Hard Air Rifle Targets

[thegunguy]

Pretty much all my airgun shooting is for fun, and I prefer re-active targets, like this magnetic knockdown ducks target, which is great for lower to medium powered air rifles and pistols for indoor shooting.

But of course I also have paper targets and one with duct seal that I put together many years ago, which is great for 10 meter shooting.

I shoot anywhere from 7 feet to 42 feet in my indoor basement range.

For outdoors, my favorite targets are my bell targets,one that I bought years ago from Frank Bobbio, and recent ones that I made myself from an IBM school alarm bell... and field targets... exploding targets are fun too, but not as easily purchased these days, so I save the ones I have for special occasions.

So you just shoot at a big bell? I'm waiting on lead free pellets to come in and a speed loader for my real gun. I've owned over 20 real guns down though the years but I never had more than two at once. I think my local cabelas might have pellet gun oil but I don't want to have to drive 10 miles to get it and go in the ghetto because the cabelas is in ghetto Hammond Indiana. I will have to order it online and pay the high shipping charge. I don't think a local target store would have pellet gun oil and I know my local Walmart doesn't have it either. also I think my local gun shop won't have pellet gun oil to. I haven't oiled my CO2 cartridges yet since I got that new Sheridan 2260MB pellet rifle. All I have been doing is cleaning and oiling the barrel. The bore mop wouldn't fit so I've been just using patches with bore cleaner on them, dry patches and then a gun oil patch to for the barrel. oh I think you shoot at a small hole then the pellet hits the bell once it goes through the tiny hole

 

[AirMojo]

So you just shoot at a big bell? I'm waiting on lead free pellets to come in and a speed loader for my real gun. I've owned over 20 real guns down though the years but I never had more than two at once. I think my local cabelas might have pellet gun oil but I don't want to have to drive 10 miles to get it and go in the ghetto because the cabelas is in ghetto Hammond Indiana. I will have to order it online and pay the high shipping charge. I don't think a local target store would have pellet gun oil and I know my local Walmart doesn't have it either. also I think my local gun shop won't have pellet gun oil to. I haven't oiled my CO2 cartridges yet since I got that new Sheridan 2260MB pellet rifle. All I have been doing is cleaning and oiling the barrel. The bore mop wouldn't fit so I've been just using patches with bore cleaner on them, dry patches and then a gun oil patch to for the barrel. oh I think you shoot at a small hole then the pellet hits the bell once it goes through the tiny hole

Well you don't just shoot at the bell... you have to hit the bell by shooting through the hole(s) on the front steel plate... the further away the harder it is, like any other target.

I like the bell targets for outdoor, because you can see where the missed shots are by the splatter marks on the painted front plate... I repaint the front plate, when I need to.

I also repaint my field targets too so I can see my misses.

Ken H in OH

 

[thegunguy]

So you just shoot at a big bell? I'm waiting on lead free pellets to come in and a speed loader for my real gun. I've owned over 20 real guns down though the years but I never had more than two at once. I think my local cabelas might have pellet gun oil but I don't want to have to drive 10 miles to get it and go in the ghetto because the cabelas is in ghetto Hammond Indiana. I will have to order it online and pay the high shipping charge. I don't think a local target store would have pellet gun oil and I know my local Walmart doesn't have it either. also I think my local gun shop won't have pellet gun oil to. I haven't oiled my CO2 cartridges yet since I got that new Sheridan 2260MB pellet rifle. All I have been doing is cleaning and oiling the barrel. The bore mop wouldn't fit so I've been just using patches with bore cleaner on them, dry patches and then a gun oil patch to for the barrel. oh I think you shoot at a small hole then the pellet hits the bell once it goes through the tiny hole

Well you don't just shoot at the bell... you have to hit the bell by shooting through the hole(s) on the front steel plate... the further away the harder it is, like any other target.

I like the bell targets for outdoor, because you can see where the missed shots are by the splatter marks on the painted front plate... I repaint the front plate, when I need to.

I also repaint my field targets too so I can see my misses.

Ken H in OH

Neat. So your favorite song is jingle bells? Lol Joking.

 

[pcparmy]

Thats a great target Ken.

 

[Rokynutz]

Ken,

Would it be ok with you if I utilized your design? I have an old fire Bell laying around, either here at my place or my grandpas. I might make the face plate modular. Multiple plates with various sized aperture. Orrrr, weld some 1/32 C-channel on both sides vertically so a person could use metal “slip” cards to reduce the aperture. Idk. Food for thought.

 

[ChuckInOhio]

If you want something fun to shoot at at short range, these did the trick when I was growing up and really honed my shooting skills as a youngster: https://www.amazon.com/Green-Army-Men-Piece-Bag/dp/B000ID1B2K

 

[AirMojo]

Ken,

Would it be ok with you if I utilized your design? I have an old fire Bell laying around, either here at my place or my grandpas. I might make the face plate modular. Multiple plates with various sized aperture. Orrrr, weld some 1/32 C-channel on both sides vertically so a person could use metal “slip” cards to reduce the aperture. Idk. Food for thought.

Sure... the green bell target with the two different size holes was designed and sold by Frank Bobbio several years ago... but he stopped selling them because of liability issues, probably because idiots still shot at it with a BB gun.

The white faced one was the one that I came up with... I don't have a welder or torch to cut thick metal, so I found the angle-iron online that could be custom cut to size.

Both steel bells on both targets are almost 6 inches in diameter at the bottom.

The IBM school bell came with the mounting plate and electric ringing mechanism... actually bought two of them at an antique shop for $6.

I removed the electric ringer, and used the mounting plate that already had the holes for mounting the hardware that I used.

I used 1/4" x 3" x 5" steel angle iron cut to 8 inches from Speedy Metals.

My main concern was have the angle iron high enough and the bell mounted low enough so that the bell was completely hidden from view, so the top of the bell could not be it by a pellet.

My target can be used horizontally (flat) or vertically... I mounted a door pull on the underside of the rear mounting plate to angle the face plate downward a little to try and angle pellet splatter downward when the target is horizontal (flat)... I used a metal corner brace to use the target in a vertical position, with an adjustable bolt... hardware & paint all purchased from my local Home Depot.

Fortunately, I do have an upright drill press that I used to drill the hole in the face plate... biggest drill bit that I could find locally was 3/4" so that is what I used, although I did manage to find a 1" and 1 1/4" on ebay, so I may make the hole bigger at some point... good metal drill bits are kind of pricey !

An adjustable hole would be nice, but I tried keeping it simple... I did buy a couple of 4 inch steel bells on ebay to use with some 3.5" x 3.5" angle iron that I purchased first, but the height was too short to obscure the view of the 6 inch bell... I'll probably drill bigger holes in them when I get around to making them.

If you make a bell target, I would love to see photos of it.

Speedy Metals website is:

http://www.speedymetals.com/

Ken H in OH

 

[AirMojo]

If you want something fun to shoot at at short range, these did the trick when I was growing up and really honed my shooting skills as a youngster: https://www.amazon.com/Green-Army-Men-Piece-Bag/dp/B000ID1B2K

Those are great fun !

I had bags full of "Happy Meal" toys from when my son was little... we always had great fun using them as targets when he got older and could shoot the R7 that I bought for him... I miss those shooting sessions we had together !

Ken H in OH

 

[Rokynutz]

Ken,

Would it be ok with you if I utilized your design? I have an old fire Bell laying around, either here at my place or my grandpas. I might make the face plate modular. Multiple plates with various sized aperture. Orrrr, weld some 1/32 C-channel on both sides vertically so a person could use metal “slip” cards to reduce the aperture. Idk. Food for thought.

Sure... the green bell target with the two different size holes was designed and sold by Frank Bobbio several years ago... but he stopped selling them because of liability issues, probably because idiots still shot at it with a BB gun.

The white faced one was the one that I came up with... I don't have a welder or torch to cut thick metal, so I found the angle-iron online that could be custom cut to size.

Both steel bells on both targets are almost 6 inches in diameter at the bottom.

The IBM school bell came with the mounting plate and electric ringing mechanism... actually bought two of them at an antique shop for $6.

I removed the electric ringer, and used the mounting plate that already had the holes for mounting the hardware that I used.

I used 1/4" x 3" x 5" steel angle iron cut to 8 inches from Speedy Metals.

My main concern was have the angle iron high enough and the bell mounted low enough so that the bell was completely hidden from view, so the top of the bell could not be it by a pellet.

My target can be used horizontally (flat) or vertically... I mounted a door pull on the underside of the rear mounting plate to angle the face plate downward a little to try and angle pellet splatter downward when the target is horizontal (flat)... I used a metal corner brace to use the target in a vertical position, with an adjustable bolt... hardware & paint all purchased from my local Home Depot.

Fortunately, I do have an upright drill press that I used to drill the hole in the face plate... biggest drill bit that I could find locally was 3/4" so that is what I used, although I did manage to find a 1" and 1 1/4" on ebay, so I may make the hole bigger at some point... good metal drill bits are kind of pricey !

An adjustable hole would be nice, but I tried keeping it simple... I did buy a couple of 4 inch steel bells on ebay to use with some 3.5" x 3.5" angle iron that I purchased first, but the height was too short to obscure the view of the 6 inch bell... I'll probably drill bigger holes in them when I get around to making them.

If you make a bell target, I would love to see photos of it.

Speedy Metals website is:

http://www.speedymetals.com/

Ken H in OH

Thank you Ken, will do. Great spec write up. That was very concise.