Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters TSX on steel

Do monometal bullets behave any differently than lead when shooting steel targets? Any extra safety precautions advised?

well i shoot nra HP silhouttes usually 2-40 round matches a day + sighters and practice so if someone eles wants to buy the tsx's to do this with i will give results later

I had a 6mm 85gr TSX out of my 243 literally stick to my 200yrd gong. A lot of bigger rounds go through and the smaller ones make a big dent.

This one just went about 3/4 of the way through and "welded" itself to the steel. Couldn't believe it.

Have to look and see if I still have it.

A 257 Wby. shooting 87 grain Hornadys is hell on mild steel at 300 yards. To get much target life with monometals you're going to need something like armor plate.

Took my rifle capable MGM IPSC plate to BIL's house couple years back for a family shootin' hootenanny. Set it out about 100 yards behind his house and we started clanging away with ARs and pistols, etc.

He fetched his new .300 WSM from the house and asked if he could bust it a few times, and I said "sure, they're softpoints, right?"

"Yep, just my deer ammo" sez he.

"Wal, go ahead." sez I.

Boom Boom!

"Hold up Dad," says my son who was looking at the steel through binoculars. "Those hits look funny."

Funny strange, not haha. There were two dime-sized holes though the steel.

My BIL apologized profusely for not understanding that 180 Failsafes weren't softpoints!

My advice is avoid TSX or similar bullets for steel at less than 300 yards with high vel cartridges.

Just get some AR-500 steel targets and shoot them with anything you want.

I've shot quite a bit at a steel "gong" with a 300 win. & 338 win. using tsx & ttsx. It swings on a heavy chain, so I haven't had any problems. Usually a small gouge in the steel with copper splatter around it.

Oh it is just cheap steel scrap plates a friend makes me.. Once they get shot up we just bolt on another...

Would like to get some AR-500 or the like someday..

well i guess i should clarify that the target is ar500 and has stood up to high velocity rifle hits like a champ, but wondered if a tsx would be more inclined to turn around and come back at me.

nothing has dented it yet.

A-36 Steel shot with 300 win 180





AR-500 shot with 300 wins and 180 TSX

I shot these a couple years ago at 270 yards IIRC. 120 gr TSX out of my 7-08.

Virgin steel from a railroad tie.

no sweat for the AR-500, huh?

It's hard to tell how deep those dents are from straight on. Are they just marks or did they actually penetrate a ways and what distance were you shooting from??

There are no dents on the AR-500. What you are seeing in the picture is the paint splashed off. I have shot that plate a lot with the 300 and a 338 Lapua. The A-36 plate is 2 1/2" plates welded together for 1" in thickness other wise regular steel doesn't last very long.

The AR-500 is 1/2" thick and much easier to handle and lasts a very long time

TSX's sure sound different different on steel. Lead core go "WHOP!" with a solid hit. TSX's go "tink!".

That's on mild steel anyway.

AR500 will hold up just fine. HOWEVER, once you get the speed up around 4000fps you will start cratering 1/2" AR500.

Speed is what kills all steel in my experience. I've got several AR500 plates, and the only thing that has even put a dimple in them was a 52gr Amax out of my 22-250AI from 100 yards. I was just shooting the plate to confirm that my scope was on. Last time I do that...

Yep 4000 FPS and up will do it for sure

You guys might find this unbelievable, but I shot a steel railroad plate like the one pictured above with a Barnes XLC bullet out of a 300 win mag. I was 300 yards away and to my surprise the bullet hit the plate and bounced back skipping along the ground until it hit me in the foot with very little force. The resulting slug was shaped like a tulip with the rifling engraved portion in the inside of the tulip. Essentially the bullet turned inside out and bounced back.
That was the last time I shot steel with monometals.

For steel targets I use 2" thick apron feeder plates that we use at the mine I work at for lining chutes exposed to rock. The material is chromoly manganese alloy which I believe is similar to AR500 and is very tough stuff. A 9X18" piece weighs about 70lbs.

kinda like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPZyBLv0ijc