something similar, I think I got it from here a couple years ago.

It uses a T post, slides over it and you hang the target from a chain.

I didn’t expect the T post to last long but now I’m not even sure how many years we have been shooting at that target.



I have a very large plate on it though at 300 yds, really didn’t need the angle but that’s just gravity at work.

The protruding carriage bolts of the target in the OP would send more stuff back than a non angled AR500 plate with a smooth face. Need to google grade 8 plow bolts and countersink the hole.

 

[feets]

I didn't want to burn up my tooling trying to countersink a bolt in AR500. If I did, we wouldn't be able to flip the plate when it bows because opposing countersinks would seriously weaken the plate.
The stainless carriage bolts have proven to withstand bullet impacts and spalling better than any other type of bolt we've tried over the years.
They certainly will not make a bullet back up, elevate, reverse direction again, and take off over the 20+ foot high backstop.

Your T post is very nice for a seasoned shooter but it would not last long on a high volume range that has monthly public days. Some of those shooters are not the highest skilled.
The old steel plates were suspended in sections of 24" diameter steel pipe. There were bullet impacts on the 1/2" thick pipe wall as well as on the eye bolts and nuts poking through the outside of the pipe.

 

[jmorris]

This is a pretty good video.

You can see mild steel impacts, sending “stuff” back at the beginning and around 7:30 in, its rifle bullets on hard plate. You can see how the splatter turns almost completely radial, so flat and square works. You put a mushroom head above the plate and that’s going to deflect from that pattern, not unlike a crater in a mild steel plate.



If you are far enough away it won’t make any difference though.

 

[drband]

If you are far enough away it won’t make any difference though.

AGREE!!

 

[luzyfuerza]

OP, the dirt below the bottom of the target disk is this design's weak point. If intact, its thin, and over time it may sluff away. You might want to consider adding some angled AR500 plate to the front edge of your barstock riser to deflect any bullet impacts downward.

 

[Chuck R.]

I have something similar, I think I got it from here a couple years ago.
It uses a T post, slides over it and you hang the target from a chain.
I didn’t expect the T post to last long but now I’m not even sure how many years we have been shooting at that target.

View attachment 845562

I have a very large plate on it though at 300 yds, really didn’t need the angle but that’s just gravity at work.

The protruding carriage bolts of the target in the OP would send more stuff back than a non angled AR500 plate with a smooth face. Need to google grade 8 plow bolts and countersink the hole.

I've got 6 of them spread out on my place. Cheap, ring like a bell, and have held up well. The built in wrench design for the standard sized nuts/bolts is genius. I generally hand 2/3rds IDPA silhouettes which protect most of the T post.

 

[feets]

The shooting benches are 200 yards from the steel. No real spalling concerns there. The problem we had to solve was elimination of any opportunity for a round to leave the range by deflecting off a target hanger.

There is a barrier below the target plate. We were struggling to install the plate because of the deep slick mud in front of it. The bare dirt was only there for an hour or so

Yeah, it's way overkill for a truly private range but this range has hundreds of members and was required by the city to hold monthly public days.
Anything going downrange had better be pretty darn stout.

 

[jmorris]

The problem we had to solve was elimination of any opportunity for a round to leave the range by deflecting off a target hanger.

That should solve 99.99% then. Only and edge hit at the top would send one up.

Only way I know of to get to 100% is to put the steel inside of a steel trap. So even a top edge hit is caught.

 

[feets]

We stopped short of building a reinforced cave dug into the backstop.
Not that the thought hadn't crossed our minds...

 

[shoobe01]

...Only way I know of to get to 100% is to put the steel inside of a steel trap. So even a top edge hit is caught.

Unless someone hits the top edge of the trap

There's never zero risk.

 

[jmorris]

Unless someone hits the top edge of the trap

There's never zero risk.

This is true. If you miss, say an 8” target, 4 inches from center, you will hit the edge. If you miss the center of it in a 108” tall bullet trap by a tad more than four feet, it too, will go over.