Mid-summer seems like a long time gone: I just looked up when I put this thing out here and it was only five months ago.
It serves more of a useful purpose than you might think, because (reasons related to neighbors and noise) I now do most of my own pistol and rifle practice down here in a deep part of the wash instead of Ian’s range. I put this up on a raised area above most of the water flow, but it’s not safe from a real flood. So I tied it down – but it was only after I started tying target stands to trees that I really paid attention to the effect of bullet frags…
…which are hell on tie-down ropes. I could go to chain and just stop worrying about it but chain is expensive and I hoard what bits of it I have. Still, I think in this case I need to do the same thing I did to the target frames I made at Ian’s range – run a chain stub from the stand to keep the rope (or 550 cord, which I’ve entirely switched over to now) entirely away from the frame. Then I should only have to worry about wild shots cutting the cords.
Chains on those dog stakes you screw into the ground work. That should even hold up in a flood.
Joel, considering the scarcity of ammo, frags shouldn’t be much of a problem. At least you don’t have to stop shooting and pretend you’re gardening when the sheriff drives by; winter will need a different stratagem.
Landlord cut a 55 gallon drum in half to make two “horse troughs” under the steel targets to, as he said, “catch the -falling- bullet fragments from the steel targets and stop killing the grass”. He was worried about rainwater filling the bullet fragment basins. He wouldn’t listen to me, so a demonstration was in order. 30 rounds of 5.56 fragments turned the drums into sieves. Entertainment is where you find it.
So what size chain are you using? More could arrive depending on the specs…
It’s a little sad that even living way out in the desert you still have neighbors who complain about noise from firearms. Didn’t they know this is common in the country before they moved there and now expect everyone else to change and work around them? Even here in Illinois most country people accept that rural folks will often be using their boom sticks. I’ll be sending you a donation to start an oven fund.
Possibly dumb question: Would steel cable be both cheaper than chain and up to the job?
No, I don’t complain – about people who complain – and if you visited out here you’d understand why. The first thing people always comment on is the silence. No traffic noise, no voices, no songbirds. Only wind noise, occasional passing planes and … some asshole popping away with a rifle. It’s music to me but not everyone agrees and they have rights too.
Up to the job, almost certainly. Cheaper, no. And also harder to work with.
No songbirds? Huh.
When my neighbors light up a target, my only thought is usually “Dude, slow down and friggin’ aim. Pseudo-full-auto is fun but there’s an ammo drought.”
Landmines may be cheaper than ammo.
Just sayin.