demonwolf444 Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 A while ago myself and a friend gave ourselves a little scrap heap style project to build a ball trap similar to the one pictures below except ours was particularly rudimentary/boarder line dangerous. Anyway i pulled it out of the scrap pile the other day and decided that it would actually be quite fun to make it properly and shoot some targets from it. But there is really no point unless i can solve the following problem. The main reason we stopped playing around with it was finding suitable targets for it to fling, tennis ball worked to some extent but if we were to be shooting the things flying from the trap the best target would be something, cheap, easily producible and somewhat reactive. The best we managed within the three or four hours this project entertained us was balls of flour wrapped in cling film, which would break on impact and flew quite well. Any idea's appreciated and i may get this project underway again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danger-Mouse Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Water balloons, or maybe cheap eggs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted June 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Eggs would make for a small target, water balloons however might just do it if they don't break in the trap; i can't believe we never thought of anything that simple responsive and no mess keep the idea's coming and I'll get the trap built more substantially! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danger-Mouse Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Potatoes . . . that way you could have a dedicated "spud gun" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshwarrior Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Onions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danger-Mouse Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 water balloons however might just do it if they don't break in the trap; i can't believe we never thought of anything that simple responsive and no mess keep the idea's coming and I'll get the trap built more substantially! Line the cup with foam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Beef tomatoes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerboy Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 (edited) Papier Mache balls. I am against using/wasting food as targets. Edited June 17, 2015 by bakerboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebarrels Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Doggie donuts,goes up as a ball and comes down as fertilizer BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnphilip Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Elephant dung :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southeastpete Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 I had built something great to share with you. Then I saw you meant a contraption for throwing things to shoot at... I used to like shooting empty dog food tins, as afterward I could go and count how many hits I got, and see the density of hits etc. I found it a better way of testing shells than pattern testing... On yours I bet full tins would fly well Trying to think of other objects that would stay intact so you could count hits... When I was in America last, I got a self healing rubber type target. It's about 8 inches across and a 3d geometric shape. I won't show hits but at least it's reusable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
subsonicnat Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Some 25 years back (About):: I had some MIDI CLAYS made up in a Foundry made of ALUM.. They Flew A treat just like real clays,, you had to be careful of Richochets if the target came over your head, but going away no Problem. I used Fluorescent PAINT,, SPRAY CAN TYPE: it showed the Hits A Treat, Then Quick Spray and few minutes Drying and off again.. I Was Really Pleased with Them.. May have them around somewhere..lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 there is really no point unless i can solve the following problem. The main reason we stopped playing around with it was finding suitable targets for it to fling, Consider this >> take the cup off and make a bracket / container that would allow a clay >> maybe a rabbit or midi clay to be mounted vertically on the side of the spring to be launched straight up Or a double track mounted vertically that a clay would be slotted into and launched vertically by a springy bungee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tignme Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 Melt clays n form balls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 If the stories are to be believed, check out Thai Bride in the playpen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted June 18, 2015 Report Share Posted June 18, 2015 I remember Adam Heart-Davis, in one of his "What the Victorians did for us" program's talking about this type of shooting. Back in the day, the targets were glass balls filled with feathers and I have always thought about how to make a suitable target for modern times. I'm liking the water bloom idea as well as the flour. How about balloons of sand (to give weight) and feathers (for effect). You have got me thinking now. Out of interest, what weight and size of projectile were you using and how far were you throwing them? I will look forward to your progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnphilip Posted June 19, 2015 Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 What ever you do deside, think of the livestock. dont want you getting a vets bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted June 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 What ever you do deside, think of the livestock. dont want you getting a vets bill. Too right - its a field we rent from a local farmer and we do have horses in. Thank you gents for all the responses you have certainly given be some to think about. The two idea's i really like the sound of are to convert the throwing arm for clays this could easily be done with some angle iron and I'm all about keeping this project simple, you could quite easily get room in the bracket to mount two carriers and because the clays would be held on their side the flight would be more random than frisby style like a normal clay thrower. Obvious advantage being that clays are cheap and readily available. The other idea i like is the water balloon idea, it could be filled with something inert like sand and feathers and the other than a very small bit of rubber there is nothing that won't rot away. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be difficult to create an arrangement where it could have an interchangeable fixture allowing a cup or clay attachment to the tip of the arm. It pretty obvious why the original invention was less favored than what became the normal clay trap, the whole design does not transfer energy to the projectile well and you can see in the video below of an original ball trap the trajectory is pretty poor as the spring is meant to be easy to load. ( starts at about 2 mins in ) at three minutes in you can see the original is cocked just using your hand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sppYPJnrWU On our design we have bolted two or three ( can't remember ) leafs from a leaf leaf spring from a series landrover together the whole piece is substantially bigger and the device required the full weight of a person on the arm to force the arm down to the cocked position the effect was that a tennis ball would be thrown about 30 yards high and 30 yards away the flour projectiles which were obviously denser flew about 40 yards high and 40 yards far We have some big oak and ash logs to hand so first thing would be to cut one down to form a good solid base for the contraption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted June 19, 2015 Report Share Posted June 19, 2015 After seeing that vid I think my idea of the clay being propelled up two parallel tracks be some sort of bungee would present a better target. You could even attach a bit of streamer to the clay which would trail along behind like a tail because the clay wouldn't be spinning like a normal clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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