Steel Targets

[L84CABO]

Yes, the short range rifle targets are from shootsteel.com - this is from their site:

"Our short range rifle targets were designed for law enforcement agencies, gun clubs and individuals looking to shoot centerfire rifles closer than 100 yards. Our design uses an AR550 target, an angled mounting bracket and an extra large base for stability. The angle helps prevent much of the pitting common with shooting rifles closer than 100 yards. This pitting can become dangerous as it may send fragments back at the shooter. This allows the target to be used up close and at longer ranges."

They are the SRRT package, but I just saw that they are different in that they now have a "swing" to them, which I believe is intended to allow for better audible feedback. When I bought them, the mount was fixed and there was no play. I wonder if the "give" of the target would help prevent pitting.

Their is also a TwangNBang video on youtube in which he does a pretty good review of them. I believe he shoots them at 30-40 yards with no damage.

Interesting. And yes, an angled target and one that has some give to it will help reduce the impact but whether it's enough, is anyone's guess. I see lots of videos of people shooting .223 inside 100 yards...sometimes well inside 100 yards and I always wonder how their targets stand up to that. My guess is they're shooting ammo that is traveling slower than 3000 fps.

This is a picture of an Action Target Evil Roy 8" round, shot at about 80 yards with 3200 fps .223 ammo. This is AR550 steel, not 500. My hope was with the 550 and the distance that it would be enough to hold up. I was wrong. I don't know if you can see the depth in the picture but it took chunks out of it. They say all steel is not created equal. But if anyone has any actual experience with a target that can stand up to this, please share.

[bajajoaquin]

I thought I'd give everyone an update on where I decided to go, and what I found out.

I ordered three AR500 gongs from Amazon.com, two 4" and one 8" they were pretty inexpensive. I also cut up some thin plate/thick sheet metal I had lying around, it's about 10 ga. It was cut into about 7" squares. I drilled these for hanging. Last, I cut up scrap dimensional lumber I had lying around, 2x4, 4x4 and 2x8. I cut these into squares and put screw eyes into them for hanging.

I put screw eyes in the bottom of a couple saw horses and also made some quick wood tripods. I used 9-ga galvanized wire to make a bunch of S-hooks to keep the targets down away from the stands as much as possible.

We put the 8" AR500 out at about 100 yards, and one 4" at about 65 yards. the thin plate and the wood blocks were at ranges from 15-40 yards.

The AR500 withstood hits from .223, 30-06, and 7.62x54r at the 100 yards. The little gong was hit at least once by the 30-06 at 65 yards, and a couple times by .223, but I think it was mostly my friend's softpoints. Except for one round that hit an edge and made a chip, there was no damage to the plates.

The most interesting thing to me was the way the more makeshift targets handled it. Some got splintered, and the .223 and .30 cal rounds punched through, but .22 didn't dent it much, and it looks like 9mm didn't even go through. The light weight meant that there were no ricochets, and they all survived fit to use again. The wood blocks held up really well, too, except when we shot the high powered rounds at them.

I didn't take any pictures of my setup, but I'll try to remember to take some pictures of the AR500 and the plate, to show what they look like.

The only real fail was my stand for the gongs when we shot at them with the big stuff. They didn't last long.

Overall, though, I'm pretty happy. We had 2 dozen or so reactive targets that generally held up well to three people shooting for a couple hours.

My take-away: Next time, I'll do pistol and .22 calibers wholly with my sheet metal/wood setup. I'll build more robust stands for my gongs, and keep those out past 65 yards, where I'll feel comfortable shooting at them as much as I want. I'll also make taller stands, with longer hangers, to try to get them a bit farther away from the cross-bar and minimize hits.

[NorCalFocus]

I just got some AR500 from SoCal Target Works through here. I tried one 55g FMJ on it at 100 yards, it made a definite dimple. Shot some 68g HPBT handloads and they made slight dimples. I won't be shooting the FMJs at it any longer, unless it's 400 yards.

[tuolumnejim]

My buddy bought this hostage target kit off ebay and I welded it up for him, looks pretty good.

[Jimi Jah]

How do you stop destroying the supports/chains besides not missing?

[Devilmonkey89]

How do you stop destroying the supports/chains besides not missing?

I use scrap wood from work and have spare chain, because sooner or later everyone misses. So i don't think their is an effective way to NOT destroy them. Some people use angle iron on the supprts if its an expensive setup.

[musick]

How do you stop destroying the supports/chains besides not missing?

Easy...stop using chains.

Instead try fabric such as seat belt webbing or shoulder strap from a messenger bag. Feeling more ambitious? Pick up a blown out tire off the side of the road and cut it into strips.

Pictured below is a shoulder strap with well over 500 rds of .223 @ 100-ish yrds. Holds up to spalling and stray bullets quite nicely.

[chairmnofthboard]

From time to time I'll make AR500 targets for myself and my friends. (someone here got butthurt because I sold off the extras) and here's what I learned.

Pistol minimum distance 7 yards, but really you should do 10 yards. 7 yards is too close to miss. There is zero challenge unless it's a small 4" target.

Magnum I push them out to about 20 yards on a .460. Anything closed and you get pelted with copper jackets.

5.56 100 yards. Jerry Miculek says he hits at 50 yards. That seems to close for me.

7.62x39 has to be at least 100 yards. The round is heavy enough to rock the stand off it's feet and send it right back (trust me on this).

308, 30.06+ are fine at 100 yards, but really, what's the point. Push those out too 500 yards.

Here's the catch. The angle on the steel targets themselves. I normally run them at 15*. I recently changed them to 25* and that worked a lot better. Everything hit the ground.

Even my long distance swinging targets are setup with 15* on a fixed swing, that means no chains. It will only swing back and forward.

Also, I only use 3/8" AR500. I don't see the point in using 1/4" unless you're strictly handguns.

I hope this helps.

[bajajoaquin]

Here are some pictures of one of the mild steel plates I used for (mostly) pistol targets. I say "mild steel" but in truth I don't know. They're off-cuts about 7" wide x 8' long. I bought them off Craig's List 5-7 years ago because I figured they'd be good material to have around for all sorts of stuff, and I was right.

But the point is, it could be sturdier stuff and I don't really know. Welds like mild, though.

Anyway we shot at it with .22, 9mm, and some idiot (me) decided to shoot 7.62x54R at it as well, just for the halibut. (Looking at it again now, I might have hit it with .357, too, but I don't really remember.) Range was about 10 yards. They were hung by 9-ga wire from saw horses, so they swung freely. The hole in the bottom of the photo was drilled to use for hanging.







As I mentioned above, I'm pretty surprised that 9mm didn't penetrate and that .22 did almost nothing to it. We didn't have any ricochets, flying jacket fragments, or other problems. Before I use them again, I'll probably hammer them a little flat and then paint/use the other side. I know I'm probably just lucky, and something is going to fly back at me soon, but if it does, I'll fess up and admit it.