UP-DATE on the PORTATARGET - 29 out of 30!... misses

[Ian M]

Not easy - we are now shooting at a full running speed. Targets are 10" balloons at 100 yards - we put five on a backboard and must break them in a sequence. After 30 shots I had broke one balloon - but truth is it was not the one I was aiming at. This sucker is humbling.

Almost 20 hours on the system now, several shooters and calibers. In excess of 525 rounds of centerfire - we are starting with the target moving at a walk, then slowly speeding up until we are now at a speed that is as fast as most guys can run (only 60% on the speed dial). Most shooting has been offhand or from Harris's.

Have the machinery running very smoothly now, time to start figuring out lead data. Will start shooting "moving groups", firing at an aiming mark and catching all shots on fresh cardboard.

This is about as hard to get competent with as hitting steel plates at 700 yards in a fishtail wind.

 

[Ian M]

We just set up the Portatarget with a bunch of smaller targets and my buddy started shooting with a Ruger 10-22 at 30 yards. By the time we had killed all the dots, ShootnSees, and various balloons he had run through 800 rounds - in 1 1/2 hours. He had also destroyed the 2x3's that hold the targets, .22 LR hollowpoints are harder on the target boards than centerfire bullets. Fortunately 2x3 boards are dirt cheap.

I ran the system and had a ball trying to play tricks on him - varying the speed from a crawl to so fast that he could not swing with the targets. He ended up charging the targets, firing on the run!!

My buddy had never shot at a moving target and his accuracy improved significantly before we started playing the silly games.
This system is for shooters.

 

[Ian M]

More Portatarget info - hope that this is not boring you long-rangers.

I am now into a fairly realistic test stage where we are shooting at known speeds under fairly tight controls and marking both "calls" and actual impact locations on data sheets.

Shooting has been with a nice little M-70 Sporter in .308 Win. with a 3-9 Burris on it, a fairly typical deer rifle. All shooting is done from the Nightforce shooter's tripod so elevation variance is minimized - I want lead info (shooting is either prone or off the bench with the tripod). Ammo is factory Win. 150 Power Points or handloads at identical velocity with 150 PP's. Distance is 100 yards. Targets are 6" orange stick-ons on very large cardboard backings (5'x3') with one inch grid graph paper to placed where the groups will hit.

Speeds are based on human movement - standard walk, trot and running as fast as possible, set by getting a buddy to run down the line and matching his speed with the controler. I will be timing this to get a mph conversion, right now I would equate it to slow walk, fast walk and trot/slow-run on a deer. I can go faster but know that we don't have the skills to shoot much faster right now.

One interesting trend that seems apparent is that inexperienced shooters take at least 60, preferably 80 rounds to start getting any consistency re: accuracy (group size and location) and leads. Not sure how long this is retained but my friends definitely shoot better "moving groups" after three or four boxes of ammo.

There is a definite learning curve, during which the "moving group" gets smaller and actually moves to the correct lead for the speed and caliber. In other words the guys start off shooting fairly large groups that are somewhat behind the actual distance required for accuracte hits. With practice the groups shrink and move ahead to our average "leads" for each speed. There is a definite difference between left to right movers and right to left movers for right handed shooters.

Our weather is allowing me to continue doing a lot of shooting, usually by now we are up to our knees in snow. Hope to get one or two more sessions in, then might try it in the snow. Only one way to get this info and that is pulling trigger.

Heading south for a couple of Texas hunts next week, will end the moving target shooting for a while.
ian

 

[Bowen475]

Ian M I'm interested to hear more about your portatarget system. How it works; how you built it? etc. Been looking for something like this for a couple of years! thanks

 

[Ian M]

Bowen,
The system that I am working with can be seen at the following website
http://www.portatarget.com/Pages/elctrc_targ.html

It is proving to be very reliable, easy to operate and excellent shooting practice. I have used it so much that some improvements came to mind that made it even better.

In a nutshell the system is composed of a pair of bases into which 6' pieces of 4x4 post are placed. The bases are spaced 100 feet apart. On top of one post is a winch containing 100 feet of plastic coated steel cable (standard boat trailor winch). This cable is stretched over to a hook on the other post, making a guide-wire for a target holder to roll back and forth on.

On the other post is a 1/2 horsepower electric motor that is powered by 110, so you need a portable generator. The electric motor runs a second cable or twine, this one used to pull the target carrier back and forth on the heavier steel cable. The controler simply varies how fast the target runs and which direction it goes.

I use full sized cardboard cutouts of deer, large cardboard rectangles (cut from refrigerator boxes etc) with balloons in the middle, ShootnSee targets - about anything that you want to shoot at.

We have 100 yards of power cable now, so the controler is back of the shooter. ALthough this might sound complicated it is a very simple, rugged, easy to operate system that has proven great for learning to hit moving targets. The motor will move the targets much faster than anyone could hit them.

I have a lot of photos of the system operating, I will get a couple scanned when my son is back from a holiday and maybe Len can put them on this forum.

Cost is about 1500 bucks for this system, it is ready to go as received. I can see two or three guys going together or a club buying one, it is worth obtaining as the target speed is repeatable, all the components are super well made, system is foolproof (ianproof).
ian