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Target stands


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We make the above out of 2x4's.

The sticks we use for the uprights are 1x2 furring strips. In 8ft. lengths, they cost about a buck each. We then cut them so that we have a 5 ft. pieces and 3ft. pieces.

What does everybody else use for target stands?

Pictures?

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We have made steel stands using 1 x 1 x 1/8" angle and 1 x 2 tubes, we space the tubes in 1/8" from each end and weld them together. currently we have nearly 100 of these neatly staked on the back of our stick and stand trailer. the trailer is about 42" wide and maybe 6 feet long. When we had wood stands, we couln't fit 1/2 of that number. Cost is also a consideration. the steel stands actually cost less than the wood. It helps that we have a few members with welding skills and a place to make the stands.

The basic design looks a lot like the wood stand, just smaller, sturdier and lighter.

Jim Norman

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Flex,

We use the same design except we generally leave approx 1 inch between the two crossmembers. This allows for different size sticks. Sometimes people will bring tomato stakes (This may be a uniquely southern thing :D ), or furring as you speak of or we have had people rip 2x4's into strips.

Whatever is brought will fit. No, it doesn't always stand perfectly upright, but never more than 5-10 degrees off center. It doesn't effect the presentation.

FWIW

dj

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Gary Marbut in Missoula, Montana makes some single leg stands using 1 x 1 x 1/8" angle and 1 x 2 tubes, with the tubes welded in the middle and holes at each end for landscape nails. Single leg design allows mutiple target configurations easier than an 'H' type stand. These are stackable by placing the 2 tubes together and storing them between the studs in the equipment shed. These are commercial stands and Marbut also manufactures swingers & turners.

Come to the Area 1 match in June and I will be happy to present you to the manufacturer.

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Our base is similar to what Flex posted, but instead of a 1/2" gap we leave enough room for a couple of 8" pieces of 1.5" PVC (screwed to the crossmembers). The PVC holds the slats really well and the whole thing is a lot more stable. I'm not sure if I recommend these, as the PVC will get damaged over time and will need to be replaced. Of course it's dirt cheap, but a PITA.

There's really no stacking ability, but we leave the stands in the bays and don't move them around much.

I'm going to be welding my own with a standard "H" pattern. Will likely use 1.5" square tube to hold the slats with a 1/4" bolt and a weld-nut to hold the slats in place. This is what I'll be using for my sectional match stage.

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Real lumber yards carry 10' furring strips. Get those and saw them in half to make two 5-foot sticks.

We use welded steel stands of a number of makes (mostly homemade), none of which I have pictures of except for these from:

http://www.dg-precision.com

StandClose%20Large%20Web%20view.jpg

Since the bottom of the upright-support-tube is open at the bottom, they can be neatly stacked onto one stand with sticks in it.

StandsStackWide%20Large%20Web%20view.jpg

[edited to add photos]

Edited by shred
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We use a design similar to shred’s photo. Our twist is to use donated tube from muffler shops make the “H”. The upright is any salvage square tube we can gather up. Some of these have been around for over 20 years. We used to add a nut and bolt to the square uprights but stopped doing that when we discovered that stapling the target to the sticks straightens things right up.

geezer

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Real lumber yards carry 10' furring strips.  Get those and saw them in half to make two 5-foot sticks.

We use welded steel stands of a number of makes (mostly homemade), none of which I have pictures of except for these from:

http://www.dg-precision.com

StandClose%20Large%20Web%20view.jpg

Since the bottom of the upright-support-tube is open at the bottom, they can be neatly stacked onto one stand with sticks in it.

StandsStackWide%20Large%20Web%20view.jpg

[edited to add photos]

shred...very trick target stands! edit: a piece of angle iron welded to the front of the flat spot where the wood goes in will prevent bullets denting it sort of a bullet deflector. Murphys Law someone will shoot it!

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shred...very trick target stands! edit: a piece of angle iron welded to the front of the flat spot where the wood goes in will prevent bullets denting it sort of a bullet deflector. Murphys Law someone will shoot it!

We have some like that too. One bonus of stands that are hollow at the end is it's much easier to get the stick out after somebody's shot the stand and also easier to stick an iron bar back in to pound it back into shape.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, now that is what I was looking for. Ask a question past midnight and by 3:30 am have a whole bunch of responses. Do you guys do anything but shoot and talk shooting? No one sleeps - cool.

Thanks for putting the thread in the right place. Clay

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  • 7 months later...

I have made a bunch of the 2x4 H stands. They cost almost nothing as you can get all the 2x4's from any construction site for free. I do buy 1x2's but they are cheap. Nails don't cost a lot but can work their way out over time. Scres are better for longevity. I then use a rock to achor it down when it is breezy. The 2x4's make a good platform for the rocks. Total cost is about $2.00 per unit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a few H pattern stands made from 1.5" PVC pipe. Light to carry, easy to assemble. 1x2 furring strips fit just fine. Drill holes for spikes to hold in the wind.

Old tires with a couple of slots cut into them for the sticks work great if they don't have to be moved much.

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Neighbor gave me some 5\4 treated deck and I came up with these

I jsut used treated 2X4 shims to space for the target lath and the landscape nail in the middle, to bad you don't live closer I would make you the owner of these (10)

post-3301-1123790260_thumb.jpg

post-3301-1123790303_thumb.jpg

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At Old Bridge, about every two years we have a stand building party. GEnerally about 4-6 of us get together and clamp, weld and paint stands for about 6-8 hours. Last time we turned out over 70 stands.

Our design is very siomilar to the "H" stand pictured in a nearlier post, what we do is cutt all the steel to 18" the tubes are cut to 4", this is all ordered in from the vendor pre-cut. We then set up a jig, and one person welds, one clamps and one paints while others stack and pre-stage.

If you set the tubes in from the ends about 1/8" on each end, you can stagger stack the sands which allws us to put over 100 stands in the space forerly occuped by about 30 and they are in an accessable stack rather than a jumbled up pile.

A minor dirrefence, we use two pieces of stesl as the cross member and weld a fender washer on tp for spiking down. I think next time we will add a step and have someone at the drill press pre-drilling all the angles with three holes, one center, one at each end. This allows ay stake pattern we need and makes the assembly easier as we won't have to sort. Welding the washer is probably the most difficult step we have in making these stands!

As for wood, IF you don't have any other way, they are stands, but they are cumbersome and heavy and take a lot of storage space.

In quantity, the materials for steel stands run about $4 each! and take about 10 minutes each to make, they last for years unless someone puts a round into the tube, then you need a holesaw to drill out the hit, or a steel mandrel and a torch to do a little body work.

Jim Norman

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Being out of town I missed the resurection of this thread. For practice stands I use 1-1/4" PVC. for each stand you need 4 PVC tees. and about 8 feet of PVC pipe or 1 stick. cut 4 lenghts of pipe about 15" long. These for pieces go into the run side of two of the tees to be the legs that run along the ground. Cut 2 lengths of pipe about 6 or 8 inches long and one piece of pipe 17 inches long. The 17" piece goes into the branch of your two unused tees (this will connect your legs and will work out for the width of IPSC targets). Put one 6 or 8" piece into the run side of each of your legs and set your 17" piece on top of those. 1" x 2" x 4' uprights will fit right in the top of the tee when you are all done. If someone is really interested I could probably get a pic tomorrow.

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  • 4 months later...

We got really lucky during the construction of our range and had the state land and natural resources dept. get grant money for the stands we built which we used 2X2 sign post tubing to weld up in an "H" pattern with the upright sections welded on to the joint between the legs and crossbar. Cutting some of the stands' uprights at angles allowed for targets to be leaned left or right, and the base is heavy enough with 24" legs to stand up to light breezes and can be staked down through the 1" spaced holes common in sign post tubing. We also use 2X2 frames held together by 1X3 crosspieces that are spaced for the IPSC target as are the stands. That way the targets wiggle a lot less, and the 2X2's seem to hold up to your "D" edge hits longer than the furring strips. We've also made up some of the wood "H" type stands except spacing the two crosspieces for our 2X2 frames and making the crosspieces out of 4X4's to make the stand a bit more sturdy and heavier for wind resistance.

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  • 4 months later...

I am only about a year late, but here is a pic of the stands John Dunn is talking about. They are made from 1 inch square tubing for a base and 1x2 rectangular tubing for the uprights. There are holes drilled in the four corners to stake them down in a hurricane.

Target Stands

Edited by Ron Ankeny
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Ron Ankeny makes the neatest stackable steel stands I've seen so far. Maybe he'll post a pic if we all say, "pretty please".
John Dunn - Dec 2004

Well, his internet connection is reallllllly slowww.

(But, he shoots a whole lot quicker than he posts!) :lol::lol:

No kidding, those are the best and most stackable target stands I've ever used.

See more of them at the SHOOTOUT in CHEYENNE July 8-9, 2006.

Edited by Sam
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  • 2 months later...

This is about 8 months late on posting pics but here you go. The metal stands you see are the two types we made up about, whoa, 14 years ago and still going strong. They're holding up one of our newest wall panels, which at our club's stage of life is the one we've come up with for the greatest portability (one man) and wind resistance. The wood frame is what we've come up with for general range use and extra stands when we need them for big (state championship) matches.

post-5998-1154610047.jpg

post-5998-1154610102.jpg

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  • 3 years later...

I know I’m waking the dead here but a thread from another forum caused me to take some photos of one of the stand carts we use. Using 1X1 box tube make the H 20 X 20 but weld the 1X2 (stake holders) at 17.5” outside. Doing this will allow the stands to stack, while you have the welder out build a dolly that will hold them, the necessary stakes, targets and tape.

IMG00144.jpg

IMG00146.jpg

I also took a photo of the simple but ingenious nesting design of our barricades that one of our members came up with.

IMG00148.jpg

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