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Latest Project – Pistol Targets/Falling Plates (Picture Heavy)

110,579 Views | 36 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by GeorgiAg
AGGIE WH08P
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AG

Well a few weeks ago my dad and I decided to build a shooting target for pistols. We were getting tired of shooting the typical paper targets and wanted to take our plinking to the next level! We did some searching online and found some good ideas, but with the $999 price tags, we decided to make our own.

Similar to the deer stand plans that I have posted here before, my dad will make blueprints for every project! That way, we have all of our measurements determined beforehand and not trying to come up with calculation in the garage.

Here are the blueprints:

This is how we have all the 8” plates spaced out. Using the program Viso, we were able to measure the middle of his 8’ long angle iron (obviously 4’), then from each end move the targets in a little over 4”. After that, he split the middles between the middle plate and the 1st and 5th plate.


Here is a side view on the 3/8” thick-8” plate welded on to a piece of flat bar. The flat bar has a ½” pipe welded to it. Notice how the main angle iron for this is actually mounted at an angle. From what we read, it is suppose to cut down on ricochets and it also allows you to weld the 8’ long flat bar in the back. The 8’ long flat bar is used to hold and mount all the of plates


This next picture shows the plates after they are put into place. We knew we wanted to include a pulley/lever mechanism on this, but by doing that we had to make sure the plates would fall past the 90* mark. If we made rest at exactly 90*, then it would have been harder to keep the plates up after we pulled the rope on the lever. We knew that we could adjust this angle once we got to the deer lease. By placing a few rocks on the front part of the legs on the base, the plates will lean back (or closer to the 90* angle). We had to do this once we shot it with a .22 pistol. The .22 didn’t have enough force to knock these plates down at first, but by elevating the front legs, it became a little easier.


This is how we built our hinges for the plates. The whole idea is that if you wanted to easily remove these plates, you could. Why? Well, if someone accidently broke one, we could take it off and take it home and re-weld it easily. Or, if we wanted to make 10” plate instead of 8” plates, could easily change them out. Or if we wanted to cut out different shapes etc, we could do that too. We just didn’t want to have to worry about bringing this whole target home if we ever had to do repairs to it! It’s freakin’ heavy!

On the hinges, we used 3 pieces of pipe. 2 pieces on the 8’ long flat bar, and one on the small 6” flat bar that is connected to the actual plate. One thing I learned here-when building you own hinge, make sure you use a spacer when welding the 2 pieces of pipe to the flat bar. We just used some thinker wire (bent it in a “U” shape) on our initial welds and removed them and completed the welds) Why? Well, if you don't, your hinge will rub on the 8’ long flat bar. By elevating it some, you get rid of any friction and get a much better hinge.


Each plate has a piece of angle iron welded behind it. This is to catch the plate and to keep the hinge from taking all of the weight after the plate is shot. We installed a 8’ piece of round bar that rotates when you pull the lever. On this round bar at each plate, we installed a 4” long small flat bar to act as the lifting tool. This flat bar is welded to the 8’ long round bar so when the round bar turns, so does the 4” flat bar. This rotates forward and pushes the plate up

I have a video at the end showing how we built the lever and pulley system. In one of the shooting video, you can see the lever actually get stuck and not go back into it resting position. We fixed this later with a spring and now it springs back into the correct position!


Ok, now on to the pictures






































Here is the lever thing




Final Product after paint


Videos
--I'm having trouble loading then now. I’ll try later
RFD
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AG
Well Done! Ill take one please.
Aggietaco
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AG
Looks great!
AGGIE WH08P
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thanks guys

not taking orders just yet. I'll keep ya in mind if I do!

here are a few videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQtc-SSwAAo&feature=plcp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4WZY80gK-g&feature=youtu.be
agfan2013
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AG
Looks awesome
theJonatron
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AG
Let us know how much!
GeronimoAg
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AG
Nice job. You and your dad are pretty skilled to design and build something of that quality.
HuntingGMan
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AG
Very nice work. I can see a lot of thought and sweat went into that build.

Something to remember about the leading section of angle iron... it will certainly reduce ricochets to the shooter, but don't neglect the area downrange of the target. That angle iron will launch a bullet into the air, albeit at reduced velocity.

If you are at all concerned with the downrange area, I'd recommend adding another section of angle iron to the front (make the angle iron into a "T" cross-section) so that most of the bullets are deflected downward. Another option would be to only set up the stand in front of a tall earthen berm such that the berm would contain the launched bullets.

Have a great time with your new targets. Looks like they will bring hours of shooting pleasure.
AGGIE WH08P
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AG
thanks G-man. good idea. I know we practice safe shooting and this is setup a couple hundred yards from the campsite. but still, accidents happen and if we have an issue with this, your idea would be a great solution
HuntingGMan
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Dumbdumb
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Nice job!!! Dont make me post pics of my welds you all would cry and then I'd have teach you. HaHa!!!

One piece of advice.... You're either good with a torch or a grinder! (old welders saying)
Hoss
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AG
Very nice!!
mustang6tee8
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AG
Good bull! I've been wanting to make one too, but I like the vertical design like they have on Top Shot. That way you wouldn't need to pull the cord every few rounds.
Protrident
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AG
amazing! Is it just too late or did I miss how much materials cost?
tamu2009
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AG
Very nice. Want something like this!
Texas 1836
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AGGIE WH08P
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Dumbdumb-ya, I have seen some horrible welds before, but I'd like to think that for a guy that welds once every month or two, his are pretty good (10x better than mine!). The welds that were hard to reach in between the angle iron frame and long flat bar are not the prettiest since there was a 1-2" gap between the metal and wire.

We built 2 of these and they were $125-150 each.
Whitetail Properties
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Dumbdumb
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Aggie Who8p I wasnt saying anything bad about your welds. It looks good! Now, it looks to me those are GMAW (wire welds) or flux core wire? What kind of welding equipment do you have?
PharmD4
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AG
definitely one of the cooler builds Ive seen on OB. great job.
big ben
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quote:
Dont make me post pics of my welds you all would cry and then I'd have teach you.


It is not the appearance of the weld that dictates the strength. Go look at the welds on structural steel members for buildings going up, 95% of them look like bubble gum, but they are incredibly strong. The "stacked dimes" look is all fine and dandy but if the weld doesn't penetrate correctly its worthless.
Mr. Dubi
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PooDoo
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AG
Looks fun. Nice work.

Would be cool if you could work on a spring loaded hinge so the target could travel 180 degrees up and down with the nudge of the bullet so you wouldn't need to mess with a rope to reset the target.

[This message has been edited by PooDoo (edited 6/24/2012 7:32a).]
Dumbdumb
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BigBen: I could go on for days about weld quality, appearance, interpass tempetures, etc. I deal with it daily. I've seen many welds that you speak off that do not pass quality control. But that's a whole other topic.
AGGIE WH08P
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PooDoo, now that would be cool!'
Jackrabbit Ag
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Nice!
Bradley.Kohr.II
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OK, so a couple ideas, for a much nicer rack than I could have built:

Mine, built for use as an AP rack, has a single piece of AR500 angling down, to shield the bottoms of the plate rack, etc, so that all errant shots are deflected down into the ground (fragments, actually - AR 500 does a good job of breaking pistol bullets.) (This, you may want to look into.)

If you ever see divots in your plates or deflection plate, you need to resurface it/replace it - you can get bad, straight-back ricochets off dimpled steel.




aggiepublius
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I just came upon this awesome TA thread from another random site's list of great beginning welding projects. All the other projects are on welding-specific websites.

http://weldinghelmetpros.com/cool-welding-projects-you-can-do-at-home/2

Always fun when that happens or TA's OB is the answer to a google search. Always fun when that happens or TA's OB is the answer to a google search.

"Texags - We know Stuff!"


Oh - and great work Aggiewho8p!!
GeorgiAg
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AG
It's always cool when Texags pops up on a random google search. What happened to the videos? Really cool idea!
DatTallArchitect
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GeorgiAg said:

What happened to the videos?
The thread is nearly 10 years old
GeorgiAg
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Yeah, but it was youtube so I thought they'd still be there.

I'm trying to figure out how the pull cord reset works.
AGGIE WH08P
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Howdy!
So, many years ago YouTube did something to these videos and the videos were somehow disabled or removed! No clue why. But I'll try to find them again and post them for ya!
AGGIE WH08P
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And wow… this thread has 99,000+ views!
AGGIE WH08P
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https://imgur.com/a/5VMYraZ

https://i.imgur.com/5tx8sYG.mp4

Any of these work for you?
cledus6150
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I can see both videos
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