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Posted: 2/14/2005 1:42:33 PM EDT
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I plan to shoot a lot more this year on a 100 yard range I built this past year. I have gotten tired of shooting paper targets in my wooden target frames at 50 and 100 yards and have started to use empty plastic bottles, cans, etc. (lots of gallon milk jugs with a 2 year old!). The problem with these is that if you fill them with water they blow up from energy transfer. Fun to watch but you go through a lot of containers. If you leave them empty the rounds punch through without moving the container to let you know you got a hit. I shot three holes in a soda can at 50 yards with my SKS and did not know I hit it until I walked up to it. I would like to hang them up in the target frame and put something in them to give them a little mass so they move when hit but do not absorb enough energy to blow them apart. Maybe some of the 'foam in a can stuff' you use to insulate crevices and holes in home construction. It has a consistency like styrofoam. Any suggestions for target tech? I figured the best people to ask are those who are constantly buying ammo 
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| My favorite targets lately have been clay pigeons. They're cheap ($4 for 90) and you don't have to guess whether you hit them or not. A piece of old bed rail (or any other scrap angle), a box or two of the metal spring clips like you'd use to hold paperwork together, and a box of clay pigeons. |
Depends on where you live. Bigger cities usually have several places that sell steel. I have a welder, so I made some stands for them. They'll probably be willing to cut you a piece from some scrap 3/8 or 1/2" thick plate. I don'e know how much it was exactly, but less than $15 I think for two rectangular plates. Even though I didn't buy hardened steel, it's held up to .308's at 100 yards. No problems at all with .223 (Wolf) and 7.62x39 as close as 50 yards. You could build a simple wooden frame and hang a plate on it with chains (Drill some holes in the plate). If the plate is heavy enough, it shouldn't swing too wildly when you hit it. |
I've never had one from rifle further than 50 yards, but it CAN happen. FMJ pistol rounds on steel will ricochet to some degree. I always shoot LSWC, and it's never been an issue. |
Yes, shooting steel that isn't perfectly flat (ie cratered) is very dangerous. Instead of trying to save a few bucks by shooting scrap steel, just go ahead and buy a hardened steel target that won't crater. The price difference is much less than a trip to the hospital will cost. I buy mine from http://www.metaltargets.com/ |
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Decided to try some of the approaches suggested - freezing my containers filled with water (possible problem - prep time) and suspending them in my existing target paper frames (which are pretty heavy duty), filling them with construction foam spray and doing the same, using clay pigeons, and trying some of the Ballistic Technologies polymer targets. They have some Feb. specials btw that I took advantage of. I also bought a couple of their polymer indestructible Ballistic Rifle Cubes. A little expensive but intriguing looking. Also bought some spinner targets by them. The Metal Spinning Targets, Inc. products look intriguing but are a little expensive for me. A set of 5 or so of their auto reset poppers would be as almost as good as a military popup silhouette. But that would cost almost $1000. |
I use their single 5" spinner ($42), 12" gong ($65), a custom 30"x30" target with a 6" swinger cutout and one of the flip-up auto-reset targets ($251) http://www.metaltargets.com/ResetTargets.htm (My auto-reset is a 5 paddle one that was a custom for a customer who backed out, I was able to buy it at a huge discount from their close outs page https://www.metaltargets.com/CloseOutSpecials.htm ). Anyway, my point is that thier spinners and gongs are very inexpensive. I use the gong more than any other target. |
| Just shot the Ballistic Technologies polymer targets for the first time. All the targets did well - the holes seal closed so you can only see a dark pinhole. The problem is in the metal frames. Badly aimed shots cut the 5/16 rods that the targets spin on. There needs to be a cheaper, more easily replaced spinner material (maybe wooden dowels). The metal frame is probably overkill too - 2 wood stakes with holes for a dowel would do just as good probably at a lot less cost. |
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I haven't had to buy targets ever. I always just pick stuff up that's on the side of the road. Old fenders, chunks of the county trucks snowplows, I've even found very nice scrap steel in various sizes. It helped that I was on the roads everyday for the county doing fire mitigation, but still, anything free is good. |
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