Airgun Target

I’m not sure how many people know this, but I am a gun geek. I know, I know, it’s the wrong thing to say. I’ve killed plenty of conversations by dropping that bomb. But, dag-nabit, it’s true!
I adore old, mechanical things and old guns are splendidly old and mechanical. You can also shoot a projectile out of one and make a can at the end of the alley jump about. Unfortunately, I don’t live out in the country so I don’t often get a chance to shoot. Our good friend Mike McMillan treated me to an hour of range time just recently and we had a delightful time. Gun ranges can be really swank or horribly stank. Mike and I went to Sharpshooters on Rutherford Road and it was totally swank! Very classy operation. But I am wandering….

Diana model 6G .177 cal. (top) and Beeman P1 .20 cal.

Since I much prefer to shoot outdoors, I have recently restored my interest in airguns. They are beautiful mechanical machines that can be safely and responsibly shot in the city. I’ve been having a some very satisfying and relaxing afternoons sitting in the back yard plinking at rocks and tin cans. Great fun but I want to build some interesting and challenging airgun targets. I made a few in the past and really enjoyed myself.

So let’s try to make a target box with swinging knives.

I saw this online and it looked solid, easy and cheap. Those are soup spoons with bent handles.

It is a homemade copy of this:

I went to the thrift store and all they had were knives and forks – no spoons. “Hmmm, seems to me that these knife handles would take a beating just fine. All I need to do is bend the blades.” This is what I came up with:

I heated the blades until they were cherry red.

I then wrapped the heated end around a steel rod.

I used some scrap lumber to build a  box around the knives and cut some conduit for spacers to go in between the knives. I will add a slanted back in the future to catch the pellets.

It actually works well! The knife handles are heavy enough that the knives don’t spin all the way around.

I found this old target of mine.

I was using this Tau-7 Standard .177 CO2 pistol.