Best Steel plates for Targets?

[vinconco]

Hang Fast Targets get an angle with NO WELDS. It uses gravity (free) to put the plates on an angle. Angle is adjustable by the length of the bolt.
12 inch square angle.jpg12 inch square chain side.jpg

[Ned Christiansen]

Our new steel. My design ran afoul of some unforeseen high velocity dynamics.
-Weld hooks on the back and hang from straps made from belting. No bolt holes in the targets, no bolt heads to get shot off and increase splatter hazard. Awesome in theory (my humble opinion) BUT—all the hooks broke off. Not the welds, the hooks—at the bend. I double checked and they were 100% to my spec, 3/8 mild steel, nothing that could go brittle from welding. They broke anyway. I believe they were catching a high-frequency vibe from impacts and flexing right there at the bend and succumbed to fatigue. Plates fell down, I was embarrassed.
Version 2.0: individual chain links. Welded them on the back, very solidly, so they are closed loops on the small side. Through them I put cold shuts to act as hooks; as they were not attached they could move. This is working sofar.


Version 2.1, Not two thin strips, one wide one. Mutiple uses, can shuttle the plate from the left holes to the right holes as needed, or hang high or low, or even hang two targets on one apron. If it gets too shot up, flip it upside down and you have the same pattern all over again. I opened up the cold shuts so you can hook them into the apron but I also found some $.48 tent stakes at WalMart that I'm gonna play with.

[Ned Christiansen]

The back side. Left, cold shuts for hanger have been replaced by, right, hooks made from 5/32 wire.

[Ned Christiansen]

Three classes in, the faces of these targets are holding up well, although this week all hits were from 300 M so, essentially, no effect on the steel. Typically we are at 65 Y which, I believe will significantly um, impact the life of the targets; I believe even another 35Y would help.

One phenom seems to be emerging that I never noticed before. Didn't notice because I rarely shoot my own steel inside 100 and our old steel was so pocked you could never tell: soft points seem to have more effect on the strike face than FMJ. We have guys shooting all kinds of ammo of course, from Wolf FMJ to 50 grain WW Silvertips, Speer Gold Dots, whatever their agency sends them with or depending on the agency, whatever the student can scrounge. With these plates being so fresh, I noticed that with all shots having been fired from 65Y, there were notable diffs in cratering, and it very much seems that SP's are doing it more; I don't believe it would be a velocity thing as many guys are using XM193 which is going to be as fast or faster than 55 grain SP's.... it seem counter intuitive but, does anyone have info / good observations on this?

[Failure2Stop]

Three classes in, the faces of these targets are holding up well, although this week all hits were from 300 M so, essentially, no effect on the steel. Typically we are at 65 Y which, I believe will significantly um, impact the life of the targets; I believe even another 35Y would help.

One phenom seems to be emerging that I never noticed before. Didn't notice because I rarely shoot my own steel inside 100 and our old steel was so pocked you could never tell: soft points seem to have more effect on the strike face than FMJ. We have guys shooting all kinds of ammo of course, from Wolf FMJ to 50 grain WW Silvertips, Speer Gold Dots, whatever their agency sends them with or depending on the agency, whatever the student can scrounge. With these plates being so fresh, I noticed that with all shots having been fired from 65Y, there were notable diffs in cratering, and it very much seems that SP's are doing it more; I don't believe it would be a velocity thing as many guys are using XM193 which is going to be as fast or faster than 55 grain SP's.... it seem counter intuitive but, does anyone have info / good observations on this?

Dollars to donuts, those particular SPs are going faster than the FMJs that aren't cratering.

[Ned Christiansen]

I'da said that too and may well be but I figured they're bound to be .223 where I know a buncha guys are shooting XM193 and Q3131.

[Ned Christiansen]

So.... the idea that the SP's were faster is certainly valid. One of our other instructors said he'd read somewhere it was some kind of dynamic going on with exposed lead that goes all reverse-logic on a haute-scientific stop-motion level. I favor "higher velocity" because my experience which is totally anecdotal is that in rifles, it is largely about speed and somewhat less about composition, when we are talking only about cratering steel. I have seen XM193 do more damage to AR500 and other unspecified (to me) materials than M855 or steel-cored AK ammo, which of course is far from being any kind of AP but to me logic would have mandated "craters more". But again, not having chrono'
d any of the ammo in question of course, I'd have guess the SP'
s would be slower than XM193.

[Titan74]

Sometimes reality can be weird. In directly perpendicular impacts into a 10 mm (25/64) Hardox 450 steel plate, an OTM bullet will make a bigger hole than FMJ. Both bullets had the same weight and practically the same velocity. There is an scientific paper that describes the test in detail.

[Ned Christiansen]

So, another two classes on these and looks like the current system will work long term, although it's going be necessary to have a few extra hanging straps on hand. The full-width apron would last much longer, may do that for next season.

[Ned Christiansen]

First class of the year.

All targets failed!

Welding individual chain links on the back-- I figured they're small, they're stiff, they're closed so no leg hanging out to go all tuning-fork on me-- still they broke off. Welds held, links broke. This was mild steel chain so it's not a weld-hardening issue-- it has to be the high-freq vibe thing in my mind.

Target faces holding up well, considering the short range.


Next step, I think-- I am adamant about not hainv holes in teh targes and bolt heads sticking out-- rigid 1/2 X 2 X 10 rails welded on the back with holes the targets will be hung from.