Homemade Target Stands

Tactical Gear Tactical Gear
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Just thought i would put this out there. I have seriously gotten away from “precision shooting” my ar’s and have gotten more into inside 50 yard training. I have some land that i use for shooting and i got tired of shooting at the little 30 dollar shitty stands you put one round through and they explode. So i ventured into building something more suited for man sized targets or idpa variants. I had some angle iron and 1.5" metal tubing and had an ephipany. I cut two pieces of the angle iron at 24" and the middle piece at 20" and welded them together. Then i added 8-10" pieces of the tubing where the middle piece meet the legs. Then by adding some tomato stakes or other wood posts about 6 foot tall and wa-la. I have to say that it was better than i expected for the first one. I had planned on making some changes to it based on what i found out. These are similar to some found online for 60-100 dollars. For less than 20 dollars you can have some seriously sturdy target stands. I will post pics in a little.

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This is what I use for paper

Here’s one I just shot at sighting in some buis and a new tac30

And here’s what my steel looks like before I moved it into the field

And in the field although it’s probably a waste of time since I don’t know if you can see them

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Here are the ones I built for when I go somewhere other than my friend’s private property that has permanent stands. The berm there is too small to set up anything other than what he’s already got.

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Looks like the upright boards just wedge into the cross memebrs, correct? They are not fastened in so you can easily break them down for transport?

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I LIKE!!!

Any chance of getting close-ups of the first ones that look like PVC, as well as how you have your steel target (on the wooden A-frame) mounted? I’m thinking of doing the same thing, and am currently looking for ideas. Part of my property is sloped, so I need designs that will work on something other than perfectly level ground.
Thanks,
Pat

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Man I feel stupid. I have 4 sawhorse in the garage and never thought of using them for target stands at the gravel pit. About ready to decommission a couple as they are getting worn out, so this would be a great re-use of them. Flat top for “improvised reactive targets” (pop cans) and space below to hang cardboard or steel targets.

I was thinking of bowling pins as a “reactive” target, but then why not just use an old piece of 4x4 post and cut into one foot lengths? Going to try the sawhorse with 4x4 “pins” next trip.

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Thanks for the extra pics!
Best,
Pat

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Here’s a tutorial on making the pvc stands, I added tees and a crossmember between the uprights on mine that he doesn’t have in this article.
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu24.htm

The steel targets are hung on cheap chain from ace hardware. I put long bolts through the target and then a few jam nuts and hung the chain on the end of the bolt to make the target slope and throw the lead downward.

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this is what I use. they are free and plentiful in my area - GA law requires you to remove your signs on Sunday so any still standing on Mondays are fair game…

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Another great idea. For hard rocky ground they could be stood into some wooden base like a 4x4, or 2x6 with a 2x4 glued on edge and drilled.

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You need to touch up the paint on that puppy!

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Thanks for the link Ryr, even I could make that work…

Pat

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or just drill holes in two 2x4 and set it in there.

my post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek as these are not close to perfect. they move around in a slight breeze and the kind with the thin wire has the posts that go up through the waffles of the plastic sign get shot occasionally.

but it’s hard to argue with free…

17

Thanks for posting your work. I’ve been thinking about new targets and was trying to come up with some stand ideas to save some $.

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I use 2" abs tees glued in the middle of two u’s. 2x2’s fit into the open hole in the tees with only minor trimming. If they don’t work we shoot watermelons and cantlopes. The fruit doesn’t even need to be policed, the range lets us leave them there for the animals at night.

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On the cheap…arbor hooks from the local hardware store and 7" AR500 targets.