Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Steel target thickness

I'm gonna build some steel targets. I got some 7/16 plate for nothing leftover from a work project. I plan on getting some thicker plate too. How much punishment will the 7/16 take? I'm thinking it would be good for up to .243 maybe? mtmuley

Is this mild steel??? Our 308's were going right through 1/2" mild steel at 300 yards.....

With the AR500 targets I have, 1/4"-3/8" is plenty.

It will be swiss cheese or at the very least look pretty ragged, but it will work, I have been using 1/2" AR500 and seems to be the best for target material!

If it isn't AR, it will be cheese. I have holes in my 1/2" from my 7-08 at 500. AR can be thin; 1/4 or 3/8 should be plenty.

Depends on the range too.
We went with 1/2" as it allows you to shoot at shorter ranges too-hard to find places to shoot past 200 in my neck of the woods.
A 300 Weatherby with 165s put a tiny dimple in the surface at 200 yards. Everything else so far has only smudged paint. This included 6.8SPC, 308, 223, and 8x57.
Don't waste your time with mild steel unless it is free.

A pretty good steel test is a 257 Wby. with TSX bullets at 100 yards.

With 87 grain lead core varmint bullets it'll tear up mild steel at 300.

My targets are 3/4 inch mild steel. My targets under 500 are hammered, no pass throughs yet though. They look like the moon surface with craters all over them. I did take my 300 and filled the craters with a welder using 7018 rod, worked really good but it took a while. I got my boy to do the next one as he wanted to learn how to weld, thats the way to go lol. When I get these wore out I will by some ar steel, But it will be a few years yet.

For rifle, AR 500 1/2". Thinner will bend with repeated rifle hits

Was going to set up an extended range here locally...

Where is a good source for picking up steel to shoot at, for distances of 700 to 1100-1200 yds?

Metal scrap yds?

Even hardened AR500 isn't impervious. Two belly button shots/holes from a 300 WSM @ 100 yds using 180 TSX on my LV Steel 1/2 silhouette. Ooops!

Alan

That's a TSX effect. Get a light TSX going warp nine out of a 257 Wby. and it tears up steel targets.

I know it's heavy, but I got some 10" square 1" plate steel. It was free, so I'm gonna use it. mtmuley

You better at least double it. A-36 steel don't hold up well against high velocity bullets.

You guys should use old track plates from Caterpillar. Also the grader cutting edges. You won't even get a dimple.

If your going to shoot steel, do yourself a favor and start with Premium AR500. Mild steel in any thickness is plain not safe IMO.

Plus the price of AR500 is not all that bad considering the price of everything else in the shooting sport.

Just do it right the first time and you will be a happy shooter for a long time.

Thanks

Jake

I'm not gonna be close enough to them for it to be dangerous. mtmuley

Once the plate gets dimpled there is the potential for ricochets. They've been known to send bullets back to the firing line. I would be sure to put it at looooong range.

That's my plan. mtmuley

I only dimpled two spots on my ar500 plates with a 300rum and 180btsp at 325yrds. Not bad just can feel it on off side.
My buddy bought some cheap plates and we shoot straight through it at 250 with bliztkings out of a 22-250

A co-worker shot my 1/2" thick handgun target with .308 mil-surp ammo at less than 100 yards. It put a good size dent in it, but didn't penetrate. Another co-worker gave me the target. IIRC, he used CRS, heated cherry-red with a torch then quenched.

I collect scrap pieces of CRS and heavy truck parts from work for make-shift targets but plan to buy some AR500 and make swinging targets for handguns and longrange rifle shooting.