# Lifetime Target material question



## klemsontigers7 (Jul 1, 2008)

I would like to know what all you guys have had success with? I built one a couple years ago and it works great, but I'm doing another to take to hunting camp. My buddy gave me a bag of clothes that consists mainly of thin sweatshirts and camo pants (bdu type). Will this stuff be okay? There are also some jeans, what about them? I know to cut all of the buttons out but don't know if the camo pants are maybe too thick? Thanks for any help... I'm trying to round up some more old t-shirts.


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## rww7c9 (Oct 12, 2010)

Denim can be a pain in the butt because arrows are harder to pull. My target is a hodge podge of cotton t-shirts and wal-mart sacks packed as tight as I could get them in there.


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## oldschoolcj5 (Jun 8, 2009)

x 2 on the jeans being hard to pull arrows from, even though half my target guts are jeans 

next one I built will be walmart/plastic bags and shrink-wrap


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## kevman (Apr 14, 2008)

I always thought that cornstarch and water mix would make a good target I dont think it would leak though a bag target and it would self heal every time. I have never tried it though.


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## autoguns (Apr 27, 2010)

Shrink wrap packed into a old sand bag works great, its free and its light weight if you plan on packing into a camp. just remember to pack it as tight as possible.

JW


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## klemsontigers7 (Jul 1, 2008)

I've got a pile of about half of what I need... got some more hunting buddies that have some clothes I can have. I took a mattress and box springs apart when I made my last target and that took up about half of it.


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## klemsontigers7 (Jul 1, 2008)

Anyone used socks?


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## slbarr98 (Oct 30, 2008)

any clothing material should work fine. Remove buttons and zippers, jeans will be harder to pull. I've had great success doing this.


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## dustoffer (Jan 24, 2009)

I have used feed sacks, either burlap or the white woven plastic ones. Find a roadside dump with old furniture or mattresses in it, cut the fabric and pull the cotton batting stuffing out and stuff the sack as tightly as you can. Then put the full sack inside another one and sew the tops shut with heavy string/paracord. Spray a couple of aiming dots on each side and go to it. When you start getting partial pass-thrus, lay the bag on the ground and stomp it, kick it, jump on it--anything to rearrange the stuffing, and get to shooting again. May have to stick it in another sack when the original gets raggedy.


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## pumpkineater (Apr 28, 2011)

Memory foam mattress . I have a bag made w/ it and a compressed target made out of it.


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## buckman2591 (Feb 6, 2011)

I'm using a 4ft by 4ft dresser stuffed full of old clothes and carpet. Works wonders, arrows only penetrate the target face maybe 4 inches


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## loragon (Aug 1, 2011)

Goodwill also sells large boxes of (40 lbs) of cut cloth for use as rags for 10 bucks. They'll stop a point blank 300 fps bow. It's cheap and it helps the handycaped.


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## sambo. (Aug 16, 2011)

i get a bale of compressed cardboard out of the box compactor at my local supermarket and mount it on an old tyre.

cling wrap or an old woolsack (or similar) will stop little bits of chewed up cardboard drifting over the range.

when it's completely shot out and rotated through all four faces, take it to the tip and pick up a new one from the supermarket.

cost = FREE!!!!


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## AFoster (May 29, 2011)

i got the "tarp" piece off of an old trampoline, im thinking it will make great material to make the bag out of. plus it was free off the side of the road. now i just need the old clothes to fill it with.


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## Garceau (Sep 3, 2010)

We had tons of old plastic grocery bags waiting to be recycled.

I made a small 2x2 foot target yesterday to shoot in the garage over the winter.

At 315 fps from 4 feet it stops it just fine.

I have several bags of old sheets I will make a large one with for outside. Thinking 4x4.


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## 1shinytop (Jun 30, 2010)

plastic bags works the best for me. just stuff them very tight , and it takes a lot of them. weatherproof too!


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## horza12000 (Mar 21, 2009)

try shrink wrap that are used with pallet transport works a treat and doesnt hurt the arrows at all


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## Praeger (Jan 7, 2011)

I've had best success with plastic shrink wrap. Even if you don't have access to used wrap, buying a large roll isn't too expensive and should fill a medium-large bag or box target. It's advantage over rags or old clothes is that it is much lighter and is not affected by rain or humidity.

A note about using recycled grocery bags - just my experience but I think they are "slicker" that stretch wrap; so that they can be opened easily and won't stick to each other. This property though, means arrows pass through more easily than the "sticky" stretch wrap. The stretch wrap also seems to hold it's compressed shape, and is less prone to bulging the center of a bag or box target. Grocery bags will stop an arrow, but I think it takes more of them.

If you are building a box target, try plastic poultry fencing for the front/back in lieu of metal chicken wire. It is tough, but pliable; about $15 for a 25' roll.

I agree with the others that heavy duty landscaping fabric is equivalent to the material of my Hurricane bag target.


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