Homemade Silhouette Swingers

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mercuryv8

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Red Earth Creek (N.Alberta)
I finally got around to making some swingers...there is no range near me so I wanted to practice up with some standard targets. I've got the chicken and the ram done. The chicken works great, swings about 5 times when hit directly then stops. The Ram doesn't work so good. swings back and forth about 25degrees then stops. I've tried counter weights and had the ram weigh close to zero when held to the side...but it still would not swing. Then I tried moving the weight further out (to the front and back of the target) this didn't help either. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Nic

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MercuryV8:
Looks good, nothing like having a good target to make it more interesting, I love the sound of the clang of a hit. I made a bunch up and it makes it much nicer to shoot when you leave them out and just have to pick up the rifle and go shoot.
Try making the drop longer from the hanger to the ram and loosening the hole up a bit in the hinge area. When you make a hit off center it will cant the ram and make it rub against the side of the support and cause drag. I used two supports on my rams, one at the back leg and one behind the horn area to keep them straight. For support I used 5/16" rod and ran the top horizontal support through 1/2" nuts so they have lots of room to move. I do not have any counter weight on the top of mine and they swing well. I like to give mine a coat of paint whenever I shoot so that you get to see exactly where the shot hits.
 
Yeah, a longer drop on the ram may mean it will take less effort to get it swinging. I thought of two supports for the ram as well, then off centre hits would move the target more. My other thought was to take a 3' flag (like from a kids bike) and just bolt it to the swing arm. Probably the easiest...but that doesn't sound like me, I'm going to try to make the arm longer on the ram. Good Idea thanks

Nic
 
BC Bigbore said:
And my wife thinks I'm buying a welder for tractor repairs ;) Great looking swingers :D
Click to expand...

Yeah...My MIG is my best friend. I don't through anything out untill I've tried to weld it back together:) It's just a little 110v machine but it works great. I do bodywork too, its good for that.

Nic
 
Yeah...My MIG is my best friend
Click to expand...
We had an Ackmatic (Acklands) 220v w/Argon shielding gas in the shop I used to work at years ago. But the best part was the aluminum spool gun. We built a lot of aluminum tool boxes, running boards, box rails, sluice boxes, etc. But now I need a welder for farm equipment repairs so I'm checking out the auctions.
 
Yeah the orange machines eh...we had a one at the bodyshop. I got my century brand one from the bargain finder. I use the 75/25 mix for steel, sure beats flux-core.

I would really like to be able to get the aluminum welding to work...I think you need a high frequency machine or something. I tried reverse polarity, and pure argon. I had little success though.

Nic
 
What kind of safety issues do you need to worry about? Is there any chance of something bouncing back? What sould be a safe distance to shoot from? So long as they are reasonably safe, i might try making some.
 
ditchpickle
To be honest with yourself you may want to set them at the distances that
they are shot in competition. Chicken-40m , pig-60m , turkey-77m , ram-100m
Anything less and your kidding yourself or just playing;)
No bench shooting either - it's all offhand and no slings !
No need to worry about ricochets as the lead striking the steel will fragment .
Cheers
 
Last edited:
dryfire said:
ditchpickle
To be honest with yourself you may want to set them at the distances that
they are shot in competition. Chicken-40m , pig-60m , turkey-77m , ram-100m
Anything less and your kidding yourself or just playing;)
No bench shooting either - it's all offhand and no slings !
No need to worry about ricochets as the lead striking the steel will fragment .
Cheers
Click to expand...

That's what I have found...I set mine out to the above distances, the bullets fragment and spray down and too the sides. In the snow it looks kinda neat.

Nothing has come back on me yet, I've used jacketed and lead bullets.

Nic
 
I made a swinger of different size cirles for fifty yards as well as cut-outs of a gopher,bunny and cat's ass with bases on them.Lead hits and usually lays at the bottom of the targets .No lead ever went anywhere but down.
 
dryfire said:
ditchpickle
To be honest with yourself you may want to set them at the distances that
they are shot in competition. Chicken-40m , pig-60m , turkey-77m , ram-100m
Anything less and your kidding yourself or just playing;)
No bench shooting either - it's all offhand and no slings !
No need to worry about ricochets as the lead striking the steel will fragment .
Cheers
Click to expand...

Then when you get really cheeky use grounded golf balls at 100 yards as targets. :D
 
how thick is that steel you used? Looks pretty thick to me. You only need 1/4" at most. If you just want more movement out of the target when it's hit, so that it's easier to see when it's hit (as if you won't hear it) then why not throw a spring on there?
 
The steel is 1/4 inch ... The chicken I made first started to bend, So the Ram is 1/4 inch with some gussets welded to the back.

How do you propose I add a spring? On the crossbar to the targets swing arm, take some of the weight off?

Nic
 
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