Steel plate targets.... Newbie question

[BWB]

Steel targets should (must?) be both angled forward to direct the splatter to the ground, and should definitely have some give to dramatically reduce bullet damage to the target. That bullet damage has to be watched. The craters created by shooting rifle bullets at soft steel make the target dangerous. When they are struck by another bullet, which happens frequently, the spatter or chunks can come straight back with surprising weight and velocity. I suspect this is where most of the horror stories come from.
For usual handguns, .45 etc., 3/8" soft steel is perfectly adequate.
For any high power rifle you've got to have heat treated AR 500, or armor plate.
As others have said, if you shoot steel at close range with handguns, you are going to gets splattered occasionally. That's all it is: splatter. Eye protection without fail.
I wouldn't suggest any close range rifle shooting at steel unless you do it at work.

 

[Ankeny]

Action Target has a pretty good guide here http://www.actiontarget.com/pdf/pt_Steel_Target_Resource_Guide.pdf

 

[1911Tuner]

The "Zing" and "Peeew" sounds of a riccochet do occur, but not usually when the bullet strikes a steel plate at roughly 90 degrees.

The sounds of a riccochet come from the bullet striking a surface at a very shallow angle and causing the bullet to spin end-over-end.

The ones that don't flip-flop don't priduce the sound. They simply glance off and continue point-on. These require an even shallower angle...so that the side of the bullet strikes the surface rather than the nose or ogive. They rarely deflect more than 18 inches from the point of impact. i.e. If it glances off the ground, and flies point forward...even a rifle bullet usually doesn't make it any higher than the average kneecap before dropping back to the ground. These can inflict serious injury.

The flippers can go almost anywhere. Straight forward...sideways...straight up...or any possible angle contained therein. These can cause injury, depending on where they strike...but rarely serious injury, and even more rarely kill. They almost never come straight back at the shooter.

Those that come straight back are either the result of splatter...or they just bounce. I know of at least one incident where a shooter fired a round of .30-06 ball into a hardwood tree, and had the core squirt out of the jacket and enter the shooter's left bicep...coming to a stop in his shoulder. Nasty wound...but it taught me a lesson about shooting into trees at close range.

Splatter that comes straight back is most often the result of the bullet hitting a pock-marked steel target in just the right way...or the wrong way, depending on your perspective.

New steel with a smooth surface rarely splatters a bullet in any direction besides perpendicularly to the bullet's direction of travel. Some clubs have their steel targets made with a very slight bow to encourage bullet splatter and/or glancing away from the shooters...and it works very well. Others set the targets at an angle to deflect the bullet downward...which also works well...but as the target gets cratered, much of this is nullified.

A quick little story that happened in June of '03. Forum member Ken Rainey came all the way from Ole Miss to visit with me and mine. Of course, this included a range trip...and one fine morning, we did just that.

Ken was standing well behind me and to my right while I engaged some steel at about 15 yards. I was using cast bullets. During my string, I heard Ken give a little yip, and when I turned around...he had a trickle of blood running down the side of his face from a piece of splatter that struck him in the temple area...on the occipital bone, just behind his eye. A half-inch further forward, and it would have sliced his eyeball.

He went back home, and three days later...the wound started to hurt and fester. The ER docs dug it out...and it was resting against the bone and had actually knocked a little dent in it.

So, shooting steel does have its risks. Be advised.

Bottom line:

Always wear safety glasses when ringin' steel. A long-sleeved shirt and long pants might not be a bad idea, either.

 

[JoeSlomo]

While policing up my squads bay at our local club match, I felt what I thought was a bee sting just above my left shoulder blade. As I reached back to massage the sting, i felt a small sliver of metal....

???? Thought I.

It was a piece of copper jacket that had hit me from the other bay.

Now, you have to picture how I was standing in relation to the other bay, and you will be as amazed as I was.

For our purpose, we will say that our bays face north, and all fires are directed from south to north. BOTH bays are parallel to each other, both have the same direction of fire, south to north. The berm is not that high between them, but it is a good 8 feet-ish I would say. I was standing facing to the SOUTH, with my BACK pointed toward the direction of fire.

Now, I can see getting hit by splatter from my FRONT, or on the SIDE closest to the other bay, but on my BACK?!

How this piece of splatter managed to fly OVER the berm and do a U-TURN to seat itself in my back I will never figure out. It was truly the "magic" splatter.

My buddy thinks there was another piece of splatter that came from the grassy knoll, I have my doubts...

 

[1911Tuner]

Joe...It was probably a piece of jacket that was shaved in the forcing cone of a revolver that was a little out of time.

Colt Pythons used to be notorious for going out of time and literally spitting like a cobra, blowing jacket and lead sideways...and even backward...from the barrel/cylinder gap.

I've got a small scar on the knuckle of my left thumb. Hurt like
a sunny beach...

 

[fecmech]

I saw a video on you tube a year or so back of a guy firing a Barrett .50 cal at a steel target of some kind. The target was at least 100 yds down range. He fired and about 1/10 of a second later the right half of his ear protector was torn from his head! 700 grains of lead a couple more inches to the left could have ruined his day. One lucky guy!

 

[ZRX61]

Yup, here's that vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ABGIJwiGBc

 

[Jenrick]

What I was taught and teach others is 75 for rifles, and 50 for pistol if using ball ammo. On brand new steel you can bring the pistols into 25 or so if everyone's got good long sleeves and pants. If you're shooting quality frangible ammo though, feel free to do everything short of muzzle punch the target. Just expect to get dusty.

-Jenrick

 

[Ankeny]

Of course, a lot of the stuff that comes back is a result of bullet fragments hitting other members/supports/stands of the target if not properly constructed. A good example is round plates welded to a chunk of strap iron for a base.

 

[buenhec]

I use mine extensively. I shoot 9mm and 45 mostly. I also shot it with my AK and AR at 100 yards and it went through it like paper. At the steel matches we get splattered all the time, it hurts a bit once in a while, but a baseball cap and glasses help. Also dont shoot steel under 30 feet.