Originally Posted by 1066
https://www.youtube.com/user/thetargetmaster
This thread was worth it. Where is the thread on your laser training rifle and target?
Thank you JM. Unfortunately I didn't really document the journey this project took to completion. This was built with my 8 year old grandson in mind, he now lives in the city with no chance of plinking in the garden so thought I would try and get him off to a good start. I wanted the rifle to be light weight (5lb) and adjustable for fit and also have a proper feel, cocking action, trigger and peep sights. The idea being to move into 10m air rifle target shooting if he shows enough interest.
I also wanted to keep away from a laser shooting “game”. I know laser training rifles are not new, Anschutz do a nice one for around $1,000 and it’s quite popular in Europe, especially for biathlon type training. However, being cheap, I thought I would have a go at making my own.
Most of the rifle was made from parts from my local hardware shop. The main frame just cheap pine timber, the barrel was 1/2” thin walled steel. I covered the barrel in heatshrink tube to give it a finished look. The action I machined out of a 1” bar of Delrin plastic, the muzzle brake also 1” Delrin bored out to take the working end of a common $5 laser pointer.
The cheek piece, trigger guard, foresight housing and sight element were all 3D printed.
Once it was all ready to assemble I painted the woodwork with blue Hammerite paint and the pistolgrip with satin black auto paint.
The only parts of the rifle I didn’t make were the butt plate ($15 ebay) and the rear aperture sight, a cheap airgun sight, both of which I happened to have spare.
The target is basically a phototransistor that, when it detects the laser hit, triggers an arduino micro processor to sweep a cheap model airplane servo to ring the bell.
The only “new” discovery I made during this project that I’ve never seen used before for laser shooting is that “glow in the dark” paper is energised by the laser hit and continues to glow for a few seconds so you can actually see the POI.
The next stage of the development will be to make a reactive target where a hit will release a spring loaded peg so it falls over with a whack as if hit by a real shot.
The rifle/target works well out to around 30 yards – It’s been fun to use at several family gathering over the summer and even the non-shooters have enjoyed having a go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynMvWAkQqo0