Shooting Steel

[Crane]

How thick should my steel gong be to withstand a .338 300 grain Matchking hitting it with 2120 lbs. of energy at 1000 yards? Based on your answer what's the closest it could be shot? Don't want to go to the trouble of building it and then punch holes through it.

 

[338 bruce]

with mild steel my 338 rum would punch thru 3/8" plate at 800 yds with 300 smk and dent at 1000 yds, 1/2" plate 24"x24' is pretty heavy. unless you buy armor plate you will have get friendly with a welder to repair the holes. at 50 yds it will punch thru 3/4" plate.

 

[Coues Sniper]

at 50 yds it will punch thru 3/4" plate.

Not to mention your head if it comes back at you. Shooting steel at 50 yards is suicide.

 

[JeffVN]

The question is what kind of steel are you using? If its mild steel, the thicker the better.

I've seen a 1/2 inch AR500 target hammered at 600 yards with a 338 LM with no visible damage. Put a .50 BMG in there at anything short of 1K, and you'll bend the target.

JeffVN

 

[338 bruce]

once was enogh at 50 yds with a dent in the truck right next to me.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

You need AR500 steel at a minimum bottom line if you want to buy a target I will sugest this man he is near my house and I have to of his auto rest targets and they are top of the line.

He makes the coolest deer target I have ever seen it under the new targets catagory. You should check him out.

Metal Spinning Targets - Home

 

[Crane]

I'm ignorant when it comes to steel although my dad has been a steel worker for 50 years. I was gonna find a piece of scrap the proper size and was looking for thickness; as far as the different type of steel that's outside my expertise. Better talk to dad.

ICANHITHIMMAN - Thanks for the link.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

If its free shoot it but it wont last long thats all

 

[JPRITT]

I found out yesterday that my 300 rum with 210 bergers will penatrate about 1/2" of 5/8ths mild steel at 325yrd. hopefully it wont be as bad at 500 yrds +. If you can get ahold of AR plate use it. dont bother with the mild steel.

JP

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I found out yesterday that my 300 rum with 210 bergers will penatrate about 1/2" of 5/8ths mild steel at 325yrd. hopefully it wont be as bad at 500 yrds +. If you can get ahold of AR plate use it. dont bother with the mild steel.

JP

You will probably penetrate to about 600yrds, is my guess.gun)

Steve

 

[stiff neck]

Do yourself a favor and get yourself a good AR500 plate. You can build your own frame if you need to, but a good plate will last a long time. Mine says impact velocity must be less than 3200fps. So far I've shot it with various 223 rounds, 7.62x39, 270, 25-06, 9mm, 40S&W, etc. The only rounds that have left any dimples are the 180gr soft points at 2600fps from my 7.62x54R Mosin Nagant, have not shot it closer than 150 yards, very weird. Everything else just splashes. Here's mine.

300 yards, 3-shots with my 223.

 

[Crane]

Found a piece of steel (free), but I think I went overboard. Not sure of the type, likely mild steel. Two foot diameter circle 1 inch thick. I'm not sure of the weight but it felt like close to 200 lbs when I picked it up laying flat on the ground to put in the back of my truck. I think this might have to be for a permanent placement unless I can figure a way to make it a user friendly mobile set up. Good thing is I'll not likely punch a hole through it.

 

[338 LEGEND]

I run a steel plant, Heat my targets up to 1700 deg and throw them in water, they last 10 times longer.

 

[Southpaw]

"Shooting steel at 50 yards is suicide."

+1 on that.

About 30 years ago me and some friends were shooting in the mountains and doing some exploring. We found some old, abandoned mine equipment and started slinging lead at it. I fired a round and it came straight back at me and hit me in the chest. I ended up performing a fragmentectomy on myself with a pocket knife. I got very lucky on that one, the fragment lodged in my sternum, I literally had to pry it out. A couple of inches to either side could have been a serious problem because we were over an hour from anything.

I was shooting an old 30-30 with iron sights at the time and saw some fresh metal and took a shot at the center of the plate. My luck I hit it about a 1/2 inch above my aim point. The plate had a recessed hole dead center and I hit the top edge. Part of my bullet splattered on the flat surface and the other part cleaned the rust out of the detent and came right back at me.

I got religion that day in regard to eye protection and knowing what I'm shooting at. I also learned that I needed friends who weren't squeamish about blood. How do you claim to be a hunter and be afraid of blood? LOL

BTW - The only reason I took the fragment out was I couldn't get the bleeding to stop and putting pressure on it with the the fragment (mostly jacket material) still in me hurt like SOB.

Maybe next time I tell you guys about the time I grabbed a 4x4 buck by the horns as he ran past my hiding spot. Hey I was 16, what's that old saying, young, dumb and full of, well you know. LOL


Southpaw