target backdrop material suggestions?

[unit91]

Hey, I'm in the midst of starting a new archery club in Victoria and would like some suggestions for target backdrop material for indoor (gymnasium) shooting. ie something to hang behind the primary targets in case of the occasional gaffed shot. What do some of you indoor shooters use? how much per sqr/m and where to get it from? Ideally, this should be some sort of pliable fabric that can be rolled up onto a ceiling spool. Thanks. Paul.

[Bow Walker]

I tried to do the very same thing, out here in Sooke. Had an initial "interest list" of 25 (or so) people and proceeded to have a few set up meetings.

We came up with a plan to use carpet, for our backdrops, from a company who would let us have it for free. One of the prospective members was going to build collapsible target stands for ease of storage. The whole setup (targets and backdrops) would have ended up costing us less than $50.00 for each target lane.

There is proper material that you can get - at a cost of $10.00 per square foot - for backdrops (if i recall correctly), but the total cost was beyond our means. If you're interested I could do some digging and find out where we were going who the supplier was.

[Bowzone_Mikey]

build a box wall and stuff the boxes with rags etc ...

[Bow Walker]

Portability Mike, portability. Or, ease of storage when not in us

[Cedarstrip]

I've set up a small range in my yard, and I used 'mill-felt' for a back-drop.
Those of you living around pulp and paper industries will know what it is. It's used in the drying process of paper plants. (I think)
Anyways.... it's sort of like a carpet, but essentially very finely/tightly woven felt cloth.
My field points will sometimes go into the cloth if I have a miss, but will very rarely go right through. Two layers should stop anything. The only drawback is that it can be somewhat difficult to pull the arrows out of it.
Mills generally give the stuff away, or at least they used to.

[unit91]

excellent, thanks for the ideas, I'll look into that. I'm gonna need something thin and tightly woven felt cloth sounds ideal. especially when it's free.

[Fozzie]

I'm a papermaker at Crofton and the mill felt your refering to is called wet felt and it is anything but thin! Very bulky and heavy.

I used to shoot with the Cowichan Bowmen about 20 years ago. I would supply them with wet felt for backstops on the outdoor range. When we shot indoors, we used this special netting, very pliable and light. Most gyms have brass bungs installed in the floor. We would unscrew the bung and place metal poles in them with the netting stretched between the poles.

Ask Richard at Bucky's in Duncan, he would know where to get it.

[guntech]

I don't think there is any good substitute for the netting manufactured for that purpose and sold by archery supply wholesalers.