Car Wheels as targets

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SkyDaver

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A friend has 150yds or so cleared out on his acreage, and has given me permission to shoot there (he & his son cleared this spot specifically for shooting.) As a contribution to him, I wanted to provide some fun reactive targets. I'm trying to source some steel plate locally, but in the meantime, I've got two junk auto wheels.

How will they stand up to rifle fire? 7.62x39, .223, and .30-06 primarily.
 
No, the .223 & 30-06 will make swiss cheese out of them, beginning with the first shot.

The convoluted surfaces of a steel wheel could also cause some unexpected paths for 7.62x39 ricochets to take off in wierd directions.

rc
 
My 416 Taylor made big chunks break off a couple Dodge truck wheels we hung up at 100 yards. Not the first few shots which just blew holes through them, but something happened after 10 shots or so...
On the other hand we hung up a piece of road grader blade a couple years ago and that thing is still out there needing a new paint job.
 
.223 will punch clean through a lot of things, haven't found a piece of scrap metal laying around yet that will hardly even slow one down. Wouldn't think a wheel would do much better.
 
Tires too?

A couple years ago we had an empty keg left over from a party... hung off a tree branch, it rang like a bell when you hit it. At 500yds, the .223 rounds would pass right through it.

I'd be weary of bounce back with .22LR and 9mm, etc, but as long as you're a good way off with an '06, let'r rip.
 
Hmm, road grader blade. OK, let's switch, and what to folks think about smaller farm implements? Harrow disc? Other heavy steel objects? We've got a few salvage outfits locally that might have that kind of thing.

I'm still waiting for a response from a local fabrication shop about some steel plate; I'm too cheap to pay the shipping on a heavy gong :)
 
Disk harrow blades are too thin to survive.

Grader blades are thick enough and hard enough, but hard to come by.

rc
 
I shot at bus wheels. Some rounds will penetrate and some will bounce off. They were on an old intercity passenger bus that had been used as a deer camp. A bunch of us shot at that thing for about 6 months before the land owner finally hauled it off.
 
Some rounds will penetrate and some will bounce off.
Click to expand...

And you have no idea which why those bouncers are going to go, including back at you at rates fast enough to hurt you pretty badly or worse.

Buy AR500 targets. :)
 
"And you have no idea which why those bouncers are going to go"

Which why? Do you mean which way? Why yes, we did know. It was in a ravine. The wheels were half-sunk in mud after decades. It was surrounded by hills. Unpopulated hills. Lots of clay and sand. In the middle of nowhere. Next to a swamp. Heck, in a swamp. The sort of place you could leave the duck blind and stroll out on the ice and shoot .45s at stumps and stuff and the ducks still flew in looking at the open holes.

It's funny how some people will shoot anything, but when a pair of otters swims by 15 feet away they just watch from the blind quietly. I have to admit that every time a bunch of deer hounds tried to catch up to a swimming buck (never happened) we were tempted to shoot the dogs. ;) Nice bucks, too.
 
I use a wheel/tire for long range 22lr shooting. 150yards you fire bang---twang. And a bang-----thump means a near miss/hit the tire. Is a fun target i would shoot one up close though!
 
I wonder how a 45# Olympic plate would stand up to the task? My guess is that everything would bounce off.
 
Weights are cast iron, aren't they? Very brittle. Anything above rimfire at distance would break them up would be my bet.

I just ordered a steel target - 1" 12"x12" in AR569 - $37 delivered from onlinemetals. Tried to support the local(ish) economy by calling a metal fabrication shop over in the Bronx. Sent them the specs and asked them to cut some "ears" in the corners so I could mount it as a gong target. They came back with w quote for $625! I'm not joking. I said "you know I'm looking for AR500 steel not 14 carat gold?" No reply....:eek:
 
onlinemetals sounds just like what I really want. The local fab shop still hasn't replied, mccormack (or some thing like that, they've got all sorts of stuff) was $90 for 12x12.

With the rifles, I would be shooting at about 150 yds, & downhill a bit, so I'm not very worried about richochet from the wheels. The target location is surrounded on three sides by a decent stand of trees, too.

We also might be getting some Tannerite :D
 
Until you can afford an appropriate steel target, I would suggest you use plain old balloons. Blow em up and tape or staple them to a backer. You can buy a whole bagful at your local dollar store, and it's a heck of a lot safer than what you are proposing.
 
I grew up in the country shooting at random targets here and there in ravines and such. I'm just saying that with steel wheels, sooner or later there is a possibility for deformation sending rounds back at you. Likely? Maybe, maybe not. Possible? Yep, ever since I hear that 308 bullet zipping by about 10 yards to my right I stopped shooting at any steel targets other than AR500. I was shooting a steel wheel at around 100 yards or so. Maybe it was a one in a million chance that it happened to me, maybe not. I'm not willing to find out. To each his own, though. I'm just letting you know that it is possible to send rounds the wrong way.
 
Rims come in so man shapes, sizes, and could be alloy, steel, or a combination of the two I wouldn't use them as targets. You just really have no idea what's going to happen.

....smaller farm implements?
Click to expand...
Cow patties + shotgun = good times.
 
At our pistol shoot last week, a couple of rounds through the intended target just happened to line up perfectly with a wheel that was being used as a target stand back at the berm, some 30+ meters away.

Couple of guys got hit with bullet frags. Odd things happen with oddly shaped steel.
 
OK, I'm convinced that I won't be using the wheels. I sent an email to tarheeltargets to find out about some 6" plates. I'm also wondering if I can get some AR500 from Salem Steel, here in Winston Salem.

Balloons won't cut it ... I want something that won't require resetting :)
 
Glad you decided not to use the tires. I had a customer get killed shooting them with an HK 91. It was very sad. He just got the rifle and headed out to the desert. He shot a rim and the round came back and struck him in the chest. He bleed to death before they were able to reach a hospital.

Even though they are a long ways off, I still think it is not a good idea.

Have fun with the steel you purchase and good on you for making the proper call on the rims.
 
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