Targets

[ncboman]

I've been shooting chunks of shotup McKenzies for a while, you know me, eat the last slice of old before opening the new. :D

That kinda keeps me at close range. I got a couple of fairly unshot McK tuffbucks but I've been resisting shooting them. Got a couple of those square bh targets (one needs to be hauled off) but I've grown somewhat displeased with them.

Thinkin about getting a bag target for summer shooting. :rolleyes:

ncboman

[GF.]

I took your advice and bought one of the $20 dead-stops at wally's a year or so back. But since the compound arrived, it has been getting horribly shot-up looking.... The center spot is no longer visible, and I usually back it up with my block just in case I hit a particularly soft spot.

So I've been working the 4 corner spots from closer up and saving the middle of the bag for my long pin.....

Just had a great thought, though.... The bag is a bit 'unsightly' out there in the yard, but a nice 'lawn sculpture' of a deer, well, now, that would be classy.... :rolleyes: (ROF!)

Now, once your vital area starts getting so shot up that it becomes a 4" target spot, do you cover the 3D with some fresh burlap to get back to a more uniform color so that you have to make yourself pick a spot?

Just like me, though, to have bought the block and not want to put a bunch of holes in it:rolleyes:

[dave-t.]

My bag target has held up great. No complaints from me with it.

I do have a block rip-off that I shoot b-heads with, and it is on it's last leg. Once those layers start getting cut it is a matter of time before the soft spots get really soft. It did hold up for a lot of shooting before I went at it with b-heads though.

[GF.]

We had a big storm blow through the other night, and it got knocked down where it soaked up a ton of water. Damn thing must weigh well over 50 pounds now :eek:

So I'm hoping it'll dry out and get back to being shootable, but I think I'll be putting some mileage on the block first...


Anybody think there's a down-side to shooting it wet?

[Twanger]

You might get more penetration if it's wet... :rolleyes:

[ncboman]

:D

Doan shoot a McKenzie when it's wet unless you have visegrip hands and are ready to put out. ;)

ncboman

[StringJumper]

You know, this "posting pictures for dummies" is great...for years I have described my target. Finally, here it is.

So you are a little underwhelmed by the photo? Well consider this...

My target is going into it's 24th year. I have shot an estimated 120,000 shots into this target. (That's right...120,000.) I shoot both Muzzy target broadheads and regular field tips. Field tips offer 2-finger removal. Mostly Muzzie practice heads in the last few years. Whenever the outer layer gets completely shot up, usually every 2-4 months, I replace it with a bag from my inventory of bags I am constantly looking out for (see 2nd photo.) These are the nylon seed bags or feed bags that everyone usually throws away...when I see one I jump on it.

My bag probably has 30-40 new covers. It's quick and easy to add a new cover and each subsequent cover just adds more resistance. The water survives water real well and is very portable...if it gets wet then I just let it drain and dry naturally. I guess the current dry weight is 15-20 pounds. Very portable.

Some notes:
This target is EXTREMELY difficult to shoot with standard broadheads. It's almost impossible to pull them out. However, due to their design the Muzzy practice heads shoot and pull out perfectly. However I cannot guarantee the same for other makes of hunting or practice broadheads.

This target has worked great for me. No, that's too weak of an endorsement. This has been a FANTASTIC+ target and it is still going strong. I wish I knew who made it, it's been 24 years...sorry, but I am sure that someone else makes one like it.

[GF.]

That looks an awful lot like my Dead-Stop... As you say, they just need a new cover every so often, which is really where mine is at this point. A few shafts have started poking out the back side now and again, but I think if I 'knead' it a little bit by jumping up and down on it a bit, it should spring back to life OK.

Wish I had a supply of feed & seed bags, though... Maybe my wife's cousin could score me a couple from the outfit where she keeps her horse....

Makes me wonder, too... I have a couple of really big poly tarps that have outlived their usefulness as boat covers, but I suppose there's no reason I couldn't convert them to target covers with a big pair of scissors and a little Shoe-Goo....

I've got a nephew getting into archery with the Scouts, and his mentor has him shooting a home-built one of these... Just a poly bag stuffed with rags, thogh I'd think that type could be pretty susceptible to mold, mildew and other forms of rot if the cotton rags got good & soaked....

[dave-t.]

I know folks who fill them with plastic grocery sacks, and that seems to work pretty good.

[GF.]

I've heard about that technique... Of course, we're still using all of our plastic bags for the diaper bucket :o He's gettin' there... and somebody told my wife that the diapers tend to go when the talking takes off, so once we figure out how to pay for his hearing aids, we're thinking he'll be ready to dump the diapers in short order...

Kustom King (and other trad dealers, I'm sure) will sell you a deer-shaped bag to stuff, if you want to do a '3D' on the cheap.... Buck & doe models available :D

[Rembrandt]

Very happy with the bag targets.....hang mine from a piece of tubing set in concrete.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/Rembrandt51/archerytarget.jpg

[Chuck S]

Love Burlap bags and found my last few at an Army/navy Store. Fill them with the plastic wrap that feed producers use to wrap the pallets with for shipping to the tack, feed and hay stores and you have a very hardy target for cheap.