Rondo Reactive
More bang for your buck - NEW Make
Rondo louder!
Rondo is a reactive target designed for air gun shooters. It
holds eleven .22/6mm blank cartridges in a solid steel target.
Rondo costs £20 including p&p for UK mainland delivery
About Rondo
We are huge fans of targets which go BANG! but some
of them are a little expensive... We wanted
something small, cheap, robust, challenging to shoot, & easy to
use.
Following extensive research & development (aka lots of trial
& error!) we're pleased to introduce the Rondo Reactive target.
Drum roll...
In common with a few other targets, the Rondo uses .22 blank
cartrtidges to make the noise. These make quite a crack (think
starting pistol) and are cheap!!!
A tub of 100 cartridges can be bought for less than £6!
That's quite a lot of bang for your buck & a huge amount
of fun!
Rondo comprises two steel discs, 75mm diameter & 4mm thickness.
The discs are identical & precisely engineered to match. It
holds eleven blank cartridges arranged like a clock face and has an
easy load capability.
Rondo is pocket sized, you can take it anywhere.
Rondo is challenging!
Buy one (or two!) now, and follow the instructions:
Assembling Rondo
You don't need any tools at all to do this. These are the
parts you get:
- 2 75mmx 4mm steel target plates
- 3 stainless M5 washers (& 1 M5 stainless spring washer)
- 1 stainless M5 x 16mm bolt
- 1 stainless M5 wing nut (& 1 plain stainless M5 nut)
- 1 3mm hex/Allen key
- 1 8mm peg
Put a plain washer onto the bolt. Put a target plate onto the bolt.
Add another washer. Add the second target plate. Then another
washer. Finish off with the nut. Job done!
Loading Rondo
Hopefully this is fairly obvious, it's a little like loading the
magazine of a PCP gun.
Don't tighten the nut and bolt yet, ensure the steel target plates
are free to rotate.
Align the larger holes on the plates. Let's call this 12 o'clock.
With the bottom plate stationary, rotate the top plate to 1 o'clock.
Now pop in a cartridge through the top plate and ensure it seats
properly in the bottom plate.
Now rotate the top plate to 2 o'clock & repeat.
Keep doing this until you're back to the start. You should
have 11 cartridges installed.
With the help of the hex key provided, tighten the nut & bolt so
that the plates won't rotate. This should be easy but you can use
the 8mm peg in the 'loading' holes to keep everything together while
you tighten things.
If you don't like the wing nut use the plain nut provided. The
spring washer is there as an option, if you shoot the bolt head it
can slacken the nut. Putting the spring washer behind the nut helps
prevent this. As does shooting straight...
When you've used Rondo a few times you'll probably separate the
halves to load it, it's easy to drop the 22 shells all over the
floor this way - which is why we did the easy load thing. Your
choice.
Shooting Rondo
Mount the target onto a suitable support by hanging it by the open
loading hole. It's up to you how you do this - you might screw it to
a piece of wood or tie it to a support for example.
It's probably best to shoot with the bolt head facing towards you as
it's less likely to be damaged by stray shots than the wing nut.
Your choice...
Reloading Rondo
Often the spent cartridges simply drop out :) Sometimes they don't
:( A pair of sharp nosed pliers is handy to have around for the ones
that have mushroomed perfectly, however a Pozidriv
screwdriver is really good for poking out the bits. It's often
easiest to dismantle the Rondo to remove spent cartridges - the
plates may have brass & lead fragments lodged between them which
can make reloading difficult.
Cartridges for Rondo
We don't sell these & they're not included. We
recommend the use of 0.22"/6mm starting pistol short blanks.
We use 'Sellier & Bellot' simply because these are the cheapest
we could find. See above. They're readily available mail order, or
you might have a shop nearby which sells them.
Tips
- It's very obvious when you hit a target! It's less
obvious which targets are live & which are dead. Try to
establish a pattern (eg round the clock).
- Count your kills. Have you hit all of them?
- Spray the front face with marker. It helps to know where your
pellet actually went...
- Try a piece of dayglo paper in there, A bright target hole is
much easier to see.
- Begin with Rondo at your scope zero. It's just like any other
target but it isn't 'shoot & see'
Make Rondo Louder!
Rondo is always being improved! We're obsessive about making things
go BANG! First we tried a triple plate:
In this setup there are stacked cartridges. One catridge detonates
another one just behind it. This works great but it's not 'twice' as
loud! Thinking of the physics - we have twice the power but that
only means a 3dB increase in noise. The difference is noticeable but
hardly worth the effort. :(
We could stack piles of Rondo layers and get a possible 3dB increase
with each, that would be really loud:
Too silly to even try! Who would load this thing with 110 blanks?
Not me!
Rondo, and most other targets, radiates sound in every
direction. Most of it away from you. It's easy to imagine that
if the sound is focussed it will be louder. It's a bit like
useing a loudhaler/megaphone.
Rondo Senior does exactly this. A dish behind the
target reflects the noise back to the shooter. It's MUCH louder!!
:) If you know a louder target we want to know!
We begin by finding a suitable reflector. I used an extremely cheap
stainless steel bowl because I had a few in the kitchen. These
aren't ideal as mine are paper thin. Basically anything bowl shaped
should do.
An obvious choice is a cheap saucepan? I've seen some quite heavy
stainless dog bowls in charity shops for about £1. A bowl with a
round bottom is better than one with a flat bottom but it's no big
deal.
Next we drill a hole right in the middle of the bowl. It doesn't
have to be exactly in the middle, just do your best...
I have a few steel discs lying around from the development of Rondo.
This acts as a backstop. My first attempt didn't have this & I
managed to punch a hole in the dish. Ironically this was down to my
GOOD shooting!
I kept shooting at an empty target hole thinking I'd missed!!! I was
incredibly impressed by the strength of the bowl, hitting the
sloping sides didn't even make a mark! As I said above, my bowls are
wafer thin. A few holes here & there won't make any
difference. At £1 each I can replace the bowl if/when it becomes a
sieve...
We'll see how it works out. The 'backstop' cost more than the bowl
anyway :(
Assembling a Rondo Senior is very straightforward. A long
(60mm) bolt is used rather than the usual bolt provided
A spacer is required to position Rondo nearer a 'focal
point' to return the noise. Currently we supply rubber doorstops
which are just right.
Put it together:
You need to mount Rondo Senior using the through bolt which sticks
out the back. This leaves plenty options.
We don't have immediate plans to sell Rondo Senior
as a 'package' but future Rondo purchases will include a 60mm
bolt & spacer so you can make your own - all you have to
do is find a bowl.
This is too good not to share :)
Disclaimer
Although Rondo is robust you will eventually destroy it,
just as you will any target! Consequently we don't offer any
guarantee against 'wear & tear' but trust you will have
countless hours of fun before it eventually bites the dust. Because
Rondo uses two identical target plates you potentially have 4
surfaces to batter. Some of our Rondos have been hit thousands of
times with no sign of distress.
Rondo is designed to be used with sub 12ftlb air rifles. Use
anything else at your peril.
Rondo is made of steel. The target plates will rust if allowed to.
Wipe them with an oily rag or some furniture polish from time to
time if this bothers you.
Rondo is supplied untreated, unpainted, au naturelle. In the photos
we've cleaned it a little just to make the photos nicer!
Buying
Rondo costs £20 which includes p&p to UK mainland destinations
Trade enquiries welcome.