So, I designed a stage for a match next month and it has 4 knock downs.  My plan was to weld a base on some 3/4" rebar or similar for the stand.


Should i worry at all about them holding up for the match?

Maybe make a few extra just in case someone is a bad shot?


What does your club use?

I've made a lot of different targets.   Ones like you talking about were mostly for pistol.
Used 1/2 rebar with a 1/4 " or better top base.  The  base was either round or had the corners cut off.  The edges of the base were then beveled on top and bottom or rounded off all together.   Some had an external gusset made out of the same rebar to help support the base.  These worked well with both pistols and shotguns.

Do you angle the knockdown at all, or keep 'em at a 90 to the base?

I've seen them both ways.  Some are at a 90 and some leaning back slightly.  

I fear that the leaning make cause richocets into other pistol pits.  Unless i use a pit on the far end which are woods on the sides.

All the knock down plates we make are at a 90°.   The knock down should be heavy enough to make most projectiles splatter. If the plates are to lite they'll just deflect the projectiles resulting in ricochets. As always when shooting steel it should be as far away from the shooter as possible.  We often set up a drum or barricade as a shooting position for steel.  This also serves as taking some type of cover.

Rebar with 1/4" or 3/8" for a base will work fine. They will get shot, they will shrug off most pistol. You should have a spare or two of everything placed downrange, props, sticks, plates, "hardcover", all of it, nothing sucks the life out of match like a long delay trying to cobble something back together. Make sure your stands are long enough to be driven well into the ground so as not to wobble and come loose.

Do not tilt falling plates, they probably end up tilted anyway and be a pain to reset. Do put a tab on the back of the plate's base or front of the stand so they fall rather than turn.

FWIW I've experienced a lot more ricochets off poppers than falling plates, it is however a fact of shooting steel that if you do it enough you will have some. Generally 21' is as close as any competition I know of allows steel to be engaged, you want a physical barrier to keep the competitor from getting any closer than the minimum if it can be engaged from there.

The range I shoot at the most has angle iron with the edge pointing uprange if that makes sense. Then they have a piece of angle iron welded on top that the plate sits on. I haven't noticed any terrible ricochets, but we typically shoot them at 15+ yards. 

My finished product. Attached File


Attached File

Those look good.  How did they fair the match ?

They worked great.  Had a lot of guys say how much they enjoyed shooting them.

Who doesn’t like hearing that steel ring and seeing it fly off the pedestal?!