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Posted: 5/20/2006 11:48:03 PM EDT
| How thick should a steel plate be for a .223 and a .308. I would like to make some but don't know how thick of steel to get. |
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I would stay away from mild steel with rifles in mind. They will crater and I have seen splash back to about 50yds with cratered steel. I use 3/8" AR500 High Abrasion Steel. Nothing short of AP rounds touches it**. Not M855, not M193, not M80 ball, not 50BMG ball, not 338 Lapua Mag HP. ** One guy shooting a 100gr. 25-06 handload at 50yds, was able to punch the steel. He also blew the primer and stressed the brass a bit. Otherwise only .308AP and .50 AP have actually put a hole in the steel I use. |
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It doesn't matter how thick you get it, if you use mild steel, 5.56 and .308 will f it up. .308 will punch through 1/2" mild like an ice pick through paper and 5.56 will gouge it severely. Of course, mild steel is fairly cheap if you buy it as scrap, so you can use 5.56 and consider the targets expendable and just replace them as necessary. If you want them to last, you have to stick with an AR series like AR400 or AR500. I have a piece of scrap 5/16" steel that I believe to be AR series -- it is entirely unaffected by .30-06 at 100 yards and even M2 armor piercing rounds just gouge the surface. It's just about impossible to drill too. |
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letargets.com/html/home.html Best prices on hard steel targets, and superb service too. I've got a bunch of their stuff, and it's still taking a beating. |
I have a base off of an old ATM that I am using now. The bottom is 1" thick and I am pretty sure it is just mild steel. 5.56 rounds do crater it a bit, 7.62x39 do little to no damage. I haven't tried my Garand on it yet but it seems to be holding up well. I would say it would last into the 1000's of rounds from a rifle and it was free.  BTW, splash back doesn't seem to be much of an issue, all of the derbris is splattered 90 degrees, although I will not get any closer than 50yds with a rifle for safety.
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