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A Moving Target Bay in One Hour: Two Timber Walls, No Concrete

7 days ago
2 min read

A moving-target stage can go onto a bare bay in an hour with no contractor and no concrete. The video has the build clock burned into the corner from the empty grass at 00:00 to the first shots at 58:10, so every step shows what it costs in time. Two timber wall panels are framed flat on the ground and stood up at each end of the bay. The mover is assembled on a bench on site. The cable goes overhead between the walls, gets guyed and tensioned, and the targets go on. There is no narration and nothing was cut out; the parts that went sideways are in it.

Watch: Building a Moving Target Bay in 1 Hour (9:53) on YouTube. Crew, lumber, hardware and daylight, in build order.

Chapters in the video: 0:00 The stage, finished | 0:14 Hour zero: an empty bay | 1:24 Wall two goes up | 2:24 Building the mover | 3:14 Standing and guying the walls | 3:50 Running the cable | 4:54 Rigging the overhead line | 6:34 Mover on the cable, first run | 7:30 First shots | 8:15 Reading the hits | 8:43 Running the stage

The empty grass bay at build clock 00:00 with the crew and a stack of lumber at the far end
00:00. Grass, lumber, a mower line, nothing else.

The build, by the clock

  1. 00:00. Lumber on the grass at the far end of the bay, the crew, and a bench for the mover.

  2. 04:40. The first wall panel is framed on the ground and stood at one end.

  3. 17:00. The tool tray comes out for the mover: the carriage is assembled on site rather than arriving built.

  4. 20:00. The second wall panel is framed and stood at the other end of the bay.

  5. 28:00. Each wall is guyed and pulled square before any load goes on it.

  6. 32:00. The cable is run between the walls, over the top, and tensioned.

  7. 34:50. The mover goes onto the cable and makes its first run.

  8. 58:10. First shots, from the shooter's own camera. Then the hits are read and the stage is run properly.

The first timber wall panel framed and standing at one end of the bay at build clock 04:40
04:40. Wall one, framed flat on the ground and stood up.
Two people standing the second framed wall panel at the far end of the bay at build clock 20:00
20:00. Wall two goes up, with the mover already assembled on the bench between them.

Why walls instead of posts

A framed timber panel stands on the ground and is held by its guy lines, so nothing goes into the earth and nothing is poured. On a range that is rented, shared, or not yours to dig, that is the difference between a stage and a permission slip. The panels also give the target somewhere to disappear behind at each end of the run, which is what turns a moving target into an exposure.

Tensioning a guy line on the wall panel at build clock 28:06 with the second wall visible downrange
28:06. Each wall gets guyed before the cable puts a sideways load on it.
Both walls standing with the overhead cable strung between them at build clock 32:14
32:14. The line is up between the two walls.

What is in the hour and what is not

  • In: framing both walls, assembling the mover, standing and guying, running and tensioning the cable, hanging targets, first shots.

  • Not in: cutting the lumber to length beforehand, and carrying it to the bay. Do that the day before and the clock in the video is honest for a first build.

  • The hour was with a crew. One person can do it; it takes longer than the clock shows, and standing the walls wants a second pair of hands.

The mover carriage on the overhead cable between the two walls at build clock 34:54, first run
34:54. Mover on the cable, first run.
Helmet camera view down a pistol at the moving target between the two walls at build clock 58:10
58:10. First shots, from the shooter's own camera.
The finished stage from the firing line: two walls, the cable, the target moving between them
The stage running. Under the hour, on grass, with nothing poured.

The mover on the cable is the X1 Pro (AR500). The post-and-anchor way to carry the same cable, with the parts list, is in Set Up a Moving Target System Without Digging Post Holes, and the two-trees version is in Tree to Tree: A Moving Target Between Two Trees in 25 Minutes.

 
 
 

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