My adventures in shooting steel- lots of fun!
My wife bought me some targets a little while ago and I just got to trying them out- it's pretty similar to what I expected but more fun. Way more fun.
I ended up with three 3" targets, one 6" and one 8". It's all 3/8" ar500 steel and it's tough! This thickness is supposed to be good for up to 308/30.06 rounds. I'm completely pleased with how it holds up to lots of 147gn 308 loads from about 140 yards, there is definitely light marks from hits but it'll take more ammo than I'll ever hit them with to really hurt them.
Before
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I learned quite a bit mounting them. I built my stand to be portable and expendable. It's just a 2x4 across the top with two 4x4 sections on the bottom of each end. The 4x4 sections each have two holes drilled on different angles that rebar slides in to make the stand, when it gets transported you just yank the rebar and it's a smaller profile. Rebar is cool because you can adjust for uneven ground by shoving pieces further into the dirt. After a few hundred rounds each of 223 and 308 you can see the 2x4 took a beating. The splatter of rounds is pretty destructive. There's pieces of jacket embedded deep in the board (I'd make sure if you wanted ar500 body armor that it had some type of that anti spalling coating on it to avoid that splatter injuring you).
After showing target, stand and strap wear
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I wasn't sure how to hang the targets off the board to start. I thought about chain but it was expensive for good stuff and I wanted to try other options. I had an old Blackhawk belt that I cut into straps to start. Then I got my timing belt changed and cut it into strips to compare. The timing belt is far superior to the tac belt material- a few ricochets tore through one belt strap on the bigger 8" target while direct hits and ricochets to the timing belt was hardly compromised at all. The belt straps on the smaller 3" targets didn't hold up to 308 well and hits would rip the nut right through the hole in the strap- I don't think that would have been an issue with the timing belt material.
I had to make holes in the straps and I had a drill with a 1/2"bit so I hit it up. I knew it wasn't a great method and I should take better precautions but I didn't and ended up getting my finger wrapped in the bit a bit- learn from my mistake lol. I'll probably get a 1/2" hole punch or clamp the straps to my drill press next time.
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After this last trip I'm switching to timing belt for all straps (my mechanic is going to start saving them for me). And I don't really want to shoot paper anymore :)
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