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Suggestions for metal targets?

5K views 44 replies 22 participants last post by  Casimirblue 
#1 ·
We built a 100 yard range here on the farm. We're really bored putting holes in paper and using a spotter scope.

We want action!

What kind of spinner targets should we get for 7.62, 30-06, .30 Carbine and the eastern block type rifles at 100 yards?

Also, I read somewhere that there is a company who makes a special metal target which fragments the rounds downward which avoids ricochets? It was called something like 404 steel or something?

Any suggestions, links, advice, etc. will be very appreciated!

Thanks!
 
#2 · (Edited)
It's called AR500, or at least the common stuff that I'm aware of is. If you search that you'll come up with an enormous amount of options. Personally I just buy plates 1 or 2 at a time off eBay and hang them from carriage bolts(cover the bolt holes) and chain but there are some companies that make really nice but expensive setups with spinners and stands. All sorts of animals and stuff. I'm going to get some pepper poppers, I think their called, next. They jump back up after getting hit. If you've never shot steel I recommend doing a few minutes of reading on the safety issues, minimum ranges and steel thicknesses per firearm category. And make sure you angle your stationary plates down or hang them such that they absorb the kinetic energy and don't reflect it right back at you. They make brackets that do that for you. I got whacked pretty hard by a 9mm slug at 25 yards with my first setup. which was a plate that was hanging but touching the ground. Stupid, but I didn't know any better. It's a ton of fun though and mostly what I shoot. And do yourself a favor and don't buy the Walmart ones, well buy those too I guess, but they are often improperly tempered. I was taking longer range pot shots with my cougar 8000 the second day I had one and a round hit a soft spot in the steel and sailed right through. Cool, not. Which brings up another point, the cheap ones are going to get stove in quickly and become dangerous. Holes create reflection points and shearing surfaces(I made that one up) that can cause pieces of bullets to come right back at you. I've 'seen' that happen too. Ive taught myself everything I know...

https://youtu.be/0GpKZzt29BM

Actually I should clarify, youtube and forums like this have taught me everything I know. Scary right? If I knew even one person with more firearms knowledge than me in real life I'd follow them around like a puppy.
 
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#3 ·
It's called AR500, or at least the common stuff that I'm aware of is. If you search that you'll come up with an enormous amount of options. Personally I just but plates 1 or 2 at a time off eBay but there are some companies that make really nice but expensive setups with spinners and stands. All sorts of animal and stuff. if you've never shot steel I recommend doing a few minutes of reading on the safety issues and make sure you angle your stationary plates down or hang them such that they absorb the kinetic energy and don't reflect it right back at you. I got whacked by a 9mm at 25 yards with my first setup which was a plate that was hanging but touching the ground. Stupid, but I didn't know any better. It's the most fun though and mostly what I shoot.
"I got whacked by a 9mm at 25 yards with my first setup which was a plate that was hanging but touching the ground." YIKES!!!

Most of the guys around here use old plow discs and/or old pickup truck tailgates and such . . . NOT ON MY RANGE! That is exactly what I want to avoid . . . accidents.

Thanks for the post and especially the 9mm story.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I use plenty of AR-500 targets at my 150 yd range. Some are from Big Dog Steel. Great folks to deal with.

[URL=https://s1180.photobucket.com/user/nf1e/media/nf1e149/Easter%202020%204.jpg.html][/URL]

Meet " Willie the Wrat". To the right of my 100yd target boards is a reactive precision rifle target from Big Dog Steel. This poor guy takes a beating. All my AR-500 targets are hung at an angle so bullet fragments are deflected at the ground.

[URL=https://s1180.photobucket.com/user/nf1e/media/IMG_1949_zpszcnm5lig.jpg.html][/URL]
 
#7 ·
Man! WOW!
I am impressed, no kidding. That's what we wanna do!

There's 800 acres here to play on but we can't do more than our 100 yards because my cousin farms. Only when crops are not growing and there is no open hunting seasons can we can play on the rest of the land.

We want to try 500 to 1,000 yards this year before the corn gets too high. So this is our urgent mission: Get some steel FAST! LOL!
 
#8 ·
Yes, AR500 steel is what you'll want to ding high caliber rifle cartridges off of metal, I have several 3/8" thick targets that would be good for the calibers you stated and you'll probably want maybe 1/2" thick if shooting larger calibers. I have shot a .338 Lapua on mine at a couple of hundred yards leaving a very slight dimple but the smaller 30 cal bullets leave nothing but chipped paint, the AR500 is tough stuff. As far as bullet deflection, I'm pretty sure most all manufactured steel targets are set up to hang at an angle so that the bullet fragments deflect down towards the ground after being hit, all of mine are.

I buy all of my AR500 targets from Magnum Targets, they've always treated me right, have a good selection, offer free shipping and you can call them on the phone if you have any questions.

https://magnumtarget.com
 
#9 ·
you are blessed with your shooting ground!

If you want go reilly safe, use frangible ammunition ( I know, the price... )
 
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#19 ·
I have them hanging on 4 feet of belting .at almost 30 degrees to the ground at 100 to 400 yards. They are loud and swing and twist pretty good if hit right, no ricochet. The discs I use have a 3 inch hole and four 1/2 inch mounting holes and I bolt directly to the belting. You can drop a clay pigeon into the center hole from the back. They are pretty durable but they do get holes, cracks, and chunks blown off, but that's part of the fun.
 
#20 ·
Yeah, forgot to mention, my friend got me a small roll of used fire hose that I am going to rehang my plates with. A lot of people use that, or like the belting mentioned above. It can take a lot of shots through it before it comes apart. Like webbing, it's meant to hold even when pretty compromised. I agree about the concave plates. I'd call that a no-go, I think it will pretty efficiently redirect lead splatter right back at you or worse, someone standing next to you. Maybe flipped so the bell is facing you but I still think nothing beats a flat ar500 plate angled groundward
 
#21 · (Edited)
Do not, I repeat, Do NOT use a Disc!
Been there done that. The big calibers will go through but after a while it will become deformed and those deformities will produce ricochets.

Go to a Place where they make Steel/cut Steel Etc. Have em cut ya a few Plates of AR500 or even better for closer distances, AR550. Both will eventually get very small pits, like really small, but are safe to shoot.
I’ve been shooting steel for 6 years now and have just started to flip em to the other side. What weird is that the plate bend the opposite way after shooting them. They start to bow away from the shooter instead of inward like you’d think they would. Something to do with the outer portions of the steel being weaker than the center most portions of the steel plate. The impacts push the corners out even if this impacts are toward the center. The shock wave bends the metal.
I read all about it, metal heads will be able to give ya more info as to why. That was long winded. Sorry.

Do you have a welder? If you do you can take some metal fence posts and weld them together.
Take two fence posts and weld them together forming two sides of a triangle. Weld a brace between them for stability. Do that twice and you’ll have yourself two legs of a target stand that will hold up to bullet holes.
Take a small square (6”x6”) piece of Soft steel plate and plasma cut a hole in the middle. Weld the plate to the top of the triangular,.lets call it the target stand leg. Now you do that to both legs.
Get a chain link, hollow, fence post for a cross beam. Feed the cross beam through the holes on the legs and the Target ”Frame” should freely stand.
Hang the AR plate from the cross beam and boom.
The Farmer way of hanging steel targets.
Very similar to what AR 500 sells with 2x4’s below.
 

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#30 ·
I like this idea. . . we've been trying to figure how to hang them. A neighbor just took down an acre of old fence and has a truck full of those posts. Said I can have what I want.

Our shooting shed is 12 x 24 ft, we could put these targets out at 100 yds, one for each shooter's bench seat. THANKS!
 
#23 ·
Here's how I set most of my steel target hangers up ... a wrought iron shepherds hook bought from any garden center affixed (bolts, tie-wraps or whatever) to a metal fence post and 3" fire hose connected to the target that I hang from the shepherds hook. It's a relatively cheap and simple setup that's easy to transport and last a long time, this hanger is probably five or six years old...




 
#24 ·
Hey guys, to clear this "disc" thing up . . . I do not, and will not allow anyone to shoot such dangerous targets around me. I said the guys around here where I live use such targets.

I wanna keep my eyes!

Hey, thanks for all these tips, how tos, sellers links, advice, etc.

This is a great forum, I love this place!
 
#28 ·
The AR 500 plate is ABRASION RESISTANT plate - it's a high manganese plate that does NOT drill or saw - and if you weld it - it's as hard as your grinding discs! It is designed/made for cutting edges on plows, dozers, front end loaders, and excavator and backhoe buckets to not wear out quickly. So making them is done with a torch (to cut the circle and drill/poke the hole with the heat wrench as well). I find hanging these steel discs like someone mentioned previously on conveyor belt straps instead of chains to be a far better deal. Chains break - the bullets go right thru the conveyor belt and it takes a load of misses to cut a strap in half. The other trick is in hanging the target by the conveyor belt - you use 1 1/2-2" bolts with the straps towards the back between washers or pipe spacers.........this hangs the target at the 5-10 degree downward angle you are looking for. If you buy the targets the conveyor belting hangers and longer bolts will work well for keeping things driving into the dirt from what ever hanger/frame/arrangement you run with. Several guys at our gun range use this method and it keeps flying fragments to a minimum and mostly into the dirt. Keeping your steel near a berm or backstop also helps with rouge flying objects. Ralph
 
#29 ·
#31 ·
Well the one rated to 30-06 is a much harder alloy of steel. It stood up to the 45 at 20 because the 45 is a handgun round. Much slower then the rifle rounds. Granted the 30-06 and .308 is only 30 cal rounds but they are high powered rifle rounds. When it comes to steel targets you get what you pay for. next time go ahead and spend the extra on the target rated for the 30-06. a .45 is accurate to 20 25 yards, a 30-06 is good to 600-800+ yards.
 
#33 ·
The targets you want are made by Salute targets. They are expensive, but you will buy them once. They are designed to send all fragments to the ground and work extremely well. I have had mine for over ten years and still going strong. They make a great hostage target if you want to challenge yourself. I believe they give military and veteran discounts. I have talked to the owner several times and he's a good guy.

People spend thousands and thousands of dollars on rifles and ammunition, them cheap out on equipment. These targets were made with safety in mind. You don't have to worry about raining lead on others at the range like most carnage bolt/chain hanging targets. Our cowboy action group uses the cheap targets and the definitely rain lead when shooting pistol. https://www.salutetargets.com/
 
#34 ·
Jackofalltrades: Thanks - checked out their site - the hanging target that looks on the order of a saw horse is REALLY nice! they offer armored legs, a front deflector to keep bullets down, the pendants hang at an angle to keep lead and fragments going into the berm/sand/bullet catchment. The flip up and catch mechanism is really slick with the red lever release target re-set is clever too. Appreciate you posting this. Ralph
 
#35 ·
Your welcome,

I live and teach industrial safety. The RO of our range looked at the trench in front of my targets after a good days shooting and was more than pleased all splatter on the ground.

If you look in there about section under safety and why their targets are like they are they give the whole technical explanation of how the deflection works and expends all the energy. The owner is a veteran and has a lot of Veteran employees. I have seen their targets used by military and police. I have their Spartan Target and think it's one of the best purchases I've ever made
 
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