Best Steel to Use

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APShooterM14

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Drayton Valley, AB
Howdy, what does everyone use for steel material and thickness for their targets. I am looking for something that will stop my .308 and .30/06 rounds but not break the bank. Thanks in advance!
 
AR500 is very popular because it stands up to the abuse. No cheap though. Other than that, you would need to use much thicker steel to have it last.
 
Just go to a junk yard that deals in heavy equipment and bring a oxy acetalin torch and cut the side of a zoom boom boom off. 1" plate minimum in that area. And it'll already be painted yellow��
 
Even my SKS with steel core ammo will punch a hole through a 1/2" of mild steel.

There are great company's right here in Alberta like Range Rabbit and SteelTargets.ca that will sell u pre cut and ready to hang AR500 grade gongs for costs that make scrounging for junk yard steel not even worth considering.

3/8" thickness AR500 should be more then adequate under normal use. Plus the thicker u go, the cost will increase and the gong will ring quieter. Id only recommend thick gongs if u plan to punish it with slugs, or magnum rounds under 200m. This isnt to reduce penetration, but rather to reduce the risk of the gong becoming concave over time from all the heavy hitting rounds.
 
Any steel that can be hardened to close to 50 Rockwell C will do, I made some targets out of vanadium-modified 4340 that were hung at a very busy range and endured an unbelieveable number of hits. I had the bar parted into a variety of thicknesses from 15mm to 30mm, 15mm didn't last long and 20mm took on a pronounced convex shape after a few weeks, but the greater thicknesses withstood thousands of hits.

The abrasion resistant steels thermomechanically processed to 500 Brinell are very popular because it is cheap steel, easy to find and weldable. Look for trade names like AR500, Hardox 500, HS500, MAS500, etc.
 
Thanks for the help guys! Range Rabbit and Steel Target have some nice set ups that I am looking at now for sure. Would love to get a tree as well for the fun of it with open sights and my .22, lol.
 
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