Recommendations on Swinging Metal Targets?
You know: the kind that you can carry out to an informal shooting range, set up, and every shot makes a "ding"? Or at least you can see that it moved? Reactive targets definitely provide immediate feedback, which is good for developing shooting skills.
I notice that a number of these target types are limited to soft point rifle ammo. I'm guessing that a target tough enough to handle FMJs would be too heavy to move for pistol ammo.
The goal is a target that can be configured for use with pistol calibers (9mm Para, .380 ACP, .45 ACP) or with rifle calibers (.223, .308). No need to handle .50 BMG, 20mm explosive shells, or small asteroids. :-)
Actually, I used to have a lot of fun with simple cans. I took a pair of steel fenceposts and strung a 2x4 across them with u-bolts. Stuck a bunch of nails in the back of the 2x4, and hung soda cans from their pull tabs with strings. Eventually they'd be too torn up to stay, but in the meantime they'd jump and swing when you hit 'em, and were easily replaced.
ReplyDeleteFor higher-powered and/or non-softpoint use, just make your own expendable stand out of angle iron, and suspend a hunk of junk metal from it. I've shot at such targets with plenty of 5.56x45 M885/SS109 (i.e. steel penetrator core) and 7.51x51 steel jacketed NATO, and the target can last quite a while.
ReplyDeleteIt seems perfectly safe to me at typical rifle distances; not sure I'd be willing to shoot at such a contraption at easy handgun ranges.
Give up on using the same targets with .380 ACP and .308 Rifle for anything but the most casual use
ReplyDeletePersonal use and leaving targets exposed on a range for general use is different. Targets on a range are either shot to pieces immediately or very sturdy.
If sturdy then the target is thick enough to dent and form a reflector shape - think parabolic antenna/feflector microphone shape - think about reflections and bullets - so the target has to be thick enough not to shoot through and so be reduced to scrap if it's going to last but also hard enough not to so dent from the most energetic load used. Course I've only known one person to lose an eye to bounceback - he was just going to be on the firing line for a second and wasn't shooting so no glasss! If it had hit him on the forehead it likely wouldn't have done much damage.
It's not so much the weight as the money for a true hardened steel plate that won't dent - I've bounced rifle gongs with pistols and of course true metallic silhouette targets work - try used wear plates from dozer plates and such for home made if you must.
For personal use and casual mounting I'd say use scrap transmission parts (I like the junk yard on the south side of Hiway 55 about 5500 west on State going toward the Capital from Horseshoe Bend)- and such replace often or better buy the long life plastic which is mostly bounce back safer easy to see but doesn't offer the nice sound.
Most people can't buy the armor plate for safe steel targets cheaper than they can buy the targets made.
To cover range of calibers you need, look at the "self-healing" ballistic polymer targets: MidwayUSA.
ReplyDeleteI don;t know if they still carry it, but a couple of years ago I bought a target from Sportsmans Guide, and it has lasted through much use. it is a polymer cube, which bounces and jumps. I mostly use .22LR, 9 mm, and .40 pistol on it, pretty durable. I think it was about $45, worth it I would say.
ReplyDelete