What Do You Use...

[Uncle R.]

For rifle targets?
I've recently been practicing with iron sight military rifles at 200 yards. My aging eyes insist on BLACK aiming bulls of eight or ten inch diameter if I'm to have any hope of getting tight groups, but it's sometimes near impossible to see holes in the black with my spotting scope. It's especially difficult on hazy days or when the mirage is running, and it's bad any time with .22 caliber holes.
Store-bought "splatter" targets work great, but they're not cheap - and I am! It chaps my channel to pay a dollar apiece for targets.
Since I started haunting this board I'm constantly surprised at the high levels of knowledge and experience I find here - not to mention the sometimes amazingly clever ideas you guys share.
Does anyone have an inexpensive or home-made alternative to "Shoot N-C" type targets?
Thanks!
Uncle R.

[threett1]

Not an alternative to shoot n c, but my targets.com is a good place to print off targets from and Varmintal.com has a link to some good targets, one of which is a 2in black square target I find easier to see with iron sights. Check them out.

[SharpsShooter]

I use a 6" black bull that is white in the 4"center. Basically it looks like a black tire on a white sheet of paper. Shots are easily spotted in the white and the front post covers the white center at 100yds. I make em on my pc and take them to work to copy on the laser printer when I run low.

Sorta like this........

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r255/SharpsShooter_photos/Target.gif

I have better one somewhere......I'll find it and add it later
SS

[fourarmed]

White paper plates against a black background.

[45nut]

www.gunloads.com

[Lugnutz]

I use alot of clay birds!! sure you don't know where you hit exactly but if I can break em at 100 yards or so I'm pretty sure I can bring home the food this deer season. Otherwise I use whatever Mark Taylor brings along with him!! Sure wish my printer worked, then I could print my own off of the internet.

[Bret4207]

For bead sights I almost NEED a white circle on a dark background, I certainly prefer it. For blade sights an black "V" works good. Black bulls are ok, but the blue or red ones are better for me.

[piwo]

For bead sights I almost NEED a white circle on a dark background, I certainly prefer it. For blade sights an black "V" works good. Black bulls are ok, but the blue or red ones are better for me.

I've not seen black "V" targets. got an example??

[arkypete]

I made a black 6 onch circle, one inch thick, leaving a 4 inch white circle inside.
I took this to a copy place and got a price on them using their rejects, printing on the back, in lot of a thousand. I think it cost me $15.00.
Jim

[Gunload Master]

http://gunloads.com/modules.php?name=gallery2

That's a link to 6 galleries, from rifle, pistol, etc targets to choose from.

[imashooter2]

My favorite target:

http://espn.go.com/winnercomm/outdoors/hunting/remington/P2_h_rem_turkey_target1.jpg

Full size version in 8.5 x 11 Adobe .PDF format:

http://espn.go.com/winnercomm/outdoors/hunting/downloads/remington_target1.pdf

A bit small for 200 yard irons though...

[versifier]

I like playing with the various downloadable targets at Gunloads, especially for practice. The variety is fun, and there's something for everybody.

When testing and measuring for group size, I use a target of my own design drawn on 1/4" graph paper, then copied. In the center is a 1" black square with a 3/4" white circle in it, this is surrounded by a 1" wide white square 3"x3", and a 1" thick black square 4"x4". I used to be able to see this clearly to 150yds with open or peep sights, now I can't see it beyond 75. [smilie=1: It still is great with scopes, though, and makes rough measurements of group sizes at the range simple. Most of my preliminary cast rifle tests start at 50yds. I'm still playing with new 100yd designs that I can see as more than just a white blob.

I have been thinking about making my own shoot-n-see targets. They have a nonporous colored backing covered with a spray on finish with very poor adhesion. My tentative idea was that wax dipped orange paper covered with a light coat of black acrylic paint or even poster paint might work. While this project isn't exactly on my priority list yet, maybe someone else can use the ideas and improve on them.

[Bret4207]

The "V" is just a 4-6" tall V or inverted triangle. Magic marker, spray paint, whatevet I can get my mitts on to make the target. Ihold the tip f the blade front sight centered and with the tinyest of gaps between the bottom of the V and blade. Lets me do good on horizontal movement.

[Uncle R.]

I have been thinking about making my own shoot-n-see targets. They have a nonporous colored backing covered with a spray on finish with very poor adhesion. My tentative idea was that wax dipped orange paper covered with a light coat of black acrylic paint or even poster paint might work. While this project isn't exactly on my priority list yet, maybe someone else can use the ideas and improve on them.

That's close to what I've been speculating on... I was just wondering if anybody'd already figured out the specifics. Like maybe a white "shirt cardboard" sheet with a thin layer of Johnson's paste wax and then a flat black spray painted aiming bull over the wax. The base color wouldn't have to be orange - even white splatter would work fine.


I guess I'll have to put on my "Thomas Edison" hat and start experimenting.
:)
Uncle R.

[whisler]

Versifier: For black paint I would use the poster paint or flat black interior latex paint (cheaper the better). A decent quality black acrylic paint may have more adhesion than you would want even on a non-porous surface. (I usta was a paint chemist)

[walltube]

Brush a bit of "White-Out" correction fluid onto the front sight blade; just enough to cover the ' ^ ' mind you. This may give enough contrast against the black ring. If you have a '98 Mauser with a front sight hood paint the "O" also. Imparts a ghost ring image.

Tops of the the rear sight 'flat' on either side of the 'V' will benefit too from this treatment. Helps reference the front sight.

Give us a report with any successes using this hi-tech method. :-)

Y.T.,

Walltube

[Single Shot]

I'm using these for now. I buy the bulk packs and that brings the cost to about 50 cents each.

http://www.midwayusa.com/esearch.exe/search?search_keywords=orange+peel&category_selector=all_products&Click+to+Begin+Search.x=16&Click+to+Begin+Search.y=14&Click+to+Begin+Search=Search_Button

But I am going to try some of your ideas on how to make them. I'll let you know.

I am also going to try some coated paper in my printer.



:castmine:

[piwo]

The "V" is just a 4-6" tall V or inverted triangle. Magic marker, spray paint, whatevet I can get my mitts on to make the target. Ihold the tip f the blade front sight centered and with the tinyest of gaps between the bottom of the V and blade. Lets me do good on horizontal movement.

That's what I thought you were describing, and sounds like an experiment the next time I'm out. 8-)

Going to have to wait till I get back from vacation. Hopefully it will cool down here some. It was 105.2 (in the shade) on my digital and mercury thermometer on Sunday. That's just too freakin hot. Official high was only 102.something, but I don't live on the "official" spot! I would have a difficult time keeping the beeswax/crisco lube on the boolits for even a few minutes..:(

Thanks for the tip Bret: I'll try darn near anything if it holds some promise!:Fire:

[C A Plater]

My favorite iron sight target is the circle over triangle at http://www.recguns.com/targets.html. I print out a nice one and run it off on a copier. I've thought of getting some made up on 12x12" target stock or other but the 8.5x11" seem to work fine at the range. Works pretty good for scope too.

Here is a picture:

[buck1]

I have made shoot n see homemade targets W/some with sticky lables( I wasnt trying to but thats how it worked out) They worked pretty good.
If you want a large bull you might try to.... paint paper plates with -GLOSS BLACK - spray paint. Flat wont give the effect. The GLOSS paint chips off at the boolit hole, flat dose not. I dont know how it will work on the plates but it works with sticky lables. the plastic coated plates may work better??? FWIW...Buck

[Blackwater]

I guess I've had CRS disease ("can't remember stuff") for a long time 'cause I often used to forget to get targets even when I was younger. "Improvise and overcome" was often the order of the day. Amid all that improvising, I found that I shoot scopes better, with their black crosswire, when I used a square white dot in a dark (darkish green seems to have proven best, overall, in varying light) background. Colored sheets of paper are available in large packages for little $, and that appealed to my Scots ancestry, so that wound up being the usual fare. When I ran out of darker colored sheets (darn that CRS again!), I found that with scopes again, a black square worked almost as good on the light colored backgrounds (including white copy paper) as a white square on a dark background did. I was surprised to find that plain brown paper, as used in paper bags (y'all remember those?) had a dull enough sheen that it minimized any glare that may have wanted to muss up my aim when the light was from certain angles. If I can find a brown paper sack now, that'll be my first choice for a target backer, and it works almost as good with a white dot or square as a with a black one. I found I preferred the white square, if I could find them in the right sizes, because the little projections at the corners in my sighting picture, that won't be present when using a round dot, allow me to use a slightly smaller dot than if I used a circle. Again, that's with a scope and a crosswire. Black works almost as good on a light background (as long as it's a dull finish), but a very slightly larger dot may be required, at least for me. A dot reticle ought to do nicely with a dot just a smidge larger than the reticle's dot. Don't have a clue what to use with some of these newfangled "Christmas Tree" reticles. They confuse me too dang much.

With irons, my astigmatism, which ain't exactly eliminated even with glasses due to the angle at which I look through them when shooting a rifle, puts all bets off when it comes to the way others see THEIR targets, but I've found that I tend to prefer rather sizable and square notches and front sights. That darn astigmatism makes ALL shapes assume unfamiliar profiles sometimes, but the squared ones seem to be a bit more resistant to that ... again, FOR ME ONLY.

With the above qualifier re using irons, I've found that at LEAST a 6 MOA bull is absolutely REQUIRED for me to feel as comfortable as I'm destined to feel with irons these days, and an 8 MOA dot is a LOT better .... again, for my eyes. YMMV.

All that's really needed for ANY target is a good aiming point that'll LET me align the sights as consistently as possible with as little variation as I HAVE to accept. I've found a 3/4" dot works good with 2-7's set on 7, or with straight 6's, a 1 1/4" dot (stick on dots are more readily found in my neck of the woods than squares, which I still prefer, but can't often find in the right sizes) works well with straight
4's, and a 1/2" or 5/8" dot works well with 3-9's. 1/4" dots or even smaller work well with my 6.5-20x. Buy some of those stick on dots in 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" and 1 1/4" and a big roll of brown craft paper, an' y'oughter be in bidniss for a LOT of shooting. Cheap, and with that much supply on hand, and in such a relatively compact package considering the content, and y'all boys with CRS too will find yourselves looking for that dried up Sharpie in the glove box so often.

For irons, I like to take some sort of thin cardboard or thin plastic, and use an Xacto knife or whatever is convenient to cut out a large (8MOA for whatever range yer plannin' to shoot at) square, then I'll place it over whatever size box or craft paper roll or sheet of paper that I'm using, and spray with some flat black paint. Black shows up best for me when I'm trying to shoot a fine bead with irons. If my bead is white, which I try to strive for since it works better for me in the field, then use flat white paint against a darker background color. White, for me though, tends to "flare" more in brighter light - one of the reasons I just don't waste ammo on fluorescent colored targets. My eyes just can't see the dang aiming point for all that cussed "flare" with fluroescents.

I really think everyone, with all the variations in eyeballs, needs to work out what works best for them, and also what works best in bright, in dim, and in varying light. It CAN really make a BIG difference sometimes.

That's what I've learned, at least. Hope it helps. You old Scots descendants will appreciate the "value" of craft paper and stick on dots, I know. (wink & ;^)