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Building a Totem

John A.

John A.

Unconstitutional laws are not laws.
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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/totem

to·tem noun \ˈtō-təm\

1: an object serving as the emblem of a family or clan and often as a reminder of its ancestry; also : a usually carved or painted representation of such an object

b : a family or clan identified by a common totemic object

2: one that serves as an emblem or revered symbol
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As most of you know, I am very proud of my native American ancestry and this is my attempt to build a totem for my entire family to enjoy and one we can all associate with.

One that we can gather around, and will enjoy together and will be placed on our property near our private/family graveyard.

I expect most of you will recognize what it is going to be at first glance.

I'm just waiting on the AR500 targets to come in and the ground to thaw so I can set it up. ;)









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I'm going to get a 10" AR400 target for the rimfire, a 10" AR500 1/2" target for the rifle cal's next month (or maybe two), and I have an 8" and a IDPA / IPSC torso target for the handgun cal's incoming now.

The 8" gong will be welded to the nut I showed in the last pic to make a spinner (or at least a rocker). I am going to keep it centered on the steel rod using pipe clamps and will be able to add 1 or 2 more gongs to the rod in the future if I want to.

The posterboard on the very bottom of the 4th pic is the area where I can staple paper targets and zero my optics.

That's about as useful as I can think of to make a target tree.

Oops, I mean, totem :lol:
 
Are you going to put them in the ground or weld up two pieces of square tube for the foot brackets ?
I found these are cool for single target stands as well, one 2x4 with a plywood square are nice to throw in the truck for a quick and easy sight in



They go from this


To this



To this lol



I ended up doing some metal on the insides of the posts to take the shrapnel abuse off because it chews through in 1000 of 223/hi power rifle rounds or so.


And if you want to save a little money on AR500 3/8th thickness are good to 300 win mag at 100 and we hit them with 338 win mag at 200 no problems
This is 100s of 300 win mag at 100 yards and the other side still hasn’t been used yet.
 
Thanks for the recommendation for the steel plate liner. There's a lot of scrap laying around up there that I can probably use. (My uncle used to own a junkyard ;)

I thought about just using those garden hangers, but since I've already got this built, I was going to use the post hole diggers and leave it on the property until it's worn out, then will change to something else.

I'm using 3/8 ar500 on the handgun targets, 1/4" ar400 for the rimfire, and I want a 1/2" ar500 for my rifles, and maybe slugs.

I know they said to be 100 yards for rifles, but 79 yards is about the max distance you can get up there.

I could probably only get 100 yards if I'm sitting at my uncles kitchen table with the living room window propped open and knowing him, that would not go over too well LOL
 
Wish I could build something like that in the yard but not shooting within city limits :( there is a private gun range 5 minutes from me but I havent renewed my membership yet this year. Cool totem pole project!
 
John A. said:
I could probably only get 100 yards if I'm sitting at my uncles kitchen table with the living room window propped open and knowing him, that would not go over too well LOL
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:lol: , well when those legs wear out I bet 4x4 treated would be awesome for putting in post holes. Slugs rock on the gongs, really moves them.
Don't forget to get a little angle on the steel, it makes them last a bit longer and I've never had anything come back at me.....as close as 10 yards with AR and slugs. Cant wait to see when your done
 
Great point on facing the sides with metal.

We're constantly replacing the sides of our target stands that are set up next to the steel targets. The splatter really does a number on them. Hanging the steel out in front of or behind the frame would do the trick too...
 
I had thought about trying to angle the strike face a little, but everything I have ever heard was to keep them as straight and level as possible.

Just make them so they move easily when struck was the big trick.

LES, I could probably fabricate a metal strip/hanger so the target is actually behind the frame. That wouldn't really be hard at all with a few pieces of scrap metal. Matter of fact, I know he has a lot of angle iron up there that I could cut to about a foot or even 2 foot each and drill a couple of holes to mount it to the frame and a hole at the other end to hang the chain from. That would be pretty simple really.
 
John A. said:
I had thought about trying to angle the strike face a little, but everything I have ever heard was to keep them as straight and level as possible.

Just make them so they move easily when struck was the big trick.
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yeah , the trick is the angle for sure, it really helps the steel last longer. I have had T-1 mounted 90 degrees and T-1 mounted at roughly 10 degrees and it makes quite a bit of difference in longevity when the bullets don't hit them square.

the bullet actually explodes on the gong before it moves at all as you can see here by the angle of the shrapnel line


And when they get real dimpled they tend to send shrapnel back and all over because all the different angles of the dimples.

I have been hit with it twice. Once from a 22lr (in the face)and once from 00 buck(in the crotch !)....kinda scares ya

metal is getting chewed up, next time around I'll do some stainless sheet or something......this is my third set of these stands , getting a little tired of building them lol.


If I werent using them as portable ,I would build the entire unit from steel and be done with it forever.....I shoot A LOT
 
John, I can't think of a better way to celebrate your ancestors and bring your family out for a good time... Excited to see this!

Oli man, why didn't you post those up in the range time target thread.... Awesome work! I'll have to have our welding shop make me some of those brackets!
 
I had been shooting a fair amount on my range with 3/4 inch exterior plywood for a backdrop for my stick on targets.

My friend comes over with his air rifle and practices for a while and reports to me he is going to have to rebuild my target stand.

It stood up to my weapons very well but he tore the hell out of it with his air rifle. .25 cal hollow points. Point was he made them exploding rounds by adding black powder to the hollow points and sealing them over with paraffin. Small hole on entry with the exit side devastated. He's hitting the size of a dime with his groupings at about 45 yards. Pretty impressive.

Cleared some brush and trees and extended my range to 175 yards this weekend. Expect a few others will want to use my range now.
 
aksavanaman said:
Oli man, why didn't you post those up in the range time target thread.... Awesome work! I'll have to have our welding shop make me some of those brackets!
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Thanks my friend......I have posted them on this site several times, been shooting on them for years

on the brackets I welded the square tube like you see , then I drilled holes, welded nuts over the holes, took some bolts and welded some square stock to the head to make tee handle like things. They set in the 2x4 legs hand tight and are real secure
 
oli700 said:
Thanks my friend......I have posted them on this site several times, been shooting on them for years

on the brackets I welded the square tube like you see , then I drilled holes, welded nuts over the holes, took some bolts and welded some square stock to the head to make tee handle like things. They set in the 2x4 legs hand tight and are real secure
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Obviously I wasn't paying attention to genius;)

I think what I need is a little welder(tig...mig?) some scrap metal and time to practice!
 
I saw your target stands a long time ago, though I couldn't remember where or who had made them. I just had a mental note of what they looked like in my head.

I got the first target today. I like it. It's 12 x 20" but it was drowning in grease. I reached into the box to get it out and got it all over my hands. You'd think they could at least wipe it off with a shop rag before boxing it up.

torsotargetand40bdaycake012_zps8ad1b436.jpg
 
Great lookin target John!

We keep the AR500 at the range pretty well lubed to prevent rust. That does sound a bit excessive though...
 
No, this was like used motor oil smeared all over it. It was so much that it seeped through the cardboard box it was in.

I commented about it during the ebay feedback as well.

You can forget about painting it right now. It would never adhere.

The other two were ordered from separate companies because I'm trying to figure out who is going to be getting my return business.

And not to mention get the best price for the ones I wanted.
 
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