Does anyone out there have any tips or how to on spotting boards? Did you buy yours? Did you make it yourself and how and what did you make it out of? Anything helps as I have a couple of ideas but just need a little more info. I've got the size I would like and the right size animals to fit within that shape. Thanks everybody

One of the guys at the last Machias match had a silhouette spotter board he bought down at the Cabelas store in Lacey. I just saw it for a few seconds, but it looked very cool. I'm planning on running by there and getting one next time I go to a Tacoma match.

I didn't think that cabeals even knew what silhouette shooting was. I'm headed that way tommorrow so I have to stop in and check it out. Thanks for the heads up Jason.

I got mine from Cabela's also.

You can also get them from Buffalo Arms http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/4,3169.htm

Shakes, you can make them out of cork material you can buy at a crafts store , make sure is thick enough and using a permanent marker you can paint the targets. If you only shoot SB silhouettes and if the targets you shoot are mostly cast iron print all four targets facing the correct way. On the other hand if you also shoot HP and Cowboy or some other silhouette discipline you can either paint all four targets facing one way on one side and facing the other way on the reverse side. With cork you can use push pins with the colored plastic heads to mark your hits and misses. The draw back with using cork is that after awhile you will have to replace the board.

I have seen and also made spotting boards out of sheet metal and used vinyl decal type material to cover it and then cut the shapes of the animals out of a different color and used small powerful magnets to mark the hits and misses. That one has proved to last the longest. I have also seen spotting boards made out of thin cardboard that has been laminated and with a non permanent ink felt tip pen you can mark the board for hits and misses.

I have a pdf file of spotting boards with MOA grids that you can laminate if you want to save yourself some money.

As Tony mentioned, the metal spotting boards with magnets for marking shots does work well. I have one made by Kevin Knowles that he gave me when I first started shooting. It doesn't have the MOA grid on it that the one that Curt had from Cabelas, though, and I think it would be easier to use that one to adjust scope settings for consistent differences between where you call the shot and where your spotter marks it.

I glued a thin piece of metal on the back of my clip board and use a magnet on it. I think you only need to have the animals look one way. Everyone should be smart enough to know the head from the butt so it dosen't matter which way they face.

I have black animals on a white board and use a red magnet. Seems to work real well and you don't even have to talk except to indicate wind conditions.

Most of the talk from the spotter is a distraction to your shooting. You can't listen and concentrate on the shot at the same time.

Jerry G wrote:Most of the talk from the spotter is a distraction to your shooting. You can't listen and concentrate on the shot at the same time.

Little off topic here, but I have to disagree with that statement, especialy when I am not shooting well. Then I want my spotter to find the paint fleck of whatever spot I need to be shooting at given the wind/mirage conditions and tell me to just hit that spot. That way, nothing has to exist in my world but that spot and I can concentrate on nothing but that. That keeps me from having to translate what the wind/mirage conditions are and find a spot through my scope when I'm managing positions and breathing setting up the shot.

One of the guys that post here regularly, makes the ones with the magnets.
STS BUYER ( Paul Freeman )
Evelio.

was anyone able to find the cabelas spotting board? I went there today and they did not even know what I was talking about. Is it on line? If so, I could not find it.

For awhile, I used a sheet of whiteboard material, like they use in schools.
I outlined the animals on it with a permanent marker, which dried pretty much permanent..... I then used another color in a dry-erase marker, and numbered the shots. I would point to the place to show the shooter where his last shot went, and then write a little number there while the shooter got ready for his next attempt. After the string, he had a record of where he was hitting, and in order!

I lost that sheet and now use metal with magnet markers, but I'm not sure the dry erase board wasn't better....

timfinle wrote:was anyone able to find the cabelas spotting board? I went there today and they did not even know what I was talking about. Is it on line? If so, I could not find it.

Nope.. Mordecai and I stopped by the store in Lacey, WA, where we know some have come from and the guy didn't know what we were talking about, either. We even had pictures on a cell phone to show him. Looks like they're out of production.

Mine is so old I don't even remember where I got it from but I can say that I've done business with stsbuyer for many years on other items that he sells and his products are great.
Check him out on the Marketplace.

Mary

I can make the spotting board, take a look at the classified section. I wll have some with me in Winnsboro.

Here is a picture of the one I have for smallbore. Magnetic board on the back of a full size clip board. Contact me via email if you need information.


Thanks, Paul Freeman [email protected]

if you guys bear with me a few more days I will have something for you