OK, How about tellong us a bit about your gongs. What's it made off? What size do you use? How far do you shoot at it? How is it hung? Problems and tips. Here are some of mine. Some are mild steel 15mm to 24mm thick. Others are AR500. It is easy to see which is which. Tip 8mm mild steel is too thin!!! I use sizes from 6"x6", 12"x12" up to 14" round gattic covers. Hung with chain on some gongs but find conveyor belt rubber better to withstand the odd stray bullet impact. I mainly shoot at hunting distances for practice. ie from 400 to 1000 yards. Sometimes further. The rubber mounted behind the plate is protected from schrapnell fragments. 8mm Mild steel plate is no match for a .338WM at 400 yards. 19mm mild steel holds up much better at 440 yards from the same .338WM. Large nuts welded to Rheo bars make good pivot points for cross bars to hand a gong off. They swing free and easy. A 6"x6" AR500 gong hung off a saw horse and tent ropes to stabilise makes a good light weight portable set up.
mine is a poper AR500 steel made by metal spinning targets.com I got 2 of them to start with but one broke after it was pounded with everything I had. Honestly I thought it would last longer. I try to keep them out their pat 300 yardes when I hit them now.
12" one is mild steel, 1/2" thick. Made by a friend that can weld. Too many shots with 7mm magnums and bigger. Newer one on bottom is 6", 1/2" thick AR500 so far it's holding up good. I just put up 4 others too, bigger ones at farther distances. I drive in 2 - 6' steel T posts, brace them apart at the top with a section of 2X4 and hang the gong with high tensile fence wire. The wire probably wont hold up to a hit, but I've got alot of it on hand. The new hard ones ring alot louder than the mild steel one did.
I'll let you know what I find out. 338 AX with 300 SMK's or 300 Berger Hybrids come next. I'll shoot the 6" at 400 yds and see how it holds up. Last fall, a friend shot the 12" mild steel with his 338 Edge and it passed clean through at 400 yds. I've got an 8" at 500, 8" at 700, 10" at 800 and 12" at 1000 currently. I am afraid that the ones at 800 and 1000 are maybe going to be too small for cold bore hits untill I learn the rifle, so I also set up another frame right next to them at 700, 800 and 1000 that I can shoot at big paper or cardboard sheets untill I get dialed in and get the gun learned some.
I went way to thick with this baby. If i rember right its 5 or 5 1/2 inches thick. And she is all sorts of heavy. I belive its 18 inches in Dia. Im going to have ot put fenders on it. The first few shots from my 243AI the bullet fragments blew out a tire on a hot day. I went with AR500 on the other 3 so i can hear the ring.
This is my first gong. Just got it the other day. 12" mild steel square. I'll definitely be getting a AR500 proper one next time. I checked my zero at 200 with the 110 gr. VMax out of my .308. I figured the light varmit bullets would be safer at that range. They nearly punched clean through the thing! I shot it at 200 with the VMax and then 300, 400 and 550 with the 150 gr ETips. I was way more accurate at range with the ETips than I was with the VMaxs at 200 yards. I used an old Dutch Oven tripod to hang the target with. I have to be able to set up and take down by myself and this setup is really easy to move. First shot at 550 I blew the windage and center punched one of the legs. I was afraid of splatter at close range hurting the legs and I end up drilling one from 550 yards.
