Indians For Guns

Hi
I was having a discussion with Harsh regarding making of a cheap reactive target that could be shot again and again without any need of replacing/repositioning. The target should have multiple size point and should be reactive so as to give indication of a hit. It should be portable & easy to carry anywhere without any hassle.

For this I collected 3 damaged bearings of ceiling fan from electrical repair shop (got it for free), then a stem of a tree, 4mm thick iron rod. Then I cut 6 pieces (5 pieces @ 10cm & 1 piece @ 15cm) from that rod and took it to a blacksmith for flattening the top section (1”) and making holes in spike. Then the 15cm spike was turned it into a shape of a hook. I also asked the blacksmith to make me 6 numbers round pieces from a metal sheet of dia 1” & 1.5” (16 gauge steel sheet blacksmith’s term) and punched hole in that too that are equal to the holes made in the spikes.

After that I went to a welding shop for welding the spikes to bearings. I thought of making two targets with 4 spikes of equal size on one bearing at an angle of 90o to each other. And in the second bearing with 2 spikes at an angle of 180o to each other. At one end there was a spike and on other end there was a hook which would act as counter weight. The flattened portion of the spikes should always be in the direction of the rotation of the bearing.

There I started facing problem, when I got the spikes arc welded directly to the bearing, the balls in the bearing got jammed due to overheating. I was not sure of gas welding as the spikes would not adhere to the bearings and the pellet hit may dismantle the spike. Then I thought of welding the spikes on a rounded metal strip (length slightly small to the circumference of the bearing) and then sliding the bearing in to the housing. Then the housing was given little of arc touch so as to grip the bearing. After that my idea went off the window as the bearing was not playing as smoothly as was before. May be the final touch did damage the balls again.

That night tried to make bearing rotate smoothly by chipping off the extra welded material that might adhere to the bearing. Next day, frustrated I put those bearings on the spindle(loose fit), made out of that stem of the tree and tied wire so as let the bearing freely move on the spindle but not slide out of it. Then the rounded metal sheets were attached to the end of spikes using nut & bolt. The rounded metal sheets can be fixed by using arc welding but then it will be permanently fixed & the size of the target will not be changeable. The spindle was then fixed on the stand made out of old furniture legs. I thought of using U clamps for fixing the spindle to the stand but I just used metal wire for tying. Then I fired a test shot & to my delight the bearing made 3 revolutions on the pellet hit with a nice metallic sound. It seemed all the hard work finally paid off.
I coloured the spikes, bearing, the rounded sheets were coloured with different colours so as to give better view on hit of a pellet. In final assembly I greased the spindle & inside of the bearing for smooth play alongwith the metal wire used for restricting the bearing from lateral movement. The total cost for that target is Rs 260(Rs 150 to Blacksmith, Rs 100 to Welder & Rs 10 for nuts & bolts.)

Thanks Moulindu

Very nice!

I have been toying with the idea of an Indian pyrotarget. I might as well put the idea on here and let's see who tests it first.

All of us must have played with cap gun during Diwali - using those single red circular "bindi" type caps.

Many of you must also have done what I used to do, that is to hit the entire 1 inch diameter cylindrical cardboard cap box with a hammer to get an ear splitting bang, detonating all the caps in one shot.

I was planning on buying some boxes of caps, gently flattening them by finger pressure to expel all air and gaps between the piled up caps inside and then taping it to a wooden board. Hitting dead center should get you a bang, with any luck. Whee what fun. But I haven't found any caps yet. Need to visit that part of town where crackers are available 400 days a year.

Simply Super Brother..

Very Nice.....

Thanks for sharing

TC

that's great buddy.......
thanks for shareing......
the "Homemade" fever is catching up.......

Moulindu very good
your DIY give me idea to make my won reactive target
Thanks

Bennedose

Last year Diwali I used to do this really a fun big BANG when you hit the bull’s-eye
Tips use flat head pellets

pratik_mahale wrote: Bennedose

Last year Diwali I used to do this really a fun big BANG when you hit the bull’s-eye
Tips use flat head pellets

Long ago, travelling by bus through Tamil Nadu I noticed that a busload of people would be rapidly fed at roadside stalls with hot fresh dosas. It struck me that his was "fast food" as fast as any MacDonalds. but was never marketed that way. (This was 20 years before Macs came to India
Funny that you too had thought of the cap idea as perhaps others have done - but no one has thought of marketing it with a fancy name like "Pyrotarget"

Hello Moulindu
Thats a great peice of work, Congratulations!

Ayyo....what about a wind vane saar?

Kudos my friend!

Hi Molindu,
> It just goes to show what an innovative idea can produce
> Plus the courage & inspiration to attempt such DIY & succeed - Wow great going pal
> Congrats - Keep it up
Briha

Thanks everyone. Just now both Harsh & I had some shooting session with the target . On every hit the spinner did move with a metallic sound, but the rounded sheets were dented (with .22 IHP not sure about .177) . Need some heavier metal sheet & had to use a full size brick on the base so that the structure don’t tumble over on each hit. The fun part was the single point target, because of the counterweight the rotation was in harmonic motion .
regards Moulindu

Nice job indeed and well explained too........

M.

moulindu wrote:Hi
I was having a discussion with Harsh regarding making of a cheap reactive target that could be shot again and again without any need of replacing/repositioning. The target should have multiple size point and should be reactive so as to give indication of a hit. It should be portable & easy to carry anywhere without any hassle.

For this I collected 3 damaged bearings of ceiling fan from electrical repair shop (got it for free), then a stem of a tree, 4mm thick iron rod. Then I cut 6 pieces (5 pieces @ 10cm & 1 piece @ 15cm) from that rod and took it to a blacksmith for flattening the top section (1”) and making holes in spike. Then the 15cm spike was turned it into a shape of a hook. I also asked the blacksmith to make me 6 numbers round pieces from a metal sheet of dia 1” & 1.5” (16 gauge steel sheet blacksmith’s term) and punched hole in that too that are equal to the holes made in the spikes.Thanks Moulindu

Brilliant ideas!!

That reactive target is amazing. Do not weld anything to the bearing directly, there are different layers of steel in the rings and the ball, with different heat expansion coefficients. Also, the lubes will evaporate with the welding. You can try using a steel pipe of inner diameter slightly (1 mm or so) larger than the outer diameter of the bearing, and tight fit it using shims. Use a file, hacksaw or Dremel type tool to cut a few grooves on the outside of the bearing, and corresponding grooves on the inside of the pipe. Put the bearing inside the pipe, with the grooves corresponding, and put large nails (with the points filed blunt) in the corresponding grooves. The "rotating arms" of the target need to be welded to the pipe before assembling (else the heat will damage the bearing again).

Now where did I keep the leftover caps from my kid's last Diwali fever? (he doesn't use them out of consideration of his four-legged brother, who gets scared and sets up an unearthly barking!!) Think I'll try 'em out today evening, just need to lock the Rottie up in the bedroom with a nice bone to occupy him!

Pistol caps idea didn't work. First I thought maybe the caps have been impacted by Mumbai's famous humidity, but they work fine in the cap banger. The Orion's hail of 0.22 flat heads tore the caps to shreds without a single loud bang!!!