metallic targets

[taliv]

anybody shoot metalic targets much? particularly the birchwood casey gallery for 22lr? what about the dueling posts for 22lr and 45 that midway USA sells?

my specific question is how close can you shoot these things safely? several of them say min distance is 75' which seems like quite a distance. I was wanting to shoot a bit closer... say 30'.

is that actually unsafe?

also, is it imperative to use only lead or softpoint, or can i shoot hollow points?

thx

 

[TimRB]

I can tell you from experience that if you shoot a 22 at metal targets 30 feet away, you *will* get hit with lead splatter. Unsafe? I dunno, but don't even think about doing this without good eye protection. My general rule is that if the targets are close enough that they're easy to hit, they probably are too close.

Tim

 

[rbrowning]

I shot at a steel plate with my 44 once, that was enough to convince me that 10 yards is WAY too close. It took my Leatherman to get the jacket fragment out of the 4x4 post that I was standing next to. I sure was glad that it was the board in stead of my forhead!

 

[ocabj]

Minimum safe distance is usually 25 yards (which is why they quoted 75 feet / 25 yards). 25 yards is close enough as it is anyway.

As far as lead only, this usually applies to centerfire only because FMJ and other jacketed bullets will damage the steel target. Rimfire you can probably get away with most bullet types without damaging the target. The problem with hollowpoint is that you will get copper jacket splatter. Lead can be just as bad, but the hollowpoint jacket will break apart on impact.

 

[rugerdude]

I shoot at a steel plate sometimes all you need to do is angle it downward so the bullets/fragments go right into the dirt. I've shot buckshot,birdshot,slugs,9mm FMJ,9mm JHP, .357 JHP and many many .22lr bullets without any kind of incoming debris.

 

[NoHarmNoFAL]

I shoot steel matches all the time at distances of 20 to 30 feet with FMJ. Rarely is there any spatter back at the shooting line.

 

[Bwana John]

Angle the plates down, or let them fall down when hit, and dont let them get dinged up, only shoot lead .22's and you should be fine. Once a plate gets dinged up they tend to send lead back easier.