Pictures Of The Varmint Hunters Jamboree
Time Out With The Prairie Dogs
Since it is not "politically correct" to say we are looking for prairie dogs to blast or vaporize. In order to be politically correct we can say we are looking for target enriched areas or looking for an area enriched with targets.
Thats me, Sir Misses Alot-->My Shootin Buddy
How to make easy and cheap wind
flags.
Sorry, I don't have any larger images of the wind flags
The components that I used was, a reflector, fiberglass electric
fence post, plastic tee, survey ribbon and a steel ball. Take the reflector
and electric fence post over to the plastic tees are kept. Try the tees on the
shaft of the reflector. You are looking for one that is some what tight. You
don’t want one that will slide on easily. Then try it over the fence post. If
it fits a little snug no problem. Will just have to sand the top of the post
down a little it gain some clearance. Once you find your tee, look up the inside
where it fits over the fence post. You should see a hole about the size of
1/4”. Find a steel ball that will fit snugly in the hole. This will provide
a pivot point on top of the fence post and reduce friction making it more sensitive
to wind changes. Most hardware stores will carry steel balls if not most implement
dealers will (John Deere, Case International, ect.). I use surveyors ribbon
for the ribbon. Actually any nylon ribbon will work. For the assembly, push
the tee over the shaft of the shaft of the reflector. Tie the ribbon through
the hole in top of the reflector. With the tee on the end of your finger find
the balance point of the reflector and ribbon by sliding the tee one way or
another. Once it is found take a marker or pencil and make a mark at the end
of the tee. At this point take the steel ball and push it in to the hole. Remove
any sharp edges at the edge of the opening that fits over the fence post.
Make sure the top of the fence post is flat and has no sharp edges. If the fence
post does not fit in the tee without any resistance, sand the top portion of
the post to give some clearance. You don’t want a real loose fit so it bobs
around, just loose enough for the wind to be able to move it. Once you have
that part mastered you are done. Go stick the post in the ground and set the
reflector on the top and you are ready to go.
This is a chart that is used for calculating
the value of wind speed to use.
This is what happens when not being careful.
This is a 243 shot in a rifle chambered for a 270. How did this happen? Well
as the story goes, he was out coyote hunting and had his son load some clips
for him. His son (not knowing different) put the 243 cartiage in the clip with
the 270 cartiages handed his dad the clip. When the shooting started the 243
got chambered and fired, as you can see the results.
This Is My So Called Balloon Machine That I Made For Practicing Moving Targets.
I rented a movie one evening and it showed some guys using a weed eater and
pulleys to run a balloon across between two trees and that got me to thinking
(used loosely). First I didn't want to be down range running the weed eater
while someone else was trying to hit a moving target. That just didn't seem
quite right. One Saturday I set out to make something and this is what developed.
The power source was one of the big hurdles and I opted for the 12 volt dc
since there would be a vehicle with me. The draw back to this is that there
is cord needed long enough to run from the control box to the stand with the
motor. The control box clipped right on the battery posts. The weedeater motor
might be able to be adapted as a power source however most weedeaters I have
been around seem to be more temperamental then most women. The motor I used
(because I had it) came on a weed sprayer and ran an agitator to keep the
spray mixed up. I would think a blower motor would work also. Specially nice
if it had the high, med and low built in to it. The motor I used is a single
speed so I used a headlight switch from an older car (72 Torino) to turn on
the power (park light side) and to control the speed by using the instrument
light dimmer part of the switch. I put a switch in line to reverse the polarity
which will reverse the direction of the motor. This is used if and when a
balloon gets caught and stops the string, which does happen. This worked pretty
good. I'm planning on eliminating the cords by making a wireless remote control
to run the speed and direction and have the controls and battery down by the
stand. Just waiting to come up with the right pieces at the right price (cheap
or nothing). This outfit that I made was made out of aluminum post for legs
and flat for the rest of the stand. Three of the pulleys are idler pulleys
from mid 70's to early 80's cars. These and the bars that they are attached
were steel. The other pulley is attached to the steel shaft (5/8") that is
connected to the motor. I drilled a hole in the center of the end of the shaft,
the size of the shaft on the motor. Then tapped the side of the shaft for
a set screw to tighten up against the motor shaft. The bearings that are used
for support on the shaft are some cheap self centering bearings. The legs
on mine pivot for storage and to tighten up the string that the balloons attach
to. The string that I used was 80 and 100 lb test catfish string. Once
it was around the pulleys and ran for a while it would loosen up to the point
where I had to remove the stake from one of the inside legs and push it out
to add more tension. I did try some decoy string but that didn't seem to work
as good, it acted like it was trying to untwist and the balloons were going
around in the string and getting caught or breaking. The distance between
the two stands is determined by how much string you use. The longest one I
have will place the stands 35 yards apart and has hooks for 10 balloons. I
used the snap hook off a fishing swivel. At first I left the swivel complete
but that allowed too much free movement and to hard to control the balloons.
Then I removed the hook from the swivel and just used that. Just blow up the
balloons to the size you want and open the hook and run it through the balloon
next to the knot and close up the hook and your ready to go. One hint is to
buy larger balloons and only blow them up to the size you want. An eight inch
balloon blown up to 6" will take a lot more bouncing and abuse then a six
inch balloon blown up to max. Get balloons of different colors, this way if
you have more then one shooter there is no confusion on who hit it.
Portable Solid Shooting Bench
There is no larger images for this shooting bench
If you want a portable, solid, non moving bench to shoot from, this is one.
It is portable in that you can take it along but not as in picking it up and
carrying it across dog towns. This bench weighs in at 72lbs. If you have never
shot off a well built bench that does not move, you don't know what you are
missing. Line up the reticle up on the target without you touching the bench,
then lean on it as you would when getting ready to fire, if it moved it's
not solid enough, as it will move under firing conditions too. This one won't
move under those conditions, you can lean into this bench. This bench is 30"
high and should be about 29" for me. The length is 43" and the next one will
be 48" The width is 26" which works ok but another 2" wouldn't hurt for added
equipment. The front legs are at a 35' angle and the rear are at 28' angle.
The rear legs are also closer together so they will not be in the way of the
seat. The longer legs go in front for a level bench and then go to the rear
if your rest is too tall for lining up on the target. The legs are made from
1 1/4" pipe. The top is an older solid core door (not the press wood core)
which makes a good solid surface. The bolts that hold the leg brackets to
the bench were counter sunk and then filled in over the top to provide a smooth
flat surface.
The Latest Shooting Bench
As it turned out I have two left hand shooters in the family and I was informed by them that a bench made for right handers just wasn't going to cut it for them. Off to the drawing board and shop to come up with another portable solid bench. This bench is is made from aluminum with 1" black pipe for legs and carpet for a top. It weighs in at 68lbs measures 3' X 4' and from top to the ground is 27". The front legs are at a 35' angle and the rear are at 28' angle. The rear legs are also closer together so they will not be in the way of the seat.
Last Updated 9-21-02
