Any body have experience with "self healing" targets?

[Hokkmike]

I was in Gander Mountain last week looking over their assortment of reactive and self setting targets for small and and large rifle. They have the spinning, flipping, and bouncing variety of targets divided into two classes. Some are for small rifle, presumably .22s, and the others for large rifle. That large rifle category would exclude really big dangerous African game cartridges. Some are listed as "suitable for .22 to .50 caliber. I don't believe it. The pistol calibers seem to be on separate targets. (probably marketing) They are all described as "self healing".

What is your experience with these things? Can somebody name a steel or plastic reactive target that could be used again and again with ALL of these rounds safely without chewing up the target quickly or fear of bullet deflection?

For accuracy I use paper. But for fun, convenience, and especially my young shooting friends the "set it and forget it" targets would seem to be loads of fun.

Thanks for whatever suggestions or comments you might have.
__________________

 

[Sam1911]

We've used some of those with pretty good success. We've got the ones that mimic 8" round steel plates and come mounted to a hinge made of the same material as the target itself.

We've probably put several hundred round through some of them and they're substantively perfectly fine still. Haven't shot them with any dangerous game rounds, but have put plenty of rifle rounds through them.

I believe ours are the "Newbold" brand.

 

[NavyLCDR]

I shot a lot of them in the Army. They all went down when they were hit, to the best of my knowledge.

http://www.letargets.com/estylez_ps.aspx?searchmode=category&searchcatcontext=~040000~040100

 

[mjw930]

I have the Do-all Big Gong show as well as the Champion DuraSeal and both are a lot of fun.

The gong doesn't move a lot with the smaller rounds like 22lr but with the larger handgun and rifle rounds you can upset it with an edge hit. I once blew it completely over with a hit to the top, real close to the hinge but the target was undamaged. The same holds true for the Champion, fast, small rounds will pass right through with only a wiggle of the target so if it's really far away it can be hard to know if you hit it or not.

Big Gong Show:



Champion:

 

[PaperPlateTargets]

I have several of the Champion Duraseal, they hold up well, no issues yet even with a .308.

 

[steveno]

I have had a couple of the orange square blocks and they are fun to shoot. the down side is that they don't like 357 , 41 & 45 swc's as they tear them up pretty bad. if all you shoot at them is 22 long rifle they will last a long time. at $30 a piece at Cabela's there are too expensive for every day shooting.

 

[jmr40]

I have several targets like mjw930's. If you read the instructions they say no closer than 50 yards for centerfire. So far I've only shot mine with 22's and they work as advertised.

 

[zdc1775]

I have one of these. Its the orange ball that I picked up for $10 on sale. I have about 700 rounds of 45 and probably close to 1000 rounds of 22LR through it and it seems to have held up well. I have shot it at ranges anywhere from 7-100 yards.

 

[BemidjiDweller]

I've got one of those orange ball ones too. 22's HP like to get trapped in the center of it. Other than that, it has stood up alright, there are bits missing, but nothing huge.

 

[HankR]

The fine print on many of these say not to use hollow points. It makes sense that the target will swell shut after a pointed bullet cuts through, but a hollow point will actually remove material. Most of the bulk .22 lr is hollow point (sort of). Could I expect long target life w/ .22 lr hollowpoints?

We shoot a lot of .22 lr in the winter (don't need to find the brass under the snow). Not having to staple targets, and a fun reactive target would be a bonus.

thanks,

 

[wally]

We filled the "Do All gong" with holes from .223 and 7.62x39 at about 75 yards. Held up great, but nobody could tell if they hit it or not, it was full of holes (self sealed) but as far as anyone could tell it never moved.

I could have about bought another steel plate from Weidners for what it cost, so I'll never buy another.

 

[Fleetman]

I use them at my range and have good luck with them.

 

[taraquian]

I use the orange balls for pistol practice and they work great, right up till my dad shotit up with 223 hp, it does not like hp of any size,but we shot ours with a 480 Ruger and it only left a pinhole, I put hundreds of rounds of 45acp through them with no problems

 

[NickEllis]

Last Colorado get together we used one of the self-healing blocks with good success. Until someone pulled out a .458 Lott... that didn't 'heal'. At all.

 

[Mobuck]

I got one of the swinger targets with the hanger/pivot made of the same material. The kids riddled it all over and the pivot failed. Replaced that with a metal rod and it works OK but my guess is if the pivot is hit just right it will be cut when the bullt slides off the metal pivot rod.
I like the dancing ball target but use mostly 22lr round nose. Sometimes it's hit but doesn't move unless the hit is on the edge.
Best watch your backstop when shooting at stuff on the ground.

 

[12gaugeTim]

I have a DOA self healing ball target, and while I'll say for the most part it works as advertised, it's imperative that you wear eye protection. This is especially true if you're shooting .22lr.

After a few shots of .22 I was quite pleased with the target. I was worried such a small bullet would create much of an effect, but the target rolled around well as long as it didn't hit any tall grass. I did notice, however, that some rounds were having trouble penetrating and were getting stuck in the walls.

I ended up hitting one of those lodged .22's and the bullet ricocheted off of it and hit me in the leg. It didn't draw blood, but had it been my eye, there could've been trouble. I know I should've been wearing eye pro anyways, but I didn't think I'd really need it on targets that weren't steel.

Other than that it holds up well to every caliber I've tried, from .22 to x54r. However, small and fast bullets like 5.45 and 5.56 won't make it roll.

 

[Dean1818]

So far. ..... Waste of money


I shoot a 6.8, and the bullets go right thru without moving the target


I set up my target at 100 yards and thought that I was missing

Afterwords I went up to the target and it was full of bullseye holes



It would probably be good for pistol rounds or 308. But forget 223 (or 6.8)

 

[Carter]

I had the self healing cube from walmart. Works great, but my .223 hps tore it up some. Still in decent shape to use. If you shoot it just right it flies up in the air.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Yeah they heal just fine until you start hitting them with African calibers. We speak from experience.

.404 Jeffery and 470 NE just blow big holes and gouges in them.

 

[Inebriated]

I've had good luck with 'em. I only use pistol rounds and buckshot with them.

 

[abijohn]

My wife has good luck with her target. It has two green round targets, one atop the other. If you hit one it spins like crazy. She shoots a 9mm S&W and has no visible holes in it after several hundred rounds. Sorry cant remember the name, but got it at Bi-Mart. (She shoots at it from 10 feet to 20 yards.)