Homemade Gong Question

G

Gutpile

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Vancouver BC
Just looking for a good hard steel that will emit a good sound and stop bullets. Made a poor one last week out of 3/8" steel that wouldn't stop a .243 100gr.
 
Steel comes in various alloys, Mild Steel being the most common and cheapest.
A .243 Win will punch through a 1/2" plate of MS.
What you need is something like AR plate. (Abrasive Resistant. Its the stuff that hoppers in the mining industry are lined with) That stuff is HARD!
A 7mm Rem Mag will only leave a tiny grey spot on it.
 
i was rabbit hunting along an abandoned rail line a couple of years ago..

i picked up 4 of those rectangular metal plates that hold the tracks down.. they're about 8"x 10" they make great gongs..

i've shot them with my .308 and my 7mRM and they just leave a small crater.. they even have holes in them so you can put a rope or chain thru..
 
I have used the discer blades talked about and used for farming, mine weren't very thick and when hit at 20yds. with .45 Colt's they cracked, long straight cracks, 3 or 4 inches long. I now use bigger, thicker ones for long range, BP targets and they work good. I don't believe they would work for Hi Vel. applications, they must work harden or something.
 
Well, I might as well say it. Be very careful shooting "gongs". I have shot thousands of rounds of rifle and handgun at 'gongs", so I am not some armchair internet expert who wouldn't know a gong from a bong. One Saturday morning, we were shooting FN's and Ishapores (yes, it was before the magic cutoff) at about fifty yards. There were about five or six of us shooting at least three rifles. We were using milsurp ammo. I felt something hit my pant leg. It was the jacket from a .308 round someone had just fired. It was still warm. The centre of the bullet was going right through the steel target, and the outer shell had peeled off and come back. Needless to say, battle with target was called off. Also learned that gravel or finely crushed rock will peel the outer jacket off and leave it just under the surface. Try it sometime. You will be surprised. :p:p
 
But most junkyards don't know what sort of steel is in the piles. And unless you're REALLY good at steel spotting by ring tone or other means you're buying a pig in a poke.

To ensure you're getting the correct AR400 or AR500 you'll need to shop at a place that either works with this sort of steel. Find a shop that works with this metal and show up at quiting time on a Friday with a 6 pack under your arm and you'll get scraps for free. Or phone around for a shop that does small cut to order jobs and have them cut it for you to size. As noted the stuff is tough and hard so cutting with the usual tools is out. It's either something fancy or a cutting torch.
 
100 yards is considered a minimum safe distance for shooting a gong with a high powered rifle. I had one come back and hit the wooden wall in front of the firing line at 150 yards once, wear your shooting glasses!
 
So I'm guessing that the trick would be to set it in a holder so it's angled down into the dirt? Something like 5 to 10 degrees angled down should plant them pretty firmly and in a fairly short distance?
 
Gong

Thanks for all your help guys, I'm a farmer. The used disc thing sounds like a good idea except with the high price of scrap we had last year, I don't have any old stuff around right now. Found a local guy and am getting a 12 inch gong made of AR sometime this week...Thanks for all the ideas and help.
 
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