Not so long ago, the outdoor range I shoot at ruled to allow us to shoot steel.  I'd been saving my money for a while and am ready to purchase some steel.  I've never shot steel before so I'm not sure exactly what to get.  I've been shopping around shootsteel.com and there is a wonderful variety of targets.

I was wondering if maybe I could get some recommendations on a good "collection" of steel targets.  I'd like to order a collection at one time, and I have a few hundred to spend.  Based on the pricing I've seen I could get a small collection of targets and stands for a few hundred.  I see 8" steel, 6", 10", 12"...gongs and plates...round, square, and silhouette shaped.  I'm just not sure what to get.

Its a public range so they need to be targets that I can transport in the car, set up to shoot relatively simply, and take down when I'm done to transport back home and store.  The setup can't be too complicated or require too much assembly as other shooters wouldn't be able to shoot while I'm downrange setting things up.  So it needs to be something simple and relatively fast to set up for each target.  If I need to assemble frames and chains and that sort of thing for each target it would probably take too long to set up and take down.  These will be used for handgun and rifle...mostly 9mm or 45ACP and 5.56mm, 5.45mm, and 7.62x39 (Wolf Bi-Metal bullets).  I'll be shooting at ranges from 50 feet out to 200 yards.  I do understand that I shouldn't shoot rifle inside of 100 yards.  Also, the impact point has to be such that the missed rounds would impact the berm and not the ground or skip over the berm...i.e...I can't use small targets that sit directly on the ground.

What might you recommend as a nice "starter" package?

I apologize if this isn't the correct forum for this.  I wasn't exactly sure where to put it as I'm shopping for steel targets for both handgun and my AR.  Please feel free to move it if this isn't the appropriate spot.  Thanks!

In my opinion, have dedicated steel for pistols only and dedicated steel for rifles only.

Buy AR500 steel and shooting only pistol on that target will pretty much mean it will last forever.

AR500 on the other hand will pit and crater, if not immediately, over time with rifle and shooting pitted steel with pistol at pistol distances is not ideal.

I posted this recently on my blog: http://www.ocabj.net/m193-on-ar500-steel-at-50-yards/

Nice writeup ocabj. I recently did a writeup on pitting vs denting.

 

Read both your blogs.  Excellent write-ups and very interesting.  Thanks!

steel gong of your choice
something to suspend the gong under 1-2 lengths of rebar.  some folks use fire hose, I use pieces of blown-out tires.
about 5-6 lengths of rebar (total)
two 8"-10" lengths of wood (2x4 works great)

drill a couple of holes in the 2x4 pieces for legs, jam some rebar into holes for legs.
drill another hole in 2x4 pieces for a cross support for suspending your steel gong.

have a blast, or 30.

Sounds promising but not quite following you.  You saty 2 8"-10" lengths of wood but then your 2 line description has 2 pieces for legs and more for supporting the steel gong.  

How do you place the 5-6 lenghts of rebar and what are their lengths?

Do you have any pictures?  

Would chain work as well as fire hose or tire?  

Thanks

In my opinion, spend the extra money to get the 1/2 inch AR500.  The peace of mind when you're shooting it with say, 30.06, is worth it.

Shooting steel is my favorite part of the hobby right now.

Good package deal

http://www.moatargets.com/package-deals/mg42-ammo-can-package-deal

I've already posted about this in another thread, it might help you.

Chain could work, a half-loop of firehose works best I think... like I said... I use blown semi-truck tire scraps.  

I use 4-foot rebar lengths for all of the pieces for sake of simplicity.  it's all very light for what it does, it packs well, and it doesn't cost much at all.

oh yeah, you can find some great steel on eBay for a great price... all sorts of small manufacturers and home business makers sell their stuff in there.

hope it helps

Check out spectre targets, in Fayetteville NC.