A little while back I shot some steel targets silhouette angled down (223 AR) with a guy that was an instructor. Not just an average instructor, but someone with a pretty lengthy resume. We were maybe 25 yards away. Really fun and so I went out to buy my own and I'm seeing that min safe distance is at least 75 yards. I'm not sure our exact distance, but we were definitely closer than 75. Is 75 yards just extra cautious?
Safe distance to shoot steel?
- Thread starter mrdude
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indie_rocker
New member
Not sure about rifle... I bang steel with 9mm pistols at 10+ yards regularly with FMJ and plated bullets. The targets are angled down and I've never been hit with debris.
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Fifty Yards For Me
I have a steel target that swings back on a counterweight. I've shot hundreds of rounds on it at 50 yards and never had an issue.
It is soft steel and won't tolerate rifle hits.
Hard plate and rifle energy? I would think 100 yards would be a good bet, but it does depend lots upon if your plate swings, I expect.
I have a steel target that swings back on a counterweight. I've shot hundreds of rounds on it at 50 yards and never had an issue.
It is soft steel and won't tolerate rifle hits.
Hard plate and rifle energy? I would think 100 yards would be a good bet, but it does depend lots upon if your plate swings, I expect.
Get input and trust your gut feeling !!!
If so, I suspect they are taking the most extreme conditions. There are a lot of factors and variables at work and one size does not fit all. If it didn't feel right to you, you may just be right. …..
Be Safe !!!
I'm guessing your seeing this caution/rating on the package of the steel target as I've seen this before. Are you seeing a C.Y.A. program at work???
If so, I suspect they are taking the most extreme conditions. There are a lot of factors and variables at work and one size does not fit all. If it didn't feel right to you, you may just be right. …..
Be Safe !!!
Even the best steel (AR550), with rifle, is going to be 75 to 100 yards. Same steel, with pistol, can be 5 yards before there is an issue, but most use 7 yards to have a buffer.
Can you shoot steel at 10 yards with rifle? Sure, a few times. But then it starts to pock, and or crack, regardless of what you use or how you hang it.
Method of mount as well as angle is a thing. The more perpendicular to the bullet path and the more rigid the mount, the more the steel is going to be damaged and, after time, cause ricochets. That would of course be inside that 100 yards. The closer you get, the flatter the target face, the softer the steel, the harder the slug, the faster the slug...those all increase damage potential to the target. Damage the target, get ricochets and frags coming back at the shooter.
We have built boxes around steel and shot them at closer ranges, and or with impact velocities over the manufacturers specs, for specific training circumstances. We know we might damage the steel, so we check it regularly. If you want to shoot reactive targets closer, use paper or plastic, like the Newbold targets.
Can you shoot steel at 10 yards with rifle? Sure, a few times. But then it starts to pock, and or crack, regardless of what you use or how you hang it.
Method of mount as well as angle is a thing. The more perpendicular to the bullet path and the more rigid the mount, the more the steel is going to be damaged and, after time, cause ricochets. That would of course be inside that 100 yards. The closer you get, the flatter the target face, the softer the steel, the harder the slug, the faster the slug...those all increase damage potential to the target. Damage the target, get ricochets and frags coming back at the shooter.
We have built boxes around steel and shot them at closer ranges, and or with impact velocities over the manufacturers specs, for specific training circumstances. We know we might damage the steel, so we check it regularly. If you want to shoot reactive targets closer, use paper or plastic, like the Newbold targets.
I shoot a lot of USPSA, and it uses a variety of steel targets. Plates, poppers,
plate racks, stars---just about any way you can present a piece of steel.
No AP, steel core or steel jacket ammo allowed.
Minimum distances in feet per the current rulebook:
Pistol and PCC 23 ft.
Shotgun birdshot 16 ft.
Shotgun slug and all rifle 147 ft.
plate racks, stars---just about any way you can present a piece of steel.
No AP, steel core or steel jacket ammo allowed.
Minimum distances in feet per the current rulebook:
Pistol and PCC 23 ft.
Shotgun birdshot 16 ft.
Shotgun slug and all rifle 147 ft.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
Damage to the plate isn't the issue. Damage to you or someone near you is the problem.mrdude said:
When the range where I shoot was running competitions, they occasionally included a plate rack in the course of fire. Distance was typically about 50 feet. One evening one of the better shooters was running the plates (shooting 9mm) when he felt a sting on his leg. He had been hit with a piece of shrapnel from one of his bullets breaking up when it hit the plate.
He doesn't give the range, but the first shot in this video is about what not to do.
Pathfinder45
New member
I've been hit by ricochet bullet fragment from a pistol bullet off a steel plate at about 20 yards. It hurt, but I wasn't really injured, though it certainly would have destroyed an eye or teeth if it had hit there.
I've been hit by ricochet bullet, not just a piece, from farther than 20 yards. Got hit on the knee by a spent jacketed .45 that scratched my knee and ankle at Second Chance. Carried it in a wee pouch around my neck for a few years with the idea it was the one with my name on it.
Had a single shot pellet drop on me at another shoot. Still don't know how it got through the tent I was in. Might have been one of the guys trying to be funny. One of those guys took a slice of cast bullet in his forehead(no penetration of his skull) from 7 yards while shooting bowling pin plates. The slice went through his hat bill, hit his skull just above his glasses and the point bent, grabbed meat and stuck. Off to the ER.
Anyway, the point is it, like so much, depends. What bullet? (cast or jacketed doesn't matter. Don't think calibre does either.) How fast?
I don't think the angle of the plate matters either. Shoot enough and/or go to enough matches and sooner or later you're going to get hit with something. Highly unlikely you'll get seriously hurt unless you don't wear your shooting glasses.
Had a single shot pellet drop on me at another shoot. Still don't know how it got through the tent I was in. Might have been one of the guys trying to be funny. One of those guys took a slice of cast bullet in his forehead(no penetration of his skull) from 7 yards while shooting bowling pin plates. The slice went through his hat bill, hit his skull just above his glasses and the point bent, grabbed meat and stuck. Off to the ER.
Anyway, the point is it, like so much, depends. What bullet? (cast or jacketed doesn't matter. Don't think calibre does either.) How fast?
I don't think the angle of the plate matters either. Shoot enough and/or go to enough matches and sooner or later you're going to get hit with something. Highly unlikely you'll get seriously hurt unless you don't wear your shooting glasses.
I'm not at all concerned with getting hit with a little shrapnel since that isn't life threatening. I was picturing a full bullet bouncing off the plate or ground and coming back at me and ripping through my face or chest. That would be a bad day, but it sounds like the likelihood of that happening is slim to none since the bullets fragment so much on impact.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
If you're not concerned, you should be. The guy who was wounded at our plate shoot had to go to the emergency room to get his leg sewed up. By luck, his day job is in a metalworking shop so he was able to blame it on shrapnel from a lathe operation. Otherwise it would have had to be reported as a gunshot wound, and much hilarity would have ensued (NOT!).mrdude said:
I’ve seen pretty bad cuts from bullet splatter as well. It certainly can be a problem.
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Aguila I was talking about little peppering shrapnel that the others were talking about that caused a scratch. I don't consider a scratch something that serious. I take it you don't really shoot steel at all except long range since 50ft is pretty far for a pistol round to send someone to the emergency room with a bullet in them.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
I don't shoot steel at all. The range is an indoor range with a maximum distance of 75 feet. On the rare occasions I get to shoot rifles, I am at the mercy of friends who belong to some facility that has an outdoor rifle range.mrdude said:
I agree that 50 feet sounds like pretty far for ricochet shrapnel to be a problem. But it was, and I was there that night and I saw it first-hand. It wasn't a bullet, it was probably a fragment of the jacket. It wasn't a round hole, it was a jagged tear of a cut ... and it bled profusely. This was just a standard power 9mm handgun round.
Remember, this discussion started because you asked if the plate manufacturer's recommended safe distance could be ignored. My opinion is that it can't safely be ignored. It's your range, your rifle, and your plate. What you choose to do is your responsibility.
I'll just leave one parting thought: At our competition night, it was the shooter himself who was hit but it could easily have been the RSO who was standing just a few feet behind and to the side of the shooter. Everyone else was quite a bit farther back, behind the safety line. Shooting rifles at an outdoor range, do you always shoot alone? If you ignore the manufacturer's published safety recommendations, you have only yourself to blame if you are injured. What happens if a guest at your range is injured? Your liability will likely increase exponentially when (not if) the injured party's attorney finds out that you ignored the published minimum safe distance.
Pathfinder45
New member
It can happen. Even if you hang your target so that it's angled towards the ground. That only works if the target has stopped swinging between shots.
Here are some pics of the distances to give a better idea. Blue is pistol, looks to be maybe 25 yards. Orange is rifle, looks to be about 30 yards. Aguila, I appreciate the feedback it definitely helps me weigh the risks involved. I could've sworn that I've seen 3 gun matches where they shoot steel at about 25-50 yards at steel, but maybe I'm mistaken. I know they shoot pistol 10-15 yards at steel. I've also heard that the minimum safe distance that manufacturers list isn't or shooter safety, it's for the safety/wear of the steel target.
