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Steel target thickness question.

NDAR15MAN

My company has plasma cutting table. Going to buy a big sheet of steel plate. Not A500 armor plate just regular steel plate. What thickness should I go with to shoot up to a 7mm bullet at 100 or 300 yards ? Don't want holes. Going to cut out a life size coyote steel target. We have 1/4 , 3/8 and 1/2 steel plate. Thanks. Martyd
 
We had a gong set up at 500 yards - it was 3/4" thick and after a couple of years we had to remove it. There were more holes than gong.
Even AR500 at 1/4 inch will be penetrated if hit with 223 enough times in one place.
 
Look for old slasher saw blades that are 5 to 6 feet in dia. We live in a logging community and they are available and tough. Only about .315 to .335 but stand up to everything we've thrown at them, including 338 lapua
 
Well, I know I can buy a 4'x8' 1/4" sheet of plate for $135. I can get a lot of plates out of them. If they are 100 yards away they become Swiss cheese fast. At 200, some larger calibers will punch holes especially most hunting bullets. At 300 dents occur. My plates at 500 tend to stay pretty nice, but they dont get shot with more than a 280ai, 308 or 6br
 
On mild steel targets, i have to back up to around the 500yd mark to not tear them up with my 243. With my AR500 targets, i can shoot at 100yds and not have a single pock mark. No marks or dents on the AR steel even with my 300wm.
 
You might as well by commercially made a-500 gongs. There is someone on here who sells them in varying thickness. How many do you need really? If you need like 4 the price of a-500 at 1/2 inch thick should last a while and if they have 3/4 inch stuff it should last a real long time at 100 yds as long as you aren't firing full metal jacket or the 62 grain .22 cal bullets with the light penetrator cores at it.
 
PLEASE..... DO NOT shoot regular steel....... It is dangerous !!!!

Holes, pockmarks and bending can cause ricochets !!! Shoot AR500 hardened steel, It resists these conditions.

I was in the steel target business with my son, and have a lot of experience with AR500. You can buy a solid, quick set-up gong stand with a 16" diameter, 3/8 thick AR500 plate for $210 from CMP Steel Targets. It will stand up to pretty much everything except 50BMG. If you want a custom target shaped as a coyote,(or anything) he will quickly produce it for you.

Check out his website www.custommetalprod.com
 
Shooting steel with high power rifles at 100-300 yards is problematic at best regardless of material used. I would definitely recommend buying 3/8 or1/2 inch AR500 steel and backing up a bit
 
Get AR500 steel targets... your wasting your time and money with regular steel..

Even with AR500 targets ballistic tips leave divots... fyi
 
Another point about non-AR-500 steel targets is when the metal flies apart on regular steel target, that's shrapnel! It can go in any direction. Then there is the problem of walking on or mowing, discing, plowing over the shrapnel. Its bad news in every direction. Not worth the risk. Go with safety first.
 
I had some forklift forks that I cut down for a customer that left some pieces that made a couple targets. About 1 1/2" thick x 4" wide. Wow that's tough stuff! Any steel is dangerous if you get too close to that much energy. My neighbor shot a stump that shot right back. Lol
 
3/8ths AR 500 is the ticket. I was punching right through mild steel at 1500 yards with my 300 WBY/230 Bergers and 338 Edge/300 Bergers. 3/8ths ar500 and not a scratch at 300 yards.

I just ordered a 5 x 10 foot sheet 3/8ths AR500 for $508.00 delivered.

Tod
 
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