• ODT Gun Show & Swap Meet - May 4, 2024! - Click here for info

Looking for a new Target - need some advice!

joshua.neal2012

Default rank <750 posts
Frontiersman
27   0
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
718
Reaction score
245
Location
Kennesaw
So I have broken open the bow case after a (too long) hiatus, and have set myself up a little range in my basement. Combination of long work hours and Biblical amounts of rain have led to "not shooting outside."

I have 10-15 yards to shoot (depends on where I am standing and where I put the target etc) and I am currently shooting in to an older (cheaper) foam target - I THINK it is a Morrell? It is a combo crossbow/compound target - rated for broadheads - the whole nine yards. It does an excellent job of stopping my arrows (well - I have only had three poke through the other side since 2012).

The problem here is not stopping the arrows, but pulling them out. I am shooting a Bowtech Insanity CPXL (IBO 340+) with some Carbon Express Maxima Blue-Streaks (which are hustling). My bow draw weight is 72#, while the TARGET draw weight is somewhere in the vicinity of 16,478#. I have to yell things like KING ARTHUR..... EXCALIBUR.... SWORD IN THE STONE.... HELP ME MERLIN!!!!!!! to pull the arrows out. My wife thinks it is funny, but I have felt like I am about to pass out three or four times in the past week.

I decided I had enough when I had an arrow partially penetrate the thing and I literally could not pull it out, so I had to sort of... well... beat the field point on my concrete floor to give myself enough slack to actually pull the thing out...

Are there any targets that you guys know of that will stop a hard hitting hunting arrow (I may change arrows to a skinnier heavier one soon) at close range - but will not give me a hernia trying to pull the dang arrows out of it?
 
I have a broad head target that I rarely use, not sure of the brand, but it’s similar to what you are describing (some kind of compressed gel like foam). It’s only use is to check that my broad heads hit where my field points do. Oddly enough, the broad heads pull out fine but if I shoot points in it they almost vacuum themselves in. I use a thick Rhineart bag target for shooting at home, it’s bulky but has held up well and not too expensive.
 
I have a broad head target that I rarely use, not sure of the brand, but it’s similar to what you are describing (some kind of compressed gel like foam). It’s only use is to check that my broad heads hit where my field points do. Oddly enough, the broad heads pull out fine but if I shoot points in it they almost vacuum themselves in. I use a thick Rhineart bag target for shooting at home, it’s bulky but has held up well and not too expensive.
Do you have to get checked for hernias every time you use the bag target?
 
Look on the internet for the “blob” targets.
Shoot a target point with a more rounded tip to decrease penetration. Accuracy won’t suffer much at close range.
Invest in one of the silicone arrow pullers that slips over the arrow shaft. They make pulling arrows a lot easier.
 
Back
Top Bottom