Good article Ian--well done. Back in '04 Ernie (XPhunter) and i decided to compete in Dave Lauck's ITRC (International Tactical Riflemens Championship) in Gillette, WY with our custom XP's. We liked the silhouette system he'd designed so on the way back we decided to come up with something for the specialty pistol guys, and we called it SHOTS (Specialty Handgun Outdoorsman's Seminar). But we had to come up with a portable silhouette system to get the course setup efficiently. What we cam e up with was super simple and cheap. Get 3 pieces of rebar, and 2 copper or galvanized plumbing T's. Pound 2 into the ground, set the T's on them and slide the 3rd thru parrallel to the ground. Now hang steel from it with S-hooks.
Now here's the fun part. Downtown is a scrap yard that had a bunch of "cinder block molds or pallets" that we purchased for .25/pound. These were 3/8ths thick made of metal that's very similar to stainless. Hard but not brittle. 10"x20". Great for shooting. Narry a dent on them, and they last forever. So i thought i'd see if i could get some even cheaper. I called the local brickyard, and turns out they make the CB's there. I went there and talked to the plant foreman, and he said i could have some if i wanted--FREE. I didn't need any at the time, but i thought wow what a deal. Turns out that most towns have a plant where they make cinder block pallets, and i'd bet that a guy could get then for free too. Worth a try.
Here's a pic of our system--
www.ihmsa.net/Dakota_XP.pdf