Challenge Target to the Top Dog Marksmen

Ok, my safety conscious friends(and I appreciate the warnings, I tell ya!), I’ve sewed on this for a day now, and these are the other materials I’ve thought about, shaped in either a disc or a ball, with a max diameter of 1.25”=

1. Delrin rod

2. Teflon rod or balls

3. Silicone balls

4. Cork balls

5. Wax candle balls

6. Steel Ball bearings

7. Super Balls, the kind we loved as kids, not what you currently think of your member.



So, #1 thru #3, pros are easy enough to work on to get to hang on my target set up, cons would be cost, and too light a weight.

Next is #4 and #5, which are inexpensive enough, but pretty much guaranteed to be of a one time use. Why even bother putting them on a swivel, right?

Then there’s #6, which may work ok, but they are pricey believe it or not in anything over 1/2”, and then there’s the drill bits I’ll have to invest to drill thru them to accept my swivel rods

#7 Super Balls! Really leaning on these. They are cheap, and not as hard as the golf balls to worry about ricochet, but strong enough for a dog to gnaw on them as a chew toy(per a customers review on super balls). Drilling thru them will be a piece of cake, and super balls can be had in all sorts of designs and colors.

What I’m predicting after, say 30 hits with a 25 cal pellet being shot at 860 FPS, and at least 50 yards away, is that they’ll still be in decent shape for just a few more hits, or ready to be swapped out. So, if I can get 30 shots out of one, that would be awesome.



I do plan on making a sweet one out of round, flat steel circles like we see in commercially made swivel targets, but I am stewing on an ultimate set up still, just cause I’d like to come up with something different. I have access to steel of all gages, and close buddies that work on plasma machines, so no worries in material round up.



Your thoughts on Super Balls are welcome.

Oh, GreenArrow, thanks for the compliment!

@ BucketBoy- that’s a cool site! Who would think one would be able to source not just the colorful balls, but all sorts of stuff to set up as plink targets. You must own a parakeet or something?

Thanks for the link!

H20Kenny- I understand, so you needed the threaded pipe plug screwed into a regular cap for the added weight, correct? Funny, but when I was in charge of doing inventory for the shop I worked for last, there were piles of pipe caps used for underground hydraunics piping. These range anywhere from 1/4” to 1/2” in thickness, and a lot of these were going to the dump so I took a few for powder burner targets. 









Heres a 6” round plate that’s at 3/8” in thickness. The 3 holes shown are from my son shooting a .308 Winchester round(the two that went thru) and a 7mm/08 round that’s imbedded into the plate. All three shots were at a hundred yards. I guess I should paint some black or red 3/4” dots on these to shoot air rifle at

Ok REVISION 2 of the swivel ball target. Golf balls all gone, and now a memory of what could have been, lol, and in its place, colored super balls. These are not hard at all, as just drilling them slightly to accept the eye lags were easily causing them to crater. If you look closely I added a thick drop of hot glue to reinforce the connection. I’m gonna say a couple of good solid hits at the dead center from a 850 FPS 22 or 25 cal will cause these to fling into the neighbors a 100 yards away, but that’s ok. It’ll add to the reactive effect. 



I just wanted to say Thank You to all the folks that shared their experiences with golf balls, and so I didn’t go into it blindly(pun intended, lol)

Yes, for sure!

Well, took the home made swivel target out to test it today against my Wildcat in 30 caliber, shooting the 44.75 grain Vortex pellets, at 55 yards. All in all, a success! 

Took out one of the super balls, and by the looks of it, easily reusable. The one Foosball I focused on I drilled it with 7 consecutive shots and although abused as expected, still has plenty of life left in it for future use. The great thing about these super balls and Foosballs- NO RICOCHET!!!