Making steel target, how thick?
- Thread starter Fenrik
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redneck2
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I know that a 30-06 will punch thru 1/2" diamond plate like butter at 100 yards. I don't know that you'll be able to make a steel target that will stand up to repeated shots from a major high velocity caliber. Maybe someone else has experience
cracked butt
Member
If you want them to last awhile, make them as thick as you can handle. An inch thick would be a good starting point.
ChristopherG
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I don't know nothin about metalurgy, but I do know that thick is not enough if you want steel for HP rifle. You need hard. I'd start by looking at what commercial steel target (including HP silhouette) makers say about the steels they use. If you just make it thick, it's gonna be a pocked and divoted mess in a hurry.
Godfather
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I've heard that the metal pieces hanging around old railrods work quite nicely. I don't know how thick they are, though.
I do know the military shoots steel silouettes with their sniper rifles, so something must work.
This is the link to some sold out "up to .30-06" steel targets. Maybe you can email to find out what they are.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=141933
I do know the military shoots steel silouettes with their sniper rifles, so something must work.
This is the link to some sold out "up to .30-06" steel targets. Maybe you can email to find out what they are.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=141933
Lucky
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Hey hey to harden steel, can you go over it with a torch? What heat, roughly, and what fuel, O2+mapp or acety?
Otherguy Overby
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A friend has a rifle chambered in 300 ultra mag. It shoots completely through 1 inch steel plate at 100 yards. It was prolly hot rolled steel, but still impressive.
GunnySkox
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Important consideration for the ignorant, uninformed, or otherwise steel-plate handicapped (i.e., me):
How do you ensure that bullets hitting aforementioned steel-plates don't go and come back ("IT CAME BACK!" ~Myself, every time a grenade bounces wrong and comes back at me in a game) and possibly hit the shooter/bystanders? Is it a design consideration? a distances thing? What's the story?
~GnSx
How do you ensure that bullets hitting aforementioned steel-plates don't go and come back ("IT CAME BACK!" ~Myself, every time a grenade bounces wrong and comes back at me in a game) and possibly hit the shooter/bystanders? Is it a design consideration? a distances thing? What's the story?
~GnSx
dasmi
Member
I know that 7.62x54R will penetrate a steel man hole cover at about 50 yards. Granted, it was old and brittle, but it went clean through, and blew a nice big chunk away as it exited. You'll want something thick, and hard.
71Commander
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Use hard steel. If the metal is too soft, it will pock and subsequent rounds can come back at you.
Rembrandt
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Made some swingers out of two layers of 3/8" mild steel welded together, total thickness of 3/4". Takes soft nose hunting rounds easily with no perforation, military ammo will crater the first layer. Laminating several layers together or hardened steel will make it tougher to penetrate.
brinell 500 with an abrasion resistance (AR) 800 is a start. that is what the plates at the 3 gun shoots use. granted a 3/8" 1 foot square is about $40-50 depending on where you buy it. haveing someone cut it with a plasma cutter so it dont remove its temper as bad also helps with this steel.
Hardening
I have had a little experience with hardening. I would be very careful because if you just take a mild steel sample and harden it, it probably become too hard and just shatter. Tool steel is a much better alloy and likewise is much more expensive. If you simply heat it to red hot and throw it in water you have very little control on the hardness, I have seen people take a cold chisel and harden the end so that it does not mushroom, these people usually have steel chips in an arm.
I have had a little experience with hardening. I would be very careful because if you just take a mild steel sample and harden it, it probably become too hard and just shatter. Tool steel is a much better alloy and likewise is much more expensive. If you simply heat it to red hot and throw it in water you have very little control on the hardness, I have seen people take a cold chisel and harden the end so that it does not mushroom, these people usually have steel chips in an arm.
HankB
Member
Common steel plate is soft and will crater - a gun club I used to belong to had made some metallic silhouettes for handgun competition and people shooting things like .30/30s and 7mm TCUs out of Contenders beat the stuffings out of them.
High power rifle will be worse.
They soon went to a material called "T1" or "Boralloy" (probably a trade name) and those worked well.
You might do a search on something like "Metallic Silhouette Shooting" or "IHMSA" as a starting point on what material works for targets.
High power rifle will be worse.
They soon went to a material called "T1" or "Boralloy" (probably a trade name) and those worked well.
You might do a search on something like "Metallic Silhouette Shooting" or "IHMSA" as a starting point on what material works for targets.
Aguila Blanca
Member
Manhole covers are hard ... but as noted, they are brittle. I believe they are castings, not hot rolled steel. In fact, I don't think they are steel at all, I believe they are cast iron, which has excellent compressive strength but is VERY brittle and has little tensile or bending strength.dasmi said:
The steel has to be hard and tough (resistant to permanently deforming) more than thick. Steel of the right type that is 3/8 to 1/2 thick should be OK for most non magnum bullet types especially if the target is angled as others have suggested.
A good place to start is to find a shop that makes replacement scraper edges for snow plows or bulldozers. The steel they use is usually B500 or better and has high abrasion resistance. It needs to be plasma cut so it doesn't soften at the edges and it is a bit fussy to weld. Not a job for most home hobby shoppers.
A good place to start is to find a shop that makes replacement scraper edges for snow plows or bulldozers. The steel they use is usually B500 or better and has high abrasion resistance. It needs to be plasma cut so it doesn't soften at the edges and it is a bit fussy to weld. Not a job for most home hobby shoppers.
MountainPeak
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I triple back weld the 1" center. At 300 yards I know that's where 99% of my hits will be.
It really depends on what you want to use it for. If it is out past 100 then just get thick mild steel. It will get beat to crap but if it is free then who cares. If it is close enough to splatter then use AR plate and angle it down.
MNgoldenbear
Member
http://www.mgmtargets.com/
http://www.mgmtargets.com/hardness.htm
http://www.mgmtargets.com/repair.htm
MGM makes good targets, but they are kind of expensive. He had a nice discussion of hardness and about target repair as well.
Last poster had a good point about your intended use. If you're shooting at reasonably long range and don't care about saving the target, you can shoot just about anything. Closer in, anything that will crater creates a severe safety problem.
http://www.mgmtargets.com/hardness.htm
http://www.mgmtargets.com/repair.htm
MGM makes good targets, but they are kind of expensive. He had a nice discussion of hardness and about target repair as well.
Last poster had a good point about your intended use. If you're shooting at reasonably long range and don't care about saving the target, you can shoot just about anything. Closer in, anything that will crater creates a severe safety problem.
I would suggest making sure the plate is not hard mounted and will move, swing, or fall when you hit it. That way some of the energy of the bullet will go into moving the plate. My experience is that bullets tend to flatten out on steel targets, but I am sure there are exceptions. I am not sure how the copper jacket would flatten or fragment.
But I am not expert so don't take my word for it.
But I am not expert so don't take my word for it.
Well I was thinking of using it at 200-300 yards. We've got plenty of 1" thick stuff that just ends up in the scrapper so I'll use that. Its just mild steel nothing fancy. But I was thinking of hanging it off chains. Sounds like that would work ok.
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