Over the last few weeks I have been setting up a thermal sight-in range along with one of my landowners. He has a good location to shoot out to 200 yards and the best part is the the entire length is under some huge oak trees that provide some much needed shade.
My goal was to provide a solid thermal background for some 8 inch AR500 steel plates and see whether hot or cold steel was the way to go. I tried different insulation board and found that the white styrofoam allowed for the steel plates to stand out well enough to shoot with no heating on a 90 degree summer day and they were mostly shaded. I also bought a magnetic overlay which will allow you to paint target lines on the steel for working with day scopes.
I did buy a small torch to heat the plates a little when needed but for now they are working well just from ambient summer heat against the foam backdrop. I use the plates mostly for checking zero on my scopes and for initial sight-in I use hand warmers under a shoot-N-C target. I use 100 yards for my sight-in range.
We bought one of these portable shooting tables and it seems to be good enough for our setup.
http://www.mtmcase-gard.com/products/shooting/hunting-products-pst-11.html
I tested different foam board to find the best thermal backdrop.
Once I get my POI adjusted I shoot 3 rounds @ 100 yards into a 4 inch plate just to make sure I am shooting MOH (minute of hog).
