2012 - Volume #36, Issue #4, Page #33
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"Revolving" Target Makes Shooting Fun
The target is designed for competitive shooting of .22 caliber long rifle rounds. Four diamond-shaped metal targets are suspended from a bicycle wheel that mounts horizontally on top of a stand made from a 5-ft. length of 1/2-in. dia. electrical conduit. The wheel is free to rotate on the bicycle’s original wheel bearing.
The 4 targets are made from 3-in. sq., 1/4-in. thick steel that’s welded to metal spikes that attach to high tension fence wire strung around the rim. The head of each spike is heated and pounded and then a hole is drilled into it, through which the fence wire passes. The top of the spike is free to move inside a notch cut into the wheel rim.
Each target has an orange side and a green side. The opponents stand side by side at least 25 ft. from the target and pick a color. The force of the bullets hitting the targets causes the wheel to rotate, and the faster it rotates the more the targets fly out at an angle, which increases the challenge.
“It’s a lot of fun,” says Dodge. “You have to change your sight picture, depending on how fast your opponent is hitting the targets on the other side of the wheel. The wheel can revolve quite fast. However, the more targets the other guy hits, the more the wheel slows down. You have to pay attention to where you’re shooting and time it. You don’t see the targets as they rotate in line with the stand, so you’re always shooting off to the side. You’re never shooting at the center so nothing gets torn up.
“We’re on our fourth prototype of the target. This one has endured more than 100,000 rounds with no problems.”
Dodge brazed a nut from the bicycle wheel’s axle shaft into the end of the stand. “When I’m done shooting I just unscrew the wheel from the pipe and take it home,” he says.
The target stand can be seen on youtube by searching up: eits420.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Dodge, 93040 Templeton Rd., Cheshire, Ore. 97419 (ph 541 998-8473; jdodge@peak.org).
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