Making a Target Using Insulating and Expanding Foam

My bag targets, which had been up for 3 summers and winters, started to rot out and I decided to try to replace them with foam. My first choice was to us the targets that are made up of stacked layers of plastic foam sheet. These are really great, but expensive. I had two 3x4 foot ones that I bought used. I repaired these with expanding foam from a spray can, which seems to work pretty well.

My next effort was to buy two 4 x8 sheets of 2' insulation foam, cut these in half and make up 4' square target stop. The foam didn't stop the arrows terribly well. Even my 35# arrows went almost all the way through. I still had the 4 x 4 sheets whole. I cut 1' off of each of them and then glued up a block that was 10" thick and 4 x 4', using three of the 1' cutoff pieces to make the inner, fifth layer of thickness. This gave me a big foam block thick enough to stop my arrows. However, while shopping around and getting ideas, I found a couple of nice smaller Ames burlap target faces... a peccary and a coyote. These faces were rougly 2 x 3'. OK... I cut the 4' square block in two, making two 2 x 3' blocks. Then I laid the burlap faces on them and marked where the kill zones would be. Then I cut a 1' diameter hole through the blocks where the kill zone would be. Finally, I filled each hole with two whole cans of Great Stuff expanding foam. The plan is that as the targets get shot up in the kill zones, I can easily repair the area just by squirting in more foam

I glued the burlap faces on with spray upholstery glue. I had an unused side to one of my bags, showing one of my painted on woodchucks, and a more or less whole face showing one of my painted on raccoons. I cut these out of the bag remainders and glued them on the backs of the foam blocks, just to provide some variety.

Now, I have to admit to some carelessness... I managed to reformat my camera before I downloaded one batch of pix... so I lost a couple of steps... However, here are those I have and i think they'll give you the idea. How well this will work and how long the targets will last remains to be seen, but it was a lot of fun and gives me some new things to shoot at, plus, it presented an opportunity to post yet another target making idea here...

Dick

I didn't get a picture of the 4 x 4' block, but here you see one of the two pieces I cut it into. I'm sawing out the kill zone hole. This was very crudely done, as the saw didn't reach all the way through, but with a long wire to poke through to mark the center, and a big compass to draw the circle, I worked from both sides and got it done.

 

 

 

Here I have laid the block on a piece of paper, ready to start squirting in foam... This foam is a very, very powerful glue, so be careful where you get it!

 

I emptied a can into the hole and it filled it less than half full. The second can filled it up to about 3/4 full. This is actually the second block... on the first one I learned to build the foam around the outside and leave the center low... the foam will expand mostly from the center. Among the pictures I lost were those showing the foam the next day. It swelled to something like 5" above the surface. I let it set for two days before sawing off the swelling.

 
Note: The foam will gel very slowly in the deep inside of the hole. Let things set for a couple of days before trying to shoot an arrow into it. The center may still be goopy. If you do get the foam on an arrow, clean it off with nail polish remover.

 

Target block in position, with face glued on...

 

Back of block... used old raccoon face. I can get some variety by flipping the blocks

 

 

The coyote face... note how I camoflaged the block a bit by spraying the stark white edges with some black, gray and dark green paint I had on hand from painting raccoons and woodchucks...

 

Again, I used a woodchuck bag back to back the second block.

 

Updated Backyard Range

 

Since what started all of this was the need for range maintenance, here is a set of pix going around the more or less updated range. I still hope to replace the remaining bag targets with the big blocks of sheet plastic. Our local range is supposed to replace theirs with new one next month and I'm down to get several of the old ones. This wasn't the greatest moring to get pictures... the morning sun was right into most of the best shots, but it gives you the idea...

 

 

Target 1... due to sun, couldn't get a picture from the actual shooting position, which is further than this

 

Target 2 is the bear, shot variously from 20, 25, 30 and/or 18 yards. Not sure If I want to try the coyote from here or not... the block is angled and I don't want to see any ricochets into the fence...

Target 3... again, from closer than the shooting position due to the sun... This is normally an elk face and shot from 22 yards.

 

Down along the back fence we have targets 4, 5, and 6... the pecarry, a turkey that's really just one of my old bags propped up, and down in the sunlight, the coyote. These are about 10, 12 and 15 yards.

 

 

Target 7 .. After shooting those last three, you have to walk out and around the big tree and back to the bear, to recover arrows. This leaves you facing the back of the shed the first target was mounted on. This is a deer, but will be replaced with half of a small animal face... the crow and gopher. Distance is a shy ten yards.

 

Target 8... After leaving the back corner, you walk across the yard and shoot at this one from about 13 yards. I had a turkey here which was great, and I think that will come back.

 

Again, those bag targets will be replaced with plastic blocks as soon as I can do it. All in all, it's been a terrific and seviceable range for three years now, and with the current updates, should carry on for quite awhile.

 

 

Dick