The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

I've built a 7 window mini McQueens prototype for our club that we tested a couple of weeks ago as a proof of concept with great success and was asked if I could build 2 complete systems for general use. Based on the feedback I received at the club suggesting that there may be a wider market, I thought I'd ask here to try and gauge how much interest there would be in the wider shooting community if i was to make these available.
A quick overview of the system is :-

1. Modular construction, any moving part can be replaced in around 20 seconds and the system can be broken down for storage in less than 2 minutes.

2. Overall size 29" Wide x 26" high x 8" deep.

3. 7 target windows with targets controlled by 4 servos

4. Quick change target boards and spindle shafts.

5. Fascia board slots into system box and can removed once spindles are removed.

6. RF Remote triggering.

7. Three programs, a test mode, a 10 x 3 second exposure with 3-7 second delay for rimfire and an air mode with 8-12 second delays to allow for longer reload times on air rifle/pistol.

8. Bottom 5" of system, housing electronics protected by 3mm steel and wood baffle to stop ricochets.

9. No metal above the system box to reduce ricochets, all components exposed to target area are wood and slot together.

10. Runs on any battery 6v - 25.2v pb, LiIon, LiPo but expected to supplied with 12v sealed battery.

11. Expected runtime on a 12v 3ah battery to be around 24 hours continuous use.


Based on material cost and build time, If I made these available price would be around £495 per unit.

Apologies to the Mods if they feel this post is inappropriate here, In my defence I am not actually selling anything, I am just trying get some feedback on likely demand if I was to make them available.

Will leave this here for feed back but if we get "I want one" posts it will be pulled.

That looks like a very nice system kevin, I would feel bad for missing the target and damaging that

Hope you get some interest in this!

What a superb job!

Good job, 2 members of my club do the mini McQueens for the NRA Gallery rifle matches at Bisley, I've never seen it in the flesh but I believe it's a popular match.

I think if you marketed it, clubs would be interested.

these look like fun, but I doubt my club would be interested in buying one, so it would be a personal purchase for me, and for that, the price makes it too high for me

My initial reaction is you'd need to supply a cheap set of spares for the life of the machine. I know it's not beyond the wit of man to make spares, but IMO if you're going to bring a product to market, you need to support the product or some people won't be interested because they think it will be shot to bits within a month and it will get left in a stores somewhere. Immediate consumables would appear to be the fascia board, the poles and the target holders.

This has been talked about on here for some time, so well done for being the first across the line. It's also worth starting a parallel thread for sales, because you know someone's going to say they want one...

HALODIN wrote:My initial reaction is you'd need to supply a cheap set of spares for the life of the machine. I know it's not beyond the wit of man to make spares, but IMO if you're going to bring a product to market, you need to support the product or some people won't be interested because they think it will be shot to bits within a month and it will get left in a stores somewhere. Immediate consumables would appear to be the fascia board, the poles and the target holders. .

Spindles, target boards and fascia have been made quick change to support replacement, I would envisage supplying a complete set of spare target boards and a couple of extra spindles with each unit initially and spares available to order as required.

We might be interested... possibly. I'll mention it at the next committee meeting to see if there's interest within the club. How many units would you need to sell to make it worth your while?

I would also imagine you'd maybe get more take up if you offered a kit with the control electronics and servos only. If our club is anything to go by, there are an army of old boys who can source and put together frames, dowels, steel and backers and the like but wouldn't know an arduino if it bit them on the nose :)

If doing the barebones kit brought the cost down and made shipping easier, I would think that might make it appeal to a wider audience.