Paintball

[BilboTC2]

I guess I'm floating a question out there about setting up a practice cage in the back yard for practice and target. I've already checked and it's ok to discahrge a marker in my community on private property. I googled "paintball netting" and got a bunch of golf practice netting...while the holes in the net are much smaller than a paintball..lots of paint would make it to the other side. Also what came up is the professional netting set-ups, 10 feet high and 200 foot lengths..a little more than what my yard and maybe some of my neighbours (if I claimed emminent domain), could handle. I thought about the heavy canvas painters tarp which would show the hits nicely but clean - up has to be a bear. I'm guessing a good choice would be the plastice heavy duty blue/ green/ brown/ silver tarp from Home Depot, clean up would be a hose, just concerned about penetration since I'll be targetting from about 20 feet away. Anybody try a homemade set-up or is there a retail version that doesn't show in a google search? Thanks for the help!

BTC

[mullet]

My home set up is a peice of plywood and paper plates put onto said peice of plywood. You're not going to get any penetration through that, then if you really wanted you could just put that infront of the side of your house and run a tarp from the roof down to the grass and if its long enough foward to catch all the debrie of paint shells then clean up would be pretty easy. I dont use a tarp and just hose off what i get on my house if any ever gets on their.

[Mirage]

We just use trees, not sure if thats such a good idea, though.

[Crash]

When I had my shop I did a shooting booth on the grass next door to our building downtown. I used the plywood back-stop with hinged metal targets and had a PVC frame that I ran netting over......think batters cage! It worked great and all I had to do is rinse off the back-stop and pick-up unbroken paint while the rain took care of the rest!

[BilboTC2]

Thanks, guess I left a little out, my biggest concern is missing the target and an errant ball sailing through the chain link fence and taking out a neighbour. The target was going to be a hinged drop down points target but I wanted as mentioned by Crash was a batter cage that would stop a paintball. So I'm looking for a fine netting or a complete barrier.

[Crash]

The biggest concern with the netting is it has to be UV Stable or it will have to be replaced often as it will break down in the sun. Paintball netting is made to take repeated hits but you might be able to use something else but I would suggest if you can getting a small piece if you can and try shooting it several times to see if it holds up. My first choice thought would be Paintball netting. You might also check at the fields you play at and see if they might have some extra sitting around they would sell at a fair price.

[DarkStar]

Originally Posted by BilboTC2

or is there a retail version that doesn't show in a google search? Thanks for the help!

BTC

Indeed there is: http://www.snapcage.com/

A bit pricey but looks cool. Saw it in this month's APG magazine.

This is the one I want: http://www.mightypaintball.com/products-atf.htm

Let us know what you end up doing.

-MR

[Titus]

I have a bunch of photos of the support structure and netting if you need any types of ideas, let me know, I'll be uploading them, the photos are from the NPPL from Tampa.

[Mirage]

Well if its just a chain link fence you could lay a large canvas over it, or plywood. Both are cheap and easy to find.

[Rap4paintball]

Here is my dream, chrono/target range. Its small, relatively cheap, and you build it so its an experience.



The face is a 4x8 plywood sheet. About 5, 2x4 studs (a studs 8 foot right?). A construction cone (home depot or lowes should have them if you already dont or just ask a forman on a road crew, if they have really bad ones they normally will just give them to you.). 2 foot piece of rubber hose that will fit over the end of the cone. Hose clamp that will fit around the hose and cone end. Five gallon bucket. Its kind of self explanitory. If not just ask and I'll draw up better plans.

Now to the enclosure.




20 - 10 foot sections of cheap pvc (1" or bigger). 8 - pvc "corners". 4 - pvc 4ways. Bunch of thick zip ties. And stopper netting. Makes 10'x10'x20' enclosure.

Build "cage", zip tie stopper netting to it. I'd ask your local field (if they use netting of course) to get some scrap if they have any, or buy some off of them. If that fails, call a paintball netting supply store and ask if you can buy it by the foot. Hope this helps.