Inexpensive but sturdy steel target stands!

[Kramer]

Yeh, the noise may be a problem too. :-)

I was figuring that he was shooting suppressed so the neighbors would not be disturbed.

[Qtrborecrazy]

I find old real estate signs alongside the road for free.

[Misery Loves Shotguns]

I find old real estate signs alongside the road for free.

I take those sometimes too. Fuckers put up signs for craft shows, elections, concerts, shit like that but never take them down. I only shoot paper when I'm zeroing something though because it's boring.

[OwnTheRide]

My wife would make short work of those.

I don't know what it is with her, but she seems to have a special skill at shooting whatever holds the target instead of the target. I've gone through several steel plate setups because she kept shooting the legs out. Even at an indoor range, she hit the hanger and made the target fall to the ground.

[esh21167]

I find old real estate signs alongside the road for free.

Good idea! I hadn't thought of that.

[Misery Loves Shotguns]

My wife would make short work of those.

I don't know what it is with her, but she seems to have a special skill at shooting whatever holds the target instead of the target. I've gone through several steel plate setups because she kept shooting the legs out. Even at an indoor range, she hit the hanger and made the target fall to the ground.

Some people just suck and don't take it seriously enough to ever improve so they're not a liability with a gun. I'd be curious to see how you're setting up your steel though because there are probably ways to work around that or at least, minimize the effort you have to put into replacing ruined stands. If you have a truck, you can use a longer horizontal pole than I have here and reduce the chances of it getting hit. I have a civic (that I completely fucking hate) so I can't fit anything longer than 54" in it though. Generally, the more work I put into building a target stand, the more it upsets me when someone shoots and ruins it. Funny how that works. Fortunately, with what I use for my pistol steel, replacing ruined pieces is very little work. I used to measure and drill holes through the conduit to space things out just right and hang them with steel plant hooks but as soon as they got shot, I suddenly was having a lot less fun and reconsidered my invitation to the person responsible.

The only addition I'd recommend to something like this is a way of keeping the plate in place where you put it. They tend to bunch up together, sometimes by the legs and unless I'm playing RO and watching every move they make, inexperienced shooters don't take that as "stop shooting and fix the target" so they keep going and hit the legs. I was using zip ties in this photo but they sucked. I have rubber O rings and grommets on the conduit now. The O rings are slimmer so they prevent the targets from walking over toward the legs and the grommets in the middle are too thick for them to pass so they don't bunch up in the middle.

[OwnTheRide]

I'd be curious to see how you're setting up your steel though because there are probably ways to work around that or at least, minimize the effort you have to put into replacing ruined stands.

My stands look a lot like yours in terms of size. I typically make them out of rebar.

I think, maybe, if I made them the size of a truck, she might not hit the stand.

In fairness to my wife, I do tend to set up my stands a fair distance from where I shoot, and we mostly shoot pistol. Say, 40-50 yards out.

[Misery Loves Shotguns]

In fairness to my wife, I do tend to set up my stands a fair distance from where I shoot, and we mostly shoot pistol. Say, 40-50 yards out.

Shooting pistols at 50 yards for an inexperienced shooter can't be a lot of fun. Is there any particular reason you shoot from 50 yards? I shoot pistols from 10 yards and sometimes back up to 25.

I use wooden saw horses I made .... not real happy with them .... too much stuff
One of these days I am switching to those T-posts they use for holding up wire fence.

Wood is terrible for steel because it gets torn up by jacket and leads fragments, it splinters, and very quickly becomes unsafe to handle without gloves. I've never tried rebar or fence posts but I'm pretty happy with 3/4" conduit.

[OwnTheRide]

Shooting pistols at 50 yards for an inexperienced shooter can't be a lot of fun. Is there any particular reason you shoot from 50 yards? I shoot pistols from 10 yards and sometimes back up to 25.

I think it started because I like shooting balloons, and if you're shooting balloons at 10-25, you spend most of the day inflating balloons. You get used to a longer distance after a while, and steel plates are about the size of a balloon, so it just seemed natural to continue using that distance.

I have a few spinners that are much closer - in the 10 yard range. Well, now I have one. The other two had their legs shot out from under them by someone. Shooting stands really does appear to be my wife's specialty.

[RenoV8]

I initially purchased some reactive steel targets from Spartan Armor Systems, which is a fully developed plate platform with a separate base and throat to protect the attachment points. I ended up using some 1/4" angle to make the horizontal plate rack and used all thread to keep the plates swinging. I had to play with it a couple times in order to get the nuts in place so the plates would not wander into each other when being shot. I only use this for pistols, although the plates are rated for rifle. The angle and the all thread wouldn't stand a chance if I hit them with one rifle round. I also made a dueling tree with the same angle and all thread. The base has two laser cut outs for the angle...one is angled so the dueling tree is slightly forward and the other cut is straight up and down. The bases are very good and allow you to make your own supplemental targets.

I heated both ends and cut the one piece of the angle out to give me an ear to attach on either end. A 1/4" clevis pin was used to attach to each vertical target post and a pin to hold it tight.

Works great. I have hit the angled iron and its thick enough to not be affected by the 9mm pistol rounds I shoot.