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Cutting up carpet for shooting mats

Started by qubit, April 16, 2012, 06:17:41 PM

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qubit

I just picked up a carpet remnant for $10 and I'm planning to cut it into two shooting mats.

It's about 5' x 6'. Would it be better to cut it on the long dimension and have skinnier mats, or on the short dimension and have wider (but shorter) mats?

Does it matter much?

Thanks!

eaglescouter

when shooting prone with the trigger knee up you will occupy more width than you might normally think, but two mats of 5X3 will work great!
Old Guy:  Do it long enough and you get really good at it.

Rifleman:  Sacramento:  Four Ought Nine
Full Distance:  Red Bluff:  What year was that?
Pistoleerâ„¢:  Hat Creek:  Three Twenty One

Make yourselves good scouts and good rifle shots in order to protect the women and children of your country if it should ever become necessary.
--Lord Baden-Powell
Scouting for Boys (1908)

qubit

Quote from: eaglescouter on April 16, 2012, 08:47:55 PM
when shooting prone with the trigger knee up you will occupy more width than you might normally think, but two mats of 5X3 will work great!

Have you had any issues with the carpet sliding around?  (Especially with plastic sheeting under it)

SSG Platz

Let me know how it works out for you, Im thnking about going to Ollies and picking up some carpet untill I can catch the shooting mat I want on sale. 
Lord make me fast and accurate. Let my aim be true, and my hands faster than those who would seek to destroy me.  Grant me victory over my foes, and those  that wish to do harm to me and mine. Let not my last thought be if I only had my Gun; and loard if today is truly the day that you take me home, let me die in a pile of empty brass.

eaglescouter

Quote from: qubit on April 16, 2012, 10:17:27 PM
Quote from: eaglescouter on April 16, 2012, 08:47:55 PM
when shooting prone with the trigger knee up you will occupy more width than you might normally think, but two mats of 5X3 will work great!

Have you had any issues with the carpet sliding around?  (Especially with plastic sheeting under it)

Nope, I've seen blue tarps under it with no problems.
Old Guy:  Do it long enough and you get really good at it.

Rifleman:  Sacramento:  Four Ought Nine
Full Distance:  Red Bluff:  What year was that?
Pistoleerâ„¢:  Hat Creek:  Three Twenty One

Make yourselves good scouts and good rifle shots in order to protect the women and children of your country if it should ever become necessary.
--Lord Baden-Powell
Scouting for Boys (1908)

TaosGlock

Watch for carpet burn on your elbows. We have seen this with more than a few shooters.
Other than that, it is cheap and plentiful and a far cry from some of things shooters show up with for their "shooting mats".
89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

qubit

Quote from: TaosGlock on April 17, 2012, 01:22:01 AM
Watch for carpet burn on your elbows.

Thanks for the heads-up! I have a shooting jacket I picked up off of ebay, and I'm going to bring a spare pare of elbow pads just in case.

Quote from: TaosGlock
We have seen this with more than a few shooters.
Other than that, it is cheap and plentiful and a far cry from some of things shooters show up with for their "shooting mats".

Yep, someone mentioned using an ensolite pad for prone shooting, but I figured that a foam sleeping pad would get really beat up on the range (shoes, rocks, dirt, hot shells, etc..). I guess that it depends upon the particular makeup of the ground of the shooting range (cement, gravel, dirt, grass, etc...).

Nickle

If you're going to be at Proctor, the firing line is grass.
They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as Rangers against the Indians and Canadians and this country being much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting. . . . ".  Lord Percy

Sounds like New Englanders to me.

Charles McKinley

Posted this on the other shooting mat question as well.  Golds Gym Equipment mat. about $20 with tax at Walmart.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-s-Gym-Rolled-Equipment-Mat/11089967
Last evening, it occurred to me that when a defender of Liberty is called home, their load lands upon the shoulders of the defenders left behind. Just as the Founders did their duty for Liberty, every subsequent generation must continue their work lest Liberty perish. As there is no way for the remaining adults to take on the work of those that die, we must pass the ideals and duties on to the children. -PHenery

qubit

Quote from: Stand on April 19, 2012, 12:35:25 AM
Posted this on the other shooting mat question as well.  Golds Gym Equipment mat. about $20 with tax at Walmart.

Looks pretty good. I see a reviewer noted "Only bad thing is the smell, be prepared to have your windows open for a couple days." I know how that is -- I had to air-out my carpet remnant as well.


Nickle

Quote from: Stand on April 19, 2012, 12:35:25 AM
Posted this on the other shooting mat question as well.  Golds Gym Equipment mat. about $20 with tax at Walmart.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-s-Gym-Rolled-Equipment-Mat/11089967

I've got a couple of the puzzle type mats from them. Nice and thick.

All that said, a MidwayUSA shooting mat is hard to beat.
They have men amongst them who know very well what they are about, having been employed as Rangers against the Indians and Canadians and this country being much covered with wood, and hilly, is very advantageous for their method of fighting. . . . ".  Lord Percy

Sounds like New Englanders to me.

qubit

Quote from: SSG Platz on April 16, 2012, 10:18:30 PM
Let me know how it works out for you, Im thnking about going to Ollies and picking up some carpet untill I can catch the shooting mat I want on sale.

I took my carpet out to Proctor this weekend and field-tested it out. Here's what I found


  • The carpet was very solid, kept flat, and didn't slide around much
  • When I took off my long-sleeve shirt halfway through the day, my elbows got a little scuffed by the carpet, but not that much. Elbow pads, a shooting jacket, or even a long-sleeve shirt will prevent discomfort.
  • Carpets get much heavier when it rains :P

For Sunday, I left the carpet at home to dry out, and took a foam sleeping pad:


  • The foam pad was much lighter than the carpet, and would blow around without something heavy like a rifle on it
  • Resting on top of a tarp, the foam pad stayed pretty dry. Because the pad isn't that wide, the tarp also kept the rest of me off the ground and dry.
  • I was concerned about beating up the pad with my boots and brass, especially during quick transitions, but it only sustained a few minor scratches
  • The foam pad moved around a little more than the carpet, but not enough to be a significant problem
  • My foam mat is textured and 22 casings would sit down in the troughs of the texture, so I'd have to work harder to clear casings off the mat.

Conclusions:

Shooting on carpet isn't a horrible idea, especially if you know it's not going to rain and if your carpet costs $5 or less.

Shooting on a foam mat works well, but it's less durable than carpet and won't lie as flat or stay down as well. Choose untextured over textured patterns. You'll probably want a plastic sheet/tarp under the mat.

I'll try to test a Midway shooting mat and one of the exercise-equipment mats at some point. I assume that the Midway shooting mat is mostly waterproof and is lighter, while the exercise mat is heavier, but wider, cheaper, and more waterproof.

SSG Platz

Thanks for the info, it is quite helpful.

~PlatzOut~
Lord make me fast and accurate. Let my aim be true, and my hands faster than those who would seek to destroy me.  Grant me victory over my foes, and those  that wish to do harm to me and mine. Let not my last thought be if I only had my Gun; and loard if today is truly the day that you take me home, let me die in a pile of empty brass.

gundog

Quote from: qubit on April 24, 2012, 01:46:18 AM
Quote from: SSG Platz on April 16, 2012, 10:18:30 PM
Let me know how it works out for you, Im thnking about going to Ollies and picking up some carpet untill I can catch the shooting mat I want on sale.

I took my carpet out to Proctor this weekend and field-tested it out. Here's what I found


  • The carpet was very solid, kept flat, and didn't slide around much
  • When I took off my long-sleeve shirt halfway through the day, my elbows got a little scuffed by the carpet, but not that much. Elbow pads, a shooting jacket, or even a long-sleeve shirt will prevent discomfort.
  • Carpets get much heavier when it rains :P

For Sunday, I left the carpet at home to dry out, and took a foam sleeping pad:


  • The foam pad was much lighter than the carpet, and would blow around without something heavy like a rifle on it
  • Resting on top of a tarp, the foam pad stayed pretty dry. Because the pad isn't that wide, the tarp also kept the rest of me off the ground and dry.
  • I was concerned about beating up the pad with my boots and brass, especially during quick transitions, but it only sustained a few minor scratches
  • The foam pad moved around a little more than the carpet, but not enough to be a significant problem
  • My foam mat is textured and 22 casings would sit down in the troughs of the texture, so I'd have to work harder to clear casings off the mat.

Conclusions:

Shooting on carpet isn't a horrible idea, especially if you know it's not going to rain and if your carpet costs $5 or less.

Shooting on a foam mat works well, but it's less durable than carpet and won't lie as flat or stay down as well. Choose untextured over textured patterns. You'll probably want a plastic sheet/tarp under the mat.

I'll try to test a Midway shooting mat and one of the exercise-equipment mats at some point. I assume that the Midway shooting mat is mostly waterproof and is lighter, while the exercise mat is heavier, but wider, cheaper, and more waterproof.

How did you guys make out sunday? di dyou get rained on a lot?
Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.

Lao Tzu

qubit

Quote from: gundog on April 24, 2012, 07:23:38 AM
How did you guys make out sunday? di dyou get rained on a lot?

Sunday was timed just about perfectly -- it was threatening rain all day, but it got worse heading towards 4pm. We wrapped up shooting and had nearly all of our gear packed up, target backing down, etc... before the skies opened up.

Speaking of the rain:
I took some of my gear (staple gun, pens, earplugs, knife, tape, etc..) in a 6qt Sterilite plastic shoebox. You can pick them up for under $1 at Walmart or Bi-mart. On Saturday I had one out in the pouring rain for quite some time, but it kept everything inside bone dry. With a bit of weight in it, it also helped to keep the corner of the plastic sheeting down.

Sure, a more durable/better-locking ammo box or toolbox would probably work even better, but for the price, they can't be beat. If you want a good, cheap tool for bringing lots of small/medium stuff out to the firing line, pick up a few of these -- they're even clear, so you can see what's sitting buried on the bottom without digging through!

Dude

Midway has mats on sale this month. $50 for a large and $25 for standard size (half price). We used carpet the first time or two; they are a little rough. The mats are worth it.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/169107/midwayusa-competition-shooting-mat-pvc-coated-polyester-olive-drab
Strength and honor

Semper SOM/SOM

Every citizen should be a soldier. This was the case with the Greeks and Romans, and must be that of every free state. --Thomas Jefferson

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty. --Thomas Jefferson

Mph_VT

I used a couple folded moving blankets for years. Last March in the snow and melted ice and mud they became soaked. I bought one of the Midway PVC/Polyester mats; well worth it.

I did the larger mat: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/276544/midwayusa-pro-series-competition-shooting-mat-pvc-coated-polyester-olive-drab

I believe they are similar ( don't know that for a fact ). This one is a bit larger just about everywhere and a bit thicker, but I still will need to use elbow pads. It also has a storage pocket in the flap, for what that's worth.

This is still on sale (until 5/31) marked down from $99.99 to $49.99, but watch out they get you for $17+ shipping
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.

                                             Learned Hand

Sir, the gods of the valley are not the gods of the hills, and you shall understand it.             

                                              Ethan Allen

Johnnyappleseed

The foam camping mats work well ,to my thinking elbows are about the only reason for a mat.

We do have a california instructor who practices with bare elbows in gravel , in order to "callous " his elbows .  ::) The founders are indeed smiling ;D
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge

qubit

Quote from: Johnnyappleseed on April 29, 2012, 08:50:35 PM
The foam camping mats work well ,to my thinking elbows are about the only reason for a mat.

The foam mats also provide some insulation, so if you were shooting in a cool situation, not only would you be up above any water or mud (or dust/sticks in an arid environment), but you'd retain more body heat. We really do have such amazing equipment these days -- even if it is something so seemingly simple as a foam mat!

Like any skill (shooting, first aid, etc..), it can be really helpful to train in the manner in which one would actually operate. So even if I don't have a mat, I could use a blanket, or a coat, or etc. I guess that means that I should practice shooting on various types of substitute mats!

Quote from: Johnnyappleseed
We do have a california instructor who practices with bare elbows in gravel , in order to "callous " his elbows .  ::) The founders are indeed smiling ;D

yowzah! I used to run around barefoot as a kid, but shooting prone in gravel with no elbow protection sounds a lot more intense!