American Airguns Blog
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Commercial Airgun Targets
I recently bought a couple of commercially made airgun targets to use at our airgun club. I hadn't really tried many of the commercially made targets since I usually made most of the target for our club. I thought this might be a good chance to try out the commercial targets and get some more stuff to shoot on the range.
The first target is the Caldwell Airgun Resetting Target. This target has four 1 1/2" round spinners that when hit, rotate around and land on a crossbar. The crossbar is attached to another 1 1/2" target that when hit, allow all the other targets to fall down so they can be shot again. The target is made of thick metal and pretty robust. When I first saw the target I was concerned that my lower powered airguns might not spin the targets around to hit the crossbar. However, my Walther LGR spun the targets around fine. The target is set on the ground and the forward angle is set by two legs that can rotate around the main legs. The system works fine however it is very low to the ground so if you shoot sitting the foliage will need to be trimmed or the target will have to be set up on some type of riser. The top reset target can rotate 360 degrees around it's pivot axis so if it is hit with a high power airgun and it spins all the way around, it will return to a position to hold the lower targets when they are shot.
The target works very well. I have shot it with a variety of different airguns and it has worked well. The only problem I have seen is that when the far left or right targets are hit with a higher power rifle it may knock the opposite target free if it is already sitting on the crossbar. This doesn't happen every time but it has happened. Other than that, the target has worked great.
The other is the Champion Airgun Pellet Auto Reset Target. This target works on the same principle as the previous target. When the lower two targets are hit, they spin around and land on a crossbar. When the top target is hit, the crossbar swings out and the lower targets fall back to a reset position and are ready to be shot again. This target has a turkey and pig figure on the lower targets and a prairie dog figure for the reset target. This target is made of lighter steel so it could be deformed by high power airguns. The whole target sits up off the ground so it is easier to see and shoot. The reset target pivots on a rod that extends up from the main target. Because of the pivot rod, if the reset target spins around it will hit the rod and the target won't work properly until the reset target is manually spun back around to the reset position.
I enjoy shooting this target since the irregular shape of the figures adds some fun to the shooting. I did have problems with the reset target spinning around and getting stuck on the pivot rod with anything shooting over 10-11 ft. lbs. of energy. I found that if I aimed at the lower part of the reset figure, then it wouldn't rotate around backwards and the target would work ok. The target would work better if it used the same type design as the Caldwell. However, for backyard plinking, it is a fun target to shoot.
The first target is the Caldwell Airgun Resetting Target. This target has four 1 1/2" round spinners that when hit, rotate around and land on a crossbar. The crossbar is attached to another 1 1/2" target that when hit, allow all the other targets to fall down so they can be shot again. The target is made of thick metal and pretty robust. When I first saw the target I was concerned that my lower powered airguns might not spin the targets around to hit the crossbar. However, my Walther LGR spun the targets around fine. The target is set on the ground and the forward angle is set by two legs that can rotate around the main legs. The system works fine however it is very low to the ground so if you shoot sitting the foliage will need to be trimmed or the target will have to be set up on some type of riser. The top reset target can rotate 360 degrees around it's pivot axis so if it is hit with a high power airgun and it spins all the way around, it will return to a position to hold the lower targets when they are shot.The target works very well. I have shot it with a variety of different airguns and it has worked well. The only problem I have seen is that when the far left or right targets are hit with a higher power rifle it may knock the opposite target free if it is already sitting on the crossbar. This doesn't happen every time but it has happened. Other than that, the target has worked great.
The other is the Champion Airgun Pellet Auto Reset Target. This target works on the same principle as the previous target. When the lower two targets are hit, they spin around and land on a crossbar. When the top target is hit, the crossbar swings out and the lower targets fall back to a reset position and are ready to be shot again. This target has a turkey and pig figure on the lower targets and a prairie dog figure for the reset target. This target is made of lighter steel so it could be deformed by high power airguns. The whole target sits up off the ground so it is easier to see and shoot. The reset target pivots on a rod that extends up from the main target. Because of the pivot rod, if the reset target spins around it will hit the rod and the target won't work properly until the reset target is manually spun back around to the reset position.I enjoy shooting this target since the irregular shape of the figures adds some fun to the shooting. I did have problems with the reset target spinning around and getting stuck on the pivot rod with anything shooting over 10-11 ft. lbs. of energy. I found that if I aimed at the lower part of the reset figure, then it wouldn't rotate around backwards and the target would work ok. The target would work better if it used the same type design as the Caldwell. However, for backyard plinking, it is a fun target to shoot.
