steel targets

[dark star]

i'm looking at building some steel targets for plinking....will be for handgun use up to 44mag.
Are there any safety concerns that I need to worry about.
i know that you need a hard steel for the target (AR500) to keep from surface deformation....what else do I need to know.
please post any pics or ideas to help me out
thanks in advance

 

[canoeguy]

Most IDPA and IPSC matches that use steel targets consider 10 yards to be the minimum safe distance to prevent lead splatters from coming back and hitting you. Don't shoot steel jacketed ammo like 9MM Makarov, Tokarev ammo, cheap European surplus, that sort of thing. Test the ammo with a magnet if you are not sure of the jacket material.

If a steel target does get pock marked from shooting it with something you shouldn't like a jacketed rifle bullet, then only shoot it with rifle only from then on, and at longer ranges like 50 yards. The pock mark if hit with a pistol bullet can make fragments come straight back.

I used to have some milder steel I would shoot with rifle and pistol, using the pock marked side for rifle shooting, the smooth side for pistol and shotgun.

I have a bunch of mild steel targets now that I use strictly with cast lead bullets, .30 caliber rifle up to 1700 feet per second.

Check out this Ebay seller, "60RPG49":

(12) Steel 6" Round 1/4" A36 Pl Shooting Hunting Target - eBay (item 120667370667 end time Feb-02-11 16:41:33 PST)

He sold me 25 pieces of 4" round steel to use with my youth shooting team, 4" is close to the size of the aiming black of a 50 yard Smallbore Rifle Target. I'll use these for .22 rifle games like bicycle biathlon, team speed shooting events, etc. Kids love shooting steel...

 

[38-44HD45]

I've probably only ever shot about 50,000-75,000 rounds at steel, with pistols, rifles and shotguns, at ranges from 5 yards all the way out past Fort Mudge, have built a bunch of steel targets, and bought several more. Of PRIME importance is that if you weld a "foot" to a plate, be sure and weld a piece of angle iron atop the foot, to redirect splatter. Another poster mentioned concerns with pockmarks redirecting bullet material, and they do some of that, but nothing will turn a big piece of bullet material back at you like a 90 degree corner will.

Works like this: Assuming that the ammo is loaded hot enough, most bullets break into lots of fragments when they hit steel. Most of the fragments rebound very little back toward the shooter, but rather splatter 360 degrees, almost parallel to the face of the plate. Ones that go downward and hit a foot welded to the bottom of the plate will turn the corner and head right back toward the shooter. I've had to dig a couple of pretty good sized fragments out of my face, after shooting at such improperly-constructed targets. If you'll weld a little piece of angle iron onto the top of the foot, it will redirect the fragments harmlessly upward.

 

[wantmoresmiths]

I use varying size pieces of Astma36 steel plate for shooting with the .22. I like these targets to be fairly small to make it a challenge to hit them. But when it came time to get some plates for the centerfire calibers, I decided to buy them from a local steel target manufacturer, GT targets. First off, while I have easy access to A36 steel plate, the AR plate is much harder to come by. Since I had to pay for AR plate anyhow, it was easier and safer to buy the commercial targets. One important safety feature with these targets is the mounting system. If you go to the GT site GT Target (page down to static steel caps) you will see that they weld a tang on the back of the plate that fits into a steel cap which sits on top of a 2 X 4. This mounting method keeps the surface of the target completely flat. I have seen some targets used by the local single action shooters that have a hole in them so the targets can be hung on a stand where a hook comes through the hole in the plate. This allows for the possibility of a ricochet. Our local steel league had one club which used plates that were bolted, through a hole in the plate, to the stand. Again the bolt head allows for the possibility of a ricochet. In addition, every once in a while someone would hit the bolt head just right, causing the head to break, and the plate to fall.