Improved my target stands

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I've got a couple of simple target stands that I've used for about 40 years. Just a couple of wooden frames made from 2x2, with cardboard attached to the front to staple targets to. To stand them up, I always carried a couple of short boards and C-clamps to the range with me, and would clamp a board to the base to make a T shape.

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It worked and was simple, but kind of a pain to have to remember to take the boards and clamps, and to take the time to put them together at the range. So last week I was thinking about folding tables and looked on Amazon for folding legs. There are a variety of types but lo and behold, I found something that would work perfectly: Foldable hairpin legs.

I bolted a couple on each side of my stands. They snap and latch open in a second, and close easily. As-bought the legs are at a bit of an angle to the bracket and would raise the stand off the ground a couple of inches, but it was easy to bend them a touch so that they sat flat. Tried them out today and now I'm ready for the next 40 years!

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I made a 1-1/2" PVC pipe base out of nominally 2' long sections so the base is about 2'-4" wide x about 4' long. It doesn't blow over. It's held together will 4 elbows and 4 tees. I keep the works in a duffel bag. Goes together like Tinker Toys. Two 1" x 2" uprights about 6' tall with a piece of 1/4" sheet bolted to them with wing nuts.. Easy to replace.
 
I made a 1-1/2" PVC pipe base out of nominally 2' long sections so the base is about 2'-4" wide x about 4' long. It doesn't blow over. It's held together will 4 elbows and 4 tees. I keep the works in a duffel bag. Goes together like Tinker Toys. Two 1" x 2" uprights about 6' tall with a piece of 1/4" sheet bolted to them with wing nuts.. Easy to replace.
^^^ same here. Found the pattern on line somewhere. I use staple gun to attach cardboard sheets to wooden uprights for attachment of targets. Use old camping folding chair bags to tote them in. I go to a couple of National Forest Ranges and they only allow paper targets and only have wire strung between posts at 25 and 50 yards to hang targets so I needed some portable stands. Works great, cheap to make, lightweight. If you enlarge the picture you can see one.IMG_1384.jpeg
 
Better photos of the PVC pipe target frames. Easy breakdown and fits in an old folding chair carry bag. IMG_0415.jpegIMG_0414.jpeg
 
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Here's mine....

Oh, I didn't list the two 5" long pieces to connect the crossbar. And I bolt the panel on with four wing nuts so it's easy to break down or put on a new panel. If anything gets shot you just cut a 2' long piece or buy a new fitting. Last time I was out my shooting buddy had a rifle he bought and had bought a sight that wouldn't work, but he wanted to shoot the gun anyway. It was an AR type gun chambed in 7.62 x 39mm. I think I salvaged a few of the fittings and a couple of long pieces had holes in them but could still be reused. The rest was junk.
 

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Almost 40+ years ago I started making target frames out of 3/4 inch CPVC pipe. I have around a dozen of them in several different shapes & sizes depending on what I will be doing at the range. The legs are removable for easier transport and the I have aluminum stakes stored in the plugged & capped legs to anchor the frames at the target line. The CPVC is light, very cheap, easy to work with and as can be seen in the photo, they are easy to repair when you get an errand shot (stuff happens). The standard frames are sized to take a LE human silhouette (B27) for defensive/tactical drills and the much larger/wider/lower frames are used when doing load development where I can tape 3 rows of 4 custom printed 8 1/2 x 11 targets, so I don't need to make as frequent trips down range. The cardboard backer boards are currently held to the frames with cheap HF cable ties and this has proven to be the easiest/cheapest method to attach that I have tried.
When no one else is on the range I have also used the extra frames to create "walls" and other "structures" when I had to qualify our Auxiliary Officers who couldn't make the regularly scheduled qualifications.
 

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