What thickness for steel targets?

[Smiley]

I am gong to be setting up a 25yd pistol range on my land next spring and I wanted to know what thickness steel to be using for some targets.

This range will primarily be a .22 range since I have neighbors not to far away and I want to be curtious of noise levels. But my friends and family will be bringing everything from .22 on up to .357 magnum.

I plan on having some hanging targets and knock down ones and a dueling tree. What thickness steel should be used for things mainly in the 9mm and .45 range so that the targets will last a little while before I have to replace them?

 

[Jim Watson]

It is not just the thickness. HARD 3/8" will stand a lot of shooting by magnum pistols. Thick mild steel will crater from hot loads and soon start throwing fragments back at the firing line. Mild steel of any thickness would only be good for .22s and standard speed lead pistol bullets, like .38 Special. With 9mm and .357 in the picture, you need hard plate; something like T1 or a 500 Brinell hardness AR or armor steel.

Arntzen uses T1 and 520 steel, depending on the application, MGM stays with 500 BH.

 

[countertop]

I understand the concept of shooting a hanging steel target - but with a stationary target, how do you prevent ricocheting bullets???

 

[Jim Watson]

Direct 90 degree impact on a SMOOTH steel plate will shatter any ordinary lead or jacketed lead bullet into small fragments. Best to angle them about 15 degrees down to deflect the bits into the ground, but it is not absolutely necessary. You will find some thin discs that are all that is left of the bullet base on the ground, and a band of chewed up ground where the fast but small particles have hit.

Do NOT shoot at a plate that has gotten turned at an angle to the line of fire, or shoot at one that has been cratered by being shot at close range or with magnum rifles. The first will riccochet bullets, the second will throw chunks back at you. Use standard loads, too low a velocity will bounce larger pieces. SASS used to have a 650 fps minimum, but people were complaining about the recoil.

 

[mete]

I have a hard 3/8" plate that is set at 45 degrees so the bullets hit and go down. No problem even with 44 mag. Some people WILL miss the target ,where will the bullet go ?

 

[larryw]

Let me expand on what Jim said a bit. Steel is a heckuva lot of fun, but you need to be very careful when setting it up.

At our club we have steel human silhouette and hostage targets at the 25 yard pistol line. Looking at them from the shooting line, it is very difficult to see that they are angled down about 15 degrees, until you walk out and see the angle. New shooters often ask what the trench dug into the dirt along the front of the steel target is for: that was dug by the deflected lead splatter hitting the dirt. So, angle the targets down and pay attention to the heavy lead splatter flying off in all directions at very high speed.

Our targets are made of 3/8" AR50 armor plate and will handle up to 44Mag no problems at 25 yards. It will handle 454 and 500 as well, but we're worried about bounceback. Every once in rare a while, a shooter hits it just right and a chunk makes it back to the line, 75 feet away; obviously rifles are verboten here.

We also have some steel poppers that are set up for SD scenarios, I was shooting at these from about 7 yards this past summer with my 357 snubby. I got a chunk bounce back and poke a hole/lodge in the back of my hand (youch!). I don't do CQB with steel any more; 15 yards is about as close as I want to be when shooting at "fixed" steel targets (the poppers are hinged at the foot and only fall when hit hard at the COM or head).

We also have a setup for the different Steel Challenge stages. These are steel posts set in concrete with a plate hung "loosely" from a pin: when the bullet hits the plate, it tends to give and bounceback and splatter are greatly reduced. The posts are set with the corner towards the shooter and flats off at 45 degree angles (we restrict where people can stand due to this).

Getting armor plate is kinda difficult right now, and prices have gone way up, but if you can track some down, it shrugs off everything except AP ammo. (We use 1/2" AR50 at the 100 yard line for rifles).

There's something very satisfying about bang and clang. And don't forget to stock up on white spray paint.