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A Gravity Moving Target for the Price of Cable, Wood and Pulleys

6 days ago
3 min read

A moving target with no motor needs a cable on a slope, a hanger on two pulleys, and something to let it go. Ours ran on a cable dropped four feet from one end of the bay to the other, a 2x4 hanger on two pulleys, and a length of paracord back to the firing line so whoever runs the line can release it. The first slope was nowhere near steep enough. The second one worked, at the cost of a shorter run.

Watch: We Built Our Own Moving Target System... Here's How It Works (15:32) on YouTube. The whole build, including the stall, the re-rig and the shooting from cover to cover.

Who this is for

Our powered systems are built for military and police training: a remote with recorded movement patterns, exact speed control, and a range of 450 metres that can be extended. That is more than a backyard shooter needs to put a few rounds on movement at the weekend. This rig is the cheap way in. It has to be walked down and reset after every run, and someone has to pull the cord, but it moves.

The parts

  • A cable run between two anchors. We used the same points our X1 Pro normally runs on: a hand winch at one end and a screw-in earth anchor at the other.

  • An 800 pound boat-style hand winch, cable clips to close the loops, and a D-ring.

  • Two pieces of 2x4 and two flush-mount pulleys for the hanger.

  • Paracord, long enough to reach the firing line, for the release.

  • Optional: two plywood panels for the target to run between, so each run is a cover-to-cover exposure.

Screwing a flush-mount pulley into a short length of 2x4 on the grass to make the target hanger
The hanger: two pieces of 2x4 and two flush-mount pulleys, screwed together on the ground.

How it is rigged

  1. Run the cable between the anchors and drop the far end. We lowered our normal cable four feet at one end for the first try.

  2. Build the hanger: two flush-mount pulleys screwed to the 2x4 pieces so the assembly rides the cable with the target hanging below.

  3. Bolt the silhouette to the hanger with the wing nuts and set it on the cable at the high end.

  4. Tie the paracord to the release at the high end and walk it back to the firing line. A pull drops the catch and the target rolls.

  5. Stand a panel at each end if you have them. The target starts hidden behind one and stops behind the other.

The end post and hand winch at the high end of the range with the cable run laid out downrange
The high end. The cable comes off the winch here and drops four feet to the far anchor.
Hands tightening a wing nut on the 2x4 hanger with the orange silhouette target attached
The silhouette bolts to the hanger; the hanger rides the cable on the two pulleys.

What went wrong

Four feet of drop over the length of the bay was not enough. The hanger sat on the cable and did not move. Part of that is the pulleys: at two inches they do not roll freely enough for a shallow slope, and part is the weight on the line. The choices were a steeper cable over a shorter span, or a second guide cable with someone pulling it like a magician's string. We went steeper. It ran, but the target now travels a shorter distance, which is the trade for gravity doing the work.

Two more things to set before anyone shoots. Find the highest start point and the lowest stop point that keep every round in the berm and off the range floor; we set the cut at waist height. And put a stopper at the low end so the hanger does not slam into the anchor, and so nobody's fingers are in the way when it arrives.

Crew standing two plywood panels on the range with the orange target between them
The panels went up in the two minutes it takes to stand them. They give the target somewhere to hide.
Two plywood panels standing on the range with the silhouette hidden behind the near one
Target parked behind cover, waiting for the cord.

The exposure

With a panel at each end the target leaves cover, crosses the gap, and stops behind the far panel. That gap is the exposure. The shooter gets one pass per pull of the cord, then someone walks down and hauls the hanger back to the top. It is not a programmable pattern and the speed is whatever the slope gives you, but from the firing line it looks like a mover.

Close view of the 2x4 hanger rolling along the cable with the orange silhouette hanging below
On the move. The hanger runs the slope, the target swings below it, and the far panel stops it.

When to stop building and buy one

If the reset walk is the part you hate, or you want speed control, direction control, recording and playback, and a remote that reaches anywhere on the range, that is what the powered systems are for. The rig in this video is the way to find out whether movement is worth it to you before spending on one.

The powered version of this is the X1 Pro (AR500). The earth anchors we tested to failure are in We Tested Three Earth Anchors Until One Broke Our Scale.

 
 
 

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Two demo slots that day — departments get priority. We screen every application — tell us about your setup and we'll confirm within 24 hours.

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