Going to buy one or two steel gongs for pistol.

There are a couple of companies that pop up on Google selling AR500 steel for not much $.

Anybody have a recommendation?

Steel is great, but consider adding a reactive poly target into the mix like those from Newbold and Just Shoot Me. The nice thing about poly targets is you can shoot them point blank without getting come-backers. They're also a lot lighter to haul around. The biggest problem with poly is you shouldn't use HP or flat-nose ammo or the life of the target will be reduced.

Search for posts by Jcvibby in the classifieds here, go back at least 5 months. He had a group buy on various sizes of AR500 steel for a very good price. Also the proceeds go to a very worthy cause. I don�t know if he�s still selling them but it�s worth a try.

I have eight of his steel plates from 6� round and square to 12� square. Those things are tough, I�ve hit one 8� plate with hundreds of rounds of .308, .243 AI, .250 AI, .30-06, .223, you name it. At 200 yards all they do is dimple it slightly and a lot of them leave no mark at all, just a lead splash. I�ve also shot a bunch of lead bullets from .357, .44, .45 Colt and lead and jacketed from a 9mm and .45ACP at 25 yards with no splash back. The way I hang my targets puts them at a slight angle sloping down away from me so the lead and jacket fragments hit the ground in a line right below it.

www.wideners.com

Also www.qualitytargets.com.

Stuart

I got mine from a guy in Wichita who makes them. He sells them at gunshows from Kansas City down to at least Okie City, maybe points farther south. I don't have his card and a quick internet search for him didn't yield anything. Mine's pretty big and heavy though. It cost nearly $300. Supposed to withstand hits from a 50-90 but the most I've shot it with is probably a 7.62x54R.

I've only been hit by a ricochet once...heheh

I get mine from http://www.bigdogsteel.com/

I haven't even even gotten any dimples from .308 and .223 at 150y.

My 150-yard target hardly has a mark on it.

The quiet.

Couple good suggestions. Thanks, guys.

Yep, but they swing like a monkey.

What distance do you plan on doing most of your shooting? Anything over 25-yards and I would vote steel plates...as long as I didn't have to lug 'em all over creation.

JOG:

25 yards for pistol. 100 and + for centerfire rifle.

Look for metal fabricators in your area. One close to me had a leftover sheet of meatal laying around. For $125.00 I received 16, 10" circles with bolts welded on the back so I could hang them.

I live in a smaller town and walked into a local guy's shop and told him what I needed. Two days later I had this:





He used cheap 1/2" plate. It dimples badly, but...replacements, up to 10" square are $8 and last a long time.

I used coat hangers to hang plates because I get bunches of them when I have my suits dry-cleaned and are easily fixed in the field should I hit one. Lengths of chain look way more cool, but take more time and money to acquire and fix. Nothing wrong with chain, but I seem to get good mileage out of hangers.

Cheap steel that dimples badly after a period of use definitely makes for much more interesting back splatter as it is no longer controlled by the smooth face of the target.

Here is the one i made for myself. I can shoot from point blank all the way back to 50 yards with my pistol. I use it after i check my conceal carry guns at 15 yards to see just how well they will do at longer range just in case this type of defense shooting ever arises . Need to paint it again. It look like the pistol round are all over the target but i shoot different parts of the target for groups from different handguns.

Waders:

I've used many a chunk of soft steel like that over the years. Thought I'd go a little more deluxe now with some plate that doesn't resemble the dark side of the moon after a couple of hundred rounds.

I haven't shot at it much yet, but I found a 12" diameter pice of 1" plate, not sure what the type of steel is, but being 1" thick it should hold up decently.