I started with scrap wood, cardboard, screws, & staples, applied power tools and got

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Instant target holders. Crude, but effective. Everything was just taking up space at my place. The only thing I had to pay for was the electricity for the power tools.

Detail of one front and back.
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Front and back of one taken down for storage and transport.
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I keep some heavy parts of old tractor implements handy to anchor them down on windy days.


For cheapo targets I talked to the woman at my job that goes around and updates all the bulletin boards. She pulls down the old ads and dumps them in the trash. I got her to save me a big stack of them about 18" high of 8.5"x11" and 11"x17" paper. I printed some targets from a website and went to Office Depot. They printed me a BUNCH of targets on my paper for 0.5 cents each. I pay about as much for the staples to put the targets up as I do for the targets.

Some things in life are almost free.
 
I have a bunch of wire U-frames originally used for political campaign signs. These are great for holding targets, and for long range, I have a pully arrangement running across a creek, so I can get max range.
 
I find those are a PITA to force into hard ground in the summer.
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Wet the ground first. You have a built-in system for doing that.:p

I actually use scrap wood with holes drilled in it sometimes. That works quite well. But since I shoot near a creek bottom, the ground stays fairly soft year round.
 
I use old political sign holders-- the wire ones. They work fine and push in the ground easy.



-- John
 
Forgot to say, if you go around after election day and pick them up, no one will stop you. If you use an anti-gunner's signs, it will improve your disposition.:p
 
I use large chunks of tree trunk as my target stands. Over the last several years, many of the older trees around my property had to be taken down. I just try to find the largest pieces that are not too rotten in the center and move them with the tractor down to the range.
Most pieces are cut about two or two and a half feet. 99% of the rounds do not penetrate, even .30-06 and 54R. I also place an old fence board on top of the wood to serve as a place to set up bottles filled with water.

The only issue to this is that my range is in a flood plain. Luckily, the property only floods severely every few years, with it occasionally jumping the banks by only a foot or so in between. Im not sure there is an easy way to secure them to the ground, but I am trying to find a way.
 
Forgot to say, if you go around after election day and pick [political sign holders] up, no one will stop you.
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I'm not sure if thats a federal or state law, but I know in VA it's a felony to pull up the signs before the election is over. Check your local laws or make sure the election is over before collecting those signs.

Regarding target stands, those look great. We used a front-end loader on a tractor to push 2x4s in the ground vertically, then nailed one across horizontally at about 4' high. Then we staple cardboard or hang water bottles from it via string.
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I'm not sure if thats a federal or state law, but I know in VA it's a felony to pull up the signs before the election is over.
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Correct. But after the election is a different matter. The parties are responsible for picking them all up and disposing of them, so they sort of look on people taking them at that time as "helping."
 
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