Anyone make a set of knock down steel plate targets?

My girl was saying she would like a set like they have at the range.... and she has wanted to learn to weld so I figured this would be a perfect project for her.

There are two problems with the ones they have at the range. 1: they are to heavy for us to move in and out of the back of the truck easly. 2: she isn't quite strong enough to pull the reset rope with one hand... even 2 hands it is hard for her.


Any idea how thick they need to be for pistol amo? Will mild steel do?

I was thinking of how to make an auto reset setup... Last plate in the row trips a switch that releases air/co2 into a cylinder and kicks the set back up maybe? I could probubly make it 12 volts and run a starter motor on it too...

You mean a bianchi plate rack? (Google it)

6 8" plates on 18-24" centers - forget which.

I've built small 6" steel plates on individual stands that were about 2 feet tall. Those are great for IDPA matches... Just drag it out wherever you want it. A plate with a piece of pipe w/ a bolt running through it for a hinge... and an old stock rubber bumpstop to catch the plate when it falls.

just change the length of the lever arm for the reset rope, longer, easier pull. the knockdowns at the range i use are about 3/8 inch thick, no problem for pistols, but a .223 will punch holes in it

How far out would you have to be for a .223 to not actually penetrate (don't care about deform, just not actually make it through) 1/4" mild steel? How about .308? 9mm? .45? 3/8" plate? 1/2" plate?

I'm curious because I have beadlock ring center drops from time to time; I gave a friend a small pile of them a while back, told him "make something to use the one punched hole there near the edge to mount it, shoot it till it's junk, and bolt on another". He got all confused till I told him to take the whole pile (20-plus) and just have fun, wreck 'em, whatever.

I think they're best suited for a hanging-gong (swinging-plate? dunno what it's actually called, just looks like a sawhorse, with a plate hanging from it on a couple chains) target use, but probably have to be a long way out to not go through metal that thin. Unfortunately, I rarely to never have anything thicker, at least, not in usefully large sizes.

How far out would you have to be for a .223 to not actually penetrate (don't care about deform, just not actually make it through) 1/4" mild steel? How about .308? 9mm? .45? 3/8" plate? 1/2" plate?

I'm curious because I have beadlock ring center drops from time to time; I gave a friend a small pile of them a while back, told him "make something to use the one punched hole there near the edge to mount it, shoot it till it's junk, and bolt on another". He got all confused till I told him to take the whole pile (20-plus) and just have fun, wreck 'em, whatever.

I think they're best suited for a hanging-gong (swinging-plate? dunno what it's actually called, just looks like a sawhorse, with a plate hanging from it on a couple chains) target use, but probably have to be a long way out to not go through metal that thin. Unfortunately, I rarely to never have anything thicker, at least, not in usefully large sizes.

Why not weld a couple together?

How far out would you have to be for a .223 to not actually penetrate (don't care about deform, just not actually make it through) 1/4" mild steel? How about .308? 9mm? .45? 3/8" plate? 1/2" plate?.

Here's what I've seen:

Between 200-300 yds for .223 not to go through 1/4". Although I have had had 62 gr SS109 cut through 1/4" at about 300. 1/2" should be good all around.

Never had 9mm go through 1/4".

For .308 3/4" for 100-200 yds and 3/8" for anything further.

Why not weld a couple together?

I suggested that he try that if he wanted, or that he just try bolting up two or three in a stack.

I also suggested that he try ghetto heat treating it with his torch: heat it glowing, then dunk it in either oil or water, either of which would probably make it harder, but might make it brittle.

Laminated steel is usually not as strong as actual solid steel, but for us cheap bastards, it's tough to beat free scrap... and since I have a flow of 1/4" scrap, but ammo's expensive, I'm not above letting a friend guinea-pig an idea. :)

You mean a bianchi plate rack? (Google it)

6 8" plates on 18-24" centers - forget which.


Yep that's it :D

Google came up with some good stuff. I realy like this one but pistols might not have enough power to make it workproperly.

HI-POWER FLOPPER
A self-setting sniper training target. When one plate is hit and falls, a second plate presents itself. No reset needed. Adjustable for power factor.


http://www.portatarget.com/products/product_fm.html

just change the length of the lever arm for the reset rope, longer, easier pull.

That would work (probubly a 3' or so arm)... but this is Pirate :flipoff2:

The easiest and lightest is to make a swing up and latch plate rack.
You shoot the last target, and it drops the latched targets back into view.
That way you don't need a reset rope and can use at any distance.

Surprised no one has suggested LaRue targets yet.

















































:flipoff2:

You might not care about deformed targets now, but I can tell you that when shooting at shot to shit steel targets you'll end up with lead coming back at you. Gil's shot at a range where it's happened to me before. He wasn't there that particular time, but a couple of us were down on the pistol range plinking away at some steels that people had hit with CF rifle rounds and it started to come back. It's not fun.

You might not care about deformed targets now, but I can tell you that when shooting at shot to shit steel targets you'll end up with lead coming back at you. Gil's shot at a range where it's happened to me before. He wasn't there that particular time, but a couple of us were down on the pistol range plinking away at some steels that people had hit with CF rifle rounds and it started to come back. It's not fun.

Hmm, that's not so cool.

The guy that got my scrap, incidentally, was going to put it out around 400-600 yards, IIRC; I doubt that anything would come back from that far out, but having never shot a plate target, I wouldn't really know.

I hate this computer, DT :D

Who cares at that range?:D The targets we were shooting were at 25 yards, a more practical range for pistols. :laughing: It's just an FYI. I've have a round that was fired from a snub nosed 38spcl 4 lanes over go downrange, hit something, come back and smack me in the shoulder hard enough to think someone hit me. That was at an indoor range (Bob's for those local) It was right before they shut the range down for a week to do maintenance. Freak accident, but it happens. A Bro on my site caught a ricochet .38 Super in the neck and almost bled to death. Just something to keep in mind when shooting and all the more reason to wear eye protection. That lead to the shoulder wasn't bad, just got my attention. That same piece of lead to an unprotected eye would have left a mark!

but I can tell you that when shooting at shot to shit steel targets you'll end up with lead coming back at you.

that happens with good quality new steel targets also. i shot in the STI/Handgunner World Shootoff match about a week and a half ago (watched Mikulec get beat by the army kid, (Daniel Horner??) and I got hit at least a dozen times by lead and/or jackets coming back. several shooters in my squad had bleeders from the splatter, that is why the eye protection is so important

The easiest and lightest is to make a swing up and latch plate rack.
You shoot the last target, and it drops the latched targets back into view.
That way you don't need a reset rope and can use at any distance.

I like it! Simple and fully automatic. I would just have to make it light enough that a 9mm can set the target... yet heavy enough that it doesn't punch holes in the targets.

Also, only use lead bullets and eye protection.
If you are way down range and out of range of ricochet, then you can use a jacketed bullet.

Shooting cowboy action, I have been hit hard enough to make my knuckle bleed by a piece of lead bullet. Each match I get piece bounce of my hat/shirt/pants etc.
You will get some pieces bounce back, but if you and by standers are standing relative square to the target, they will be minimal and not really noticable unless you get a piece in your eye.

You definitely don't want to get hit with a piece of jacketed bullet.

Also, only use lead bullets and eye protection.
If you are way down range and out of range of ricochet, then you can use a jacketed bullet.

Shooting cowboy action, I have been hit hard enough to make my knuckle bleed by a piece of lead bullet. Each match I get piece bounce of my hat/shirt/pants etc.
You will get some pieces bounce back, but if you and by standers are standing relative square to the target, they will be minimal and not really noticable unless you get a piece in your eye.

You definitely don't want to get hit with a piece of jacketed bullet.

I DO like the sound of heavy metal objects being plonked on by lead slugs... :D

Id agree with the cautionary remarks about distance and jackets along with adding that 3/8" plate might be ok fer lighter stuff but not for High vel large bore and heavier slugs. My 405 gr slug in front of a 3f load for the .45-70 leaves a nice 50% of thickness divot thats ~1-1.2" in diameter on 3/4 plate at 100 yds and comes real close to flopping the 1 ft diameter gong off the hanger.

D.