Aerial target thrower

McDave · February 19, 2013, 04:55:00 PM

I was thinking about getting one of these things for my club. While you can find plans to make one, there don't seem to be any for sale, other than a couple of really expensive ($4,000 - 5,000) ones. I wonder why you can find all kinds of clay pigeon launchers for a couple hundred bucks, but no foam disk launchers in that price range? Seems like this would be a good niche for someone.

Rick Richard · February 19, 2013, 05:52:00 PM

We had a company from france I believe who came to one of our monthly shoots and demoed an ariel thrower that resembled a large trap machine. It was a great device, but very expensive. Needless to say we did not purchase it and we still rely on the one we have that is manual and mounts to the bumper/hitch of an auto.

moebow · February 19, 2013, 06:42:00 PM

McDave,

I saw a really neat target launcher when I was at Byron Ferguson's shooting school. It was called the "Hitch hiker" and mounted in the receiver hitch on a truck. Spring loaded and would toss a 12" target nicely. I do not know if they are still available but there is this You Tube video showing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYNadAkd7pM

Always wanted one but never followed up on it.

Arne

T Lail · February 19, 2013, 06:54:00 PM

David, we have one at our club in NC......it also can be mounted to a hitch or we put it on a post also.......I know we did not pay more than 800.00 bucks.....our officer that bought it is in Texas javalina hunting until Saturday....when he gets home I will get details......

DWT · February 19, 2013, 06:56:00 PM

They have one at Compton every year if your not in a hurry I would be glad to take pics this summer.

Don Batten · February 19, 2013, 07:24:00 PM

I got a hitchhiker . It's a really nice unit. available from John Freeland. the site is

blueridgeoctober.com

Mike Vines · February 19, 2013, 07:46:00 PM

Or you could look at a picture and build your own like I did.

Mike Vines · February 19, 2013, 07:49:00 PM

Here is the thread I did on it. Made from scrap I had laying around the shop.

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=101913

McDave · February 19, 2013, 09:04:00 PM

That's pretty neat, Mike!

I'm also going to look into the Hitchhiker. Thanks for the website, Don. I had found the video referenced by Arne, but I couldn't find the website from there. I'll have to call them and make sure they're still in business.

akdd · February 20, 2013, 02:39:00 PM

I made one out of a clay pigeon thrower. Used 2" Styrofoam for a disc and carved one side of the disc down so that it fit into arm of the thrower.

McDave · February 20, 2013, 04:26:00 PM

That's kind of what I had in mind, Marty, since clay pigeon throwers are readily available and don't cost very much. However, I was thinking that the dynamics of a foam disk are different from a clay pigeon, and I wasn't sure if the clay pigeon thrower would work very well with the foam disk. Are you happy with the way it works, and how far will it throw the foam disk?