18-1 is a great target in many ways, but not all that cheap or long lasting if you shoot a lot. I have had three of them in the last year and a half with the third shot up now and ready for warrantee replacement. The warrantee is the nice thing. The first target I got I shot up just to see what it would take. I hammerd it and it lasted about 8 weeks. Then I shot up the next one in last fall practice. The third I got this August for fall practice. I shot broadheads into it some in August to tune for the October start of bow season. Then I shoot it a lot after that mostly with field points and the occasional broadhead just to check my tune and form. I shoot first light and the end of the day about every day August-November. The target will be done in by the end of November.
I can get them for about $95 so $45-50 each with warrantee replacement is not bad for a target that can take braodheads, is very easy and compact to hall around, gives all angle shots, is great from a tree stand for practice and never an issue with it standing up. In the future, I will only shoot a fresh target in August to do my broadhead and tree stand work plus hall around to hunting camp. Then shoot it up and get a replacement for the next fall. That way I only have to buy one every other year.
The 18 in 1 is not a solid material like the outside cover. The cover is very durable rubber type material, but the core is a more foam like material. The foam core gets all broken up by the arrows. It goes strong until the cove starts to split open. When that happens, the inside spill out and the target is done in short order.
The best do it all cheap, in the long run, target for me has probably been the original block layered target. I got a large one and it took years of compound shooting with a lot of braodheads. I did unstrapped it, remove the most severally damaged layers and strap it back together again twice to keep it going. Any of the layered targets with the thinker layers do a good job as an all around target.
You just can’t beat a cheap bag target for those who shoot a lot. I have tried a lot of them. My favorite factory target is the standard yellow jacket. The range size is nice, but these are heavy targets so the standard is plenty to try and hall around. I have heard some negative stuff about the one that comes as a set with a braodhead target. Apparently those are not as nice. The target is not too expensive to start and covers are not too bad. Just don’t shoot it out too much before you put a new cover on as it can be real hard to recover when bulged because it is packed very dense.
The best target by far for cost for field points is a burlap bag stuffed with scraps of cloth, torn up rags, cotton, and even burlap bags work great. I did the plastic grocery bag filling, and found that to not stop arrow that well or for that long. The plastic feed bags are ok, but the material strands break too soon and they don’t last long as a cover. Good old burlap is the way to go. Stuff them well and close off with a few small zip ties. I get my bags from a warehouse type place that sells bags of all kinds and handles used large coffee bags. They cost about $ 2. About 3 burlap bags will last as long as 18 in 1. So that is $6 vs. $50 for a field point target. Make two bags and use one to prop up the other one.
Topic: portable target dillema (Read 415 times)
