Swinging target project durability?

K

k77/22rp

New member
I am making a swinging target that is a 8" steel plate, 3/4" thick.
That will swing on chains when struck, my question is how will this hold-up against 8mm mauser, which is I think a 155 grain fmj at arount 3000 fps, thats pretty hot.
I want to know because, my dad has access to alot of scrap steel and I'm wondering if this is thick enough. He can get it much thicker but thought 3/4" was thick enough, however I dont believe it is.
I'd appreciate your thoughts and opinons, thankyou, jeff
 
I don't know what kind of steel was used in this, but we shot up an old brake drum from a semi-truck or something. It was heavy enough to require two of us to heft up onto a fridge to shoot at.

shot3.jpg


That's how thick the steel was - pretty thick.

shot2.jpg


There's the break drum after about 50 shots. The holes through it were caused by 7.62x51 and 8mm Mauser. The silver indentations were caused by 7.62x39 FMJ rounds. The big hole was caused mainly by a 12 ga 1oz slug that we blasted through it after the drum had been softened up by a number of rifle rounds.
 
The important thing is not how thick the steel is, but what kind of steel it is. I went to a junk yard and bought the leading edge from a road grader bladle. This is some very hard steel. Never the less, you will slowly eat it alive with 8mm Mauser. Especially if you are using surplus FMJ. So, when you design your target, design it so that you can replace the steel. I will be very surprised if you will find anything that will stand up to 8mm Mauser indefinitely.
 
Target longevity also

depends on range.

If you are plinking at 300 or 400 yards will last longer than 25 yards.

If, however, you have a fair amount of scrap steel, does it matter how long it lasts?
 
Take a junkyard rim and weld a suspension spring to it, and then weld a steel plate to the spring. A spring from a fairly lightweight car for pistols; heavier spring for rifles.

It wobbles about nicely, when hit.

The good thing is that you need not build any frame for it, and it's quite portable.

:), Art
 
Used bushhog blades (probably made from the same tempered steel as the bucket cutting edge mentioned here) last a long time, but you have to really know your stuff to weld them to anything.

I shoot 6"x6" pieces of bushhog blades at distances of 50yds+. I use everything from 5.56 to 7.62, 9 major NATO and combloc calibers in all, and haven't found a bullet that will penetrate it more than a 1/4" yet. Most bullets just leave a black mark on the blades.

The tricky part is the welding. You have to pre-heat the blade red-hot before you can weld it to anything. Although not heating it up will get it to stick to other steels, the target fly off whatever you weld it to on the first few shots. I'm only familiar with arc welding, so maybe somebody here knows what kind of welding you really need to use to attach the blades to supports, or chains in your case.

My targets flip back when hit. The bullets penetrate the 1/2" thick non-tempered steel support brackets like they're not even there.
 
I wish I could remember the specs of the steel I have. I'll ask the guy I got it from. Anyway, 3/8" plate at 50 yds is fully penetrated by 7.62X39, 1/2" dimples heavily.

Best bet for long term would be to buy a piece of T-1 they hold up well.
 
When shooting on public land, PLEASE take your trash with you when you leave. Even more than you brought would be nice too.

Sam
 
When shooting on public land, PLEASE take your trash with you when you leave. Even more than you brought would be nice too.
Click to expand...

I assume that you're addressing me here..

And since you're from Dewey, maybe that shooting range looks familiar? :)

My friends and I do police as much brass as we can (I have a HK91 that flings brass so it's hard to find it all) and we put all of our shot-up targets into a trash bag and bring it home with us.

I'd love to help clean up the junk others drag out there, but it's hard to fit water heaters, washing machines, etc, into the trunk space of a car after that trunk is filled up with shooting supplies :(.
 
I have found that using chains to suspend it is not the best idea, because eventually a stray round will blow the chain off of it. I now weld nuts (off of a bolt, no comments please) to the back of the plate and then suspend it with para cord. That way, when you shoot the cord in two, you simply retie it.
 
Foxy.......no offence intended. Just saw the pic and figured a great place to say sumpin bout pickin stuff up.

Frustratin ain't it ?

Sam
 
dont use stainless steel.. it cracks when shot .. my friends dad works at a machine shop .. they have huge stainless steel slugs in piles of scrap.. he shaves 1 inch thick plates off the slugs, and welds them on rods and hangs the rods on a pipe .. then shoots the plates .. they crack easy .. try cast iron if you got some ...
 
uzi4me,

You must mean that cast iron cracks when shot, I have a stainless plate that I have shot extensively with 12 ga slugs and it never cracked just got bent up, but could be hammered back into shape with no cracks.

But I shot an old cast iron pan that was real heavy and it cracked into pieces from a 12ga slug. Also 20lb weights crack and those are cast.
 
actually i DID mean stainless .. i guess grade of stainless may make a difference .. not sure.. oh well .. all i know is that i have seen his stainless plates in person and they crack like a beyotch ..
 
Range to the target has a lot to do with durability

At my old range, we had a 1000yd gong, a piece of sheet steel of unknown parentage about 1/2" thick hung from a frame like a soccer goal on a set of very heavy chains. About a yard wide and 4' tall. It lasted for over 10 years with no more upkeep than an occasional coat of spray paint. The metal took all kinds of hits, but the huge majority was from USGI M2 ball.
Good 'reactive' target, you gad audible proof when you were on target. = CLANG!:D
 
get away from chains

our range gongs are anywhere from 1 1/2 inch to 4" thick--for the swinging ones use some type thick steel strap and weld a couple of squares to the back of the gong with a hole through them so you can run a bolt through them with the strap through the middle--that way if the strap gets shot through you just take out the bolt and put a new one through it.........Dick
 
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