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Arntzen steel targets and stands


chp5

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I’m interested in some ½ size steel IPSC targets from practice. I’m considering Arntzen steel targets and stands: Arntzen Targets

Anyone have any experience with them? I’m wondering if the target stands will hold up if accidentally shot . . .

Any thoughts appreciated.

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Our club has bought Arntzen poppers and silhouettes for years. Tough stuff, and well made, but with enough use just about any steel target will start to bow or pit.

In our experience, the stands for the silhouettes give out before the target itself. The stands are tripods of unarmored tubing. One hit and the leg bends and the target gets hard to set up. The stands for the poppers are well made.

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I really like mine for practice, I use the half size IPSC steel. I hate to say this because I'll probably jinx myself but I don't think I've hit the stands yet. The stands are pretty much turned "edge on" towards you when you are shooting. They really speed up your practice time because of no pasting. Shoot and load, shoot some more. Reloading mags turns into the draggiest part of practicing.

I think they are one of the best shooting investments I have made, for practicing.

TomB

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I really like mine for practice, I use the half size IPSC steel. I hate to say this because I'll probably jinx myself but I don't think I've hit the stands yet. The stands are pretty much turned "edge on" towards you when you are shooting. They really speed up your practice time because of no pasting. Shoot and load, shoot some more. Reloading mags turns into the draggiest part of practicing.

I think they are one of the best shooting investments I have made, for practicing.

TomB

Thanks Tom.

Do the 1/2 IPSC targets swing or move a lot when you shoot them?

How close will you shoot the plates? 10 yards?

Thanks.

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I've had the T1 in 12" round for years. They have held up very well to pistol rounds, I have made small impressions with slugs. I made my own stands per the sketch that came with the targets. Basically it is one piece of standard pipe screwed into a pipe flange. The flange is screwed into a wooden cross. I/ve hit the pipe and the bullet either just dented it or went right through.

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The targets are attached to the stands with a nut and bolt, so you can adjust the amount of movement I suppose. I leave mine loose, they move around a little, sometimes they jump right off the stand (the stand is "U" shaped where the targets bolt on).

I try to stay at least ten yards away, but sometimes get carried away when practicing shooting on the move. Paper targets look big for shooting on the move after shooting the half size steel.

My buddy has some too, we set up steel matches for alot of our practices. 500 rounds in a two hour session is too easy to do. And too fun, almost.

TomB

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I'm not familiar with the Arntzen targets/stands. But I do have plenty of the GT targets http://www.gttargets.com/. I own the full Steel Challenge setup and (2) half scale IPSC targets. The great thing about these is the target is standing on a 2x4. If it gets shot (and it will) you simply replace the board. Surprisingly enough a 2x4 will take a lot of hits before failing. The head unit that sits on top of the 2x4 is behind the plate so it's safe. The base unit only sits 8 inches off the ground. If you hit it you need to take up golf. I've held numerous Steel Challenge matches and practice every weekend (by some "not so skilled" shooters) and the gear is still in top shape. Granted I have changed out the boards every 2-3 months, but these things are taking literally thousands of hits a month. That's more than the average shooter will do in practice.

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  • 2 years later...

I have three stands, I like them, since they stay completely assembled they set up and take down very quickly just by swinging the legs into position, then the bolt that's in your plate just drops in the slot on the stand, done. I have one full size ipsc from Artzen, another full size and three minis from a local source, they all perform well on the stands.

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  • 2 years later...

Cool forum! Thanks.

Anyway, I just received an Arntzen target stand and 1/2 IPSC target. I really debated about purchasing the target stand but decided if it lasts it would be a good investment. It's really built sturdy but the legs don't fold to the sides of the main center leg like in their video.

I'm going to try to post some pics, the small one is the way it's supposed to fold (from video on their website) and the others are pics of the one I was sent. You can see that since the legs were off center that it leans to the left when set up.

Anyway, have any of you experienced this issue with Arntzen stands? I know it's been a while since people have posted. I did send an email to them with these pics so I'll report back when I hear from them.

I don't think I will experience issues with the stand tipping over when it probably shouldn't if the target is hit a certain way. I would have thought their quality control would have been better because whoever packed this for shipping HAD to have noticed that in order to get the one leg to the side of the center post you had to pull/bend/force the leg into that position.

Maybe I'm just being too picky, I suppose that's possible too. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Here's what it should look like:

post-23703-126814510527_thumb.png

Here's what mine folds like:

post-23703-126814497936_thumb.jpg

Which causes it to stand like this:

post-23703-126814512491_thumb.jpg

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Ok, just heard back from Arntzen and they said that this is not at all indicative of the quality product they advertise and sell. They emailed me a prepaid return ups label and will ship a properly inspected stand to me at their cost asap. So, I'm happy with that resolution. They did say they wanted to show it to their "guys" as a what-not-to-do example to improve on quality control. I wanted to use the stand this weekend and he even offered to let me use it and then return it. Pretty good customer service if you ask me. I can live without the stand for a weekend so I'll ship it back today.

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Well, I received a "perfect" replacement target stand from Arntzen yesterday. That was fast! I got misaligned stand 3/8/10, sent it back at their expense 3/9/10 and received the replacement 3/11/10 at their expense. That was awesome customer service. They have definitely earned my business in the future. Their targets are very reasonably priced. I'll report back once I put the 1/2 IPSC target and stand to use.

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