Steel targets

[flow]

I'm thinking of investing in a couple steel targets. I am a tradesman so I have a lot of tools and will build my own stands using 2x4 and sawhorse ties. Does anyone have recommendations? I would love to learn from your experience (mistakes lol).
I will be shooting rifle caliber 7.62x39 and 223 556. Also small pistol rounds and 22 lr will be used. I'm curious if anyone else has gone down this road and has some tips
Thanks
Flow

 

[Jason]

Steel targets are the way to go.... https://shootingtargets7.com/ Is where I got all my steel and they have a large photo gallery of customers set ups. They come black, but I paint mine white.

Wood will splinter real bad, that's how I did my 1st stands fer my gongs. I now have some steel that has my gongs/silhouettes. If those calibers you mentioned are used, AR500 in 3/8 will work. I found out the hard way a 300 WM and 35 Whelen will melt a hole through 3/8. So I bought some AR500 1/2 inch! It helps to either have the smaller targets hanging so they can swing with small calibers. Larger targets have them angled back so the ricochet will keep moving away from the shooter. My youngest had a ricochet actually strike him in the chest and draw blood, luckily it was only a 22...

 

[Duckyou]

Steel targets are the way to go....https://shootingtargets7.com/ Is where I got all my steel and they have a large photo gallery of customers set ups. They come black, but I paint mine white.

Wood will splinter real bad, that's how I did my 1st stands fer my gongs. I now have some steel that has my gongs/silhouettes. If those calibers you mentioned are used, AR500 in 3/8 will work. I found out the hard way a 300 WM and 35 Whelen will melt a hole through 3/8. So I bought some AR500 1/2 inch! It helps to either have the smaller targets hanging so they can swing with small calibers. Larger targets have them angled back so the ricochet will keep moving away from the shooter. My youngest had a ricochet actually strike him in the chest and draw blood, luckily it was only a 22...

I had the metal jacket from a 9mm cut my head open on a ricochet while shooting steel.

You definitely want to be careful with distances and angles - and where safety glass!

 

[Bowhntr6pt]

I had the metal jacket from a 9mm cut my head open on a ricochet while shooting steel.

You definitely want to be careful with distances and angles - and where safety glass!

I have a piece of .40 cal jacket in my right wrist. We were at training years ago shooting a plate rack, I was about 5 yards behind the shooter with a few other guys. The plate rack was 15 or perhaps 20 yards out. All of a sudden it felt like someone threw a handful of crap at us... several of us got hit with splatter. I noticed a cut near my wrist but dismissed it.

About two years goes by and I got finned by a Red Snapper in the same hand. Within a week it got seriously infected and I went to the ER where they did an X-ray. The X-ray tech comes in the room and asked had I ever been shot and I said no. When he mentioned the metal in my wrist and asked if I knew how it got there I realized it was from the previous incident. I can actually feel it now.

When shooting steel make sure to cant the targets downward to help direct the splash. Also, be aware of any side to side cant, pistol bullets are more prone to ricochet vs. high-power rifle rounds.

I shoot steel close up as far as "general distance standards" go... as close as 15 yards pistol and 25 yards rifle... but I make sure to wear eye-pro and keep the targets canted downward. By following these guidelines I've never had issues in running drills in my own training, work-related training, and the public training classes I give.

With that said, keep in mind one very important thing... bullets do weird things... thus all bets are off and there are no guarantees when shooting steel.

 

[Daezee]

An item you might consider is using frangible bullets at the closer distances. I use frangible bullets in 380, 223, and 30 caliber. Safer and easier on the targets.

 

[flow]

Wish I could find some 223 in any form lol. I was thinking about trying to trade some 22lr for some but idk what a good trade would be

 

[Daezee]

Wish I could find some 223 in any form lol. I was thinking about trying to trade some 22lr for some but idk what a good trade would be

I reload my own frangible loads. Back when 30 cal frangible bullets were cheap and no one particularly wanted them, friends and I got together and bought 10's of thousands at about 4 cents each delivered and are still shooting them today. Also bought 75gr .380 frangible bullets and .223 frangibles much cheaper than they are now. Maybe in a few years people will look back and think how cheap bullets were in the 2019-2021 time frame.

 

[MarkS]

Maybe in a few years people will look back and think how cheap bullets were in the 2019-2021 time frame.

I sure hope not


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[flow]

I sure hope not


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Ya me too. I just started buying firearms around this time last year. I didn't realize ammo was as volatile as it is. The old "wish I knew then what I know now " is ringing loud in my ears instead of gun shots. I thought about trying my luck with reloading but I screwed up there too. Apparently its a bad time for that. I just want to practice with my rifle but I'm more patient than I used to be. I'll just have to dial back and wait it out and hope things change

 

[Jason]

I sure hope not


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Hahaha with the new administration taking over, the firearms and ammo will be taxed to hell and back so your $10 box of ammo will be about $100. Your $400 guns will be 1K and so on and so forth. Gun grabbers won't be able to take guns so they will make everything outrageously expensive. What you don't have right now, if its offered somewhere BUY IT!!! I know I have seen ammo prices (available ammo) tripple and folks are buying it up!!!!

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Aren't you supposed to only shoot lead bullets at the steel targets?? Not fmj??

 

[Jason]

Aren't you supposed to only shoot lead bullets at the steel targets?? Not fmj??

FMJ has done very little on my targets... very minor dimples and that's from 308/3006/223...

 

[Daezee]

Aren't you supposed to only shoot lead bullets at the steel targets?? Not fmj??

Depends upon the steel makeup, bullet makeup, and terminal velocity at impact.

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Ok, I thought you weren't supposed to shoot jacketed ammo at the targets, splatter etc. Sounds like all the boo boos were from jackets flying back. See, learned something new.

 

[flow]

I learned a bunch glad I asked

 

[Bowhntr6pt]

Ok, I thought you weren't supposed to shoot jacketed ammo at the targets, splatter etc. Sounds like all the boo boos were from jackets flying back. See, learned something new.

Watch slow motion of high powered rifle bullets hitting steel... they generally vaporize unless they hit at an angle.

In my experience (30 plus years) of shooting steel with all kinds of firearms, PISTOLS pose your biggest problems.

FMJ's don't matter, caliber doesn't matter, SPEED is what kills steel plates. A 40gr Nosler BT out of a .22-250 will swiss cheese AR500... ask me how I know... and I'm talking quality MGM brand full size IPSC steel.

 

[FrommerStop]

Watch slow motion of high powered rifle bullets hitting steel... they generally vaporize unless they hit at an angle.

In my experience (30 plus years) of shooting steel with all kinds of firearms, PISTOLS pose your biggest problems.

FMJ's don't matter, caliber doesn't matter, SPEED is what kills steel plates. A 40gr Nosler BT out of a .22-250 will swiss cheese AR500... ask me how I know... and I'm talking quality MGM brand full size IPSC steel.

I did notice when firing bullets at slanted down steel from 30 cal ar pistol guns firing mild loads pushing 150 gr fmj that some what intact bullets were on the ground at the base of the target. So yes normally rifle bullets will shatter against armor steel, except when they do not.
Some years ago was walking around what is now the ERGC and a guy had a 50 BMG shooting a a man hole cover. It was a bronze bullet and the cover was angled up that he had been shooting. Upon impact they heard whizzing in the air as it flew back in the direction of the shooting benches. No one was hit.

 

[Bowhntr6pt]

I did notice when firing bullets at slanted down steel from 30 cal ar pistol guns firing mild loads pushing 150 gr fmj that some what intact bullets were on the ground at the base of the target. So yes normally rifle bullets will shatter against armor steel, except when they do not.
Some years ago was walking around what is now the ERGC and a guy had a 50 BMG shooting a a man hole cover. It was a bronze bullet and the cover was angled up that he had been shooting. Upon impact they heard whizzing in the air as it flew back in the direction of the shooting benches. No one was hit.

I believe it... thus my earlier comment about bullets doing their own thing at times.

I wouldn't expect any reduced rifle load to act the same as a full powered load. I wouldn't expect ANY conventional pistol/pistol load to behave like a standard velocity rifle round upon impact. In fact, I'm more cautious with low velocity hand gun work than I am with rifle when it comes to steel work.

We've shot tens of thousands of rounds (.223 FMJ, SP's, and BT's/.308 FMJ, SP's and BT's) at steel as close as 35 yards with zero issues, in both work-related training and my own classes I give. Pistols, now that's been the problem area.

 

[Viking1204]

I have one of those spinner targets for plinking with the .22's, a .223 put a clean hole thru it!

 

[FrommerStop]

I believe it... thus my earlier comment about bullets doing their own thing at times.

I wouldn't expect any reduced rifle load to act the same as a full powered load. I wouldn't expect ANY conventional pistol/pistol load to behave like a standard velocity rifle round upon impact. In fact, I'm more cautious with low velocity hand gun work than I am with rifle when it comes to steel work.

We've shot tens of thousands of rounds (.223 FMJ, SP's, and BT's/.308 FMJ, SP's and BT's) at steel as close as 35 yards with zero issues, in both work-related training and my own classes I give. Pistols, now that's been the problem area.

The only time I was hit by a fragment was at an indoor 50 ft range in Hammond IN. It was from a 9mm pistol that someone else was shooting.
I remember someone at another range firing a 6 inch barreled 44 spl with target sights with some lead factory ammo at a pepper popper. The intact bullet bounced straight back in an arc about 70 ft in the air, hit the tin roof of a near by shooting position, rolled off the roof and was still intact. The fellow that picked it up claimed the bullet was still hot.