Product Review: Bobcat Steel 6-Paddle AR500 Dueling Tree
Background
I’ve always been interested in the dueling trees I’ve seen in videos. The opportunity to shoot against a live opponent would add a whole new facet to the standard square range type of shooting.
In December, I did some work for a neighbor. When he paid me, my dear wife encouraged me to buy something for me. I decided to take her up on the offer and quickly contacted ZbornacSVT at Bobcat Steel!
About the Dueling Tree
I have purchased several targets from Bobcat Steel and been very pleased with their performance. Bobcat Steel is an INGO Advertiser and can be found on INGO at:
Bobcat Steel - INGunOwners
and on the web at:
Bobcat Steel | AR500 Steel Targets
AR500 stands for Abrasion Resistant steel. It is often used to line the buckets of earthmoving/mining equipment and for other applications where a high surface hardness is an advantage. It is difficult to cut and weld.
More technical information can be found here and on other sites on the web.
AR500 / AR500F Alloy & Abrasion Resistant Steel Plate - Chapel Steel
I really like the design of the Bobcat Steel dueling tree. The paddles are made of 3/8” AR500 steel. The main post is 3/8” A36 steel angle. The legs are ¼” A36 steel. The design incorporates all the required welds on the A36 material which is much easier to cut and weld.
As an optional offering, you can purchase strips of 3/8” AR500 steel to cover the face of the angle iron post. They are pre-drilled to mount on the post.
Pricing:
Retail price of the basic 6 paddle tree is currently $425.
The 4 paddle tree retails for $325.
The AR500 steel armor strips for the 6 paddle tree are $125.
The AR500 armor strips for the 4 paddle tree are $100.
Weight:
I weighed the main components of the dueling tree. They are:
Standard tree, w/o paddles: 40#
Paddles, 6: 30#
Armor strips, 2: 34#
Combined weights:
Standard stand and paddles: 70#
Stand, paddles, armor strips: 104#
Because I have a home range, portability is not an important feature for me. You’ll see later that I intentionally made the stand less portable.
I have seen one INGO member transport his standard 6-paddle tree (61.5” long) by taking the four legs off to get it into his car.
Initial Assembly
I picked up the parts from Bobcat Steel at the Indy1500 gun show in January 2012. He gave me quick verbal assembly instructions and sent me on my way!
I laid out the parts on some cardboard in the basement and started to put the tree together.
The post has a forward cant of about 14 degrees from the vertical. This allows the paddles to fall into position using gravity. Very clever system!
Because of this cant, the four legs are each specific to their position. It takes a bit of looking at the pieces and then it becomes clear which leg goes where.
My initial impression was that the legs formed a nice solid base. After adding the armor strips, there were some issues. (More on that later.)
I took the post outside and added another layer of black spray paint. This isn’t required as the post and paddles and legs come painted. It’s just me being a bit compulsive.
Armor Strips
I decided to get the AR500 steel strips to mount on the front of the main tree post. I decided to do this because I was interested in having some competitions with rifles and wanted the added protection the strips afforded. The tree post has all the welded pieces within it and I didn’t want to ruin that core piece.
I added the steel armor strips to the post before moving the tree to a shooting location on my property. When I installed the strips, I had to use longer bolts for the legs (supplied by Bobcat Steel). For the top mounting bolts, I cut the supplied bolts to about 1.3” and used the provided half height nuts. The bolts have to be fairly short or they will interfere with one another. (ZbornacSVT was in a time crunch and had given me bolts that he thought would work. Given less rush, I imagine he will have the correct bolts so that no cutting is required.)
The armor strips had a very good fit and finish. They bolted on easily. Sharp edges have been smoothed. Otherwise, the heavy stand could be dangerous during handling.
Paddles
Before esrice and I gave the tree its first workout, we took some pictures to show how the paddles are constructed.
The paddle/arm is welded to square steel stock. A round steel piece has been driven inside the square stock. A steel bushing that is threaded on both ends is inserted inside the paddle arm and this assembly is attached to two tabs inside the main post channel using two Allen bolts.
It’s helpful to have two 5/16” hex wrenches when attaching the paddles. With just one wrench, the bushing had a tendency to rotate within the paddle arm.
I noticed that if I tightened the bolts too much, the mounting tabs would rub on the paddle arm and start to restrict the paddle’s movement. I have a easy fix for this later.
First Use of the Tree
Esrice and I set up the tree and ran some competition drills. We were each using 9mm semi-automatic pistols (M&P and Glock). Right away we were having fun. It became clear that you could use up lots of ammo on a dueling tree. Esrice dubbed the tree an ‘ammo sponge!’
This is as good as the dueling tree will ever look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM8p2QqhTpI
After a few hits, not only is the paint on the targets worn, but the bullet splatter is very evident all over the tree.
We set the tree up on ground that was rising behind the tree. We hastily used some scrap wood pieces to level the tree. It’s best to have the base of the tree be near level. This allows the gravity design to work properly to get the paddles to move crisply into position. Tilted back and the paddles are more likely to hang up in mid-stroke. Having the tree tilted too far forward will make it harder to swing the paddles and it could cause the dueling tree to tip forward as it’s hit.
I noticed that ever since I added the AR500 armor strips to the tree, it seemed a bit front-heavy. I’m guessing that adding the armor strips moved the center of gravity of the original stand forward. Additionally, the legs that once seemed OK, now seemed ‘springy’ and didn’t provide a sure base.
During one drill, the tree vibrated off the scraps and fell forward. It could have been due only to the support scraps shifting or the fall could have been hastened by the front-heaviness of the dueling tree. This tree now weighed 104 pounds!
Either way, I decided to fix it!
[Editors Note: In a PM with Bobcat Steel; I learned that the tree I purchased was his demo unit leaving him without a stand to test. He said he would be looking at the design of the legs, particularly when armor strips have been added.
I knew that dueling trees were a fairly new product line for the company. I just didn’t realize how new!]
Modification #1 – Wood Base
I built a wooden base using mostly materials I had in the barn.
I wanted to add some weight to the base of the tree and I wanted to extend the support in front out farther to provide additional stability. A side benefit of the design I chose was that the tree’s legs are locked in place and can’t spring around.
I realize that a quick and easy solution would be to get some pipes and slide pieces onto the front two legs. This would have given the tree more support to stop forward tipping. It wouldn’t have added much more weight down low nor provided a way to level the tree on sloping ground.
The extended pipe approach would be a good solution for people who transport their dueling tree.
I knew that there was a fair amount of bullet splatter (look at the pictures of the post of the tree after the first outing to remind yourself how much.) I realized that a wood base would be gradually damaged by the splatter. I just didn’t know how much/how fast it would be affected. Besides, I had the 2x8s sitting in the wood rack.
The base is 30” wide and 29” front-back. I approached it like you would if you were building a barn door. I stacked four 2x8s on top and two 2x8 rails underneath. I added a diagonal piece to lock everything in place. Wood screws were used throughout.
The underside looked like this as I was building the base.
Our property is hilly. Most places where I could imagine placing the dueling tree have either level ground (rare) or ground that rises to the rear. With that in mind, I decided I wanted a way to adjust the level of the base so the dueling tree would stay near its proper angle.
I bought two 1” x 12” galvanized pipe nipples, two floor flanges, two pipe caps, and some quick release safety pins at the local hardware store.
I drilled a series of holes along both sides of each pipe nipple. I was pressed for time the day I was building the base and didn’t do a very good job of keeping the holes in a straight line. But…it works.
Holes were bored in the front edge of the base and the pipes with flanges placed through the holes. A pipe cap on the top of each pipe assured that it wouldn’t fall out of the base.
I cut some angle metal and placed them next to each leg. Bolts and lag screws were used to attach the angle to the base and the angle to the legs of the dueling tree. Once the legs were bolted on the base, the whole assembly became very solid!
The safety pins are used anytime the legs are extended. It’s easy to place the base in position, use the dueling tree as a lever to lift the front edge of the base and place the two pins in holes that allow the base to sit level.
I estimate the weight of the wood base at 35-40 pounds. That would make the stand and base together approximately 140 pounds.
INGO Members Testing Their ‘Steel’
On February 11, 2012, a small contingent of INGO members converged on Brown County, braving the frigid temperatures to try out side-by-side Bobcat Steel dueling trees and a full-sized IPSC target with center swinging plate.
Details can be found at:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...help_with_a_lovemywoods_review_pics_vids.html
We were curious whether a .22LR round would work on this tree since it’s built so sturdily.
Bwframe shot the paddles repeatedly with his .22 rifle and could barely get the paddles to move. He was never able to get a paddle to flip over.
We shot the steel targets with pistol caliber rounds from about 45 feet and .223 rounds from 50 yards. A few .300BLK rounds were also fired. This cartridge caused the paddles to cycle so violently that they would swing to the other side and bounce back to their starting side!
I didn’t see any appreciable marking or cratering of the paddles. They held up very well.
In spite of the temperatures, we all had a blast shooting steel! Here are a few examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONeDll_CijM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gbSisr6Lts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBpCRg4d_8
Erosion from Bullet Splatter
I expected some damage from bullet splatter on the wood base. We probably shot 1500-2000 rounds at the two dueling trees. This is what the wood looked like:
Not a big issue, but if I could find a suitable piece of sheet metal, I’d probably attach it to the top of the base and stop the erosion altogether.
Modification #2 – Washer
During the shoot last weekend, the Allen bolts holding the paddles would loosen on both trees. As mentioned earlier in this review, the bolts can’t be fully tightened without pinching the paddles.
It appeared to me that the steel bushing is the same length as the square end of the paddle. It should be just a bit longer so that the tabs holding the swinging paddles can fully tighten down on the bushing while the paddle assembly is free to swing.
I found some stainless steel 5/16 washers I had. I liked the stainless since it’s harder and should last longer than steel. They also weren’t very thick which is good in this application. These were 0.045" thick.
I drilled the center hole out just a bit to 3/8” diameter to accommodate the Allen bolts.
Placing one washer under the paddle assembly worked the trick! I could crank down on the Allen bolts yet the paddles are free to swing.
Bobcat Steel has let me know that because my tree was an early production unit, it still had the ‘short’ bushings. He offered to give me the new, slightly longer bushings. For now, as long as the washers stay put, I’m OK with running the tree with the washers in-place.
Modification #3 – Paint Color
Most of the steel targets I have are painted white. A few are red. When I got the dueling tree, I painted them white and red. Seemed like a simple choice.
Then it snowed!
The white targets were a bit difficult to see. As the white paint became bullet scarred, the paddles took on the perfect winter camouflage! It was very hard to see them at 50 yards. Even the red targets blended into the snow/dirt/leaf background. Also, some of the red dot shooters said that the red targets were a bit difficult to sight on.
Note that in this picture, there are white paddles on the right side of the dueling tree post. They blend into the background very well!
So, I thought about what colors would be better in the winter but also good when the snow has melted. I also didn’t want the really bright florescent paints. I have targets at several places around the property and preferred to not have them be the first thing people saw as they walked up to the house.
I settled on yellow and blue for now. My wife tells me that they go together well since they are opposite one another on the color wheel. I don’t know much about color wheels, I just thought the colors reminded me of the University of Michigan!
Conclusion
A dueling tree was something I’ve wanted for a long time. The unit is expensive (you could buy a pistol for the same amount). I have to remind myself how costly hardened steel is. Additionally, I believe the tree will last a long time and provide many hours of skill building and fun.
The construction of the Bobcat Steel tree is very robust with the exception of the leg system. It seems to be appropriate for the standard tree, but is just not strong enough when an additional overhanging 30 pounds are added in the form of the armor strips.
The tree can be used for competitions and for single practice. When shooting against another person, the action comes at you very quickly. The tide can turn in a moment and you can watch your lead turn into defeat in seconds.
Add a timer and the lone shooter can work on finding the right balance between speed and accuracy; a key skill for all firearms enthusiasts!
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