Anyone Made A Moving Target?

[kyshootnman]

I've been thinking about making a moving target system for the rimfires. I thought about using a small electric motor with a controller on it to control the speed and be able to reverse the direction. The design I have in mind will have a small cable that runs around the pulley and the target will hang low enough below it that it shouldn't get impacted. Have any of you guys had any success with these types of targets?

 

[Exo]

cheap wallyword RC car....

unless you have your own range, setting up a pully system everytime you want to go out would get annoying as hell.

are you wanting to use a metal/reactive target? or just paper?

 

[milo 2.0]

Only in my dreams! With the mechanical aptitude of a field mouse, until someone markets one at an affordable price, I'll probably never get to fire on one.
A new Laundromat-dry cleaner place opened close by, went in with a friend to pick up some of his wife's clothes, they had a revolving racks, one elevated, looked like people walking and descending stairs, reversible also. All I could imagine was steel silhouettes going round and round and up and down!
Had a hard time concealing a slight hardon walking out.

 

[Just Macca]

I saw on a show once where some non-specific SWAT snipers were doing what Exo said. They used helium balloons and would also simulate a moving hostage type situation with different coloured balloons together etc. Looked fun!

 

[Delta4-3]

I have my own run and gun course on the farm. One is a zip line target with a silhouette going about 10mph. It's easy, just get one of the dog line dinners from Walmart that are 40 feet long. Hang one side higher than the other. Hang a target from the pulley. When you set the target put an alligator clip on the line in front of the target so it can't move. Suspend a weighted target from the clip. Wen you want your target in motion, shoot the target on the clip and it will release the mover. All of $20 worth of fun.

 

[kyshootnman]

Delta seems to be on track for the most simple approach. I live on a farm, so land isn't an issue. I can leave the system set up so I won't have to reassemble it every time I go out. I think I'll try this setup out and see how it goes. The reason I was thinking about a motor was to be able to reset it without going down range each time. I might come up with an easy way to reset it after I get it together.

 

[Sniper Uncle]

Working off Delta's approach:

Figure out a way to have a reset that you shoot at, and a hit causes the pulley to drop, causing the slope to reverse, and the target reverse as a result. Then you could set it up so you got several passes---as many resetters as you have room for-- out of it before it gets too low. Precision shooting alternated with shoot at motion....what could be more fun.

 

[kyshootnman]

Nobody ever heard of rope?

What is this you speak of?

 

[Ed Baker]

Garage door opener and rails. Gotta build the rails on a piece of wood sort of like a mini raiload track. I have seen 3 of them here at a range in Ga. They work real well if you can keep the grass and crap out of the rails and the motor from rusting. They were hard wired. Had one that moved slow-crawler, one at a moderate speed-walker, and one at fast speed-a runner. They could reverse direction as well. Fun to shoot at!

 

[Strykervet]

Garage door opener and rails. Gotta build the rails on a piece of wood sort of like a mini raiload track. I have seen 3 of them here at a range in Ga. They work real well if you can keep the grass and crap out of the rails and the motor from rusting. They were hard wired. Had one that moved slow-crawler, one at a moderate speed-walker, and one at fast speed-a runner. They could reverse direction as well. Fun to shoot at!

Maybe surplus? There was a moving target range at Ft. Benning that was just fun as shit. "3D" targets would pop up, move whatever direction, go back down. I've never seen the movers for sale, but I've seen the surplus popups for sale before.

For ambush training, we used to put mannequins on pallets that had skids or wheels on them and use rope to connect a couple with a few mannequins each. The truck would be out of range, out of limits, and it would pull the sleds into range and we'd blow 'em to shit. Some were more complex than others and had balloons holding up the target.

Anyway, getting creative, there are hundreds of ways to setup moving targets depending on what you have to work with.

 

[kyshootnman]

Garage door opener and rails. Gotta build the rails on a piece of wood sort of like a mini raiload track. I have seen 3 of them here at a range in Ga. They work real well if you can keep the grass and crap out of the rails and the motor from rusting. They were hard wired. Had one that moved slow-crawler, one at a moderate speed-walker, and one at fast speed-a runner. They could reverse direction as well. Fun to shoot at!

Now that is engineering at its best! Definitely something to consider if a man could find some old used stuff to make it out of. These are some great ideas so far.

 

[Ed Baker]

Next time at that range, I will take pictures and post of the garage door movers.

 

[Oakflat]

I've been thinking of doing this also. I will have to get on my computer to fully explain but my version uses "in theory only" 1/2 of a 6" or 8" metal pipe as the track with a "truck" customized to hold a target above and counterbalance weights below that would be pulled by an electric motor with a pitching machine style wheel. The target would be about 3 feet above the track. The speed would be variable and this contraption would never be moved.

 

[Burton]

Anyone Made A Moving Target

A garage door opener is a great choice. If you are worried about the rails getting dirt in them, then elevate the setup, and hang the targets. If you are up for it, you could make your own rails using some uni-strut of some other type of strut. McMaster Carr sells stut and carriages for the strut. If you use strut and the carriages, then the track, and carriage wheels would be protected from the elements. Good luck to you however you do it! See attached pictures, they are screen shots from McMaster.

 

[pawprint2]

We took some silhouette targets and put them on cardboard backers and attacked to a 6 foot pvc pipe, had one guy in the pits walk with it (at normal speed), to see how many shots would be on target by "good" shooters from 600 yards. You are in for a real treat!

 

[Jimmy D in AK]

We hooked up a light weight rod (garage sale fishing rods) to a beefy RC truck, braced it with some outriggers (casters to prevent tipping) and then made 3Dbad guys out of card board, put gangsta' clothing on them and added balloons for vitals. Relatively cheap so long as you limit your deflection to prevent hitting the truck.

 

[jmorris]

These are videos of one I made with a cordless drill. Gives two speeds with the gearbox and two more with the groves machined into the pully that pulls the string.






And used as moving "cover"

 

[truth]

Just dig a trench and have your least favorite kid run back and forth with the target on a stick. They should be fine so long as you measure correctly and they don't grow too fast.

 

[Derek01]

Here's a small one you can buy

http://www.battenfeldtechnologies.com/caldwell/catalog.asp?product=shootin-gallery

 

[flylo]

Surplus center had garage door opener missing the rail for $12 each. Not sure if they still do.

Better yet play sniper at a golf course & shoot the putts!

 

[EddieP]

Surplus center had garage door opener missing the rail for $12 each. Not sure if they still do.

Better yet play sniper at a golf course & shoot the putts!

Or the golfers, to be fair it is the kindest thing you can do for them.

 

[jmorris]

"Correct me if I'm wrong Sandy but if I kill all the golfers, they are going to lock me up and throw away the key." CS

 

[coldboremiracle]

I have been thinking this over for a long time now, all one needs is a fair piece of land, then you take this:

Use your imagination to attach one of these:

And dont abuse the little fella too much. give him a few minutes to rest after each hit, and he'll be fine. Closest thing to catch and release your ever gonna get.










Happy shooting.

 

[Gary Smith]

A friend built one years ago to practice moving event for NRA Bianchi Cup Matches, used a washing machine motor chassis,
some of the plastic coated ss 1/4" cable, even reversed, I have pictures of it somewhere.

I don't know where they are, but did find a ring binder with pistol match setups from 1992

 

[Rob.308]

If you have the land to do this on, you could just use gravity to make it happen. Install a 25 ft pole on one side and a 5 ft pole on the opposite end. Run a rope between them. The target could hang on a wheel that would roll along the rope when released. The down side is that you would have to pull it back to the starting point every time you wanted to run the course. This could be easy with two shooter who practice together.

It is not the most exotic idea but it will work and it is cheap as can be.

 

[khall540]

As far as the garage door opener goes, a few years back my uncle had taken one and install and 3D archery deer target to it for shooting bow and arrow. Just a thought, it can be used for more than just rifle targets.