Steel targets

[Armored farmer]

Someone tell me how to make a steel gong that will ring like Hickok45 does?!?

I have many gongs, but they don't resonate. I have a 20" disc blade that I hang at 245yds for my annual Cabin Fever shoot. You can't even hear it at that range.

I have all the skills necessary to make one......maybe I'm not using g the right steel?
Help

 

[jmorris]

If you want one that you can hear for very long distance, cut the bottom off of an old high pressure cylinder, loop a chain or cable through the cap to suspend.

Like a giant wind chime at that point. I haven’t found anything that





A disk or coulter blade is probably both too thin and too hard.

 

[Armored farmer]

If you want one that you can hear for very long distance, cut the bottom off of an old high pressure cylinder, loop a chain or cable through the cap to suspend.

Like a giant wind chime at that point. I haven’t found anything that





A disk or coulter blade is probably both too thin and too hard.

It just happens that I got a call today from our hydraulic repair shop. The lift cylinder that we took in for repairs is ruined. Maybe it will ring?

 

[Varminterror]

Thickness and how you hang it make a huge difference.

 

[Armored farmer]

An inch thick ....20 inch diameter circle waiting on my welder for attachment.


Suggestions?

Loop and hanger?
Chains?
What?

It's going 400yds downrange.

 

[Zak Smith]

Use AR500 or AR550 and make it thinner. Hang on a conveyor belt strap or similar.

Thick, soft metal will not ring as most of the energy goes into surface deformation

 

[Jim Watson]

Even thick hard metal. A friend has an aluminum extrusion die blank, 17" x 1.125" and so hard that .30 AP and .22-250 will barely mark it, .223 and .308 just splash. But hits are just a dull thud, you have to look through a spotting scope to see the splash mark and repaint when they run together.

 

[Varminterror]

An inch thick ....20 inch diameter circle waiting on my welder for attachment.
View attachment 1084416

Suggestions?

Loop and hanger?
Chains?
What?

It's going 400yds downrange.

Mild steel? A lot of rounds will burn a hole straight through that, even at 400yrds.

An inch thick won’t ring well, it’ll absorb way too much energy in its massive, massive weight.

What are we shooting at 400yrds which needs 20” to catch it? 22LR? That thing could be 4 smaller targets to make use of 20” of mass. But 1” is crazy thick.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I noticed gongs hung on a sheppards hook ring more.

 

[ms6852]

An inch thick ....20 inch diameter circle waiting on my welder for attachment.
View attachment 1084416

Suggestions?

Loop and hanger?
Chains?
What?

It's going 400yds downrange.

That is a pretty good size target now. You might want to consider heating it up with charcoal and then quench it to harden it so that you can get that sound you are chasing. Also I would recommend harden chain to hang it up. You would be surprised how many times I hit that chain without trying and if I tried hitting the chain I would miss.

When we would harden the metal targets we would buy a couple of bags of charcoal dig a shallow hole about 3" to contain the charcoal and light it up. Place the target on top of charcoal and flip them with a rake or hoe when it got red we would get it off the bed of charcoal and let it cool off for about 40 seconds to a minute and dump it in a tin tub full of water. After a couple of years we got smarter and refined our technique, instead of flipping the target a light bulb lit up and we just covered the whole target in the charcoal.

Good luck let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Armored farmer]

That is a pretty good size target now. You might want to consider heating it up with charcoal and then quench it to harden it so that you can get that sound you are chasing. Also I would recommend harden chain to hang it up. You would be surprised how many times I hit that chain without trying and if I tried hitting the chain I would miss.

When we would harden the metal targets we would buy a couple of bags of charcoal dig a shallow hole about 3" to contain the charcoal and light it up. Place the target on top of charcoal and flip them with a rake or hoe when it got red we would get it off the bed of charcoal and let it cool off for about 40 seconds to a minute and dump it in a tin tub full of water. After a couple of years we got smarter and refined our technique, instead of flipping the target a light bulb lit up and we just covered the whole target in the charcoal.

Good luck let us know how it works out for you.

I have a giant Texas grill that I could easily use to do that. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Armored farmer]

Mild steel? A lot of rounds will burn a hole straight through that, even at 400yrds.

An inch thick won’t ring well, it’ll absorb way too much energy in its massive, massive weight.

What are we shooting at 400yrds which needs 20” to catch it? 22LR? That thing could be 4 smaller targets to make use of 20” of mass. But 1” is crazy thick.

I was thinking 45-70. But probably be shooting at it with various rifles. I didn't buy the plate but found it at the scrap yard when hauling off farm scrap iron. I just traded it out.

 

[Armored farmer]

Mild steel? A lot of rounds will burn a hole straight through that, even at 400yrds.

An inch thick won’t ring well, it’ll absorb way too much energy in its massive, massive weight.

What are we shooting at 400yrds which needs 20” to catch it? 22LR? That thing could be 4 smaller targets to make use of 20” of mass. But 1” is crazy thick.

I also host an annual muzzleloader shoot at my farm we have a long range challenge for a prize. 256yds we hang a 20" Coulter blade from a welded loop on a Shepard hook arrangement. It doesn't ring well at all. The .40s and .45s just deliver a faint whack. No ring. My neighbor dropped by to show off his new ar10 in 6.5creed and he drilled holes in it.
It was still hanging out at 256yds.

 

[jmorris]

A “gong” to me is more about having a resonant tone when struck. My other steel doesn’t have the same sound at all but one can still tell hits/misses.




Like this one where my buddy misses that target on his 3rd shot.



^. That’s the same rifle/load/distance as the 2nd video in #2. Difference is impact on the cylinder vs 9x9x3/4” steel plate and obviously amount of resonance.

 

[jmorris]

There are also other ways to know if a target is hit when you can’t hear it.

We used this style quite a bit. If the shooter is facing the target the black rectangle covers the red, until impact rocks the steel backwards lowering the black blocker while raising the red “flasher”.



Or my favorite, automatically resetting reactive targets.

 

[Walkalong]

We used this style quite a bit. If the shooter is facing the target the black rectangle covers the red, until impact rocks the steel backwards lowering the black blocker while raising the red “flasher”

Love it.

 

[Beach Bum]

I have a giant Texas grill that I could easily use to do that. Thanks for the suggestion!
View attachment 1084684

That grill is awesome ....

 

[Bwana John]

SCUBA tank or other high pressure gas cylinder cut in half, hung by chain through either valve hole or through a hole drilled in bottom.

Either that or the thinnest AR500 that will not crater at power of cartridge and range allows, hung by chain or steel hooks.

 

[Zak Smith]

Conveyor belt strap is the material to use to hang them. Use a grade 8 bolt through one hole in the top of the target, at least 3/4" from the edge. The strap goes between the plate and the washer and nut, which are on the back.

There's no need to reinvent, poorly, reactive steel target design.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Conveyor belt strap is the material to use to hang them. Use a grade 8 bolt through one hole in the top of the target, at least 3/4" from the edge. The strap goes between the plate and the washer and nut, which are on the back.

There's no need to reinvent, poorly, reactive steel target design.

Hay-baler rubber belts are essentially the same. And every hay farmer likely has a pile of em behind the barn.

 

[jmorris]

Came across an old one this weekend, moving stuff around in a barn. One of the steel targets our Father cut out for my Brother and I when we were kids.



Looks like retired after someone hit it with a rifle (1/2” mild steel). We shot many-a thousands of rounds at those things “man on man” quick draw style.

May have to fix it and make another and see if the kids like it.

 

[doubleh]

I will stay out of this except to say mild steel is pretty much worthless except for lead bullets and is pretty "dead" when it comes to sound. Just pay the piper and go with AR 500 steel if you want it to last and be able to hear it..

 

[Riomouse911]

I bought a plate of 1/2” AR 550 large enough for me to make two 24”x16” torso shaped silhouettes. I had to use a plasma cutter to cut the steel, I will say the heat foes soften the edges a bit as bullet strikes nearest the cut edges will cause more damage than just the dent in the middle. Calibers include 5.56, .30-06, .308, 6.5x55, .270, .45/70, .35 Rem and .30-30, as you can see there is almost zero damage after hundreds of strikes.



I hang them using a grade 8 bolt and conveyor belt strapping on a 1/2” steel pipe frame.

These steel plates will ring like a bell pretty loudly with a rifle hit, less loudly with handgun rounds.

Stay safe.

 

[jmorris]

If you don’t want the edges to soften, you need a submerged plasma, laser or best is a waterjet.

I can’t tell much difference in the heat effected zone along the edge between plasma and flame but I do know, not fooling around making the cut, helps.

This was probably one of the best things I have made for cutting a few shapes out of plate steel every now and then.



I actually use it more often than my CNC table, but I can also have parts cut (laser & water jet) at places in town for less than I can buy the material (I just don’t buy enough to get the good prices anymore). So, I am generally working with odd shaped drops vs full new sheets.