field targets

[poil27]

good luck sean :P you guys would whant the 4 design ?

[AirGunEric]

I would think you would want to look at 6 or 7 gauge steel for this. From a sales perspective- if the material is too thin and dents or folds over time- people are not going to ultimately be too happy with such a purchase- anything made out of "steel" tends to register with people as being "solid". Sheet metal target traps can be had for $30.00, to charge more than that for a similar-quality product would not be so easy, and the after-the-fact number of complaints goes through the roof.

Don't know what the difference in cost would be between a 9-gauge sheet and a 6-gauge sheet or the increase in cutting time, but it might be something to consider.

[poil27]

will check this out this week and come back on the subject i'll ask about 6 gauges i will have to mod some little parts (the front plate) to accomodate for thicker steel but it's not verry hard

[Grunt]

Hi poil27,

To follow up a bit,
I checked my cost on the last six Gamo Squirrel Field Targets that I bought which came from Pyramyd Air.
Total per target cost was $25.30 each. That number includes shipping, handling and taxes.
Ordered on a Wed. morning at 11:00 or so and delivered to my door at 09:30 two days later on Friday.
If you could make a better or more durable heavier target in the $30 to $35 range I think you would have a hit.
I know I would be interested in getting some from you as I like what I see in the pics.
Wish I had held off on the Gamos now.


Grunt

[AirGunEric]

I think a $30.00 price point is unrealistic- the Gamo units are stamped out by the thousands in China, not hand-cut in Canada.

My point with the $30.00 was exactly that- thinner, mass-produced stuff is fine, but something to be sold at a higher price would need to be that much better in respect to quality/materials. Also, the gamo units are $18.00 for the face/front, the spring mechanism (comes with squirrel outline) is another $20.00, whereas Poil is talking about a self-contained unit- not pieces/parts

As a comparison, Dennis (goes by the online name 'Parker101') had made many FT targets out of 1/4" steel and hand-painted them- sold for $65-80 depending on difficulty- and they were worth every penny (I have a couple).

[poil27]

that bring us to the paint part , i was thinking powder coat but realised it will chip. need somthing impact resistant and not realy expencive . i have NO idea what to use

[Grunt]

OK,

I thought I said, $30 to $35. Even $45 would probably work for something at least as good.
Bear in mind I was thinking that it would be better to sell a couple of hundred at $35 instead of a dozen at $75.

Let me say this again, $25.30 total complete cost for 1 Gamo Squirrel Field Target delivered to my door.
They come ready to assemble and use as is, no need to buy anything else.
Yes they are cheap but that is what poil27 is up against. That will be his main competiton.

Also, I just measured a Gamo squirrel face plate and it is 2.7mm thick, appears to be mild steel.
Can't be all that bad as they are a rather popular field target and get good reviews. (perhaps most popular?)
So 3mm of a better quality steel such as cold rolled should be fine and would help keep the cost down.

As well laser cutting is a production method not hand cutting. It has replaced conventional stamping as it is cheaper.
No expensive dies to produce and maintain. As it was mentioned I was thinking production, not custom one of a kind.


poil27,

I will try to find some contact info for a company in Ottawa which I used a few years ago.
They were very good and priced great for some custom electronic cabinets that we used for commercial sonar equipment.
I am not sure if they are still in business but will check for you. I hope they are as the time they were willing to do one-off prototyping.

Grunt

[SeanMP]

that bring us to the paint part , i was thinking powder coat but realised it will chip. need somthing impact resistant and not realy expencive . i have NO idea what to use

To be honest if it was me I would use flat black (tremclad) It would give a good contrast against an outdoor background, would show impacts the least and it would be easy to renew if someone cared about that kind of thing.

[SeanMP]

I went searching for knockdown targets on the web...they are not easy to find.

This place in the UK claims to have supplied the last 5 world championships

http://www.nockover-targets.co.uk/field_targets.html

The sport of air rifle Field Target Shooting is well established and the Nockover range of targets is accepted as the standard and used by most clubs. They have been used exclusively in the last five world championships.

3mm thick metal, zinc coated, genuine field target front plates welded over resetting "standard practice target" gives competition practice without strings. Painted black with yellow "kill" zones of 40 or 25mm and a lower reset disc of 40mm diameter it is easy to see where the "misses" hit and record your successes. Available in 8 different shapes: Rabbit, Rook, Rat, Squirrel, Magpie, Square, Diamond and Moon.

They are charging 25 to 28 British pounds

[poil27]

so 40$ to 44$ cad wish is quite expencive for 3 mm steel