Posted: 5/25/2014 10:53:10 AM EDT
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Yesterday we ran a trial run on our 3 gun Man on Man, rifles at 50yds with plate racks, shotgun (clay) at 20 yds and pistol poppers at 15 yds. Everyone had a great time, lots of shooting with double elimination. The only problem we had was .223's were putting divots in our 3/8" ar 500 plates. Is this something we'll have to live with at 50 yd. shooting,, or is there a better target material to use ? Any suggestions would be appreciated . Everyone loved the layout. I, personally had a complaint, I was the only one shooting a 300 BO , it hit the plates so hard, they would bounce right back up,,,lol but did no damage at all,, other than shake the bolts loose.
So, my question is, what's the best target to use at 50yds for rifle ? |
| There's no steel target I'm aware of that will not be cratered to some extent by a 223 @ 50 yards. That was the distance I had to place our rifle targets at most venues. Over the years I used Action, Porta, MGM, LV, and Safe Direction. All are high quality 500-550 hardness. Except for the Porta Targets, all had a downward angled strike surface but at that distance there's still just too much energy left in the 223 and all of them show battle scars. I just relegated those targets specifically to our games and didn't use them for anything else. I found that there was no scarring of any of those targets with standard non-armor piercing ammo when placed at least 75 yards away but the ranges we had to use for our games didn't have the facilities to do that consistently. Unless you are able to move the targets farther away, in my experience you'll just have to live with the consequences. There may be some magic steel target out there what will take hits at 50 yards without any cratering but I never found it after 20 years of running our games. On my personal targets, I never shoot them with rifles at less than 100 yards. Nary a scratch on any of those. |
| Thanks for the reply, I kinda figured as much. I don't know if the guys would go for 100yd ,,8" plates. It seemed the rifle stage was the hardest for everyone. Maybe after a few practice shoots, we'll move them out and try it. The plates are reversible, so we'd only be tearing up one side. Another guy had an idea of allowing position shooting on the rifle stage,,,,that would cure the shakes for a lot of us,,lol. Is this something that makes sense ? 8" plates at 100 yds.any position ??? note, we are shooting from a concrete pad,, so laying down a mat wouldn't be a problem. I'll ask my wife if she took any pics,,, I know pics say it better. |
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It's your match. You could set it up however you want it. We only used one rifle target per shooter so they went to the rifle first, then shotgun, back to rifle, then pistol, then back to rifle for the last shot. We also did best two-out-of-three runs for the shooter to advance.
Here's the COF we used. It got tweaked from year to year but this is basically how we did it: Targets: One steel rifle target, per shooter, placed at 35 – 50 yards. Three to four steel plates per shooter for shotgun, placed at 12 – 15 yards. Three to four steel plates per shooter for handgun, placed at 12 – 15 yards. Actual number and placement of targets will depend on the range facilities. Course of Fire: Two shooters will start at the firing line facing away from the targets, hands held in front of the body in the "interview", or similar position, with all firearms on the table pointed in a safe direction. The handgun will have a loaded chamber. The shotgun and rifle will start in cruiser ready condition (empty chamber, safety on and magazine loaded). At the start command, each shooter will turn and knock over a small steel popper target with their shooting hand. Shooters will then engage the rifle target with one hit. They will then engage the shotgun targets with their shotgun. Shooters will then engage the rifle target again with one hit. Shooters will then engage the handgun targets with their handgun. Shooters will finish the stage with a final hit on the rifle target with their rifle. The first shooter to successfully engage all targets is the winner of the stage. The stage will be repeated with the first shooter to win two stages advancing. Competitors will receive credit for any target that falls down and bounces back up. Failure to knock over the small steel popper target on the table with the shooting hand prior to engaging the first target will default that string of fire. Competitors who shoot non-rifle targets with a rifle will be disqualified. They will also be responsible for damage to targets and any injury that might occur. SPECIAL NOTES: When competitors have successfully engaged their handgun and shotgun targets, the shotgun and handgun actions must be locked open when returned to the table prior to re-engaging the rifle target. Safeties need not be engaged. Shotgun magazines need not be emptied nor pistol magazines removed. The rifle must have the safety engaged when on the table and not in use. Loss of the stage will occur if the rifle safety is found to be disengaged when on the table. All firearms must be pointed in a safe direction at all times. Unsafe gun handling or breaking the 180-degree rule will result in disqualification from the match. Shooters will not be allowed to fire unwanted rounds from the chamber to gain an advantage. Here's a pic of the general set-up: 
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Quoted:
It's your match. You could set it up however you want it. We only used one rifle target per shooter so they went to the rifle first, then shotgun, back to rifle, then pistol, then back to rifle for the last shot. We also did best two-out-of-three runs for the shooter to advance. Here's the COF we used. It got tweaked from year to year but this is basically how we did it: Targets: One steel rifle target, per shooter, placed at 35 – 50 yards. Three to four steel plates per shooter for shotgun, placed at 12 – 15 yards. Three to four steel plates per shooter for handgun, placed at 12 – 15 yards. Actual number and placement of targets will depend on the range facilities. Course of Fire: Two shooters will start at the firing line facing away from the targets, hands held in front of the body in the "interview", or similar position, with all firearms on the table pointed in a safe direction. The handgun will have a loaded chamber. The shotgun and rifle will start in cruiser ready condition (empty chamber, safety on and magazine loaded). At the start command, each shooter will turn and knock over a small steel popper target with their shooting hand. Shooters will then engage the rifle target with one hit. They will then engage the shotgun targets with their shotgun. Shooters will then engage the rifle target again with one hit. Shooters will then engage the handgun targets with their handgun. Shooters will finish the stage with a final hit on the rifle target with their rifle. The first shooter to successfully engage all targets is the winner of the stage. The stage will be repeated with the first shooter to win two stages advancing. Competitors will receive credit for any target that falls down and bounces back up. Failure to knock over the small steel popper target on the table with the shooting hand prior to engaging the first target will default that string of fire. Competitors who shoot non-rifle targets with a rifle will be disqualified. They will also be responsible for damage to targets and any injury that might occur. SPECIAL NOTES: When competitors have successfully engaged their handgun and shotgun targets, the shotgun and handgun actions must be locked open when returned to the table prior to re-engaging the rifle target. Safeties need not be engaged. Shotgun magazines need not be emptied nor pistol magazines removed. The rifle must have the safety engaged when on the table and not in use. Loss of the stage will occur if the rifle safety is found to be disengaged when on the table. All firearms must be pointed in a safe direction at all times. Unsafe gun handling or breaking the 180-degree rule will result in disqualification from the match. Shooters will not be allowed to fire unwanted rounds from the chamber to gain an advantage. Here's a pic of the general set-up: http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z130/losrobles/FLEG07417_zpsde0335c3.jpg~original The only problem I see with this stage is that some shotguns will not lock open if there are rounds in the tube still. Most will try to feed rounds instead of locking back. |
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The only problem I see with this stage is that some shotguns will not lock open if there are rounds in the tube still. Most will try to feed rounds instead of locking back. Yep, and that's why we would tell the shooters up front in the briefing that, for those guns, i.e., most semi-autos, it's best to load only enough rounds to take care of the targets with one shot each. Any left standing would have to be taken care of with an open-bolt reload. As a Benelli shooter, I was well aware of that issue. My side saddle rounds got me to the gold medal round more than once.  Loading one more round than targets was also a viable option. If you got each target down with one shot, with some guns all you have to do is pull the bolt back ejecting the shell in the chamber. With the Benelli, you would have to depress the shell release latch and then pull the bolt back. It wasn't as much an issue as you might think as long as you set the gun up right and paid attention to hitting the target for each trigger pull. Not a heavy lift, believe me.
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Quoted:
are you hanging your angled 50yd plates off chains that allow a lot of movement to absorb energy? Except for the Action Target plates, all the rifle plates I used over the years hung in one fashion or another. The LV Steel targets were hung by chains. The Safe Direction targets pivoted on a cross-bar as did the old Porta-Target plates. The Action Target plates are bolted to the top of an upright but the head doesn't get fully tightened down, allowing it to move backwards a bit upon getting struck. Except for the Porta-Target plates, all had a downward-angle strike surface and some movement to allow for energy absorption but at 50 yards and in there's still enough energy in most centerfire rifle rounds to do damage. Action Target has a newer target with a much steeper angle of the strike face that I'm interested in taking a look at. It's supposed to allow for closer shooting. |
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Well, we're going to try this again, with a few changes;
3 GUN MOM - Revised The number of targets is being reduced to both speed things up and cut back on the amount of ammo needed. We will maintain double elimination. The distance for rifle targets is being changed to reduce damage to targets. 4 - Rifle targets (8" plate racks) @ 75 yards. Any position you choose to shoot. Steady rest allowed. 6 Shotgun targets (clay birds) @ 20 yards. 1 reload mandatory. 6 Handgun targets (8" poppers) @ 15 yards. 1 reload mandatory. $20 range fee 50% payback 2nd Saturday every month through September at 3 pm. Info on club http://meekersportsmanclub.com/ , located in central Ohio (Marion) |