TargetTalk

Hi, looking for a practical solution for lighting my indoor target. Without getting into the whole lumen/lux discussion as this is just an informal range, what would be the best lighting? Incandescent, florescent, halogen, 100w, 50w? Not opposed to buying range specific, but maybe something I already have around the house? Thanks for your recommendations!

Any, or all of the above. Honestly, it really doesn't matter as long as there is good lighting, and not just on the target. If the walls around the target are dark, then your eyes will adjust to the average, and the target will look overly bringht. Sius targets have a strip of LEDs down both sides of the frame, so the target face itself is well lit. We have both a 4 foot fluorescent fixtures and a LED flood light above and towards the firing line about 6 feet to add additional light on the wall and target box. Most comment that it is good lighting. At home I had a 60 watt flood light below and back from the target and the room ceiling light. I don't think there is a magic formula here, just get it bright enough for you to be comfortable.

Our kids just shot at the Junior Olympics, and for both rifle and pistol they complained about the lighting being too dark, so be aware that if you go anywhere else to shoot, it probably won't match what you have anyway...

Excellent thread starter here as I'm waiting on an Inband target for my own home air pistol shooting. Excellent points made in reply following and well thought out,Thank you.

I use a 60w flood as well. It is in a Home Depot clamp reflector, that is clamped to the floor joist.
I should switch to an equivalent LED flood, but I'll do that when it burns out. Crawling downrange (in the crawl space of the house) is a dirty chore.
It lights up the wall behind, so I don't feel like I'm looking at a bright spot in the dark.

I had thought about measuring the light level, but decided that for casual home use, what I did was "good enough."

Good enough is what I'm looking for!

Attached is my paper target system using a simple clamp-on lamp. I use the lamp along with my normal room lighting. For the lamp, I tried a bunch of different bulbs years ago and found the GE Reveal 50W incandescent spotlight bulb gave me the best sight picture. The Reveal bulbs had a slight purplish surface, but cast a nice light. Regular spotlights were too harsh. Unfortunately, the incandescent bulbs are no longer made. GE does have Reveal LED bulbs, so that's where I would start.

I also have a Sius electronic target. For that I do not need a spot light. But I did hardwire a long LED shop light on the ceiling about 10 feet in front of the target and angled it a bit to point more towards the target such that it did not cast a shadow on the target face. It's more of an overall area lighting rather than a concentrated spot. This is probably more involved than you would need. And the Sius target also has it's own internal lighting. So with my paper target box, I still need a spot light.

Re lighting for InBand-lights that come with system work perfectly with SCATT and are more than adequate for shooting with no other lighting down range.

Thanks for all the great information, appreciate it!