Steel Target Thread
First of all, I could not decide where this belonged so stuck it here in GD. Mods, feel free to move (or not) as you deem appropriate.
Next, I've been doing a bunch of searching around for various sorts of steel targets. Some for use at long ranges - 500 yards and more. And some for closer ranges such as a pistol dueling tree.
The first place I looked was here at the site and I found a site sponsor in AA Targets (https://www.ar-15.co/forums/179-AA-Targets). I have not used their products but they are recommended by Hoser and will likely see some of my business in the near future. Their competition target stand for $150 looks like a really nice option for long range shooting. I'd imagine you get both audible and visual confirmation of a hit - and for me with my eyes and ears, I need both.
I found a couple of one-man shops on the North end of town that had in stock, or built some products for me, and I wanted to mention them for anyone interested. The guy at 1760precision.com makes up a simple 10" circle target in 3/8" AR500 steel for $90.
The entire assembly is quite light, except for the steel circles, and can be packed in without much trouble. There are some holes in the bases to accept spikes to add to target stability. We've found that an off target high velocity bullet just 'pencils' through the wood stands leaving the target intact. A slow-moving .45 ACP bullet, OTOH, will pretty much take the target out of play with a solid hit on the wood so we always bring spare wood stands.
Since the height of the target is adjustable depending on the height of the wood stand, it is easy to cut a few pieces at 48" and a few at 36" (or whatever lengths you prefer) and then have the targets at different heights to change things up just a bit.
Be advised that the email address found at that site has a spelling error and will NOT get your email to its intended destination. Check the spelling to make the obvious correction and you should be GTG.
Since my teen sons like to 'compete,' I thought some kind of action target might be fun and might help him (and me too) develop some improved shooting skills. I found a local guy making several steel target options including a dueling tree with AR500 steel plates. His company/website is Arc Innovations at http://ai-metalworks.com/products.html.
We have had this out a couple of times now and learned a bit about how to use it correctly. First of all, the vertical stand is designed to be 'leaning' toward the shooter(s) at a 20 degree angle while sitting on a flat base. This ends up being important for a couple of reasons, one is deflection of the 'splay' (bullet fragments) into the ground right by the target, and the other is for effective reset of the target plates. If the vertical stand is not on a relatively flat base and is leaning a bit away from the shooter, we have had .22LR rounds that would move the plates just enough so that they lined up with the vertical stand - effectively 'hiding' behind the vertical bar. Now, it may be that .22LR just lack the OOMPH to be able to smack them back and forth, but depending on the distance to the target, they should work OK.
We also found that it is important to place a weight on the front part of the base legs. Currently using a Home Depot bucket with a bag of sand in it and it works well - until someone misses really low and hits the bucket/sand and it all spills out (still working out the kinks in the plan). Anyway, once the base is level and stable, this is a real kick for handguns. Whether just one person running up and down the plates, or two people 'competing' to see who wins the duel, this was worth the $350 pricetag.
Those are the options I've been using. I'd be interested in learning more about what others use and recommend or recommend against.
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Originally Posted by spongejosh
