Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Thickness of steel targets?

How thick should steel targets be to keep bullets (Barnes X) from pentrating at 500 out to 1000 yards?

I'm planning to make some "hangers" and wondering if 1/4" sheet steel will work?

Try 1" thick minimum. Most any centerfire will pop through 1/4" with ease, my 218 mashburn pistol would do it, and thats a mesely 45 gr @ 2600. Heck, I darn near penetrated 1" steel with a 500 gr softpoint from my 458 Lott @ 50 yds, swung the 9" plate way back, lifted the entire stand off the ground, and dumped it in a heap <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Even a 22rf will ding up 1/4" after some use.

That woulda been cool to see!

The crater in the plate was pretty impressive, as I recall the same dia as a 12 ga, and 5/8" deep. Pretty amazing to completely turn a bullet inside out and leave such a crater. I'd wished I'd had a 500 gr X bullet, as I'd bet it would have made it through. Or a 500 gr solid <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I'd also say don't use steel core mil surp ammo <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> Shoulda oughte known better, but I had this ole turkenstein mauser and some Egyption 8X57, and didn't really know it was steel core. Takes chips out of the steel, and after one buzzsaw sound, I realized what was happening and stopped that practice <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

Depends on the type of steel. High power silhouette targets are usually made of some kind of hard steel like T-1, 3/8" thick for the longer distances, I believe. Like the others noted, high power rifle bullets will penetrate or crater the heck out of ordinary mild steel.

Paul

It'll all depend on the material, Spike.

We just purchased a full bank of NRA full size Silhouettes from:

Link: www.the metalman.com

These are (hopefully) shot only with "standard "calibers the material is AR500, and the material costs more than good whisky. They stand up to this very well,..... the 200M chickens, 300M pigs, and 380m turkeys are a 3/8". The 500M rams are 1/4". Some of our older steel is common boilerplate, and such. A good hot load just burns holes right through 'em.

I once used my 130gr .270Win loads to give me some nice clean 7/16" holes in some 1/2" A36 ( structural grade) baseplates. that was at around 75 yds. Got paid (very Well) to shoot that day, I guess you could say. It beat the Pis$ outta standing at the drill press> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Anyhoo , Al Speert is "The Metal Man" and also the VP of the Tucson Rifle Club............His outfit makes steel targets for every agency under the sun. He's a rifle crank, as well.
Why not quiz him.

Our public range steel gets HAMMERED by the whole spectrum of calibers. Some years back I glommed on to some de-certified welding gas cylinders.....the High pressure ones for Oxygen, Co2 , Argon, Helium...........cut in half, and hung from a chunk of grader blade they hold up pretty well, and admittedly, the big guns just blow right through. They do yeild a very satisfying BONG <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />. I'll get a photo of one of the victims Sunday, comin' up ( gotta run a Match there, Sunday)

For 1000, I'd weld two together, sorta' side by each. They're 9" wide, which is about right at 500.

Give Al a holler, I'm sure he'd be glad to advise.

Best regards, GTC <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

T1 is okay, A heck of a lot more OK than common mild....it does work harden with repeated impact though. Periodically annealing, in a big fire will help, but not completely cure the feet getting shot off...........PREHEAT.... T1 before welding, that'll help a bunch , too. Bout 350 degrees sounds right.

I will get some pics of our herd . it's been gleeped and glommed onto from all over the SW, and Northern Sonora, Mex. ( the old style Javelinas have cojones on 'em). some of these have been shot to pieces 3-4 times, we just keep welding "em back together.

GTC

T

GTC

Heck, I plum forgot about my adress sign......an original old time Javelina.........if you look close, you'll see where his legs got blowed off, while on swinger duty. He's now retired, on disability, as it were.



Really HEAVY cultivator discs ain't bad, and they're nice and round to start with.

OOPS,

Link" www.themetalman.com

Yup, that'll work better....GTC

Interesting post Paul......Some time ago a friend and I had a set of chickens made up for silhouette practice(200 meters) out the same material that our club had been using for many years.One of the hardened varieties of steel.

What was interesting after many shots were fired,along with some misses <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />was that although both of us were shooting 270 Winchesters with nearly indentical velocities(chronographed)my bullets cratered the targets pretty good whereas his barely made a lead splash on the metal.The only difference being the bullets used.I used the Sierra 135gr.Match King and he the 130gr.Remington Cor-Lokt.Afer using the Sierras for manys years prior to making our practice chickens I wondered why I had never been cited for target damage.

So was it the difference in construction of the bullets,the minor weight difference or the fact that the Sierra is much more pointed than the Remington

Comments?

I'm no expert but I vote for pointiness. My .223 craters my plates way out of proportion to their energy.

Interesting discussion, and thanks for the detailed info, Greg. I do recall that there has been considerable interest among HP silhouette shooters about terminal ballistics, focusing on knock-down power on the 500M ram targets. They talk about something called "dwell", which I understand to be the time the bullet "sticks" to the target, or something like that. I have also heard that some shooters even heat temper their bullets. If there are any hard and fast rules of thumb to come out of this, I'm not aware of them. I don't shoot HP silhouette seriously these days, and I just use whatever 7mm bullets balance reasonable accuracy and cheapness, generally a mix of match hollow points and soft-nosed hunting bullets. Full-sized silhouettes made of good steel are an expensive proposition, and clubs take a dim view of hitting them with loads that cause damage; AP bullets and magnums are banned. I have set a fair number of silhouette targets, and have never seen conventional loads damage or even make much of a mark on good steel. The swinger sighter gongs at our club are a different story. They look like the surface of the moon! I assume they are mild steel.

Paul

From 500 to 1000 yards...3/4 to 1 inch thick mild steel would hold up a long time before you'd say it's junk. 5/8 to 1 inch T1 at those distances would do even better.

Craters can be filled in with weld and smoothed off to make it new again. What's more important is how you hang the steel. The more rugged the hanger bars the better, give the cross rod a generous hole to go thru so the swinging is done freely. Use two hanger bars on each target and do some generous welding to attach them, use two to eliminate the target torqing when hit on the edges. An edge hit will make the target swing side to side as well as back and forth if only one hanger bar is used. This extra motion will shorten the life of the target, self destruction.

One trick I use is to bend the cross rod up at each end so that the target stays centered and can't walk to one side or the other. All you need is a slight bend to create a shallow "valley" that the hanger bars sit in.

Steel prices are high right now so don't skimp on making 'em rugged if you want them to last, I'd rather spend a little more now than keep fixing economy models.

Have a buddy with a welding machine handy cause no matter what you do something is gonna break eventually....Just weld it back together.

Gotta love the sound of high velocity vs. steel swinger.....

I work for an outfit that recycles among other things, scrap titanium...we get some heavy, thick stuff in once in a while. Titanium when processed in our machines literally destroys the machines, thus my current employment situation as a maintenence guy. We have a few 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch diameter Ti rods we use as beater punches once in a while to drift out some of the stuborn heavy bolts ect. Narry a mark on them from the sledge hammers. I wonder how Ti would do as a swinging target.....Mmmmmmmm

Spring-loaded targets

Spike, check out the above <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks everyone for the input, much appreciated.

Partagas,
That link gave me some great ideas I'll incorporate into the next targets, thanks for posting.

Here's what I have so far, they are 3/8" and I drilled holes in the upper corners so I can hang from chains. Need to come up with a frame/hanger idea that is portable. I think I'll go back to the steel yard and look for some 1/2" or thicker steel targets for the next batch. This has been fun, can't wait to ring some bells.

3/8" will be short lived,especially with X's.

While distance is your friend,you'll chew 'em up...................

I remember that one you have, what is the thickness of it? Is it any special steel? Didn't you have chain hangers on it?

How do you suppose it would affect their longevity if they were hung at 45 degrees or so? Apparent target size would be a lot smaller, but it seems the bullets just might turn South and do far less damage?

I've a bunch of them. Was prolly 3/8's,that youy were remembering.

On a swinger set up,they live longer but they will actually cup in deformation,then suffer penetration issues.

I like the chain,as it's a positive retention method and the longer the scope,the better the plate fares. The pendelum affect,bleeds abuse,but they still accrue.

Run a bead around both plates,to yield a 3/4" everlaster.

They sing good too.....................

The 45 degree ploy,would effectively add numerous dog years of service.

They don't sing as well though and I like the singin'.......................