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Old April 1, 2016, 11:24 PM   #1
RolandD
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DIY Portable Target Stand

I wanted to show this off. I haven't got a chance to try it out, yet. We went to an unmanned range in a state park the other day, and the pistol range was 25 yards with a stationary target. Fortunately, we were the only ones there, so we moved our firing line up to 7 yards. I decided that in the future, it would be far better to have our own target stand so that we could stay behind the designated firing line. After looking on-line, I wasn't impressed with the portability of the cheap ones, nor with the price of the more portable ones. Here's what I cobbled together for $10 Thursday afternoon.





I made it out of a camp chair that had seen better days. I designed it to hold a standard cardboard target. The uprights are 4' fiberglass driveway markers, with magnets to hold binder clips attached to the cardboard. I left the seat in the chair so a sandbag could be used to weight it down and the feet have holes to stake it down.

Let me know what you think. Step-by-step and materials list are in post #6.

Last edited by RolandD; April 2, 2016 at 11:58 PM.
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Old April 2, 2016, 07:27 AM   #2
Smoke & Recoil
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Seems like a nice project, but unfortunately, your pictures
went on vacation with out you. Did you remove the pictures ?
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Old April 2, 2016, 11:09 AM   #3
g.willikers
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Neat idea.
And if you get tired, you still have a chair.
My home made target stands are even more simple.
Two tall garden fence stakes with the cardboard in betwixt.
Gonna' remember yours for future reference, though.
Thanks for sharing.
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Old April 2, 2016, 11:50 AM   #4
RolandD
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Smoke & Recoil View Post
Seems like a nice project, but unfortunately, your pictures
went on vacation with out you. Did you remove the pictures ?
They should be back, now.
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Old April 2, 2016, 12:49 PM   #5
Smoke & Recoil
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The pictures are great and the idea is smart and simple, thank
you for sharing your idea.
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Old April 2, 2016, 11:13 PM   #6
RolandD
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Step-by-step DIY Target Stand

I started with a normal camp chair with arms, but it would be easier if it were the armless style. I drilled out the rivets that held the back and arms in place. After slipping the back off, I cut it away from the seat,and the arms slid up and off. I then cut off the section of tubing where the arms attached to the front of the chair.



I reused the plastic caps to cover my fresh cuts and to keep the seat attached. At this point, I could have drilled holes in the plastic caps on the back tubing, inserted the fiberglass rods and called it a day, but that would have been too easy and one of the caps was busted. I decided that rubber leg tips with a hole drilled slightly smaller than the fiberglass rods would hold the best.



I had already decided to use binder clips and magnets to secure the cardboard to the uprights. At this point I made a Home Depot run. The tubing of the chair was 3/4” OD, but I wanted a tight fit so I got 5/8” leg tips.

I wanted the top of the uprights to be 60” from the ground, so I inserted self-tapping screws 12” up in the back legs.



I didn't want the tubing coming up any higher than it had to, so I measured up 2”from where the seat stopped when it was folded up and cut them off there. (I almost messed it up by cutting them off 2” above the seat when it was open. This would have left the tubing 4” short when folded up.)



As I was doing all this, I began to think about how the fiberglass rod would contact the screw I had set in the legs and that it might shunt off to the side or slide past it entirely. I ended up lining the tubing with a section of 1/2” ID Plex tubing. The OD of the Plex was just shy of 5/8”, which was the ID of the metal tubing of the chair.

To keep the fiberglass rod centered, I cut the wings off some red wire nuts and trimmed them down so they just fit inside the Plex.

Finally, it was time to work on the fiberglass rods. To glue the magnets to the rods, I filed channels in the rods for the magnets to sit in. I probably could have used a fast setting epoxy and glued them to the curve of the rod, but all my epoxy has gone bad, so I worked with what I had,contact cement and it needs a flat surface.



For each binder clip, I used two magnets spaced far enough apart that they can still make full contact. I then spaced those groups about 28” from the bottom of the bottom magnet to the top of the top magnet. This holds the cardboard in place rather well, but may not be enough in a real world situation. I may need to add another set of magnets in the middle of the rods, or figure out some way to make the binder clips less slick,perhaps some contact cement on the binder clips to add a rubber like coating.


The front feet of the chair already had holes in them, but I had to drill holes in the back feet. I've been making my own stakes for years. These are the little ones. Just a big nail and a fender washer duct tape dtogether. (For our big tent, I use 14” landscape timber nails)



I've gotta get some sand and make some sandbags. If the ground is too hard to stake, the sandbags in the seat should hold it in place.


Materials List:

Stuff I had on had on hand:

1 Old Camp Chair(seen better days)
32” 1/2” ID Plex Tubing (replaced when I installed new dishwasher)
2 1” Self-Tapping Screws
2 Large Red Wire Nuts
4 Big-Ass Nails (6”)(the ring-shank ones work really great)
4 1 1/4” Fender Washers with 1/4” hole


Items bought for project:


2 48” Reflective Rod Orange ($1.99ea)
1 4pk 5/8” Rubber Leg Tips ($1.85)
1 10pk 0.3” x 0.11” Neodymium Rare-Earth Magnet Discs ($3.98)


I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. I think I have an armless camp chair in storage that is about at the end of it's usable life, once this one has proven itself at the range, I'll go to work on it.


If I have any problems with this when I go to the range, I promise I'll update.
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Old April 3, 2016, 05:07 PM   #7
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That RolandD is a pretty slick idea, kudos! I wound up making some target stands to use at the unmanned Department of Conservation ranges here in Missouri, but they were not as slick and portable as yours. Mine utilized old stripped Data racks and some self healing foam fitted between the legs. You can't always get a shooting spot at the pistol benches at those ranges when they're busy.

One day I watched a conservation agent writing a ticket to an individual that was using a target stand and not the back stops that are provided, didn't realize until then that their rules prohibit doing so because so many people do. Luckily I did not have mine with me on that day. I've seen it happen a handful of times since, and in talking with one of the agents I learned that they often sit at a distance and spy on range users in the name of catching vandals and such.

Verify the rules of the state parks where you plan to use them just in case.
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Old April 3, 2016, 08:24 PM   #8
RolandD
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Crap, I do believe you are right. Busiek is where we went, but the pistol range is 25 yards. Not much point in going there anymore. Thanks for the heads up, turkeestalker.

I've got a friend that say's I came come out any time, so the stand won't be wasted. Unfortunately, he has a home under construction and is planning for his wedding in the first week of June, so I don't want to bother him with it until that is done.

By the way, turkeestalker, I lived in St. Peter's for several years and my brother-in-law lives in O'Fallon.
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Old April 6, 2016, 04:48 AM   #9
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Not trying to rain on your parade, but glad to have helped you to think about something I'd not taken into account myself before it became a problem.

All of the MDC ranges around here now, have recently gone through or are going through the process of getting updated. They are providing movable target stands on the pistol side of the updated ranges that can be set at like 7 and 15 yards in addition to the fixed 25 yard backstop.

A good idea but they've not yet installed anything to accept the base of the stands that is a permanent fixture in the ground so getting one to stand up on dry ground is problematic. I'm sure they'll figure it out and remedy the situation eventually. That is if they can keep the nitwits from shooting up the legs of the stands for fun. You have to wonder what goes through some people's minds.

A neighborly wave to your brother in law.
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Old April 6, 2016, 11:27 AM   #10
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Nice Idea for the magnets. You gave me an idea to use strips of magnetic tape to hold up my targets when I go shooting.

Thanks again, great idea.
Stay safe.
Jim
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Old April 12, 2016, 10:12 PM   #11
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I have made a few over the years, usually using some old retail racking that works in a similar fashion. Another one that is easy enough are old realtor "for sale" sign frames with cardboard inserted in the middle
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Old April 13, 2016, 10:15 AM   #12
g.willikers
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I've tried to get friends to hold the targets, but for some reason that didn't go over well.
I tried to tell them not to worry, that I have lots of other friends, but no dice.
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Old April 13, 2016, 03:35 PM   #13
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I build these.

http://firespeedtactical.com/diy-pvc...target-stands/

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Old April 13, 2016, 04:29 PM   #14
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I have built similar as well with the PVC pipe - it helps to put a threaded cap on the ends and fill the base with either water or stand so the wind won't blow it over
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Old May 9, 2016, 06:59 AM   #15
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thanks for sharing the PVC pipe idea...I think that I will give that a try!
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