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The do's/dont's of shooting metal plates?


Rustlestiltskin

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Anybody have any tips or general information on shooting steel targets?

 

Chances of ricochet? (ways to prevent that from happening?)

Whats the best way to have them set up? (suspended in air,fixed position,etc)

types of bullets to shoot? (fmj, hollowpoints,etc..)

General information on doing this?

 

At our work I have plenty of scrap iron at my disposal. anywhere from 1/4inch thick n up. I was wanting to set up a few targets for pistol shooting with my Glock 19 9mm.

 

Any info on this would be great.

 

Thanks.

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Steel should be of proper hardness to withstand hits without deforming too much. General guidelines are AR300 for pistol and AR500 for rifle. I would not use scrap iron.

 

Steel should be suspended and have something to allow it to 'give' a little. Solid mounting will result in the steel taking 100% of the impact, and will eventually tear up your steel. It will also increase the likelihood of a ricochet.

 

Do not shoot at cratered steel. Craters cause the fragments to deflect in weird directions. And as stated earlier; use frangible ammo if shooting at really close distance. Other than that, anything that isn't steel jacketed or cored should be just fine.

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Steel should be of proper hardness to withstand hits without deforming too much. General guidelines are AR300 for pistol and AR500 for rifle. I would not use scrap iron.

 

Steel should be suspended and have something to allow it to 'give' a little. Solid mounting will result in the steel taking 100% of the impact, and will eventually tear up your steel. It will also increase the likelihood of a ricochet.

 

Do not shoot at cratered steel. Craters cause the fragments to deflect in weird directions. And as stated earlier; use frangible ammo if shooting at really close distance. Other than that, anything that isn't steel jacketed or cored should be just fine.

 

I have been using burnout scraps from a local machine shop.........

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oh look, another bicyclist hipster liberal in this thread. You guys must run around in packs. prolly ride a 2 seater tandem bike together through short north on the weekends

 

with no seats,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

if you know what i mean

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oh look, another bicyclist hipster liberal in this thread. You guys must run around in packs. prolly ride a 2 seater tandem bike together through short north on the weekends

 

Yup. Only stopping to quench our thirst with PBR and then posting pictures of the can next to a bare brick wall on facebook via instagram with our iphones.

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I often shoot at AR500 targets but never closer than 25 yds. I always hang them so that they can swing.

 

Note that some bullets will splatter upon impact and destroy things (like metal cables, bolts, etc.) in the same 'plane' of the target face. This makes hanging the targets more challenging. :)

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