Reading a post from Leo about WFTF in the Olympics gave me an interesting idea. How can we make EFT targets more affordable, more functional and easier to setup? (I realize that's a question, not an idea. Unclinch yourself, the idea is coming.)
Here's the idea. Get rid of the moving parts and strings. Attach a metal plate to a 2x6, perpendicular. Attach an electronic hit indicator to the metal plate. Put a bracket a few inches in front of the metal plate. Slide a face plate into the bracket. Done.
So you would shoot through the kill zone in the face plate to hit the back plate, setting off the hit indicator.
I know what you are thinking: But those hit indicators are millions of dollars! Nope. The Hornady models are 10 buck each. Hell, they were giving them away in goodie bags at SHOT show!
So what problem does this new target solve? It gets rid of the expensive EFT targets that are tricky to set up to fall for 30 fpe to 100 fpe hits. It allows more versatility for face plates and kill zone shapes because the face plate doesn't have to reset and it doesn't matter where you hit the paddle to score a hit. You don't even have to cut out animal shapes for your face plates, just use a square metal plate and paint whatever animal you want. Since the back target is just a piece of metal attached to a 2x6, you can just leave them out in the lanes between shoots. Just pick up the face plates for painting and bring in the hit indicators for charging. You could fit a whole 30 target course in the back of a side by side, since it's just 30 face plates and a bucket of hit indicators. The only reason for a cold line is if a hit indicator went down, which doesn't happen very often based on the PRS matches I've attended. No more strings! And, depending on the steel used, rimfire friendly for you XFT folks.
So 3/16 AR400 steel plates are about $170 for a 2x2 plate. That would make 16 6"x6" target plates, so a little over $10 a target. Another $10 for the hit indicator. Call it $5 for the wood and hardware. So $25 per target plus the face plate. AOA sells a 5 pack of big game silhouettes for $90 that would make great face plates, just cut out the kill zone. SO you could go El Cheapo and be in this for about $60 a target. It's hard to find AAFTA targets for that cheap.
So that's my idea. I'm not even going to try to monetize this because it's so easy and obvious, what would be the point?
Here are some pictures (mostly for Ron). I drew this in Tinkercad and it assigns automatic names to new designs, so this system is now known as the Dazzling Trug. We can just call it the TRUG system for short. In 20 years people will wonder where the name came from, but no one will remember.
Here's the idea. Get rid of the moving parts and strings. Attach a metal plate to a 2x6, perpendicular. Attach an electronic hit indicator to the metal plate. Put a bracket a few inches in front of the metal plate. Slide a face plate into the bracket. Done.
So you would shoot through the kill zone in the face plate to hit the back plate, setting off the hit indicator.
I know what you are thinking: But those hit indicators are millions of dollars! Nope. The Hornady models are 10 buck each. Hell, they were giving them away in goodie bags at SHOT show!
So what problem does this new target solve? It gets rid of the expensive EFT targets that are tricky to set up to fall for 30 fpe to 100 fpe hits. It allows more versatility for face plates and kill zone shapes because the face plate doesn't have to reset and it doesn't matter where you hit the paddle to score a hit. You don't even have to cut out animal shapes for your face plates, just use a square metal plate and paint whatever animal you want. Since the back target is just a piece of metal attached to a 2x6, you can just leave them out in the lanes between shoots. Just pick up the face plates for painting and bring in the hit indicators for charging. You could fit a whole 30 target course in the back of a side by side, since it's just 30 face plates and a bucket of hit indicators. The only reason for a cold line is if a hit indicator went down, which doesn't happen very often based on the PRS matches I've attended. No more strings! And, depending on the steel used, rimfire friendly for you XFT folks.
So 3/16 AR400 steel plates are about $170 for a 2x2 plate. That would make 16 6"x6" target plates, so a little over $10 a target. Another $10 for the hit indicator. Call it $5 for the wood and hardware. So $25 per target plus the face plate. AOA sells a 5 pack of big game silhouettes for $90 that would make great face plates, just cut out the kill zone. SO you could go El Cheapo and be in this for about $60 a target. It's hard to find AAFTA targets for that cheap.
So that's my idea. I'm not even going to try to monetize this because it's so easy and obvious, what would be the point?
Here are some pictures (mostly for Ron). I drew this in Tinkercad and it assigns automatic names to new designs, so this system is now known as the Dazzling Trug. We can just call it the TRUG system for short. In 20 years people will wonder where the name came from, but no one will remember.
