200 yd. Fun!!

[35 Whelen]

Had some friends coming out last Saturday for some fun, food, firewater and firearms. So, I gathered up some scrap around here and threw together a steel target. I had an ulterior motive as I'd been wanting a 200 yd. regulation size target on which to practice offhand shooting.
The target itself is constructed of two 22" diameter, 1/4" steel plates that I welded together. I then welded scoring rings on it the same size as the NRA 200 yd. "SR" target which is used for 200 yd. Offhand in High Power competition. The little welding rods weren't cooperating, so I left the 8-ring off welding only the X, 10, and 9-rings. Hung it from an old satellite dish frame and made provisions to stake it.









One of my buddies that came out has never been one to fire a rifle with any deliberate accuracy as he says his "eyes are too bad". So, I got his little DPMS M4 sighted in and after a few pointers he was nailing the target with great regularity and eventually started slinging them in the 9 and 10-ring and even managed a couple of X's all firing offhand with no support whatsoever!
All in all, we shot LOTS of ammunition:


The nice thing about a target like this (I have one at 600 yds. too) is a little spray paint fixes it up good as new with only some occassional welding to patch the dents. To hits are easy to hear even while wearing hearing protection and any hit on the target so long as it's 1.5" or so from the edge would score at least an eight.

The target has given me a new reason to rush home, throw together 10 or 12 rounds of .223 , grab the AR and practice a little offhand.

35W

 

[arizona98tj]

Are those divots in the target from your bullet impacts or does it just look like that?

 

[35 Whelen]

Are those divots in the target from your bullet impacts or does it just look like that?

They are divots, not too awfully deep though. We were shooting 55 gr. FMJ ammo, mine handloaded, my buddies Federal American Eagle. The smaller looking ones are from his 16" barrel, the larger from my 20". Sunday after cleaning up and re-painting the target, I handloaded some 52 gr. Hornady Match HP's with a somewhat lighter charge of powder. They were much easier on the target.

35W

 

[ECVMatt]

That looks like a blast to me!

 

[Bassleg]

I wish I had a big metal target in my back yard! That looks like fun.

 

[35 Whelen]

It wouldn't be a big deal to make one of these that was portable. I have a similar permanent one on my 100 yd. range with a 6" disc that I also use to practice offhand,

35W

 

[Jibs]

2 x 1/4 plates = 1/2 " plate = HEAVY, no?

 

[Jibs]

22"dia = 11" radius

V= pi*r^2*h

pi*11^2*.5 = 190 in^3 = 0.11 ft^3

weight of steel is 492 pcf

492 * 0.11 = 54 lbs.

I guess that is "portable", but I wouldn't want to carry it on my back!

 

[JimBoIHN]

Dang, I didn't think them mesquites allowed no green grass to form around them.
You need to get different metals for the rings that have their own distinctive sound. Then you wouldn't even need no spotting scope. When you get real good you can play a song on that sucker. Hey, that's pretty country to us hunters-I bet I ain't the only envious one on here.

 

[35 Whelen]

2 x 1/4 plates = 1/2 " plate = HEAVY, no?

Depends on what you call heavy I suppose. I guessed the "gong" to weigh around 60 lbs., and looks like I wasn't far off according to jibs.

By portable, I meant a feller could throw it in his pickup and take it to the range with him.

Dang, I didn't think them mesquites allowed no green grass to form around them.
You need to get different metals for the rings that have their own distinctive sound. Then you wouldn't even need no spotting scope. When you get real good you can play a song on that sucker. Hey, that's pretty country to us hunters-I bet I ain't the only envious one on here.

.

The area where I set up the target is pretty barren as it's washed out over the decades. Green grass does grow around mesquites if the sun can get to it. Individual rings might make a distinct sounds, not sure.

It's pretty country to me too. I love where I live. We had a massive range fire last April that got all of my land and almost the house. But right now everything is green and there are acres and acres of wildflowers including one that grows where nothing else will. It's small, purple and white and smells like grapes!

35W

 

[Hardtarget]

Iron is fun to shoot and I think your set up is just what the doctor ordered. We have a gong at 200 yds at the club range. I always run a few rounds at it. We can even .22s with ear plugs. Next trip I'm trying something bigger.

Sorry to hear about the fire. Maybe, in the long run, some good will come from it. Nature has a way to bounce back.

Mark

 

[35 Whelen]

To me the best things about the metal targets is no hassle of hanging paper or pasting. Every couple of sessions I'll shoot a bit of paint on it. It makes it so easy to grab a few rounds and walk out to the range and practice a little offhand. In fact I just came in from doing just that!

35W

 

[bluethunder1962]

Well bult. Very cool. I just made me a target today out of thick steel. I hung mine with hose clamps on steel scaffold. It works great. I like your chains better. Makes it a whols lot more fun to hear when you hit the target. My 44 and 45 didn't even put a dent in them.

 

[Pat M]

Looks like you have a really nice place to shoot. Sure beats having to pack up the truck and drive 45 minutes to the nearest outdoor range. I'd put a bunch of targets out at different ranges.

 

[jr_roosa]

Get some cheap rolls of butcher paper and you can paper the frame behind the bull and make it look just like a regulation target so your sight picture is the same as for a match.

Cool toy.

-J.

 

[JimStC]

35W,
Nice work. What a great idea. Off to my tool barn for some fab work. Thanks for the instruction......
Jim

 

[snakeman]

Sounds fun!