Cheap Targets

[Ben]

I'm not certain if this is in the right place or not. " Mods " please feel free to move this thread if needed.
__________________________________________________ ___________

Some of these " factory targets " from MidWay etc are fairly expensive. I'm a poor man , so I figured I'd come up with a system that would give me the following :


Cheap cost


A good aiming picture with iron sights at 50 - 75 yards.


A good aiming picture with a scope out to 200 yards.

I made different styles and have settled on this one. Anyone who wants to modify the dimensions a little bit for their own purposes, go at it !

I took an aerosol can of brake cleaner ( always on the work bench for cleaning molds ) and took some sheet metal and used the bottom of the can as a template and scribed around it with a sharp scribe. I cut out the center disk. Then, I attached with pop rivets the " wings " . I figured that would be 10X quicker than cutting out all the metal around the circle and the wings.

I often times will use low power scopes ( 1.5 X - 5 X variables ) on my hunting rifles. I wanted lines running into the target to assist me in centering my cross hairs.

Here are photos of the " Finished Product ". The beauty of all this is that you can make them to suit your own needs , be it - - short range, long range, rifle, pistol, etc.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Cheap%20Targets/001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Cheap%20Targets/002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Cheap%20Targets/004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Cheap%20Targets/005.jpg

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Excellent idea,
anyone now where to get black pasters?
I cant see the orange ones

[Trey45]

Jim, Shoot n see has 1inch solid black dots, I use them for 22LR, it might work for what you're going to be doing here.

[frkelly74]

I always shoot at the targets others leave behind. Sometimes they are almost as good as new. Or I scroung up clay pigeons from the high grass and use them.The spray paint is a good idea, I have on occasion used that marking paint that comes in florescent colors. If you are trying to keep records of what you are doing then you have something there.

[dragonrider]

I usually print something from one of the free online sources. But I like your idea better, it is cheaper than ink.

[Ben]

dragonrider

I thought that printing was the way too........BUT, as you've
pointed out the price of ink ( at least for me ) was cost
prohibitive.

A .99 cent can of flat black spray paint and some cheap
paper plates will generate a wagon load of targets in a very
short period of time.

I've had problems with bullets cutting clean holes in printer
paper, but bullets always cut clean holes in my paper plates.

[Longwood]

If you Google printable targets, you will find all sorts of free target options.
The colored ones get pretty expensive because of the rip-off prices for the printer ink.
Kids really like shooting balloons.
One of my favorite targets for a good shooting gun with a scope, is colored thumb tacks.

[felix]

On occasion, you can find a printer in the yellow pages who has yellowish stock he will never use. Take a printed copy of one of the internet targets to him and let him make a printing plate of it. Very cheap when nothing professional is going on there. ... felix

[Got-R-Did]

You could just cut a hole in the center of the template to give you a black dot in the middle.
I absolutely love the idea. May even have some made up from wood scraps and simply hang them on the post at our private ranges for shooters to make their own targets. Very Cool Idea, Kind Sir.
Got-R-Did.

[Ben]

There are all kinds of options available to you.
You can go with a white center which allows me to
see " center bull hits " much easier with my spotting
scope at longer distances vs a black bull.............
or you can go with the black bull.

Your choice .................. Enjoy !

Best to all of you,

Ben

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Many grocery and household items come in boxes made of substantial cardboard, for example breakfast cereals. I trim the ends off, slit them down one side and turn them so the blank inside surface can be sprayed using a circular mask of whatever size wanted, with the color of choice. When dry just hang/tack them up on a flat surface and go at it. The mask you make will last a long time and so will the $1.- can of spray paint. The source is endless and the price is tough to beat by any measure. LLS

[Trey45]

Another suggestion, you might not want to use this though because it's a one use only target.

Charcoal Briquettes, when you hit them, you know you hit them by the cloud of black/grey dust. Tie a piece of string around them and hang them from branches.

[35isit]

If you can't shoot steel targets at your range. Make templates of your favorite shapes and cut them from cardboard or poster paper.

[markinalpine]

Excellent idea,
anyone now where to get black pasters?
I cant see the orange ones


Jim, Shoot n see has 1inch solid black dots, I use them for 22LR, it might work for what you're going to be doing here.

Check out the office supply area of most stores, and get one of those big, fat tip black markers. Easy to scribble a fat, black dot, square, triangle...
Mark [smilie=s:

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

what I like is Birchwood Caseys, bench rest squares, but they seem to have gone the way of the Edsel

[jsizemore]

Dollar Tree has florescent and bright color letters and numbers you can stick on a target. Like Post-Its but full adhesive back. About 20 for a buck.

[geargnasher]

Speaking of Post-its, the 1" neon pink, blue, or green square ones with a dab of Elmer's on the back make excellent pasties. I made several target stencils, but I've gotten too lazy to use them!

I got really creative once and did a long session with a red stamp pad, some ancient dot-matrix printer paper, and a potato, but that's another story.

One of my favorites is the common, house-brand saltine cracker. Dust them with colored spray paint and either push-pin them to the target backer, tape them to the edge, or hang them from a wire with clothspins. Reactive, highly visible, and almost 100% biodegradeable. And the paint has to give the fire ant cleanup crew tummy aches, which makes me smile!

Gear

[deltaenterprizes]

Most of the junk mail I get has a blank back to the enclosed letter, even if there is printing putting a 3/4'' dot from the office supply area of Wally World makes a great cheap target, you just need to see where the boolits hit!

[koehn,jim]

great idea. for markers i use inventory control dots from a stationary store. They are available in sizes from half inch to 2 inch and different colors. 3/4 inch black were 7.50 for 1000 fairly cheap. Thanks for the plate idea.

[Bullwolf]

In my home range (inside the barn) I use a roll of butcher paper, and a black permanent marker.

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/30-x-800-white-butcher-paper-roll/30-x-800-white-butcher-paper-roll.jpg

Tear off a rectangle piece of target sized paper, and I draw a circle, square, or whatever on the paper using the permanent marker.

Sometimes I put a piece of duct tape in the center of the target. I also use a roll of duct tape to cover the hits, when I don't feel like replacing the target.

I use 16 penny nails to hold the paper to the front of the disposable hay bails.

While it sound pretty redneck, it works just fine.

I have a MUCH higher success rate recovering brass in the barn, than I do outside in the dirt and leaves.

The whole setup lets me to shoot indoors while it's raining too.

If I turn the lights on in the barn, I can shoot at night as well.

It provides me with hours of fun, and lots and lots of targets.

I have no clue what a roll of butcher paper goes for now. I had a few rolls on hand, and I have not managed to use them all up quite yet.


- Bullwolf

[uscra112]

Hadn't occurred to me to use cheap paper plates. I made a plywood template, and I cut up every cardboard box that comes my way into 12 x 14 rectangles. Three of these clamped to my target frame in a stack will accept and retain pushpins, so I now just scribble a target with a marker on 8 1/2 x 11 printer paper and pin it to the cardboard. The cardboards last for 5-6 range sessions.

But I like the paper plate idea. Stiffer, so the wind won't flap it around if one of the pins comes loose.

Just was at the range this morning, and saw three 8" diameter shoot-n-see targets on a frame, which somebody left behind. Not a single hole in any of them. Wish I could afford that!

[Longwood]

I have used the paper plates since back in the 70's. I saw the way most people do them and decided I had a better way. I use a can of Zylon (because it dries faster) but I usually do the bottoms of the plates because they stay on the backer better when there is a cross wind.
I sit the cap on the plates then paint around them so I have a white bullseye. The reason for that is because I want to see the center hits more than the ones in the outer ring. I find that holes in white bulls show up better.

[Houndog]

I don't know if they still sell them, but Sinclair International has/had stamps for 100/200 yard Benchrest targets. I've had my 100 yard stamp and the stamp pad over 20 years and it's still as good as new. I just add a little ink to the stamp pad occasionally. I use file cards as target paper for easy storage of the actual target and the data for future reference, but any type printable material would work fine. For pistol targets I use the stamp on paper plates and color in the square with a black magic marker.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Last time I was at the local Print shop.
He had reams of 8.5" x 11" pink colored card stock.
250 in a ream, for $2.00 a ream on closeout.

when I had a full time job, I'd always save copier paper, or Print sized paper.
that was blank on one side...I always had more than I could shoot up.
the job ended in 2003...I still have some of that paper...
a word of warning, besure to shread any with trade secrets,
it's not worth lossing a job over, if it can be traced back to you.

I use a black Ink pad "re-inker" to make a circle.
they look like a underarm deoderant roller...and last for ever.
the one I have must be 15 years old and still half full of ink.

[Ed Barrett]

I like to use NECCO wafers you can still get them at some candy stores. They are about an inch across and break like tiny clay Pigeons, and are a lot cheaper. It also gives the possums and coons something to eat at night.

http://www.nutsonline.com/chocolatessweets/old-time-candy/necco-wafers.html

[6.5 mike]

Thanks for the idea Ben. Now another trip to the dollar store. :popcorn:

[dale2242]

Shooting Necco wafers. Boy, does that bring back memories. My father and I would line up 10 Neccos at 100 yds. We would alternate shooting at them with our, then new, 222s.
Reactive tagets are always fun.
I like going up in the mountains and shooting Shasta Fir cones. They literally explode, with small pieces fluttering down.
Always with a safe background, or course.....dale

[markinalpine]

I use a black Ink pad "re-inker" to make a circle.
they look like a underarm deoderant roller...and last for ever.
the one I have must be 15 years old and still half full of ink.

#1 - That's what can be described as an "Elegant" suggestion!

Mark

[buck1]

A a plain white 3x5 card at 100 yards cuts into 4 equil parts nicely with a scope. Also on ebone you can find cheep generic stick on target spots.

[diehard]

Also on ebone you can find cheep generic stick on target spots.

I like those dots! But get mine from the stationary section of the local Dollar Store. Secretaries apparently use them to color code file folders. I get 500 1" dots for ...you guess it...a dollar! The yellow and chartreuse are virtually useless, but the blue, orange and green packs make very decent aiming points when trying to use up and get your money worth out of a B-27 silhouette target at the indoor range.

Check them out.....

[NoDakJak]

During the sixties I used Necco wafers extensively for plinking targets. I also used a lot of Animal Crackers. What ever the birds and varmnts didn't get disappeared during the first decent rain. Now that I have no offspring devouring my targets I believe that I will start using them again. Wahhhhh!!!!! A damn skunk just sprayed something outside my window! My most favorite target!!! Neil

[NoDakJak]

I have been swathing hay this week and have run two porcupines through the swather. For those folk that don't know what a swather is, it cuts the hay and then runs it through a set of rollers that crimps it to promote more even drying before it is baled. Running these varmints thru a swather is very bad, particularily if you don't see them. I picked them up with a pitchform and deposited them along a fence line. If these should get baled up and a cow eats the quills it is very bad news. Porcupines are my second favorite target after skunks. Porkies seem rather hard to put down. My first experience with one was at night. I was trying to hold back an enraged Golden Retriever with one hand and shoot a revolver with the other. After emptying a 32 S&W Long into him my wife passed me my S&W Kit Gun and I emptied it into him. It would have been a simple matter if I hadn't had to hold that stupid dog back. When I moved I gave the dog to my daughter. She gave him to her brother in law. I later heard that he decided to kill a cat and jumped from tha back of a pickup moving about 65 mph. I was told that he rfecieved almost 200 stitchs for that escapade,. I would have shot him instead of taking him to the Vet.
For overall enjoyment though you just can't beat the Prairie dog villages that abound in this area. That is the main reason that I moved here when I retired. I won't even mention that we have perhaps the finest White Tail, Mulie, Antelope and Definetly the finest pheasant hunting in North America. I believe that the New England and Hettinger area of North Dakota has North Americas finest pheasant hunting. Every bit as good as South Dakota during the forties and fifties and better than SW Iowa during the seventies and eighties. Better shut my mouth before the locals lynch me. Neil

[maglvr]

There's a whole lot of 2" X 2" sticky "diamonds" to be had in a roll of duct tape, not to mention all the different colors that are available now;) I've been sticking them on paper plates for decades. Works great for me.

[cobroller]

I have been swathing hay this week and have run two porcupines through the swather. For those folk that don't know what a swather is, it cuts the hay and then runs it through a set of rollers that crimps it to promote more even drying before it is baled. Running these varmints thru a swather is very bad, particularily if you don't see them. I picked them up with a pitchform and deposited them along a fence line. If these should get baled up and a cow eats the quills it is very bad news. Porcupines are my second favorite target after skunks. Porkies seem rather hard to put down. My first experience with one was at night. I was trying to hold back an enraged Golden Retriever with one hand and shoot a revolver with the other. After emptying a 32 S&W Long into him my wife passed me my S&W Kit Gun and I emptied it into him. It would have been a simple matter if I hadn't had to hold that stupid dog back. When I moved I gave the dog to my daughter. She gave him to her brother in law. I later heard that he decided to kill a cat and jumped from tha back of a pickup moving about 65 mph. I was told that he rfecieved almost 200 stitchs for that escapade,. I would have shot him instead of taking him to the Vet.
For overall enjoyment though you just can't beat the Prairie dog villages that abound in this area. That is the main reason that I moved here when I retired. I won't even mention that we have perhaps the finest White Tail, Mulie, Antelope and Definetly the finest pheasant hunting in North America. I believe that the New England and Hettinger area of North Dakota has North Americas finest pheasant hunting. Every bit as good as South Dakota during the forties and fifties and better than SW Iowa during the seventies and eighties. Better shut my mouth before the locals lynch me. Neil

Porcupines and corn heads don't play well together. I always carried a shotgun with pheasant loads on the combine, that worked well on the critters.

[higgins]

If you belong to a club with a skeet or trap range pick up the misses and sort into solid ones for reuse as clay targets and cracked for pistol and rifle targets. Cracked ones can be readily detected by laying the clay bottom side up loosely in your hand and tapping the edge with a screwdriver. If it "clunks" there's a hairline crack in it somewhere. I have a good stash of paper targets of all kinds that others have left behind, some with very few or no holes in them. Sometimes they even leave pasters behind. Right now the "shoot n see" targets are popular. A lot of people seem to stick the target on a piece of paper, shoot holes in it, then throw the pasters in the trash with the backing.

[WildmanJack]

Try Targetz.com Great place to print targets. They have them gridded off in 1 inch and 1/2 inch squares so gettin your scope right on the money is really easy..
Jack

[Silver Jack Hammer]

Like you I use paper plates for cowboy revolvers but haven't seen 'em painted before. I use a lot of playing cards, 52-54 targets in a pack, each card is good for about 5 hits. Cards are pretty cheap.

[canyon-ghost]

http://www.glockfaq.com/content.aspx?ckey=Glock_FAQ_Targets

For you guys that like printing out tons of targets

http://www.sharpie.com/enUS/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=SharpieFinePointPermanentM arker(Sharpie Catalog) For you guys that like to draw your own

[firefly1957]

I used to do a news letter and have 100's of old news letters with blank backs I staple them to cardboard and either use a marker to make a X or a dot or a sticker for aiming point. Major cost is just keeping them around for years to use them up! They are mostly 11.5 X 9 inches but I can put up more for larger area I also have some real estate signs that they can be stapled to.

[fatnhappy]

I had no idea targets printed were such a big deal. I guess I'm fortunate to know someone with a print shop.

pretty ingenious solutions though.

[cavalrymedic]

Very good idea, I'll give it a try. I make printed targets and place them on cardboard that I scrounge for free. Add ballons and other dynamic targets and I can shoot for fairly cheap.