Gongs and Steel Targets

[John Morris]

Does anyone have a good source for gongs and targets? I've been finding that all is out there are the AR500 steel and they are asking quite a bit, even on Ebay.
If there is not a good source, I have been in touch with a seller on Ebay that would like to work with the BP community and make gongs and targets from A35 steel, less expensive, but since I am pretty new at this, I am not sure what size targets at what steel thickness are useful for the community.

Anyone have any suggestions I could pass on to the metal man target creator guy?

[Hungry Horse]

A lot depends on how many shooters are going to be hammering these targets. If the club is small, and doesn’t host giant events mild steel will work fine. My clubs targets are predominantly mild steel of about 3/8” thickness. We don’t have a ton of shooters, and don’t host big events, so this works fine. The other down side of AR plate is it tends to fail when attachment nuts, or rings, are welded to the back of them. Getting good penetration on AR isn’t something most hobby welders can achieve.

  Hungry Horse

[John Morris]

Thanks for the feedback, so mild steel and 3/8" as a general rule.
How about size? 8" diameter and above? I think I read somewhere in these forums that anything below 8" isn't of much use to us?

[Hungry Horse]

Maybe for city slickers that require constant emotional reinforcement, but in my neck of the woods we will pretty much shoot at anything within reasonable range. If targets are all easy pleasy it’ll take forever to shoot all the tie breakers.

  Hungry Horse

[Bob McBride]

I have all sizes and find them all useful. Varmint and squirrel guns get small 2” rounds or small silhouettes. I like one large gong at 100y. 8” and larger silhouettes at mid ranges. A large caliber will dent mild steel so all mine is ar500 except the squirrel silhouettes. I shot one of those with a 1842 HF and it teacupped it.

[John Morris]

Thanks for the feed back gents!

[Ezra]

Not to be pedantic... , but just so everyone knows.  AR500 is a hardened steel that is commonly used for targets, some armored applications, truck plows and in mining. It is tempered and designed to be abrasion resistant, which makes it ideal for high wear applications.  As such, and as a firearms target, it generally does not deform.  Our agency uses 3/4” AR500 as targets for our Barrett rifles (.50BMG) as close as 100 meters using ball ammunition with no discernible damage.  It therefore allows us to calculate with a high degree of predictability our ricochet trajectory’s. 
For black powder applications, it is more than sufficient.  Having said that, when Bill Raby gets his 4-bore up and running, I’d love to see the terminal effects of that ginormous ball on AR500.


Ez

[EC121]

For matches our club had 3" circles at 50yds. and 6" circles at 100yds. with feet.  About the same as the black on the paper targets.  3/8" mild steel.  The better shooters could hit in the 20s out of 30 at 100.    My best was 19 out of 30.  So, it isn't an impossible shot. For general shooting 8" at 100 is a decent offhand/hunting practice target.  Mild steel is BP only.  The hole from a .223 will look like someone drilled hole in the mild steel.   

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Go to a machine shop or a fabricating shop.  they'll have a scrap bin that will have all sorts of scrap they'll likely give you.  Mild steel, even when it is shot hard for twenty years, will make good targets, and if they're free or at least cheap, replacing broken ones is not a big deal.  Most of the targets on our trail walk were installed in 1982 when we built the trail, and they are still being shot.  Most are mild steel, have been drilled to receive a clevis or hook attaching system with chains for suspension.  They are all sizes and shapes and set from 5 yards to 109 yards.  We have 55 targets on our trail.  During a rendezvous, we shoot half the trail each of two days, and have other events to fill in the day.

[Clark Badgett]

I shoot on 1" AR500 plates all the time. We've shot them with everything you can think of, including .50BMG and not even so much as a divot. I bet the 100-300 yd targets have at least 10k impacts each by now and all we do is slap another coat of white paint on them.

[snapper]

https://custommetalprod.com/

This company in MO uses AR400 and AR500 steel.

I had them custom make me some sil targets and they quoted me a price that I agreed to.   The owner called me back the next day and said that he had given me the wrong price.  It was lower then we agreed to.   They also made them and shipped them in about half the time that he told me.

Needless to say I am a happy customer and I would buy from them again, and most likely will.

Fleener

[MuskratMike]

Here are some of my targets. They all are made out of 3/8-inch mild steel and are only shot at with my muzzleloaders using patched round balls. They have hundreds if not thousands of hits on the chicken and pig. I just had the squirrels made for my new .32 Mathew Gillespie "recreation" rifle. Now that I have the loads and sights figured out next week i will start putting dents in them.
Now if you want to see how to set up a shooting range go to Bob McBride's "Black Powder T.V." on You-tube this is a proper range and target set up. I just wish my wallet was thick enough to do something like that. In all seriousness it's the best private range I have ever seen

[Nazgul]

I worked with forklifts before retiring. Have several sections of the heavy forks as targets. Nothing has bothered them yet.
Be sure to hang them at an angle so any ricochet goes down. I have a .45 caliber hole in my belly from a too close shot at one, my stupidity. Luckily it did not penetrate seriously.

Don

[Hungry Horse]

 My gun club was given a bunch of clangers made from AR plate and since we are not just a muzzleloader club, they were shot at with modern firearms. The good news is they withstood everything thrown at them. The bad news is they were almost always out of commission because the attachment points failed. We are now boring them and securing them with large grade 8 bolts. These may eventually be at least semi trouble free, but it hasn’t happened yet.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

All our plates have to be "hung" at an angle to deflect ricochets down in to the dirt.

[snapper]

Pre heating is very beneficial for abrasion resistant metals to keep welds from cracking


Fleener

[Bob McBride]

All our plates have to be "hung" at an angle to deflect ricochets down in to the dirt.

That’s how I do it. A 3” long 1/2” bolt with two nuts out at the end of the bolt holding the end of the chain. It allows a nice angle on the target to direct all shrapnel down. It also takes some of the force from high velocity stuff. About twice a year I have a chain give way but that’s many thousands of rounds per year and about two minutes to square away.

[Bob McBride]

Pre heating is very beneficial for abrasion resistant metals to keep welds from cracking


Fleener

I have my welder blow a couple holes in the plate for me with a plasma torch and use bolts and chain. Holds up a lot better.

[snapper]

That is what I did for my range as well, holes for bolts to hang them.

Fleener

[Dennis Glazener]

All our plates have to be "hung" at an angle to deflect ricochets down in to the dirt.

That’s how I do it. A 3” long 1/2” bolt with two nuts out at the end of the bolt holding the end of the chain. It allows a nice angle on the target to direct all shrapnel down. It also takes some of the force from high velocity stuff. About twice a year I have a chain give way but that’s many thousands of rounds per year and about two minutes to square away.

Same as mine, most balls are found in dirt (assuming you hit the target ) under the target ready for melting for reuse.
Dennis

[577SXS]

I've made targets from all kinds of scrap. Grader pan blades, motor grader blades, leaf springs, mild steel and many others. All work but some have very dull sound. The harder the steel the louder it will ding. The AR500 targets make a really nice ding that can be heard from a long ways off. I'd go with a minimum of 3/8" thick. Sportsmans Guide has lots of AR500 targets pretty cheap.

[WadePatton]

I've made mine from whatever thick steel I had handy-but they're only good for rimfire and black powder.  They will not hold up to modern projectiles at full speed, which is no problem for me.

[Daryl]

Since many of our targets are VERY old, continual pounding by round balls, most pure lead, but many of WW alloys in .60cal, lots of
the plates show damage. The damaged plates are mostly mild steel, some with eventual holes while others are simply bent or have chunks missing.
Many of these have been with us for close to 40years, though. They have been quite resilient, overall.
One target not quite that old, was a fairly long steel cylinder, 3/8" to 7/16" thick. Hanging inside, was a steel rod with a flat plate welded to it. A hit
on the outside of the cylinder would cause movement, which in turn cased the rod with plate to ring like a bell.  Even the little .32 would make it ring
once. "ding"
My .69 would make it ring - ding-ga-ding-ga-ding for a full minute.
That one actually has a hole through the first layer of steel, facing the shooting line.  Over time, the pounding takes it's toll, however slightly. There are a few
targets like this, but they still work.

[Craig Wilcox]

A few years back, a friend made a pair of upper body silhouette targets for me - out of 1/8" mild steel.  First two shots at it with my .45 cal percussion rifle, at 100 yards, PRB, 70 gr ffg - made two neat holes in them.  Used for .22 after that.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

A late friend of mine shot a moose with that load in .45 cal. perfect shot through the heart for an instant kill.  He gave me the ball which I carry in my medicine bag around my neck at rendezvous.