American Airguns Blog
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Field Target Tester
Last fall I developed a very simple but rough field target tester (ft tester roughcut) after a suggestion by Nick Jenkinson. We were talking after the Worlds match and he suggested that a simple device that you could put up to a field target and fire it to test it without actually having to shoot it. It was a great idea and I came up with my first rough design. Over the weekend I finally took the time to develop a prototype unit that I believe I can make reliably.
Last week there was a discussion on one of the FT forums about AAFTA testing targets. Somewhere along the line I saw a thread about the Croman 2240 air pistol and I noticed that the CO2 tube was very close in size to my target tester and BAM, the light went on. I went down a day later to my local Gander Mountain and bought a 2240. Man, the 2240 is a simple gun to tear down. With three minutes I had all the pistol stripped and ready for developing. With a few hours of play and testing I was able to make the parts and tweak the springs and had a nice working prototype.
It is simple to use, to cock it you just push in on the plunger until it cocks. Then you put the plunger up to kill zone and pull the trigger. The safety even works. The plunger doesn't shoot out of the end hard enough to hurt anyone so the safety really isn't necessary. I still have some work to do to the design but I think it will work out pretty good.
ft tester prototype video - large
ft tester prototype video - small
Last week there was a discussion on one of the FT forums about AAFTA testing targets. Somewhere along the line I saw a thread about the Croman 2240 air pistol and I noticed that the CO2 tube was very close in size to my target tester and BAM, the light went on. I went down a day later to my local Gander Mountain and bought a 2240. Man, the 2240 is a simple gun to tear down. With three minutes I had all the pistol stripped and ready for developing. With a few hours of play and testing I was able to make the parts and tweak the springs and had a nice working prototype.
It is simple to use, to cock it you just push in on the plunger until it cocks. Then you put the plunger up to kill zone and pull the trigger. The safety even works. The plunger doesn't shoot out of the end hard enough to hurt anyone so the safety really isn't necessary. I still have some work to do to the design but I think it will work out pretty good.
ft tester prototype video - large
ft tester prototype video - small
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Auto Resetting Practice Field Target
Since I first posted about my new auto resetting practice FT target I have been working on and refining the design. I had two more faces plates and paddles cut out by a gentleman I found on line who has a computer controlled plasma cutter. The revised designs cut on the CCPC appeared to work really well so far. I have had the flu the last few days so I have only been able to do a few limited tests on these targets. However they fall over with less energy than the original target and reset a bit slower. I am also going to use a thinner material for the flag so I should be able to make it a bit bigger and easier to see.
I have ten targets faces that I want to make once I get the design down. The faces should be complete interchangable with the based and paddles. Lord willing, I hope to be able to sell just the faces so the shooters can swap out different faces on one base or change the face to a smaller kill zone. I haven't figured out an effective and inexpensive reducer yet but I am thinking about it. I am also thinking of an add on component that could hold the paddle longer but it would require a battery.
Right now I have a design for black bird, frog, prairie dog, 2 rabbits, rook, skunk, sparrow, squirrel, and a squirrel climbing up. If you have any suggestions for target faces, shoot me an email with your suggestion and I will take them under consideration. Thanks.
I have ten targets faces that I want to make once I get the design down. The faces should be complete interchangable with the based and paddles. Lord willing, I hope to be able to sell just the faces so the shooters can swap out different faces on one base or change the face to a smaller kill zone. I haven't figured out an effective and inexpensive reducer yet but I am thinking about it. I am also thinking of an add on component that could hold the paddle longer but it would require a battery.
Right now I have a design for black bird, frog, prairie dog, 2 rabbits, rook, skunk, sparrow, squirrel, and a squirrel climbing up. If you have any suggestions for target faces, shoot me an email with your suggestion and I will take them under consideration. Thanks.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Target Sears Update
I while back I wrote about updating the sear on my metal targets that were based on my wood design (http://www.airguns.net/blog/2008/01/target-sears.html). Well, I updated an older Dragon Fly Juneau target that I gave me constant problems with the new sear. Now it is working great. I took some time to take a few pictures of the new sear so I thought I would post them here.
