$30 Home Depot folding sawhorse
- Thread starter tucansam
- Start date
Shit. I just bought some AR500 targets and was going to build a stand. I've got two of these saw horses in the garage! Great idea!!!
I use one of these with my steel. It's never been knocked over, but 30-06 is the most it's ever tackled. I hang my steel with short thick bungees cords. It's held up great despite LOTS of 223 hits. I carry lots of spare bungees.
Shouldn't, it looks like mild tube steel - should just punch right through the front with a recessed entry, and sharp, jagged, oversized exit hole.
Looks like it has adj legs too, should cut down on the digging time for uneven ground.
Not a bad buy.
I guess I didn't word that correctly. I meant after the steel plate was hit. Some stands can fall after the plates are hit with the transfer of energy. I've had to bag the bottoms of some stands to prevent them from falling.
Instead of hooks, I'm thinking about these,
Everbilt 3-1/2 in. Zinc Plated Adjustable Staple Safety Hasp-15122 at The Home Depot
This way, maybe it'll all fold up together without anything hanging out to get snagged on...I'll have to try it out.
Everbilt 3-1/2 in. Zinc Plated Adjustable Staple Safety Hasp-15122 at The Home Depot
This way, maybe it'll all fold up together without anything hanging out to get snagged on...I'll have to try it out.
One REALLY cheap way to mount targets is to get three pieces of half inch rebar about 5 feet long, two half inch plumbing elbows, and four half inch pipe nipples about 4-6 inches long. Screw the pipe nipples into the 90 degree elbows..pound one piece of rebar into the ground, use your cross bar piece of rebar to show you where to pound in the second piece of rebar, then use the 90 degree elbows to mount your cross bar and target. So far, the two best items for hanging targets I have found are either fire hose, or conveyor belt. Chain, or cable shear off with a solid bullet strike. Conveyer belt and fire hose take lots of hits and still hold up the targets.
We have used this system for our rifle matches, and the plates and hanging material have lasted through many hundreds of shooters hitting both the targets, mounting system, and hanging system. Cheap, and it works....what is not to like?
We have used this system for our rifle matches, and the plates and hanging material have lasted through many hundreds of shooters hitting both the targets, mounting system, and hanging system. Cheap, and it works....what is not to like?
My shooting partner and I built a bunch of rebar target stands for not too much money. We had issues with chain. If it gets hit it's gone. Even some near by hits are enough to break the hooks. We ended up going to Grade 8 bolts through to conveyer belt that then has bolts through the top of the conveyer belt that are welded to the rebar. You could do the same there and just use bolts to hang the conveyer belt through the upper cross member. We got a huge chunk of conveyer belt at a salvage yard and had enough to do the 50 target stands we made. Here's a photo of the Grade 8 setup. The bolts hold up to direct hits from 6.5 Creedmoor even 200 yards, the straps can be hit over and over again without any issues.
Untitled by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
Untitled by FriedChickenBlowout, on Flickr
If you drilled some ~1/2" holes near the bottom of the legs, then you could anchor the legs down with some tent pegs/really long nails (have seen them at HD/Lowe's...) so even if the sawhorse took a shot it couldn't move too easily...
Hey guys, just wanted to post my updated experience with the Home Depot Sawhorse target stand. Truth is, that every time I shot it once it fell down from the strike energy, no matter how I set it up at 300m. I haven't tried to drill the legs for pegging down yet.
I just abandoned the idea for now and picked up a stand kit from JC Steel for $30.
If anyone has gotten their HD sawhorse steel target stand to work well, please let us know how.
I just abandoned the idea for now and picked up a stand kit from JC Steel for $30.
If anyone has gotten their HD sawhorse steel target stand to work well, please let us know how.
I use standard sawhorse hardware with 2x4 legs where they are spread 3' at the base and have few problems at 300 yds. I did have to add some screws once but I can am pleased with it for short term. I'll probably order a stand kit from JC soon though.
The Saw horses are actually pretty decent. Only problem from what we have found is they tend to tip over when hit hard. We shoot a lot of 300 WM and 338 around here, it just doesn't stay upright at 300-400 yards. To much energy. The rebar stands are a little wider, so they have never tipped over.
OP, I would recommend hanging those targets with some conveyer belt. It will outlast that chain 100 fold. If you can find some old potato or wheat conveyer belt you will be in business.
Appreciate all the kind words guys!!
OP, I would recommend hanging those targets with some conveyer belt. It will outlast that chain 100 fold. If you can find some old potato or wheat conveyer belt you will be in business.
Appreciate all the kind words guys!!
Here is my solution to tipping saw horses.
Hard to tell in the pic but I made these with the rear two legs about a foot longer and a piece of flat bar that keeps each pair spread.
SO here is what I ended up doing for use at 300 meters. It's my version of a know your limits stand. The steel are: 5" circle, 4" square, 4" circle, 3"x5" diamond (I think), 2"x3" rectangle, and 2" circle; all on a JC Steel 1/2" bracket setup using 1/2"x4' rebar legs. This picture is in my garage with the yellow HD sawhorses behind. Note how the sawhorses have less than a 2' spread and the rebar stand has almost a 5' spread. That's what makes the difference.
I did pretty well until I got to the 2" square and that's where my level of marksmanship got me. It took three shots to hit this one with intermittent 7-10 mph wind gusts, so I pretty much suck. OK, so guess what? When I hit the 2" circle, it disappeared! Never found it, lol. Here's what the stand looked like when I got it home:
Notice that I tried attaching the last two smallest steel with double nylon web straps, thinking that would be adequate. Obviously not! The 2x3 rectangle held up to two shots, but I noticed that it was starting to tear. The others are all attached using heavy machine belts as I felt that the conveyor belt material was too stiff for these small targets. Even the machine belts were stiff enough that they twisted the steel off flat frontal somewhat.
I've since replaced the nylon web strapping and the missing 2" circle with more machine belt material and a 3" triangle. This makes for a fun KYL steel set up at 328 yds. (300 meters).
I did pretty well until I got to the 2" square and that's where my level of marksmanship got me. It took three shots to hit this one with intermittent 7-10 mph wind gusts, so I pretty much suck. OK, so guess what? When I hit the 2" circle, it disappeared! Never found it, lol. Here's what the stand looked like when I got it home:
Notice that I tried attaching the last two smallest steel with double nylon web straps, thinking that would be adequate. Obviously not! The 2x3 rectangle held up to two shots, but I noticed that it was starting to tear. The others are all attached using heavy machine belts as I felt that the conveyor belt material was too stiff for these small targets. Even the machine belts were stiff enough that they twisted the steel off flat frontal somewhat.
I've since replaced the nylon web strapping and the missing 2" circle with more machine belt material and a 3" triangle. This makes for a fun KYL steel set up at 328 yds. (300 meters).
My problem is that most stands are not tall enough for the area I set them up in - which is usually a clearcut in the woods - so I need the target up at about eye level. This is why I bought a old kid's metal swingset off of craigslist for $30. Works awesome - just a bit bulkier than some of the ones here. I want to pick up a JC stand if I ever find a place to shoot without 3' stumps everywhere.
Dog55, we also have 3/4" stands. Same price. I actually put a little longer legs in there. because of the bigger rebar, it can stand a lot taller.
I agree. I spent way to much money on tow chains only to shoot it off with my .300 win. It seems when ever I missed it was ALWAYS high and at 9 or 3 oclock right through the chain. Pro tip don't expect even high end chain to be bullet proof.
