Need stand or rack advice

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abarsrecon
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Location: Lubbock or Leave It Texas

Need stand or rack advice

Post by abarsrecon »

All,
I am one of those bad forum guys that just lurks and hardly posts. I am going to be better about that this year!

I had never hear of smallbore silhouette before a few years ago. I moved to Phoenix and was instantly spoiled by the amazing gun ranges available in the Valley. I went to my first rimfire silhouette match and was instantly hooked. Unfortunately, after only a few years, we moved again and I lost access to those facilities. We are in Texas and I couldn't even find a place to shoot, let alone a silhouette club. The answer to this was to build my own range and start my own club. I did over the past few years and now we are in a place to try and get a silhouette match going. I built a 30 yd pistol range, 100 and 250 yard rifle range. I should have put that 100 yd at 100 meters but I messed up.

So here are my questions. Should we set up to shoot the rimfire silhouette match at yards instead of meters or should we stick with yards and shoot everything on the 250 yd range. Basically we would just set up 100 meters off the berm but that would mean the rest of the range would have to be closed during the match. Everything at my old club in Phoenix (Rio Salado) was in meters.

Secondly, I need help designing the stands or racks for the targets. I would like to use metal so that it is a one time cost, verses wood where I would have to build them again as they got shot up. My only real reference are the stands Rio Salado had but I didn't take any pictures. I have a friend that is supposed to get me pics and measurements soon but I wanted to reach out to the community here. What do you /not like in a stand? Does anyone have plans they would share with me? Any help and guidance would be greatly appreciated.
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acorneau
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Re: Need stand or rack advice

Post by acorneau »

Howdy from a fellow Texan (Houston).

What's the name of your range up there in Lubbock?

I would use the 100 yard range and either set up the banks in yards or set up in meters for the Chickens, Pigs, and Turkeys and get the Rams as close to the correct distance as practical.

If the 100yd lanes are right next to the 250yd lanes then you could set the first three banks on the 100 and put Pigs just on the 250 (so you're only using one side of the 250yd range). I don't know how your range is set up so I'm just tossing ideas out there.

As for stands, some use a simple post-and-base design (with no backstop) like this:
Image
http://www.bcsportsmen.org/silhouette/range.html

Here is a angle-iron frame with dirt berm backstop:
Image

On the other end some use a larger frame with integrated backstop like this:
Image

Some have access to old railroad rails and set the animals on the rail. (Can't find a picture for that one.)

Do a search on this site for previous threads on stands and I'm sure you'll get some good ideas.

Good luck.
Allen Corneau
richard
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Re: Need stand or rack advice

Post by richard »

First of all, thanks for making the effort to try and get some silo activity going. The rule book provides range standards that you should try to meet if possible. Not all ranges are strictly per the rules but we use what we can get. Many times the animals are simply set on a steel angle iron rather than pedestals. Mostly what we have seen is a compromise using a steel angle or flat piece with pads for the animals welded to it. That way you eliminate problems with marginal hits in that if the animal is off the pad enough to be resting on steel below the pad it is a hit, if not then a miss. I hope that is stated clearly enough.
Anyway the pictures the others have posted are very good. Again, please check out the range standards in the rule book.
Best of luck.
Rick B.
Richard
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