Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Best place to buy steel targets?

Where is the best place to buy some long range steel targets for high power rifle? I'm new to long range but was thinking I would like some kill zone sized,so I could register either a hit or miss at long range.

If I were to make my own what kind and thickness steel would I need and what size would you recommend?

theres a guy that advertises on here.. JCsomething

These guys are my favorite. ShootingTargets7.com LINK

Go ahead and get 1/2" thick AR-500 plate(s) and never worry about putting a hole in them.

Ed

JC Steel Targets, jcsteeltargets.com

Making your own is not really an option unless you're set up to cut and drill AR500 steel and not many are.

Any steel you can cut conventionally won't hold up as a target.

Tag for later

That was a question,thanks.

YOU CAN CUT AR500 PL WITH A OX/ ACT TORCH OR A PLASMA CUTTER JUST LIKE MILD STEEL.YOU CANNOT DRILL IT WITH REG DRILLBITS.CONTACT LOCAL WELDING OR MACHINE SHOPS TO SEE IF THEY HAVE ANY DROPS OR SCRAP THAT THEY WILL SELL

Slightly off topic, but I have ballistic steel for my targets, which is used as armor plate on military vehicles. I had no problems drilling holes in it.

I have a few of these coupled with the 2×4 A-Frame Brackets.

https://www.ar500targetsolutions.com/

I have mine made from 1” mild steel, I welded chain on mine. Why do you need to drill holes?

What size would ya'll prefer to simulate a deer-elk kill zone? I suppose 10" would be a good broadside kill zone sized target but would an 8" be a better target to represent a kill zone if there was some angle or such?

My thought on that is, the bigger the better. When you start getting out a ways its easy to miss especially with wind and its frustrating if you don't have a spotter and can't tell where the misses are. With a bigger target and a can of white spray paint you can just aim,for the center and see where the hits are. So I like 12" steel and bigger past 500.

Smoke - I've heard that suggested before but makes me wonder then what benefit steel has over paper? Just easier to see the paint smear than a caliber-sized hole in a paper target?

Yea,I'm new to long range. My thinking was to hear a hit on a kill zone sized target. I can either make the shot or not. If I'm not routinely making the shots I don't figure I have any business shooting that far at an animal. I was thinking maybe hang the target in front of some big cardboard to start,while I learn a bit about wind and such. I would shoot a few and if not ringing them,ride down and see what was going on.

Sounds good in theory, and I think that's the mindset that a lot of us had when we were starting out, but the wind can play havoc. You're better off to use a 16" AR500 plate 3/8" thick, and paint a kill-zone sized square in the middle of it. Using a spotting scope you can easily see if your hits are within the kill zone or not, and you'll get feedback for corrections when you "miss" the kill zone by a bit but still hit the plate. It's a lot easier to make corrections based off of that sort of feedback, than guessing where in the bushes the bullet went and chasing it all over the place.

I live local to JC. His stuff is tops. Think you can combine a large amount of it and ship for a cheap flat rate. I can tell you that one of his 8" rounds we have placed at 594 yards on a windy mountainside goes relatively untouched. It's a good "check" on proficiency.

Jake pretty much recommends 1.5MOA-2MOA targets for beginners. 10" plates are pretty good to start and if you're not running supermagnums.....I think 3/8" is plenty for 300 yards and out. But I am not an expert here. I've shot his 3/8" at 300 yards with WSM and 7 Mag plenty. It's not even dimpled.

Concur fully with Jordan's above post. Chasing your tail missing small steel in real world conditions is ZERO fun. And you'll often burn all your ammo and go home with minimal confidence. Go bigger and thinner and less steel vs quantity and thickness.

Much easier to see the hits on painted steel and the farther out you get the bigger the difference. And it's just fun to hear the clang and see it move too.

I have a friend with a steel cutting company, so I've had him cut me a lot of AR500 for local guys around here. I've torture-tested it and shot the crap out of it. Unless you're shooting steel 200 yards and in with a super-velocity cartridge, 3/8" is your huckleberry. I'd only go to 1/2" if I intended to abuse it at close range. I find that 3/8" targets give better feedback visually, as they swing more, being lighter-weight, and also audibly since they have more of a ring than 1/2" targets do. Heavy bullets with a lot of momentum don't kill AR500 steel, velocity does. Big bullets may be hard on hanging systems, but the steel itself is fine, unlike shooting it with high-velocity impacts. We've tested the effects of .338 Lapua AI shooting 300gr Scenars at 2900fps on 1/4" AR500 at 100 yards, and it doesn't even dent the steel. After a while the target will dish from the sheer force, but the bullet itself doesn't damage the steel at the POI. I've also burned holes clean through 3/8" AR500 by shooting it at 40 yards with a 7mm 100gr Sierra HP from a 7WSM at 3700fps, while a 162AM at 3070fps just splattered, and a 140gr TTSX at 3300fps caused slight dimpling, when shot at the same distance. Speed kills steel. Keep your impacts under 2800 fps, and your steel will last a long time. Don't shoot it with steel-core ammo.

Unless you have access to private property where you can set up a bunch of targets, you'll probably find that you tend to use a half-dozen targets or less on a regular basis. I'd get a few different sizes between 8" and 18". IPSC shapes are fun, as are coyotes and other animal representations. I understand the appeal of trying to hit a small target, but if you're having a tough time, it's nice to take a shot or two at a bigger target to see what's really going on with your bullets downrange. A 3 MOA target is not too big for that application, while a 0.5-1 MOA target is quite challenging in real-world atmospheric conditions.

Thanks Jordan for all the good input.
It's long range for me but for a while,I'll only be shooting at 400 and 500 yards max. At that distance would you still shoot at the 16" targets and try to spot shots in a kill zone painted center? It's actually going to be hard to find a place to shoot even that far locally.