Backstops indoors

[wingate_52]

We are having our new indoor range built. We are thinking of cladding the end wall in laminates of rubber, kevlar and foam faced to prevent bouncers from junior bows. the foab is available in sheets, and will be laminated to our specs. we spent some time testing it at 60 yards last night with compounds and recurves, shooting a variety of arrows. A 48# recurve shooting tungsten tipped X 10's did manage to penetrate the test block. Another layer of rubber will solve this. indoors the arrows will not have the same momentum and dpth of penetration we hope. The laminate is self sealing/healing, and will be symetricaly laminated so as to be reversable. We will support it on a wooden framework with an airgap behind.Back-stop netting will probably not be used. Opinions?

[geoffretired]

Sounds like a great idea. We find nets leak when faced with compound bows shooting skinny arrows. Something you may consider before fixing the cladding to the framework, or the framework to the wall, is how rigid the fixing will be. I'm thinking along the lines of nets work best when they can swing back away from the arrow path. Rigid mounts are more liable to produce shoot through's. Would it be practical to hang them from a frame? Or fix each sheet to a pair of ropes at the back? It sounds like a great indoor venue. Enjoy!

[wingate_52]

We were thinking of pinning the target faces to the front of the foam.

[TJ Mason]

We've clad the wall behind our indoor targets with conveyor belt material. Not from your supermarket-type conveyor belts, though -- proper heavy-duty industrial stuff, eight feet wide. This is a thick sheet of plasticky-rubbery material that's just about impossible to damage with an arrow.

We got it for nothing, too. One of our members spotted it being thrown away when a mill was being gutted.

[Dooky]

Originally Posted by TJ Mason

We've clad the wall behind our indoor targets with conveyor belt material. Not from your supermarket-type conveyor belts, though -- proper heavy-duty industrial stuff, eight feet wide. This is a thick sheet of plasticky-rubbery material that's just about impossible to damage with an arrow.

We got it for nothing, too. One of our members spotted it being thrown away when a mill was being gutted.

Ditto... well nearly ditto, we don't have an Indoor range, but hang conveyor Belt squares (attached by 2 ropes so it can swing) behind the butts to prevent pass throughs. Never seen anything go through, but the older ones do occasionally get penetrated...
PS, points can get pretty well stuck!

[geoffretired]

I misunderstood, Wingate. So the cladding is the boss and backstop in one.It sounds like Danage bosses fixed just in front of the wall.
It still sounds good. If you get a pass through at some later stage, what will the arrow hit?

[wingate_52]

We hope there will be no shoot throughs. One of the commitee members wanted the wall clad in steel! We hope that the air gap between rubber and wall will be sufficient that the arrow is slowed down through friction,so that the point will not touch the wall.

[LineCutter]

Surely, if you repeatedly shoot your backstop, indoors, you are going to wear out a 10 sized patch of backstop. Even moving the targets a little is not going to stop you getting passthroughs eventually, especially if the bloke with the 48# recurve shoots indoor rounds.

[Kellog]

We use a similar system of padding on air conditioning vents and lockers at the boss end of our range, formed from karate mats. Works well, and protects the arrows
We also build a boss from them.... great stuff to shoot at!