Metal targets

An article in the most recent Guns magazine talked about using
metal targets for practicing. Was wondering if any of you use metal targets on a regular basis, what type, size, height and where you got them? If homemade, how'd you do it? In short, any info would be most appreciated. Muchas gracias

Yes I actually prefer metal targets but they can be very dangerous if not the proper type of steel. Soft steel will crater and that's usually where problems start. The best deal I've seen is the evil roy from action target. This is basically the rig but you'll need to call them and order it with the A-550 plate not the "handgun" plate. I've got the 10" A-550 rifle plate and it's tough as hell.
Evil Roy Target

We use metal targets as part of the winter league. They are round pieces of steel at the 50, 75, 100, and 150 yard traget boards. We have 4 sizes 16" 12" 10" and 7.5". They are hung with cahin under the taget boards about 3' off the ground. Just common steel 1" thick. They will take a good beating before being replaced. During league part of your score is to hit each plate with one shot standing freehand. If you miss the big one you move on to the next smaller one. Some guys like to start with the small one and work up. Each hit scores points. The large one is 3 points next is 5, next 8, and the smallest is 13. So if you hit all 4 that's 29 points added to your paper target score. Rifles shoot 100 yard steel, SP's like an XP or an Encore shoots 75 yard steel, and revolvers and auto's shoot 50 yard steel.

As far as hanging the plates I started by welding on heavy transport grade chain 3/8" and a few were 1/2". I thought heavy reugged chain would last. WRONG!! LOL The transport chain is very hard and when a bullet strikes it it usually shatters. The second mistake was to weld it to the plates a few hits to the chain will rip the welds loose or if the link welded gets shot you have no way of quickly fastening the chain back to the plate without welding it. Over time I came to the conclusion that very light chain and 1/4" bolts holding the chain to the plate was the ticket. The chain only has to hold the weight of the big plates which are like 50 pounds. It gets hit very little as it's samll, and when it does it's so soft the bullet usually takes out just a bullet sized piece and sometimes the rest of the link is still holding the weight. The rifles do that mostly. Also with the bolt you can fix or replace the chain easly right at the target stand, with two 7/16" wrenches. We have a little kit in a plasric bottle for target repair while shooting. It's got 2 wrenches a couple lengths of chain and a few "S" hooks and a pair of slip joint plires. You can run down and fix the plate and be back to shoot in less than 5 minutes. I had a picture of the target stands we made but can't find it right now.

I also put the chains on the same side of the plate. It makes them tip just slightly forward so when the jacket material of the bullet rebounds back it goes towards the ground. We also have a rule that rifles only shoot 100 yard and 150 yard steel for that reason. Safety first. I have seen the fluffy snow behind the 50 "poof" from the jackets coming back from the 100.

I have approximately 75 metal targets on my personal range that I use for my handguns. These are located from 50 yds to 300 yds away. The sizes range from a 15" diameter circle to rectangles measuring 3" high and 2" wide. Also have one 3/4 life size metal deer (actually an elk but 3/4 deer size). Several of the smaller ones are also animal shapes (rabbit, owl, weasel, etc).

Most of these targets have two holes near the top and are suspended loosely between two T-posts with rope. Thus, they swing or move when hit. When the rope breaks or is shot, it takes about 2 minutes to retie or replace it and you are back in business.

The smallest ones (rectangles 2"x3" up to about 4"x6" and diamonds 2 1/2" up to about 5") are hung between the outsides of a 2x4 wooden frame that has a piece of rod thru it. The actual targets are bolted to a pair of long hinges with the rod thru the enclosed ends of the hinges. Thus, the targets dangle below the rod. A solid hit on them will cause them to spin around the rod. All of these frames have a total of 4 targets of various sizes and shapes on them. I have built six of these frames and they are positioned from about 60 yds to about 95 yds from the benches.

Since I shoot mostly revolvers, much of my shooting is at distances less than 150 yds. However, I have some steel plates that are about 9" x 15". These are hung between the T posts. These are positioned from about 90 yds to 300 yds from the benches.

I very seldom shoot paper. I even prefer to sight in a scope on the metal targets which are all kept painted (red, green, or blue).

On a smaller range closer to home, I have 3 metal ducks (life size) hung from a rod 100 yds from the shooting area. In addition I have two of the 9" x 15" plates (75 yds and 100 yds). We do not have much flexibility at this location or we would expand it.

I spend a lot of time (and gunpowder) enjoying the bigger range described above. When I can consistently hit the small (2 1/2" tip to tip) diamond at 90+ yds with a 41, 44, or 454, I am happy.

Use them all the time, from 200 yards to beyond 1,000.
Paint them white with blue or red paint dots for aiming points.
Various sizes, depending one distance and who is doing the shooting.

I use them I found the IHMSA target layouts on line and cut them out of 1/4" mil-46100 armor steel.

They swing on a 5/8" rebar frame

Thanks guys for all the input.

One point I might add about using the 1/4 Mil spec Armor. It is very light compared to the thicker plates so there is a little less chance of the bullet comming back at you.

It sound cool to hit the 200M rams with a 44 or a 45 There is not question if you hit the target or not.

If you are worried about ricochets, Set-up your targets with a slight angle, so the bullet will deflect down. Here is a couple of steel targets I use.

Geez, Ernie, it's a shame your hits were so far off center at that distance !

That's some fine shooting; I don't care who you are.

Thanks guys!
The bottom pic is my 7mm Dakota, shooting 200 grain Wildcat at 2700 fps, at 600 yards-1st shot connection (no sighters).
Had perfect conditions on the 600 yard shot. It was right before Steve (sscoyote) and I headed up to the mountains to go elk and deer hunting. We were just east of Pueblo, CO.

First pic was last year, when Wayne and I were getting ready for ITRC. We had been shooting at multiple distances. I had fired two rounds @ 622 yards, then went and shot at some shorter distances, then about 5-10 minutes later, went back and fired two more shots. Wayne about had a coronary when spotting.
It doesn't always turn out this good, as wind can really get you if you are not paying attention, once you get beyond 500 yards.

Ok so I have been working on a steel plate project for myself and finished it recently. Now I manage a Laser Machining shop so cutting the steel is what we do. My targets are 1/2" thick AR500 plate, there is a AR550 but it costs twice the price and actually is a little more brittle than AR500, its also virtually unweldable I am told.

Anyways we program the targets and the end brackets on AutoCAD and this is fed to the laser to cut the plates.



I used #6 rebar for a cross bar and 1" square tubing for legs. The back legs fold in on the front legs for storage and in about 60 seconds the rack breaks down to go home. Just slide the legs on the rebar, then your targets, and then the other set of legs on the other end. 60 seconds tops...





So far the heaviest load I have tried in a rifle was a 338 with a 230gr Failsafe bullet at 2800fps and it didn't leave a mark. 425gr bullets in my 475 Linebaugh would get the plates swinging really hard but the base has stayed in place really well.

Beautiful--I am unworthy...

Actually Ernie your target was what got me thinking about my rack. I liked the light weight idea but driving rebar into the rocky bround where I shoot just is not going to work so I came up with the saw buck idea that would break down and here we are. I did a group buy on another forum a few months ago and sold enough targets to go through 2 48"x120" steel plates of 1/2" AR500 steel so I bought a couple of targets for myself.You have all of these toys at work so you have to use them right?

Good for you!

Yo, Fowler,

And have you thought about making some of these for others?

I, for at least one, am interested in a set of 8, 10, 12, and 15" targets with 2 holes in them.

Want to make another set?

PM/email me a quote.

Larry
Tinkerer

I would be interested Also
You can PM or E-Mail if you would

Ok let me do some thinking and math and we will see what it would take to do a group buy again for the rack and targets...

I can do my own rack, but would be interested in the steel plates.

Me, too.

Larry
Tinkerer

For those that might be interested, I took a few shots of a couple of the benches & some of the metal targets at my little shooting range on Saturday afternoon. They are posted on the "bragging board."

After the photos, I took out the FA single shot (338 Federal) and dinged a few of them. Too much fun.

We have came up with 2 different hanging methods for steel.
Option 1: Welding Square Tubing on the back near the top for your chain to thread through.
Option 2: Welding a couple large Chain Hooks (The round kind that do not hook on a link) on the back of the target near the top. This works very well with a heavy target.

Both methods seem to work pretty well. The targets hang angled back at the bottom so the bullets should not come back. When we welding chain to the targets, they were at the shop for repair all the time.

For practice for Handgun Hunting I would go to a metal fabrication shop (Welding Shop) and look at scrap pieces. Thickness of metal dependant on what you are going to shoot it with. I would look for a piece in the neighborhood of 12 inches Square, or Round and between 1/2" and 1" thick. That should take a pounding for years. Add the attachment method described above to the back. You might have this done while at the shop, thay have the tools and know how to do it right the first time.

Use your imgination for a stand. Hooks to hold the chain to the stand seem to work best. Keep in mind Bullet Splash. We have stands made that are 4 Feet wide with 4" X 4" vertical CCA Posts. The insides of the posts are covered with jacket material and lead from rifle bullets almost vaporizing on impact with the steel.

Take a can of spray paint with you when shooting for a fresh target in seconds. Also something for chain repair, incase your buddy shoots the chain. (Wire, or better a few Repair Chain Links) Something to remember, If you have a repair kit with you, you probably will not need it. Leave it home and see what happens.

Shootin' Steel

I shoot IHMSA and Ultra IHMSA year round so shooting steel is very natural for me. Our range has steel gongs out to 500+ yards. It is "Oh So Satisfying" to the ring at the 500 yard gong using my pistol while the guy next to me with the $3,000 rifle shots and hears....well, nuthin".

Bill in OR

I've been using railroad "tie plates" (?) that one of my buddies got for us. They measure about 8" or so square, they are used to connect the rail to the tie, they have small square hoes in them for the spikes to go thru. These are tough and hold up really well. We just paint em and hang em using the holes that are already there. These work really well for just practicing, as you can easily hear one ring when you make a hit. You can probably find a couple laying along some old tracks just about anywhere.

So, can we get a group buy together for some hangers?

Larry
Tinkerer

Yea I will get current steel pricing together on monday and get something up for the plates. They are not cheap but then they never wearout ether...