Merlin Orr Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 The Rio Grande alley Shooters had a shotgun match this weekend and one of the members,. Bill Conner has built a bunch of modular walls. The walls are the same as I have seen at some other places but the manner of fastening them down was new to me. When you screw this thing into the ground it is THERE.... Holds like a nail never will - even in the constant coastal winds we have here...... AND, instead of breacking your back - or using a puller - you just unscrew for teardown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 (edited) I thought this was a neat trick until I saw the "wagon" he built for barricades..... 20 walls fit on this one trailer And the rails of the floor are spaced to hold ALL the barricade stands laid in upside down. Edited March 19, 2012 by Merlin Orr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 The tongue has this clamp on wheel To use after you drop the trailer in a bay which allows the tow vehicle (a 4 wheeler at the RGV Shooters range) To go haul other stuff... and now one man can "easily" push the trailer with the barricades around the bay to place the walls..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Merlin: Are those hold down screws for mobile homes? They also had another trailer down there that held the walls upside down on pins a while back. Maybe you guys could build one to hold the walls I built? Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 Constructed with the small wheels the trailer and 20 walls are pushed up a ramp into the connex at the end of the match..... Nicest (most well/thoughtfully engineered) setup I have ever seen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 Merlin: Are those hold down screws for mobile homes? They also had another trailer down there that held the walls upside down on pins a while back. Maybe you guys could build one to hold the walls I built? Thanks, Eric I'll find out what type of screws they are.... This rig is at the RGV Shooter club in Brownsville... The Corpus club already built a 1 ton trailer to carry the walls.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 Merlin: The other club was in Pharr and they used an old lawn tractor to pull the trailer. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Springer Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hehe... Bill's famous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel1212 Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 Merlin how many of those trailers do you have? I think we have about 60 walls or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 Merlin how many of those trailers do you have? I think we have about 60 walls or so. The RGV Shooters club has 20 walls... ~One for each member.... LOL.... It's a young club so I am hoping we will need to add more as we go along... If you had a fenced enclosure I guess you could build the trailer to hold 30 or so pretty easy but with the 20 wall trailer it is possible for one guy to move it around a bay by himself... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colt Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 We built a trailer but we did it for the heavy stuff like steel, nail buckets, some up rights for the walls. There is 22pp. on it and 20usp. 4 buckets of nails in holders, 56 target stands, and lots of fault line. a 4x6 spot on the back for activating targets, star's and so on. We have about 100 walls that are 2x2 and they are light to move compared to steel. Not that any other trailer is better or worse, just the way we did Ares. Made a real big difference in tare down and set up. Load it down and park it in the barn. But takes a good size truck to pull it. These pictures are from when we built it. I need some new pictures when we dig it out of the barn in a few weeks. Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I like it. I've tried for years to get our club to use a trailer even if we had to haul it from bay to bay with an old lawn tractor. Never went anywhere, last year another club at the same range had their trailer stolen with all the props on it and quit shooting at that range so its unlikely I'll ever be able to talk them into one now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 We built a trailer but we did it for the heavy stuff like steel, nail buckets, some up rights for the walls. There is 22pp. on it and 20usp. 4 buckets of nails in holders, 56 target stands, and lots of fault line. a 4x6 spot on the back for activating targets, star's and so on. We have about 100 walls that are 2x2 and they are light to move compared to steel. Not that any other trailer is better or worse, just the way we did Ares. Made a real big difference in tare down and set up. Load it down and park it in the barn. But takes a good size truck to pull it. These pictures are from when we built it. I need some new pictures when we dig it out of the barn in a few weeks. Brent very nice indeed..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 22, 2012 Author Share Posted March 22, 2012 I like it. I've tried for years to get our club to use a trailer even if we had to haul it from bay to bay with an old lawn tractor. Never went anywhere, last year another club at the same range had their trailer stolen with all the props on it and quit shooting at that range so its unlikely I'll ever be able to talk them into one now. It's a shame that the only way to stymie the thieves is to make it to much work to steal...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdphotoguy Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) Very ingenious trailer setups and I especially like the use of a large screw (for lack of a better name) to hold the wall feet in place. Beats pounding in then prying out nails. Edited March 22, 2012 by jdphotoguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 Hey merlin what guage steel did they use for the panels, and was it angle or tube? How much a pc. for the big screws? We shoot in a wind zone, and I would like this type of system for when it is seriously windy. Heck, anytime really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted March 22, 2012 Share Posted March 22, 2012 I like that screw idea. I am picturing the Mark II version which would be a driver bit that is magnetized, and about 2 feet to 3 feet long, so you don't have to bend over. It looks like the feet are 1/4 inch thick steel about 2 to 3 inches wide, maybe about 18 inches long with two vertical/upright pipes/tubes welded to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon b Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I really like how small and compact that trailer design is. It seems to be a very efficient use of space. I may have to incorporate that into my next wall build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 23, 2012 Author Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hey merlin what guage steel did they use for the panels, and was it angle or tube? How much a pc. for the big screws? We shoot in a wind zone, and I would like this type of system for when it is seriously windy. Heck, anytime really. I am hoping that Bill will comment on some of the questions.... The only involvement I have in the project is Praise and Awe of Mr. Conner's genius.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adively Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I like the screw idea as well. I hope that Bill can tell us more details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Springer Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Our club has a rule. If you have a good idea you have to put a dollar in the jar. Bill owes the club about 500 bones. =D I'm passing the link on to him and hopefully Pootytang will get back to you guys. His ideas have cut set up and tear down time in HALF at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latech15 Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 I love the trailers, but I can actually hear the ground here in south Louisiana laughing at those screws. I bet you could push those into the ground with your shoe this time of year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Springer Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hehe YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stompr Posted March 23, 2012 Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hello all. Bill Conner here. The wall panels are 6' tall. The wall is 4' x 8' O.D. with 2' of the tubing at bottom as the leg. Nelson Pitman w/ Balch Machine welded them up out of 14ga. 1" square tubing. The tubes on the wall bases is 1-1/4" sch.40 round pipe. Off hand I don't remember the length. We designed this cart to roll into our storage container all loaded up. The size of the cart is 4' x 8' + the trailer tongue. The screws were a Doc Brown, fall off the toilet and hit my head, flux capacitor moment. These bolts are actually concrete anchor bolts that we sell at SGS Industrial Supplies. I think I realized they might work the day after a shoot teardown nursing a sore back from prying nails out of the ground!! They are $2.15/ea. We use a regular cordless drill w/ a 3/4" socket to drive them into the ground. Our range has very hard clay soil. You can drive the screw into the gound in about 5 seconds. Unscrewing them out of the ground is a snap. Hope this helps. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stompr Posted May 2, 2012 Share Posted May 2, 2012 Woops, $2.49/ea on the screws. They are made by Simpson Strong Tie and are called Titan HD anchors. We use the 1/2" x 8" long anchors. Really don't need them any longer if the soil is reasonably firm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now