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A Charging Target on a Cable: Firing Line to the Berm and Back

2 hours ago
2 min read

A charging drill needs the cable to run along the lane rather than across it: from the firing point back to the berm, with the target starting downrange and driving toward the shooter. On this range that meant a span from the firing-line structure to the berm behind the 50 m point, a support halfway along because the roof at the line was too low to keep the sag out, and a cable left a little slack because the building was not ours to load up. Two kinds of customers use this layout: the ones running charging drills, and the ones who use the same run to bring targets back to the line without walking.

A cardboard silhouette on the X1 Pro cable coming straight down the lane toward the firing line
The target on its way in. The same cable takes it straight back out for retrieval.

The rig

  • Kevlar cable from the firing-line structure to the berm, past the 50 m point.

  • A mid-span support. The roof over the line was low, so without it the cable sagged too much in the middle.

  • Less tension than usual. If the structure had been ours, the line would have been pulled tighter; it was not, so the sag stayed and the drill ran anyway.

  • A cardboard silhouette on lumber, because a charging target should be light and cheap.

The X1 Pro target carriage on the cable overhead, seen from below against the sky
The carriage overhead. On this run it wore a different motor set, so it looked and sounded a little off.

The numbers behind it: the X1 Pro carries up to 20 lb of target at up to 10 feet per second, its remote reaches 450 m, and the standard kit ships with 100 ft of cable and an 800 lb hand winch. A charging run at 10 feet per second covers 50 m in about 16 seconds; slow it down from the remote to suit the drill.

The drill

The target starts at the berm end. On the command it drives straight at the firing point, and the shooter has until it reaches the stop to draw and hit it. Then it drives itself back out, which is the retrieval half of the same setup: the run that brings a target to you is the run that sends one at you.

A shooter drawing a pistol on an open grass range as the charging target comes toward them
Draw and fire as it closes. The drill ends when the target reaches the stop.

Can a person outrun it

It is the question every demo gets. Someone sprinted the lane beside the cable while the target charged. The answer is in the video, and the point stands either way: the carriage moves at the speed a person moves, which is what makes the drill worth running.

A person sprinting down the range beside the cable to race the charging target to the firing line
The question we get: can a person outrun it? Someone tried.
Standing beside the cardboard silhouette on its lumber at the firing line end of the cable
A cardboard silhouette on lumber. Light, cheap, and the right thing to have coming at you.

One note on the carriage in this video

The carriage on this run carried a different motor set that was being tried for another product. If it looks or sounds a little different from yours, or slips on the line more than yours does, that is why. A standard X1 Pro runs the same rig.

The system is the X1 Pro (AR500): cable-based, set up on most ranges in minutes, and packed away from rented space at the end of the day. For a demo call where we run it on our range and check it against your layout, use the book a demo page.

 
 
 

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