Large Target Printing

M

Mirage416

New member
I just wanted to mention this, in case anyone is interested in printing their own large targets.

There is a large printer available, the EPSON Stylus Photo 1400, which will print 13x19" targets. The printer can be found for around $180 by doing an online search. It is an inkjet, but if you refill your own ink cartridges, it looks to be an economical solution to buying targets.
 
Epson has one of the highest resolutions you can get, and very economical to operate. I'm a big fan of their products.


BC
 
Kinko's can print up to 40 inches I think for 600 yd targets. :)
 
Good deal on printer…

then the issue becomes finding the proper large paper at a reasonable price.
 
I, too, like Epson printers but when I bought my wide carriage printer, the only one out there that had a decent price tag was the HP DeskJet 9800. A good printer.

If I'm printing targets on 9x12 paper and the paper I use is almost perfect, it's similar to tag paper, it's Scrapbook paper from a Dollar store. It says 60 pages but in reality it's only 30. It's sprial bound and I remove the wire, trim off the edge with the holes and print it up. I tend to buy a dozen books.

I also use Target Express program. Free, full function use for either 14 days or 30 days and is only a one time fee of $15.

http://www.mcw-tech.com/
 
Cost of printing . . .

I have a large format HP Designjet printer. It will print up to 28 inches wide by any length up to 50 feet. I have printed a few 13" x 19" and 11" x 17" targets on it. But: I can tell you, it is expensive: Even thought this HP printer is one of the best on ink economy: It costs about 7 cents per 8.5" x 11" page at 50% coverage.

If I buy 1000 sheets of 11" x 17" paper, the paper cost would be about $85.00 plus shipping if I can't get it locally, and I can't. So:
$ 85.00 for 1000 sheets.
$ 10.00 for shipping.
$140.00 for ink. (One sheet of 11"x17":14 cents) 1000 of 11"x 17": $140.00.
-------------
$235.00 total for 1000 targets, or 23.5 cents per target.

I buy 1000 USBR rimfire benchrest targets each year for our local club.
Size: 14"x16".
$112.00 for 1000 targets, or 11.2 cents per target.
These USBR targets are printed on "tagboard" paper: HEAVY. So heavy it won't feed though my HP printer. Tagboard has short paper fibers. The paper does not tear, and you get nice round holes in the paper.

We get these targets from American Target Company out of Denver Colorado. Denver is a long way from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. How much is the shipping?
$2.20 per package plus a $1.85 surcharge if you live in a rural area. I live in a rural area.

I've sold a lot of scoring gauges over the past three years. They are pretty light. I payed $1.17 postage to send ONE of those gauge out.

If by now, I have convinced you that you can buy good official targets cheaper than you can print them, you might take a look at the American Target website. They print all of the official NRA rifle & pistol targets, International targets, the official USBR Benchrest target, as well as a lot of different practice targets.

The American target Company website:
http://americantargetcompany.com/air_rifle_pistol_targets.asp

Have fun at the range:

Joe Haller

USBRTargetDiscription.jpg
 
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Thanks for the break down Joe.

I know that it does cost more for the DIY printing, but we don't have the printers that will do large format printing cheap enough. It's probably cheaper to buy the targets and have them shipped to a friend in Upstate NY and pick up during a visit, than get it done here - if it were available.

Thanks for the URL.
 
Joe,

One thing which could be changed would be getting that giant ink cost down to nearly nothing, by refilling your own cartridges.

As far as I know, all ink jets can use a similar type of ink. All you need to do is tap into the reservoir and fill it with a needle. Nearly any cartridge should allow you to do this. The computer I'm on at the moment is running a 16kb/s connection, but when I'm in town, if you're interested I can post some info on the subject for you.
 
The shipping charges on targets is cheaper because you can send them as Media Mail.All paper only can ship media mail but your other products cannot.It is slower but cheaper.
If you need good targets at a reasonable price Karl Hunstiger makes the NBRSA longrange targets and they are crisp and strong.
Lynn
 
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