I don’t usually shoot steel targets but recently I had made some for myself for the rare occasion that I might get to stretch the legs on my .308. Finally this past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot a little farther and I ended up shooting this 10 inch diameter steel plate at 450 yards. The day before I passed the opportunity to shoot a wild hog at that same distance because my buddy was supposed to hunt that area, and he didn’t want me to miss and scare them away.

Anyways, my homemade target was ¼ inch thick mild steel and I’m shooting 168 grain bullets at 2700fps muzzle velocity. At 450 yards the bullets did considerable damage to the plate so I’d like to know what material I should make the new target from?

I think the group size was decent. 4 shots about 1.5 inches…the target fell down after the fourth hit so I did not make a fifth.

Really good group at that distance!

3/8" thick AR-500 is what you need for rifle rounds.

THF member Ramball36 has some for sale, get in touch with him.

Dang! That's ~.33 MOA @ 450yds. Good job! You should only shoot AR500 & don't hang it from that yellow pipe. That's asking for a crazy ricochet if you hit it.

I should have clarified that the target was not on the metal pipe during shooting. I only hung it there for the picture because where I was shooting it was quite shady. Will definitely look into the AR500 steel. We might have some at my job, if not then I'll give Ramball36 a holler. I enjoyed every minute of it; there is something very satisfying about hearing the bullet connect with the target and seeing the "splatter" on the target. I'd do it every day if I could.

If he hits the pipe? Pretty sure the bullet will penetrate the pipe, it's just old cast

mighty fine shooting!


I don't have any steel from this guy yet but I know people that do and they've been happy with them. http://wescolaser.entryhost.com/store/index.html

If he hit it dead center I'd say t'd penetrate it no problem. Hit it high up & it'll ricochet up and go a very long way.

That is a very nice group Doesn't look like that plate was hung on that pipe.

ar15targets.com is where I get mine.

Also look up JC Steel Targets. I know Jake, and he makes a lot of good targets.

http://www.jcsteeltargets.com/

+1 on JC Steel Targets. Bought a few from him that have handled everything I've thrown at them.

How would some A514, or T1, work? I don't plan on shooting steel any closer than 450-500 yards. Mostly I'm looking at 600-800.

Mild steel will work, but it needs to be much thicker than 1/4". I used to go get simple mild steel plates for welding, but they were about 1/2" thick. They work well for 400 and out. After multiple hits, they will start to pit or concave some. But it holds up fine for light use.

how do the T post brackets work from JC Steel, seems like an easy way to set up?

Another x2 for jc targets.

Squared with Jake next weekend and I'm looking forward to shooting with him as he's been on fire. Hopefully I can pick up a thing or two.

+1

nice shooting

PM RSThomas. He has everything you need at a great price.

That's what Jay used a lot on his range. They were super easy to take down and put up.

I've got about 300 square feet of 3/8" AR500 plate that I'll be cutting this week into next, $.40/square inch shipped anywhere in the great state.

Check on Ebay. Lots of good prices there.

Dang, just looked on Ramball36 facebook, you talk about a master welder/fabricator, man his stuff is awesome

Thanks for the compliments folks. I think I have a winning combo with that rifle and load. That was a Savage 10FCP shooting 168gr AMAX with 42.5 of IMR 4064; shot from the prone position with a bipod and rear bag.

So AR500 seems like the way to go...its looking like I should be able to get some scraps from work. Hopefully enough for another 10 inch target or two.

Were getting a couple of these to play with
https://www.g-2solutions.com

They are really fun and pretty cool, got to shoot one at 400 for testing and was pretty neat. Little pricy but lots of fun