Suggestions

[375Short]

I’m going to get an air rifle silhouette club up and running. I suspect it’s beginnings will need to be easily truck bed portable
and will be initially financed from my own pocket.

Looking for ideas for rail designs, background options to see misses and ideas on keeping hit targets close so time isn’t lost searching for the little critters.

I suspect matches will be predominantly outdoors but will keep looking for indoor options.

[acorneau]

Based on all of your criteria, the best suggestion I can give you is to get resettable targets. Unfortunately it's also the hardest one on your pocket book.

The free-standing targets can definitely be cheaper and simple stands can be cobbled together from scrap 2x4's and some screws.
The backstops that allow you see your misses, and methods of containing the freestanding targets from launching all over the place, is the harder part.

If you have access to some of the heavy plastic 50-gallon barrels, you can cut them in half length-wise and use the concave shape to be your backstop and containment system. I've shot at one with multiple air rifles and they do a really good job of containing the pellets.

[Grantmac]

Contain the targets or pellets?

[acorneau]

Contain both!

I'm not an industrial designer or a CAD guy, but I made a quick sketch of just one possible idea. The half-barrels can be separated from the stands and stacked for transport.

(Side view)

AirTargetStand.jpg

[richard]

There are lots of ways to set portable. I now have a set of bases made of steel that have spikes on them that push into the ground. Way back when I started I simply used 2 x 4s and made saw horses with folding legs with a metal hinged section that is available at hardware stores and home depot, etc. Keep it simple and don't over think and try not to spend lots of $$$. You could simply use 4 x 4 lumber on the ground or 6 x 6 if you can get it. Black and Decker workmates work well to hold a base rail if you want to spend the $$$. Wood rails work fine for awhile but later you can add angle iron to them to prevent damage. Pieces of old bed frames work great for that.
Someone mentioned resettable targets. They will work but initial cost is an issue. We do you some at our club and put them in workmates. Full disclosure; resettables make a match go faster and we use them some of the time BUT I hate them. To me it's just not real silo when the targets are not flying off the stands/rail.
I started with two complete sets of ten animals and a few extra chickens but you could start with just ten of each animal. Then you still could get four shooters on the line at once and at 6' per shooter you only need a 24' wide space.
Good luck.
Rick B.

[richard]

There are lots of ways to set portable. I now have a set of bases made of steel that have spikes on them that push into the ground. Way back when I started I simply used 2 x 4s and made saw horses with folding legs with a metal hinged section that is available at hardware stores and home depot, etc. Keep it simple and don't over think and try not to spend lots of $$$. You could simply use 4 x 4 lumber on the ground or 6 x 6 if you can get it. Black and Decker workmates work well to hold a base rail if you want to spend the $$$. Wood rails work fine for awhile but later you can add angle iron to them to prevent damage. Pieces of old bed frames work great for that.
Someone mentioned resettable targets. They will work but initial cost is an issue. We do you some at our club and put them in workmates. Full disclosure; resettables make a match go faster and we use them some of the time BUT I hate them. To me it's just not real silo when the targets are not flying off the stands/rail.
I started with two complete sets of ten animals and a few extra chickens but you could start with just ten of each animal. Then you still could get four shooters on the line at once and at 6' per shooter you only need a 24' wide space.
Good luck.
Rick B.

[375Short]

Thanks so much! Keep the ideas coming.

Allen - Thanks for taking time for the barrel drawing, pictures worth a thousand words.

[dhatch]

Just a FYI concerning Safety. Wear safety glasses or glasses of some type which is better than nothing.
I really enjoy sitting on my front porch shooting my HW77. I shoot the free standing animals, a single animal resettable and swingers.
I have this one chicken swinger that came from Wally World which is thicker and heavier than all the others. It’s just this swinger that is an issue. I noticed, rarely, that at times I thought I’d hear a slight tit noise after hitting it at 20 yds. I didn’t think much about it until the time the ricochet hit my right forearm that drew blood.
I was shocked. I wear glasses anyway and was very happy to have them on.
After that I heard a couple more ricochets and then moved that swinger to 30 yards.

[Grantmac]

I built some easily transported resettables, but getting them to work right has been a huge pain if I'm honest.
I think part of the issue is how much variation in power pellet rifles have. From 6fpe 10m guns to +20fpe PCPs. I don't let any really powerful ones shoot them at all.

Going with traditional targets is far easier. You just need a base which is stable enough and even wood can work. Some badminton net behind them can keep them from flying away although you won't spot hits.

[375Short]

Has anyone tried very small diameter wire rope as a tether (or any form of tether)? This would allow the target to behave as a normal free standing target but only be the length of tether away. It seems worthy of an experiment unless others already know it’s a disaster in practice.

Targets - my go to place is Mr. Byers at Quality Targets, other suggestions based on positive experience?

[chickenhater]

A friend of mine tried the tether approach. Small steel cable is too stiff and heavy and pulls the targets out of place, cotton string breaks and gets tangled. A light synthetic cord worked ok, but sometimes the target would reach the end of tether with such force that it would be propelled back into the other targets on the stand, very inconvenient if you wish to limit alibis to less than a dozen per match...
A cardboard backer works reasonably well to contain the critters and provide feedback on misses, but they are short-lived. But I go with a backer of some type over the tether.

[375Short]

Chicken thickness - rules allow for thicker than 1/8” on chickens. It would seem 1/4” would be durable and prone to shorter flights away from the target stand. Any input on the actual use of the two different thickness?

[375Short]

The Tether, as pointed out by a wise soul earlier, pain in the rear. I used a wire fishing leader and a 1/2oz fishing weight. I made up 5 tethered chickens and walked from my shop across the yard and they had tangled themselves into a 5 minute mess. The concept worked to keep them from getting too far away but they always seem to find a way to tangle. Back to simple.

Another question based on my lack of experience. We will be shooting outdoors and it is often windy. Shooting small bore many seasons in Hobbs it is common to need to clip targets with a number of days that not shooting may be a wiser choice but we are more stubborn than wise. It is no less windy in Amarillo. So, is shooting clipped Air Rifle Silhouettes a thing? Or if it’s that windy is it beyond practical to shoot a match with an air rifle? My experience has been with indoor 10m air rifle and I’m ignorant on what happens in the wind. I assume with low velocity and low mass weight of the pellet the effect of wind is astronomical.

This has some strategic implications. I had a goal to have a club up and running by spring but if I spend the spring canceling matches I soon will have frustrated people not attending. Summer may be a better grand opening goal with better chances of less wind.

[Grantmac]

Open class air rifles have maybe half the wind call of smallbore.
10m easily twice.
That's why the different categories really mean something in air rifle. On a still day my 10m rifle would outshoot a Hunter TX200 etc, on a windy day no chance.

[375Short]

Thanks Grantmac, very helpful and easy to visualize.