Personal shooting ranges: "exercise equipment" - moving targets, steel plates, etc...

[Pendragon]

So I have this crazy idea - one day I will have some land that I can shoot on. I would be thrilled to have 35-50 yards to do some serious pistol practice on, more would let me do rifle perhaps. Anyway - I have pistol shooting in my head for these ideas right now and I am wondering if anyone has done anything like this.

I see "poppers" and "steel plate" targets for sale and from what I can tell, these types of targets are used in IPSC style matches.

Are these durable? Are they expensive? How far back should you be (I saw the riccochet thread on TFL - yikes!)

Whats the deal with "El Presidente" style drills where you shoot such and such in so much time? Does the shot timer signal you to draw?

My biggest wonderings are about self righting tip over steel targets. Does anyone make them?

I think if I took some metal shop at a college, I could design and build me a nifty little system that used pull wired in conduit under the ground to let the shooter reset the targets from the firing line. Has anyone done this on their home range?

Jeff Cooper talks about some device that makes a target charge you - I bet I could rig one of those up too - and I have seen people shooting a laterally running target in some matches.

Shooting stationary paper targets is ok, but man - you wonder what you could do with some space and some creativity - try and develop some decent speed and multiple hit ability.

I am quite convinced that I could drive my wife very crazy by building some very neat machinery on our land some day. By then my son will be old enough to help and she has actually said that shooting stuff like that would be a lot more interesting to her.

Who has experience with this stuff?

 

[4v50 Gary]

I don't but I did take a course that discussed steel targets. There's only two mills that make the certified steel that you want. With time, other steels becomed "dished" and when they are, they ricochet spent rounds (still dangerous to MK 1 eyeball) back towards the shooter.

 

[Art Eatman]

The steel in my ancient Pepper Popper is sorta thin, so it gets dished fairly often. I just lug it to the anvil and apply a bit of John Henry to it.

Set a couple of posts in the ground, well guyed. You can then put a taut 1/8" braided cable between them, pulled tight. By varying the slope, you vary the speed of the rolling target. A string and a clothespin will let you work solo. You can shoot at 90 degrees, or move toward one end and have it "charge" you.

Use a spring from one of these booster-shock dealies, welded to an old wheel. On top of the spring, weld a round steel plate. Try to keep hitting it, in rapid fire.

Weld up a frame with a free-moving rod across the top, and weld a hanging plate to the rod. With a little tweaking you can have the plate angled a bit away from you--no bounce-back, as the bullets ricochet into the ground.

My pistol range at my house has two regular IPSC paper-target frames, with a hanging plate just off to one side. Then, several of the steel "toys" set here and there as the mood strikes. Most of my practice is rapid fire on these multiple targets, from different starting points, or starting while seated or while walking along...

, Art

 

[Monte Harrison]

By then my son will be old enough to help and she has actually said that shooting stuff like that would be a lot more interesting to her.

[kidding]You don't call your son "she" in front of him(her), do you?[/kidding]

 

[Pendragon]

My son is 14 months old and has no idea what he and she mean. I was refering to my wife:

I am quite convinced that I could drive my wife very crazy by building some very neat machinery on our land some day. By then my son will be old enough to help and she has actually said that shooting stuff like that would be a lot more interesting to her.

Perhaps the phrasing could make you wonder if I got my gender wrong, but as I am rarely wrong , you should have assumed I meant my wife

 

[Ed Brunner]

You must be a Dutchman??

I have always heard that "You have to take a Dutchman for what he means, not for what he says".