# Plate steel shooting targets



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

I am sure getting tired of using paper targets to practice our shooting. It appears to have become very popular to shoot at heavy plate steel targets. Doing such has made me nervous after seeing a youtube video a few years back where a bullet appears to have richoceted back and hit the shooter in the head. Now, the youtube may have been photoshopped to make it appear like that happened....I just don't know.

At any rate, what has been your experience - good or bad - with steel targets either from 20 to 50 feet with handguns (we shoot mostly .45 ACP) or from ~100 yards with high-powered rifles? (we shoot mostly .30-06, 7.62 NATO, and 5.56 NATO with iron sights)

Thanks!


----------



## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

Only did it one time. Shot at a steel plate with a shotgun loaded with a slug. The slug richoched back and narrowly missed hitting a observer in the legs. Didn't do that again.


----------



## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

I've never seen a problem except using high powered rifles. The HP rifles tend to go through some of the steel plates...We've used them for any handguns and lower power rifles. 

Any ricochet that comes straight back would be suspect to me. The bullets tend to shatter when hitting a hard surface and go in multiple directs with a extreme lose of energy.. That's not to say it can't happen, but very very unlikely..

I do know that a 7.62x54R will go through(or practically) a 1/4" steel plate at about 50 yards.. It also tore up the frame (1/2" round stock), it broke it with no problem..

The Mythbusters did a episode about shooting a bullet and having it ricochet 3 times and back to the shooter.. While they did get it done, it wasn't as easy as you would think. For example a bullet hitting a target at a 45 degree angle doesn't come off a hard target at a 45 degree angle. It ricochets at about half the angle or 22.5 degrees. 

Anyway before I get to carried away.. 

I find the steel targets fun and practical.. I've also found that you can make a multiple swinging target from bowling pins and hinges...


----------



## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

I forgot to add, I assume that shooting any AP round and/or a round where the bullet attracts a magnet is a no-no....right?


----------



## beowoulf90 (Jan 13, 2004)

Cabin Fever said:


> I forgot to add, I assume that shooting any AP round and/or a round where the bullet attracts a magnet is a no-no....right?


I would say that is correct! Only because they don't mushroom/shatter they way lead and copper jacketed bullets do... They would also tear through the steel plates...

That may be reason they were getting them to ricochet...

Hard bullet against a hard target as compared to a soft bullet against a hard target..


----------



## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Never shoot shotgun slugs on steel, they will turn inside out and come back at you. 21ft. or more for handgun, angle the steel so the bullet goes down. Have shot .223 on falling steel targets at 50yds. or more. AP is just hard on the steel, have shot some at 100yds and out.


----------



## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

I've seen the plate steel "critters" that you can buy at hunting stores. But they are usually on a hinge and can move back and forth or totally flip over. Shooting at a steel plate that doesn't move - I can see the bullet may come back, but shooting at a steel plate on a hinge, I don't see that happening.


----------



## watcher (Sep 4, 2006)

Cabin Fever said:


> I am sure getting tired of using paper targets to practice our shooting. It appears to have become very popular to shoot at heavy plate steel targets. Doing such has made me nervous after seeing a youtube video a few years back where a bullet appears to have richoceted back and hit the shooter in the head. Now, the youtube may have been photoshopped to make it appear like that happened....I just don't know.
> 
> At any rate, what has been your experience - good or bad - with steel targets either from 20 to 50 feet with handguns (we shoot mostly .45 ACP) or from ~100 yards with high-powered rifles? (we shoot mostly .30-06, 7.62 NATO, and 5.56 NATO with iron sights)
> 
> Thanks!


With the price of scrap steel finding might be tough now but I picked up a bunch of railroad rail tie plates.










I've shot them with everything from a 22 revolver to hot loaded 7.62X59 rounds (at different ranges of course) and I have never had a round do anything but disintegrate on impact.

I have hung them with wire as 'clangers' and propped them up as knock overs. I have thought about welding hinges on them but I haven't gotten around to it.

As for the video I have see it and I have to question it. First off lead doesn't bounce. It will ricochet if if it hits something at an angle but physics tells you the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of refraction. To come straight back it would have to hit at an exact 90 degree angle then bounce back. The only way this could happen is if the round they were firing had a hard metal (steel) core.

If you are really worried about it set your targets up at an angle.


----------



## Silvercreek Farmer (Oct 13, 2005)

I've seen two videos with 180 degree ricochets and one was a 50 BMG with probably a 600-700 grain bullet and the other a .270-.30-06 class rifle shooting at a fixed plate at 50 yards. Similar to the slug, I imagine the 50 BMG just has so much mass and energy that it can lose 80% of its mass and still leave enough to get back to the shooter, but most folks tend to find the remains of the bullet right around the target. There is also a video of an observer getting hit with a piece of shattered pistol caliber jacket from a close range steel target. It was enough to draw blood, but not permenent or life threatening injury. As always, safety glasses are a must. I've heard that a pock marked soft steel target may actually be more prone to a ricochet than the hard steel targets because the surface is uneven. I think the general recommendation is 100 yards with STANDARD rifle calibers (not a 50 BMG) and somewhere around 10-15 yards for pistol calibers . You might try some tracers from behind some protection just to see how they behave. I believe a lot of folks use cast bullets for their steel targets as well.


----------



## Silvercreek Farmer (Oct 13, 2005)

Oh yeah, if you didn't already know, steel bird shot and BBs are off limits as well.


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I don't know CF,when we first moved here a bullet came whizzing past my head-literally it truly wizzed. My neighbor was shooting into the field,the only thing it could of hit was a rock. I still wounder how close that hunk of metal was to my head.


----------



## rancher1913 (Dec 5, 2008)

we do it with 50 cal black powder. use at least 1/2 plate and attach a arm to hang it from so it can swing backwards as it gets hit. never had a ricachay and we can go up to the base area and pick up the spent lead--its usually right under it.


----------



## flumes (Mar 27, 2012)

I shoot competition handgun and have varied results with steel plates. I would first recommend shrouding the plate so that any perpendicular deflection of lead or copper jacket off the plate will get caught. ie heavy wooden box around it.

Safety eyewear is a must. I learned that jacketed bullets fragment on steel nicely but the copper jacket can bounce straight back.

Worst target I found to be, is shooting bowling pins in the winter with shotgun and lead shot. Lots of fun but the shot will pepper you on the rebound at times.

Have fun!


----------



## salmonslayer (Jan 4, 2009)

Silvercreek Farmer said:


> I've seen two videos with 180 degree ricochets and one was a 50 BMG with probably a 600-700 grain bullet and the other a .270-.30-06 class rifle shooting at a fixed plate at 50 yards. Similar to the slug, I imagine the 50 BMG just has so much mass and energy that it can lose 80% of its mass and still leave enough to get back to the shooter, but most folks tend to find the remains of the bullet right around the target. There is also a video of an observer getting hit with a piece of shattered pistol caliber jacket from a close range steel target. It was enough to draw blood, but not permenent or life threatening injury. As always, safety glasses are a must. I've heard that a pock marked soft steel target may actually be more prone to a ricochet than the hard steel targets because the surface is uneven. I think the general recommendation is 100 yards with STANDARD rifle calibers (not a 50 BMG) and somewhere around 10-15 yards for pistol calibers . You might try some tracers from behind some protection just to see how they behave. I believe a lot of folks use cast bullets for their steel targets as well.


 I shoot almost daily and as far as I am concerned you nailed it.


----------



## Ol Tex (Oct 4, 2007)

If there's any question, why take a chance? It's only your life and that of any bystanders. I never use anything that might possibly cause a ricochet. JMHO


----------



## Micheal (Jan 28, 2009)

Only time I've seen metal used as a target was in a homemade shooting range and it was on a 45 degree angle and used as a back-stop to deflect the bullet downward.


----------



## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

I shot lots of steel silhouette matches long ago. After several years, they had us move the chicken line back from 25 to 40 yards on the NRA course to hold down the death loss. Everyone always got splattered with jackets and lead once in a while. The targets were T-1 armor plate and wouldn't hole or dent with legal loads. 

On the range where I worked, we made 3/4" thick gongs for some targets. AP would burn a 1/4" hole through them that had to be welded up. Various other rifle rounds would make smooth bottomed craters. Those would become deadly and turn bullets or parts right back at you. I shot a 550 gr paper patched slug from a Trapdoor at 100 yards and hit a gong, then had a lazy low pitched hum of a hunk of lead come right over my head. I had a 158 gr 357 JHP hit a crater from 12 yards and reverse itself and the inside out jacket with no core stuck in my chest. It took a cookie cutter hole out of my shirt and was hot enough to stop any blood. I plucked it out, it didn't penetrate past skin. I've seen and heard many rifle and heavy pistol bullets come back past 100 yards. Every once in a while we would grind the crater edges down and weld up the craters.

During winter indoor pistol leagues, we were shooting falling plate matches. Max range was 25 yards, most courses were much closer. Only lead was allowed on those matches. One night people were getting cut to ribbons. One guy had a cheek sliced, clothes were getting holed... Match stopped and everybody had to show their ammo. It was all lead. Then we figured out one guy was using gas checks and those were turning into frisbees. He switched ammo and everything was good again.

I got a new 10 ga once and fired at a lava outcrop at 100 yards for fun. I swear half those steel bbs came right back to me. Never tried that again.

Having the target pivot or swing does nothing to prevent a ricochet, the bullet hits and is gone long before the target can start to move.


----------



## fixer1958 (Dec 12, 2005)

I have a neighbor that "used" to shoot plate steel spinner targets.
I have a 6" long divet in my garage door and siding now. He is 1/2 mile away and there is a 250' deep stand of trees between us.
He was using a large caliber handgun. He said I was full of it till we found the slug that had green paint on from the door.


----------



## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I can tell you that many years ago I shot a piece of steel with a .22 and a piece came back and stuck in my hand. I was pretty close (yeah, a long time ago), but it did happen. Angling it a bit sounds like a good idea.


----------



## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Cabin fever........dont ever do that.......


----------



## ace admirer (Oct 5, 2005)

unjacket bullets will usually splatter on plate. high power rifle on steel only at distance.

if the plate in deeply cratered (caused by high power rifle bullets) even a 22 rimfire can enter the crater and be reflected back to the shooter at short distances.

repair cratered steel targets or kick the rear of people that shoot pistol plates with hp rifles.


----------



## unregistered41671 (Dec 29, 2009)

I know of a guy in S FL who was shooting a .22 at aerosol can and the bullet hit the bottom of the can just right and came back and hit him in the eyebrow. He drove himself to the hospital and was treated.


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

CF, I went to cop school in Alexandria. They had just installed a new steel bullet trap. It was a bad design. We usually shot at 50 feet. 9mm Glocks with ball ammo. Everyone was always bleeding by the end of the range time. The Ball ammo would basically disintegrate on contact and we would get peppered with jacket shards. 

Another interesting thing, the range was an open sided pole shed. On a sunny day there would be thin shafts of sunlight in the building. If you sat off to the side while others were shooting you could see the bullets when they passed through the sunlight. I suppose you could call this the strobe effect. If I recall correctly that ammo in that gun was around 900 FPS.


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Another incident I wanted to mention. About 5 years ago my stepdaughter was sitting on the toilet. A bullet entered the window, hit the wall, ricocheted off the ceiling (both sheetrock) and hit the door, narrowly missing her. I think it was a 243 round. Using a laser pointer from the impact on the wall and the hole in the window I determined that the bullet had struck a rock in the yard and ricocheted into the window. It was February. From the direction I suspect that the shot came from coyote hunters a section over. Since the bullet did not penetrate the sheetrock I believe that most off the energy was spent by the time it hit the window.


----------



## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

tinknal said:


> About 5 years ago my stepdaughter was sitting on the toilet. A bullet entered the window, hit the wall, ricocheted off the ceiling (both sheetrock) and hit the door, narrowly missing her.


Talk about a lucky coincidence on her chosen spot to seat herself during a frightening event.


----------



## ArmyDoc (May 13, 2007)

watcher said:


> With the price of scrap steel finding might be tough now but I picked up a bunch of railroad rail tie plates.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've used these too. I hang them with a bit of wire, when the bullet hits, they swing back, deflecting any shattered bullet particles into the dirt in front of them. Most pistols will make a splat mark, but no real dent. 357 mag makes a shallow, dent, 44 mag makes a noticible dent.

My experience was different with rifles though... .223 makes a good sized crater/dent, 7mm-08 makes a DEEP crater - nearly through the plate. 300 win mag punches through them like they were butter..


----------



## zant (Dec 1, 2005)

I like reactive steel at 300yds or more.....but all our handgun/short range shooting is done with hay bales with targets on them or bowling pins off tables...but I like haybales so I can recast the bullets.


----------



## ace admirer (Oct 5, 2005)

a few years ago i visited a range that had a plate metal cutout of a black angus bull as seen from the rear, it was at the 300 yards. i made the comment about it being apretty large target... he responded (my terminology) we aim for the hanging down parts. upon closer inspection the"hanging down" parts were on a hinge and had been hit hundreds of times...some find humor in the target,,but the rest of the day, every time the target was rung....i tightened my legs......


----------



## spacecase0 (Jul 12, 2012)

Micheal said:


> Only time I've seen metal used as a target was in a homemade shooting range and it was on a 45 degree angle and used as a back-stop to deflect the bullet downward.


I have used the same and they seem to work well
I have also seen them have a pipe with 1/4 of the side cut out to catch the bullet, they just spin in the pipe at the bottom till they loose energy most of the time


----------



## Old John (May 27, 2004)

Hey Guys, check out Cowboy Action Shooting. They generally always use the Steel plates cut in Cowboy, Buffalo, or Bad guy shapes, and always lead bullets, frequently light loads for less recoil, easier shooting & recovery between shots.They shoot for accuracy and for speed, in different scenarios. They all dress the part in Cowboy garb. and have Cowboy or Old Western Aliases. It's sponsored by the Single Action Shooting Society.They all have & shoot single action sixguns, lever guns and old time shotguns.
If you haven't been to one of the Shooting Contests, check it out. It's a Hoot!

ETA.......Here's a link for you: http://www.metaltargets.com/SpecialtyTargets.htm?gclid=CIbhuMzWkrICFYJOTAodC0QANw#SASSCowboy


Hope it works. Or look up SASS, Single Action Shooting Society. There's one Near You!


----------



## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

I own a few for my range, mostly made by Arntzen:




























My 200-500 meter target, which was "dimpled" by 5.56 when shot too close. It's now strictly for LR use.










These bowling pins were made by âQuality Targets" out of AR500 armor plate:










Iâve had zero issues with any of mine. The thing to keep in mind is that all steel isnât created equal, all of my targets are from AR500 which while expensive, has held up extremely well. IF your steel becomes dimpled, thatâs when you start getting splash/bounce back, and itâs unsafe for close use. I also use stands that allow the targets to be angled down slightly. 

For defensive practice I shoot about 95% plate, with some IDPA silhouettes mixed in, including a swinger to work accuracy. For speed IMHO, steel wins hands down.

Chuck


----------



## bluetogreens (May 31, 2010)

Widener's Reloading and Shooting Supply INC

1/2 inch ar500 or if your extra cautious find ar550. I have shot at my generic do-all outdools magnum target from 7-10 yrds with hrrm 2k+ 9mm and now 500+ 45 acp 230fmj. I always leave the target slightly lower and angled to deflect bullet downward. 

My ar500 hasnt seen my use yet since I had the bad surgeries before i finished building my range, but standard 5.56 ball= no dimple at 35yds, 7.62x39 no effect, 7.62x54r, once i wlaked two counties over to pick it up and put out the fires along the way it had a small pot mark. If your steel becomes moderately dimpled-throw it away-period-end of story ( some will say any dimples, but a mans gotta take risks in life  )


----------



## Malamute (Sep 15, 2011)

Steel has been covered pretty well. Pieces can come right back at you, hinges or hanging doesnt deal with it, angled helps, but still no guarantees. The cowboy shooters say they get a fair amount of pieces coming back at them. It doesn't bother me to shoot steel, but I'm aware of it's tendancies.

I was once shooting a 45 auto with lead bullets at a mud creek bank at about 30 yards. I had one bullet come straight back at me and hit me in the belt. It didn't have much energy, but it sure gets your attention. Wear those glasses!

I was shooting at a sandstone bluff with a 22 pistol, it had rounded holes eroded into it. If you hit them right on the edge, they can turn the bullet right back towards you! That all stopped pretty quickly after the first time a bullet was noted coming back. The bluff was 100 yards or so away.


----------

