RANGE TARGET STICK HOLDERS

My shooting club has several "general purpose" ranges that have no set firing line.   In addition, most of them don't have target holders.   Just a earthen  berm backstop.    Because of their unstructured nature, they're good for handgun practice at various distances,   but a guy does need targets to do target practice. 

I wanted a system that takes about no room in the car,  weighs little so it's easy to hump downrange.  

What I came up with is essentially a pair of clamps welded to what are essentially tent stakes.   The clamps are sized to accept 1x2's, which are available at Home Depot for 41 cents apiece.     I grab the two clamps,  two sticks, a piece of cardboard, a target, my stapler and a hammer  and go downrange.  I prefer  not to use guns as hammers.  It'd work but it lacks finesse and guns cost way more  than hammers.    I will confess  to having used a stapler as a field-expedient hammer.    

I pound the stakes into the ground,  insert  the 1x2 sticks,   tighten the clamp screws.  Staple cardboard to sticks, staple target(s) to cardboard, I'm good to go.  That's assuming, of course, that there are any staples in the stapler,  and if not that there are some in the range bag after a hike back and forth.   Don't ask me how I know that....

Here are the parts for one clamp:

The clamp screw was made on the lathe,  is end-drilled .187" and the bottom is faced flat.  The T-handle is silver brazed into a milled pocket.   The little pin is a press fit.  The clamp foot will be secured to the clamp screw by pressing in the pin (with a bit of Loctite 609 on it) so that the foot can still rotate freely but with only slight wobble.   The clamp screw is zinc-plated.

The rest of the parts were then welded together.  The three flat pieces were welded to make a U channel since I don't have a brake that can bend  1/8" steel.  The "bridge" for the nut  is a bit of 1" x 1/2" channel.  The nut  is a bit of 5/8" dia  CRS bar stock turned, drilled and tapped on the lathe.  The round piece at bottom left will be welded to the tent stake to  provide a place to hit with a hammer without peening and barfing up  the stake unduly soon.  The stake is just a misc bit of 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/8" angle I had laying around.  

After welding,  then into the zinc plating bucket:

Then assemble the clamp foot and pin to the clamp screw using the clamp itself as a press, and voila: