Thermal Targets on the Cheap.

[TEXASLAWMAN]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_18/425977_Thermal_Targets_on_the_cheap.html

I figured this would be worth a thread since I keep seeing people talk about hand warmers and cold bottles of water.
You can by thermal targets and I'm sure they work great, but for those of us who want to save a little cash or need something in a pinch you have other options.
Just about any that seems reflective to normal light will probably also be reflective to thermal. The idea is that if you put a reflective target over a normal backdrop it will show up much cooler than the backdrop. I think this has to do with emmissivity or perhaps reflections of the cool sky or alien technology, but I'm not 100% sure so I'll leave it to the following pictures to convince you.
I've been using tinfoil taped to a plywood or cardboard box. For the sake of science I stopped at Wal-Marts and got a few other candidates.

I went home and did some arts and crafts with the kids and built up a black and white split backdrop of posterboard with a sample of each product on each color as well as one between the seam of the two colors. I brought it out into the sunlight and waited a few mins and got this.

Left to
Red Reflective Tape
DuckPrism Reflective Tape
Duckprism Sticky Sheet
Aluminum Foil Tape
A few notes. It only took about 30 seconds for the black side to get up to temp in the sun.
If you can't tell, the Aluminum Foil Tape works pretty flipping awesome. It is also the cheapest and most convenient to work with.
My kids liked the DuckPrism stuff, but it didn't work quite as well.
Red reflective tape soaked up too much sun and looked warmish but was still usable.
Edit: One other thing, you might notice the black side of the setup looks a little nonuniform, that is because it is actually hanging off the white foam board behind it by a few inches and this caused it to warm up in a non uniform manner. Pretty interesting how sensitive thermals are to seeing this kind of stuff.
Also, you will notice how much crisper the foil vs backround lines look in the ironbow mode. Color palettes are usually annoying when hunting but are great for sighting in rifles.
It is also pretty clear that you really could have used black construction paper on a white background, but that is a little bit of a hassle and requires both a white and black surface. The foil tape works pretty well on anything.
To show this I got a cardboard box and a piece of plywood. Both had been soaking up sun for a while so you can expect these kind of results all day long.

Plywood is on the left, cardboard box is on the right with a ingle strip of Aluminum Foil tape on either one. The original setup is in the middle with the same orientation. Image is in Blackhot polarity.
After a few hours of dark I'm going to go out and take a few pictures again. It works almost just as well in the dark if I can remember correctly.
Another pro tip. If you are using actual aluminum foil on a plywood backdrop, make sure you fold it up a few times or else the first shot that hits it will blow it to bits from all the wood splinters.
Also, all of this pics taken with an ATN TICO 640, which I should be doing a review of as soon as I can get my crap together.

 

[FrankT]

+1

 

[DaveABQ]

That's good info

 

[Brian Shaffer]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

I will make some hog and coyote shaped ones for the meet and greet.

 

[BigRedDog]

I will bring my full sized Thermabright hog for those with thermal.

And NO, you cannot shoot it

We will have a few gongs for contest purposes.

 

[Hunt TXHogs]

I will bring my full sized Thermabright hog for those with thermal.

And NO, you cannot shoot it

What if the shooters bring along the Thermbright patches to cover the holes.... ;)

 

[BigRedDog]

only for you

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

What if I promise to only shoot the nostril, eye, and ear holes to make it more realistic???

 

[rob072770]

All great info! Too funny and not shooting thermal hog cut out.

 

[pruhdlr]

TLM, thanks for the great write-up in your OP. I have used/tried "bout everything as a thermal target. I have some of the aluminum tape and will surely give it a try. (Seems damn near too easy).

The best that I have seen/used so far is a plain white sheet if printer paper with a crosss of the black electrical tape. Seems that the black plastic tape will heat up much more than the paper and give a pretty good target at up to 150yds.

If you hit the tape it will glow since the bullet passing thru it heats it up even more. Thanks again for your above. --- pruhdlr

 

[DaveABQ]

I tested this today, what I found, standard silver duct tape did not work for crap on a cardboard background, worked better on a black background, but still not really good. Need to get the shinier more reflective tape in order to work.

I also found, if you use a black background with tinfoil and you bend the tinfoil so it is not directly face you, it works much better, actually doesn't even need to be a black background, you can also crumble up the tinfoil so the reflective surface is not pointing directly at you

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

The best way is to get it to reflect the sky.

 

[slim_shady]

Good to know we can now pick up target materials from our local Home Depot.

 

[lonepunman]

Advanced thermal scope sighting procedure (effective under daytime or nighttime conditions):

Purchase six ounce can of tuna (oil packed is preferred) from your choice of vendor.

While at aforementioned vendor, pick up cardboard box with no top.

Open can of tuna. (Take care not to injure pretty hands). Discard lid.

Go outside.

Place open can of tuna inside cardboard box.

Set up bipod 25 yards from box.

Wait for neighbor's cat to jump inside box.

Confirm with shot. Your thermal scope is now sighted in for mountain lion at 150 yards.

 

[slim_shady]

Advanced thermal scope sighting procedure (effective under daytime or nighttime conditions):

I do have more then my fair share of cats in the neighborhood. May need to pick up that suppressor first.

 

[Robert Anderson]

Thanks very much TLM. If you don't mind what thermal scope and model would you recommend for someone that wants to get into to night time hog hunting. I'm impressed by reading online with the armasight zeus scopes.

 

[slim_shady]

I have something new to use as a thermal target. Canned soup, simply place can in hot tap water for 30 min or so. It makes for a great reaction target, not to mention the spewing of the contents upon impact. Small cans of tomato sauce available at wallyworld for $0.34 a can.

 

[FrankT]

You can heat that can up with a portable torch too, much faster

 

[Hogdaddy]

I was out the other night using n750, HogIR, and ATN DNVM-2 monocular. No moon, scanning clear cut area, and noticed a very bright white square on the ground at about 100yds. When I was walking back to ATV checked it out and realized it was a 6x6 piece of reflective tape (like on marine buoys) that I had used to make a no trespassing sign. Guess that couldn't be used in daylight for sighting but I'll use it to mark distances to use while hunting.