Homemade Target Stand for Paper and Steel

[BluntForceTrauma]

Hey, guys, I thought all you vile, ale-swilling masses of the Grendel Horde might wanna take a look at a target stand I made -- and tested -- yesterday.

Purpose of this target stand is to be a cheap, tough, easily-repaired, portable target stand that can be used for both paper targets and steel gongs.

8 ft 2 x 4, sawn in half and drilled with 1-3/8" bit = $2.25 x 2 = $4.50

4 ft 1-1/4" dowel = $5.00

6 ft 1 x 4, sawn in half = $2.25

Total materials (not including tools and steel gongs with associated hardware) = $11.75

Shot this yesterday to test the design and found the following flaws:

1) Legs on the gong setting eventually wobbled off the dowel rod and whole thing collapsed.

2) Cheap wire hanging the gongs gets clipped. Don't have a good, cheap solution yet. Chain seems expensive and can get clipped if shot. Or can chain withstand 9mm at 7 yards and 6.5 Grendel starting at 25 yards?

What you guys think?

[kmon]

That works, thanks for posting

Election years I let politicians put signs on the stands in my yard. they make great little target holders for later use (cheap also)

[Randy99CL]

I think your stands look good!
Maybe some screw eyes or brackets you could pound tent stakes through for stability? Or a hunk of 2x4 parallel with the ground, with a big hole for a stake?

With the long bolts on your steel targets you should move the hanging wire/chain farther back on the bolt. It will angle the steel down away from you and possibly stop ricochets coming back at cha.

[FRB6.5]

If have an "in" at your local Fire Department, sections of old fire hose work very well for hanging steel.

[GREYBUFF]

Here's what I use. All made from scrap that is mostly free (rebar, pipe, solid round).Easy to make if you weld & very durable. The man is made from a scraper blade which you can usually get from an equipment rental place , trenching contractor or scrap yard.

[Frontier Gear]

Nice BFT. Yours is refined and makes mine look crude, and mine isn't set up for steel. What about a couple of spring clamps at the dowel ends to keep it all together? Or cut the dowel shorter and use a cotter pin on the ends? I'd also think about a piece of paracord between each front and rear leg to keep the leg spacing at it's optimum, but I'm not sure if the leg spacing would be the same between the top and bottom positions. I can't say much about hanging the steel. We have used old rope and left over copper house wire in the past. If we shot it, we didn't care.
https://www.amazon.com/HDX-2-in-Spring-C...B0026T07QU

Here is my ugly one. The barn hinge is just held on the cross leg by a single nut that is hand tight. I just remove that one nut and it fold flat. It fits in the back of my Jeep though, is handy to take with me and is easy to repair.




I didn't pay anything for mine since it was all made out of scrap wood and leftover hardware that I keep in the barn. You never know when it may come in handy.

[BluntForceTrauma]

FG, clever. What's the purpose of the 2x4 or whatever that heavy piece is at the top on the backside?

[Frontier Gear]

BFT, it’s just a repair for reinforcement. The top side gets pretty shot up.

[Djgrendel]

Similar to the fire hose idea, I use old conveyor belt cut into 3" wide strips. Mud flaps work good. Heck, in Minnesota, you should be able to find some old sled tracks that work great as well.

[StraitShot]

As several have noted - firehose works amazingly well... small towns with a VFD ... for a "donation" you might get several yards of old hose...

[RobUrban]

My experience building any steel target holder out of wood has been short lived. The shrapnel from the bullet hitting the steel destroyed the wood over time. I have found using some crap metal I have playing around the farm with heavy chain to hold the targets to be the best "long Term" solution so far. As for holders for paper targets I use old political yard signs. Tape the Paper to the sign and put them in the ground. They work great super light and pretty much never need to replace them. [ATTACH=CONFIG]14642[/ATTACH]