You can collect them all and become a Royal Crown Chinpoko Master!! 
In this post, I'll be talking exclusively about the Action Armor targets that I own. Action Armor targets can be found on the Airguns of Arizona website under the name Action Armor or Steelplinkers. I've got quite a collection of them! But, I didn't buy them all. I actually won most of them at the raffles during the Extreme Benchrest Competitions over the years.
Their most popular target has got to be their "Quadrant Target" It's one of my own personal favorites for general plinking as well as focused practice and training. They've got 4 independent square spinner paddles with a 1" center circle spinner. I've left some of mine outside for months on end, in the rain and snow, without any deterioration in performance. Although, the bare steel support bars do rust and it's about time I hit them with a wire brush. I'm a big fan of the overall design and size. I'm the type of shooter that doesn't always use things as they were designed to be used. An example of this is, once I'm sighted and find that I'm hitting the center with high consistency, I move on to other areas of the target. I might move down to the counter weight for a few shoots and then move over to the side support bars, to add a little more challenge. I might also try to just hit the very tip of the side support bars that protrudes up past the hinge. Ultimately, I end up sending ricochets zinging off the rounded top edge of the hinge. Where I live allows me to do this safely without having to worry about the pellets affecting anyone else or their property. Being that these were made to be shot at, I don't treat them nicely. I'll hammer on them with a .25 cal at 25 yards or send hundreds of rounds at that poor center circle. They're holding up great to the pounding I'm giving them.
Steelplinkers also makes "Shoot-To-Reset" style targets that are just as well made. Although the description on AoA does not say they're made from AR400 steel, I haven't found a reason to believe they aren't. I haven't hammered on these nearly as hard as I have with the quadrant targets. For the most part, they're holding up well. In the past, I've used these to set up a course in order to practice for field target competitions. They're a tremendous help! In fact, I don't think I would have gotten a recent 4th place finish without them!
The bunny, zombie, and pigeon have been shot up. The 2 squirrels and Prairie dog are still new. The squirrel's my favorite so, I wanted to have one to shoot and another to keep clean. Stencils are available separately for repainting.
In the box, you'll get the target face and action, 2 mounting posts, an Allen key, instructions, and 3 target reducers (painted to match) that will take the 1-1/4" faceplate opening down to 1", 3/4", or 1/2". One of the things I liked about the design was the rectangular plate that's welded onto the mounting posts. This plate aligns with the target action to stop it from spinning to the left or right as it's shot. While shooting, I noticed that I was bending the reducers, which was a little disappointing. They'll bend back and away from the faceplate, and also loosen themselves, in the process. So, I would see my target hole moving over to the side a little more with each shot. Eventually, I'd have to go reset them with the Allen key. That's probably why the zombie has so many hits on the faceplate to the lower right of the opening.
Here's a look at the backside and the reset action. It's a pretty simple design that works using gravity. On very rare occasions, the system would fail to reset the target on the first try. But, honestly, it works great 98% of the time.
One clever (and really awesome, IMO) system design, is the ability to combine both the quadrant target and a shoot-to-reset target together by using the smaller mounting post. It slides into a separate tube on the quadrant target's stand which has a thumbscrew to help keep it from spinning.
The target stand has a, fun, pellet shaped support plate in the front that doubles as a stake hole allowing you to anchor the system into the ground. I've had them fall over during use but, it's primarily my fault for putting them on an uneven surface. I've also had them walk back a little with each shot when they were set on a hard dirt surface.
Last up is the shooting tree that I got from Steelplinkers.com (no longer a working website) almost 4 years ago. I don't see this available on the AoA website either. So, it may be one of those designs that has faded away from production. I like keeping this out near my 100yard target. Smacking those 1" paddles back and forth makes for a fun and difficult challenge at that distance!
The back shows that I haven't gone out of my way to try to preserve this at all. So, I have no one else to blame but myself when the paddles land in the "in-between" position. I like the design, though. There's a ball detent to help hold the paddles in place and the spring tension is easily adjustable. These have also held up to the pellet strikes over the years quite nicely. Someday, I'll have to take the system apart and give it a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. I might even see if it's possible to turn the paddles over so the mounting brackets help protect the system a little.
Happy Shooting!!
Tom
In this post, I'll be talking exclusively about the Action Armor targets that I own. Action Armor targets can be found on the Airguns of Arizona website under the name Action Armor or Steelplinkers. I've got quite a collection of them! But, I didn't buy them all. I actually won most of them at the raffles during the Extreme Benchrest Competitions over the years.
Their most popular target has got to be their "Quadrant Target" It's one of my own personal favorites for general plinking as well as focused practice and training. They've got 4 independent square spinner paddles with a 1" center circle spinner. I've left some of mine outside for months on end, in the rain and snow, without any deterioration in performance. Although, the bare steel support bars do rust and it's about time I hit them with a wire brush. I'm a big fan of the overall design and size. I'm the type of shooter that doesn't always use things as they were designed to be used. An example of this is, once I'm sighted and find that I'm hitting the center with high consistency, I move on to other areas of the target. I might move down to the counter weight for a few shoots and then move over to the side support bars, to add a little more challenge. I might also try to just hit the very tip of the side support bars that protrudes up past the hinge. Ultimately, I end up sending ricochets zinging off the rounded top edge of the hinge. Where I live allows me to do this safely without having to worry about the pellets affecting anyone else or their property. Being that these were made to be shot at, I don't treat them nicely. I'll hammer on them with a .25 cal at 25 yards or send hundreds of rounds at that poor center circle. They're holding up great to the pounding I'm giving them.
Steelplinkers also makes "Shoot-To-Reset" style targets that are just as well made. Although the description on AoA does not say they're made from AR400 steel, I haven't found a reason to believe they aren't. I haven't hammered on these nearly as hard as I have with the quadrant targets. For the most part, they're holding up well. In the past, I've used these to set up a course in order to practice for field target competitions. They're a tremendous help! In fact, I don't think I would have gotten a recent 4th place finish without them!
The bunny, zombie, and pigeon have been shot up. The 2 squirrels and Prairie dog are still new. The squirrel's my favorite so, I wanted to have one to shoot and another to keep clean. Stencils are available separately for repainting.
In the box, you'll get the target face and action, 2 mounting posts, an Allen key, instructions, and 3 target reducers (painted to match) that will take the 1-1/4" faceplate opening down to 1", 3/4", or 1/2". One of the things I liked about the design was the rectangular plate that's welded onto the mounting posts. This plate aligns with the target action to stop it from spinning to the left or right as it's shot. While shooting, I noticed that I was bending the reducers, which was a little disappointing. They'll bend back and away from the faceplate, and also loosen themselves, in the process. So, I would see my target hole moving over to the side a little more with each shot. Eventually, I'd have to go reset them with the Allen key. That's probably why the zombie has so many hits on the faceplate to the lower right of the opening.
Here's a look at the backside and the reset action. It's a pretty simple design that works using gravity. On very rare occasions, the system would fail to reset the target on the first try. But, honestly, it works great 98% of the time.
One clever (and really awesome, IMO) system design, is the ability to combine both the quadrant target and a shoot-to-reset target together by using the smaller mounting post. It slides into a separate tube on the quadrant target's stand which has a thumbscrew to help keep it from spinning.
The target stand has a, fun, pellet shaped support plate in the front that doubles as a stake hole allowing you to anchor the system into the ground. I've had them fall over during use but, it's primarily my fault for putting them on an uneven surface. I've also had them walk back a little with each shot when they were set on a hard dirt surface.
Last up is the shooting tree that I got from Steelplinkers.com (no longer a working website) almost 4 years ago. I don't see this available on the AoA website either. So, it may be one of those designs that has faded away from production. I like keeping this out near my 100yard target. Smacking those 1" paddles back and forth makes for a fun and difficult challenge at that distance!
The back shows that I haven't gone out of my way to try to preserve this at all. So, I have no one else to blame but myself when the paddles land in the "in-between" position. I like the design, though. There's a ball detent to help hold the paddles in place and the spring tension is easily adjustable. These have also held up to the pellet strikes over the years quite nicely. Someday, I'll have to take the system apart and give it a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. I might even see if it's possible to turn the paddles over so the mounting brackets help protect the system a little.
Happy Shooting!!
Tom
