CAS Steel targets

Cagunman

Cagunman

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Shediac, New Brunswick
There is no CAS Club near here so I need to get set up. Does anyone out there have a lead on steel targets for CAS.
If I wanted to have a local guy make some what do I need to know, and/or where do I get the information? ie; plate thinkness & total size as well as distances.....
That kind of stuff!
 
What we have done is buy a 4x8 sheets of 3/8 T1 steel and have it sheared into 16" squares(18 targets), weld a large nut on the backside and hang it from a tripod made from 5/8 hot roll. Resist the urge to use cheaper rebar as the uneven surface will contribute to lead splashback.
 
Shooting CAS is about fun and ambiance. My club has the steel targets cut out in the shape of dastardly cowboys and that adds a nice touch over shooting just plain steel. Other options I've seen show the steel being cut in the shape of playing card suits. Not as realistic as cowboys that look like they're getting ready to shoot back at ya but it offers some options for stage plays. You'll be looking at those targets for a LONG time to come. It would be nice to have something in character to shoot at. Look into someone in the area with a water or plasma jet or even that would be willing to torch them out and grind off the edges. If you find someone with a CNC controlled one you would even have some option of cutting them out in different sizes for some special options.

For the longer range targets we're using old steel high pressure cylinders with the bottoms cut off and then just dropped over a vertical rod or pipe to hold them. Ring like a bell they do.

Cariboo, have you guys run into issues with the rebar stands? My club uses nothing but rebar for the stands and I can't say we've ever had any splashback. Maybe if the metal is oriented so the spine is facing forward?
 
Has anyone ever seen or heard of the targets being hung on 2 shorts length of heavy chain say maybe 5 links or so, 8 to 10 inches long. I am thinking that this way, the traget would swing back sending ricochets down at the ground. Has anyone tried it?
 
Cagunman said:
Has anyone ever seen or heard of the targets being hung on 2 shorts length of heavy chain say maybe 5 links or so, 8 to 10 inches long. I am thinking that this way, the traget would swing back sending ricochets down at the ground. Has anyone tried it?
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We tried it and it works, mount the chain at the back of the target, just below the top.
 
Make sure that you weld the hanger (chain or angle iron) to the back of the target 2 or 3 inches from the top. This makes the target hang at a tilt directing splash to the ground immediatly. If you hang the targets from the top they hang staight up and splash bounces back to the line before the heavy steel reacts to the shot
 
I shot quite a bit of steel this summer. In all cases the bullets hit and disintegrage so they throw lead in a fan out from the face of the steel. So angling it really does nothing much. If you're getting splash back from the steel it's due to either a divot in the face from too high velocity a round or it's because it hit something else that through some compounded reflections caused some of the lead to come back.

This is also why when shooting steel you don't want to use any full power magnum rounds unless the steel is the right armor to avoid any cratering. It's those craters that when hit again cause some of the lead to curve around and shoot back. A smooth flat face on the steel won't be a problem be it vertical or not. But an angled face, or even just shooting downwards to a vertical face will tend to deflect more of the lead into the ground instead of up into the air.

Just watch some steel shooting going on. The sand or dirt in line with the target face jumps in a line that is aligned with the face of the target. Proof that the bullets are fully disintegrating. The odd time a jacket can be seen arcing up and back down but again this occurs in the same plane as the face of the target.
 
I've seen thousands of cowboy bullets haven't disintigrated. most will be the size of a dime or quarter & 1\8 " thick. Cratered targets are worse than flat ones but the flat ones will still splash back if not tilted. A rim hit on any of them will cause spash.
 
BCRider, our posse does not allow any jacketed bullets to be fired at our steel.
Too much damage and any cratering jacketed ammo makes for an increase in splash-back.
But as stated elsewhere, the best ways to reduce or eliminate splash-back is use lead and angle the steel down at a good angle.
As per Ontario CFO regs, we shroud the targets.
We are using rebar for our stands, with out any issues I am aware of.
 
If you get set up Cajunman let us Islanders know maybe we can get a few people together. I'm waiting for my pal it's received etc... Just waiting but I can't wait to learn how to do the rifle part of cowboy action. I think there is going to be a place on the Island this summer between Charlottetown and Summmerside set up for some Cowboy shooting I will let you know.

Bill
 
There are 2 problems with rebar stands, (1) if the legs of the stand extend past the target at the bottom, when the splash is directed down it will sometimes catch a ridge in the rebar and go in unintended directions,(2) rebar is made with poor and inconsistent grades of steel which makes it difficult to weld properly (welds have a tendency to fail). We have stands made of hot roll steel that are at least 10 years old with no failures, other than some idiot who shot them up with metal jacket 223s. We used to hang our targets from 2 lenghts of chain, but we found that after 4-5 years the chains would break at the weld from all the impacts, we have not had that problem with a large (1inch) nut welded all the way around. We also had a lot of targets cut in the shape of cards and cowboys, however we found that different shapes wasted a lot of the plate and were smaller than simple squares and at $1200.00 to $1400.00 for a sheet of T1 you want to use it all..
 
Don'tkillbill said:
If you get set up Cajunman let us Islanders know maybe we can get a few people together. I'm waiting for my pal it's received etc... Just waiting but I can't wait to learn how to do the rifle part of cowboy action. I think there is going to be a place on the Island this summer between Charlottetown and Summmerside set up for some Cowboy shooting I will let you know.

Bill
Click to expand...

Pm me with your contact info we'll want to keep posted on any match on the Island.
 
Cariboo Lefty said:
we have not had that problem with a large (1inch) nut welded all the way around.
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Cariboo Lefty
I don't suppose you have a picture of the position the nut is welded to the plate and mounts on the tripod? It sounds so simple it likely works great and our club is always looking for new ideas for targets.

Also thanks for the great job of instructing you and Buffa did on the RO course at the Canadians last summer.
 
Chuck
Somewhere in all my computer files I think I have a description and diagram on how to build these targets, if I can find it I will send it to you. I got the idea the last time I was at Winter Range, the instructor at the RO2 course had some similiar targets and they were a breeze to set up and rearrange.
 
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Cariboo Lefty said:
Chuck
Somewhere in all my computer files I think I have a description and diagram on how to build these targets, if I can find it I will send it to you. I got the idea the last time I was at Winter Range, the instructor at the RO2 course had some similiar targets and they were a breeze to set up and rearrange.
Click to expand...

I'm interested in your description and diagrams as well.
May I send you my e-mule addy?
 
Another idea for CAS targets is the use of oxygen bottles. For those of you who have attended Fort Kusk, near Camrose, AB. you will remember the old Spanish mission where there were oxygen bottles hanging in each of the windows including the bell tower. They made a nice ringing sound. I have an old empty expired propane tank that I'm going to set up down in the creek valley between two posts for plinking at 50 yds with the rifle using cowboy ammo.
 
^^

Those oxygen bottles where great! It was neat how you get a different "ring" out of them depending on what lenght the bottoms where cut off...you could almost play a tune!
 
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