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Thread: Shooting steel targets dangerous?

  1. #11
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    This seems relavent,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ABGIJwiGBc

    he was lucky
    Last edited by Toyoland66; 03-14-11 at 10:02. Reason: fix link

  2. #12
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    I've been shooting this 450 stuff I got for free for over 5 years. We have put literally 10s of thousands of rounds on this stuff from 50 yards out to 200 plus.

    Iraqgunz has put thousand of rounds on these ugly things too.

    Never a single speck of jacket or core has hit us.


  3. #13
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    JH's post nails it. Shooting steel safely requires attention to a variety of details, especially if it's something you're making or configuring yourself. Material composition, hardness, mounting, deflection angles, distance, projectile, etc.
    2012 National Zumba Endurance Champion
    الدهون القاع الفتيات لك جعل العالم هزاز جولة الذهاب

  4. #14
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    This thread is some good info. Going to add some how to find it if you don't mind picking scrap/machinist type for reference.

    If you go looking for it in a scrapyard: The teeth of excavator/backhoe buckets, the wear strip on the bottom of grater planes, some wear strips on snow plows, are almost always AR500. Quarries throw this stuff out (sell it for scrap) by the ton, they use it for bed liners in dump trucks.

    You can forge weld it. I know it isn't popular as getting it from a rolling mill but way cheaper. Just keep in mind these type of steels have a much lower eutectic point than mild steel.

    If you want or have to re-temper/heat treat it: Heat it to a uniform cherry red (1600F, 1 hour per inch of thickness) and quenching it in oil, if oil quench doesn't work you might have to try a larger dunk tank/circulating oil. Water quench will crack it. Hit it with a file, should skate across it like glass. Then you treat it at 400F (steel at 400F, not just the oven) for about an hour. Test it with file, should be able to cut into it but it wont be soft.

    MIG and TIG will only do thin pieces of this stuff. If you HAVE to arc weld it stick works best.

  5. #15
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    I know this is a dumb question, but that video of the guys shooting the fifty freaked me out. If a ricochet does occur, would it most likely be the whole bullet ricocheting or just a tiny fragment of the bullet? By the way, you guys are doing a great job of helping me understand this.

  6. #16
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    More likely to get hit by a jacket fragment. Lead is pretty soft and sticky but the jackets peel and tend to fly off. http://books.google.com/books?id=Vbr...page&q&f=false

    The USPSA handbook has crazy warnings about shooting slugs at steel targets, not sure how much is just being totally safe vs actual accidents but it makes you think.
    Last edited by ZRH; 03-14-11 at 19:49. Reason: uspsa not uspa

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by jwfuhrman View Post

    Suspension has nothing to do with it.
    Agreed. I see this myth posted all the time. It's obvious that those who post it have never seen a bullet impact high speed video... or they have and the connection never got made.

    The angle the gong is suspended definitely helps, however. But getting targets that deflect the bullet downward means money..... FORGET THAT!!
    Last edited by markm; 03-15-11 at 08:20.

  8. #18
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    I think you have it backwards OP.

    Softer steel is ok for handguns, but you need ar500 for rifles.

  9. #19
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    what sort of injury is one likely to see from jacket ricochets off mild steel 75+ yards away?
    obviously eye protection is always required, anything else? I can deal with welts and cuts... are we talking emergency room visits?

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by skyugo View Post
    what sort of injury is one likely to see from jacket ricochets off mild steel 75+ yards away?
    obviously eye protection is always required, anything else? I can deal with welts and cuts... are we talking emergency room visits?
    I suppose there's always a risk of a freak accident of some kind.... as with anything in life.

    But I've never seen anything more than a tiny cut at most. Pistol steel has probably been more risky to me than any rifle steel.

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