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Custom 4-Plate Steel Target Build; Please Move if in wrong place.

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Hey folks. So i put together this cool 4-Plate Steel Target setup and thought i'd briefly share my build here, in case others are interested.
I finished it a little while ago but didn't want to post any plans or anything until it was tested in a live-fire shooting session.
I Took it to the range a week or two ago and it performed well, other than one KIA chain (hit with a round of Wolf 223) which had a ring shot out. After over 300 rounds of .22, 223, and 308 shot at it, i'd say its pretty solid and am comfortable with giving it the A-OK. My dumbo friend intentionally tried to break the stand. Fortunately i guess he's a bad shot because it held up just fine. No hits to any of the pipes or fittings, just a chain (which was ironically an accident).

Anyhow, as for the build, it is entirely 3/4" Black pipe.
If anyone is interested, i can get specific measurements of legs. I Used Red for the front and Yellow for the back as they are different lengths. I Spent about two hours cutting the legs down a bit at a time to get the stand height and 'lean' correct so that it would be solid when the chains go a'swingin. It held up great, no tipping over or anything.
The fittings aren't welded, they held up just fine and didn't loosen.
Each end consists of a 45, a 90, a Tee and a pair of 1.5" or 2" (i forgot, can check but doesn't really matter much) nipples.
The Left to Right length that the plates hang off of is a 6' length of threaded 3/4" pipe (Ends are threaded). My truck bed is 5.5' and that was as long as i could squeeze in there. I'd have liked an extra 6" or even an extra foot to spread the chains out a bit and eliminate a bit of left to right swinging, but this ended up being a great set up.
The last picture with the stand painted and at the range is the final product i am sticking with.
The chain is some cheapo stuff i had, doesn't really matter what you use. It's under a dollar a foot, and each section is 7 to 9 links long, depending on the size of the plate, to keep them all just about centered along the same invisible line.
The 90 degree faces the "front" while the 45 faces the back. It works out great as far as getting that lean i mentioned that gives the stand stability.
To hang the chain, i used some Conduit hangers, available in the electrical isle. They come as a bag of 5 for like 2$, i believe. It slips right on the pipe and clamps down with a screw. There are some of the 1$ home depot clips on there (They sell for keys and such by the chain, it's rated for 150lbs and holds up fine. Cheap enough to replace if shot out versus the 5$+ Stainless steel/standard "Stronger" ones), that are somewhat hanging there between the 3/4" pipe and the screw on the clamp. 
To get the plates angled forward (no that isn't your eyes), i used some grade 8 bolts i had as well as some nuts and washers. The plate is hung on those bolts, and then the end of the bolt which is threaded has the chain sandwiched between two nuts and washers. The weight being offset like that causes what i believe is a perfect angle. I can measure them and provide all exact measurements and information to anyone interested. Note the initial unpainted plates versus the final product. The Angle of the plate helps distribute the force from the impact a bit, preserving the plate.

The plates were all purchased on eBay. I can provide links if interested, message me. All 4 were shot with 223 and 308 and held up great. 12", 8" And the Silhouette are 3/8". I already had the 1/2" 10" plate, which is 1/2". Can post "after" photos if anyone is interested, i didn't take any but i can snap some when its nice out. The paint is beat up and one of the chains was damaged, otherwise i can't complain.

As far as cost, it wasn't cheap; likely around 200$ with the plates and all. It took three lengths of 3/4" pipe which were around 20$ each, alone. I already had the tools and bolts and such, so that's a few more bucks.. Spray paint took a whole can and a half or so... I'd probably call it right around 200$, really. Worth every penny, though, i had a blast. Next project will eventually be a dueling tree.
I'd also like to build a cart to transport it down range, it's fairly heavy when assembled. Me and a buddy of mine put it together, clipped all the plates in the two center sections and put it over our shoulders and lugged it 200+ yards.
I can  (free of charge) assist with building a stand like this, just pay for supplies and what not and perhaps provide a few Henry hard soda's (Yep, i'm that guy LOL). I'm in East Brunswick. Shoot me a text if interested :)

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Oh, if someone wants links to the plates i bought let me know. They are the best deal i could find (and you save 20% on multiples as they combine shipping in a Flat Rate Box for them) online, and as previously stated were briefly tested by me with 223 and 7.62 at 200 yards, and held up great.

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Update: This is a few weeks late but at the last range trip, a round of .223 went thru one side of the 6' long black pipe. It hit the back side and did not penetrate. Quite a bit of damage to the front side where it DID penetrate, but it seems to be holding up fine. Will be purchasing and preparing a replacement in the event that it does fail, but may try to just weld the hole shut first (Will likely 'patch' with a piece of cut pipe) to save the headache.

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Bringing this to the top as it looks like i'll be getting into some (financial) trouble again, building some target setups for single targets. I May go from scratch this time and weld up complete stands, not sure yet. I Live like 5 minutes from Fazio's now, so a trip tomorrow is likely in order to see what they have to offer (plus they used to have an awesome dueling tree for 200 buckaroos).
Been months since i've shot, so i gotta keep myself busy 'til Quintons Orientation. Will have a hell of a target setup by then.
If anyones interested in trying em out, just holla'.

That said, if anyone has any ideas, let me know!
Was looking into doing a 2x4 setup with stands and brackets to weld onto the back of targets but i'm not sure how i feel about that. 

Also trying to think of what targets i could use to practice for 3-gun as far as shotgun goes, or should i literally just stick clays on the ground and practice with those? Even bird shot will wreck 2x4's. Could do a steel 2x4 setup but then there is the risk of ricochets as well as the fact that it'd weigh a ton..
Could do mini versions of the stand i built with black pipe but that crap was crazy expensive. I could weld something outta a semi-thick steel pipe and just patch any holes with a welder or whatever.

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Nice setup looks good!

Since you moved down to the Glassboro area I was going to suggest you find and check out Fazio’s, but I see you’ve already figured that out.

once you’ve settled at Quinton, be sure to look up Louu (NJGF member). I believe he is with the group that builds the steel for Quintons events. I’m thinking you guys could share some ideas

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Fazio's sells it. They have a location in Wall as well as here in Glassboro.
TBH they are overpriced, though. I can get the same targets shipped to my door at their prices. That's what i did last time.
This time i'll probably just go to them and save the headache of shopping around over a few bucks, though.. Theyll have all the other crap ill need anyways as soon as i figure out some sorta design. Has to be adjustable width to accommodate a variety of targets.. gona take a bit of thinking.. Either that or just stick with my current design of it hanging on a chain. The issue with that is when you shoot it it swings all over the damn place. Not a big deal at 200 yards as it takes me a sec to fire the next round but at 100 yards (or, say, 20 with handguns), it'll be a pain in the ass when the target is swinging even more.. lol. May just keep the three round plates as a 200 yard setup on the stand pictured above and the 4th "silhouette" target, i'll weld a 2x4 bracket on the back of it and do it that way.

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By the way, Fazzio's has a big plasma cutter and can cut AR400 or AR500 to any shape you want.  I have them plasma cut items for me once in a while (not targets...yet).  They used to have a full sized deer AR500 target in their hardware store just to show off what they can do.   If you can draw it in any cad program an send them the file as a .dxf, they will send you a quote back.  You're not limited to round or silhouette targets anymore.

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20 minutes ago, maintenanceguy said:

By the way, Fazzio's has a big plasma cutter and can cut AR400 or AR500 to any shape you want.  I have them plasma cut items for me once in a while (not targets...yet).  They used to have a full sized deer AR500 target in their hardware store just to show off what they can do.   If you can draw it in any cad program an send them the file as a .dxf, they will send you a quote back.  You're not limited to round or silhouette targets anymore.

I know! They had an awesome dueling tree setup for 200 bucks that i want to pick up if they still offer em'.

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Thinkin of taking the easy way out this time around..  Can pick up 1 or 2 of the silhouette targets from fazzios for 39$ each.
As far as a stand, thinking something like this:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/420302/champion-center-mass-steel-2x4-target-stand-tripod-base
Stick a few 2x4 cuts in it and call it a day. I'll probably buy two and build two setups.
Only thing is mounting the targets up top. A lot of the 2x4 hanger brackets have springs on them; is that really necessary? Going to be using it for handgun at 15-20 yards and rifle at 100 yards (223/556, 9mm carbine etc). I Have the mounting system above with the round plates for my 308 bolt gun at 200 yards.
I Thought about just bolting the target right to the wood or somethin. The stupid little hangers cost as much as the stand and time is money, unfortunately.. not much time to play around lately.

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11 hours ago, W2MC said:

The old Fazzio's was an awesome place to go.  The new...well; its just too antiseptic for my taste.

I used to call it Disney Land.   You could drive through the barns filled with steel, find somebody to pull and cut what you needed.  Their scrap yard had old prison guard towers, giant tanks, and anything made of steel you could think of. The roads were paved with steel plate - really.   Need some 3" diameter threaded rod?  That was in the old bolt and nut building. 

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10 hours ago, maintenanceguy said:

I used to call it Disney Land.   You could drive through the barns filled with steel, find somebody to pull and cut what you needed.  Their scrap yard had old prison guard towers, giant tanks, and anything made of steel you could think of. The roads were paved with steel plate - really.   Need some 3" diameter threaded rod?  That was in the old bolt and nut building. 

Now that they have made gazzillions of doll-hairs, they've upgraded to a state of the art facility the size of my town.. lmao
I haven't been to the Glassboro location. They were closed today, but tomorrow i'm hitting it up. I've never been so excited and scared for my wallet before. I Gotta stock up on some hardware anyways, running outta grade 5 nuts and bolts from various projects, and they are FAR cheaper than home depot on that stuff. Picking up 1 or 2 Silhouette targets and hoping they have some other cool stuff, like the dueling tree they used to have. They wanted 200$ at the time but it seemed pointless to have for 200 yard shooting.. At 100 yards (or closer for handguns), its worth having now.. hope they still have it, seems like all i can find online anywhere near that price are the diy kits and those will look like butt cheeks.

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Quick update:

I went to Fazzios (Glassboro) Today.
They had the Dueling Tree, so i picked one up along with another small silhouette plate. Dueling tree was 200$ (ouch), but realistically they charge you more than that just for six 6" plates, and you get that plus the stand and all; 200$ is actually very reasonable all things considered.
The only thing is the vertical piece didn't fit in the base, i guess the base wasn't welded wide enough. After some grinding with a flap disc it now fits nice and snug, and is ready to be shot at.. lol.
They DID have the giant deer someone mentioned previously. $350. I took a picture but it's late so it'll get uploaded some other time. Thing is massive though and completely useless as a target IMO... but certainly a cool piece, haha.
Anyhow, i'll be ordering some stands on Amazon for 50somethin bucks per setup (base and 2x4 bracket to hang target), not including the 2x4 i need to use for feet and as a vertical piece. Just not worth making my own given how long itll take to fabricate one-off stuff, nevermind that i'd spend 100$ on various materials anyways...steel 2x4, angle iron, etc..
If anyone wants to try it once i get thru Orientation just Holla! Looks pretty cool, i just need someone to shoot with at Quinton, haha.

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