Hey everybody. I wanted to share my pattern board build with you. It works great for me and it will for you too! Here is what you will need to build it with:
2 - 2"x6"x6 feet long.
2 - Target Stakes
8 - 3/8" thick bolts @ 3&1/2" in length.
8 - 3/8" Fender Washers.
8 - 3/8" Lock Nuts.
The build:
Cut one of the 2 by 6's at 60" long. Cut the other 2 by 6 in half for the feet portion which of course will be 36" in length each. Drill out the holes through the 60" board at each end and through to the feet. Simply bolt the three pieces together with the head of the bolt at the bottom of each foot board and secure with the fender washer and nut on the top side. Then, you will need to drill 2 holes at each end for the target stake prongs to slip into. I placed my holes so that I can insert a 42" wide piece of cardboard in between the target stakes. You can make it wider or narrower depending on what size cardboard you wish to place in between them. BOOM! You are done!!! Rough costs for the project came to around 50 bucks. The target stakes are around $16 at midway, but a lot of other places sell them too so you may be able to save on shipping costs. I bought mine at my local gun store. Mine are a different brand than what Midway sells, but they would both work pretty much the same I'm guessing. If you don't have the nuts, bolts and washers laying around, they will run you around $18 at the hardware store. The two 2 by 6 by 6 footers cost around $10 for the pair. I did not opt to go with treated because the pattern board always either sits in the back of my pickup when I am using it, or it goes in the garage when not in use. If you are planning on leaving it outside all the time then you may want to use treated. The nice thing about this setup is that you can use it year round, you don't have to have unfrozen ground in order to push the stakes in, and you never have to measure up the distance in between the target stakes every time you want to set it up. Also, by using 2x6's instead of 2x4's, it is a lot more stable and won't blow over on you in any kind of wind. Any questions - please ask away. Enjoy!
