Steel Targets: What Else Will Stand Up To 338 Lapua?

There are steels that will handle 338 bullets. Ar500, ar400 and QT400. But they are pricey. My next set of targets are to be grader blades hanging from a chain. I will weld up the holes with the wornout winter carbide teeth facing backwards. The nice part is they will swing when hit. Easier to tell when hit.
My neighbour is a grader operator for the county. Find someone local that has access to old blades and your good to go. I weld them to the chain with a welding rod having 110000 lb tensile strenght. E110018 is the rod.
The last time I priced out a sheet of 3/8 inch ar500 it was over $800 for 32 square feet. Now I scrounge.
 
Now this is an interesting thread. What else would be tough enough to take a few hits in the same area without penetrating. Also what about 30 cal mags? I'm still not sure I'm going to go any bigger than 300 WM so scrounging up less common steels may not be necessary. Blades from larger saws come to mind although they might be harder to find than dozer blades. Fly wheels from heavy trucks might work or even from cars for my 300. I think you could adapt many things for the purpose but there must be something that is commonly found and roughly the right size.
 
tigrr said:
There are steels that will handle 338 bullets. Ar500, ar400 and QT400. But they are pricey. My next set of targets are to be grader blades hanging from a chain. I will weld up the holes with the wornout winter carbide teeth facing backwards. The nice part is they will swing when hit. Easier to tell when hit.
My neighbour is a grader operator for the county. Find someone local that has access to old blades and your good to go. I weld them to the chain with a welding rod having 110000 lb tensile strenght. E110018 is the rod.
The last time I priced out a sheet of 3/8 inch ar500 it was over $800 for 32 square feet. Now I scrounge.
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Grader blades are a bad idea; they are curved which presents a ricochet hazard, the mounting holes present ricochet hazards, and they shatter from rifle bullet impacts. We tried flat cutting edges that we slid into steel frames, and they too shattered from rifle bullet impacts, and have the mounting hole issue as well. I currently use a steel similar to AR 500, 3/4" thick, cut into 12" squares, and suspended by chains hung on either side of a T posts. Each plate weights about 32 pounds. Each 12" square cost about $90. For an initial test I shot at them with the fastest bullet I have at my disposal (4000 fps) from 20' while laying behind a barricade, it only broke the paint! Money well spent in my opinion. Since the time I put them up last spring, there are a couple of dimples someone put in them by hitting right on the edge of the plate, but no significant pockmarks have appeared on the face of the plates.
 
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Hanging grader cutter bar is very tough when it comes to withstanding bullet impact. That said, 200gn Hornady Sp loaded to 3,400ft/s in 338LM will mark it at 200m.
 
Aircooled VW flywheels are extremely tough. I've shot them with full metal jacket at 100 yards and it only leaves a shiny spot. They ring like a bell. Maybe some years were chromoly?
 
9Guns said:
you could use cheaper steel if it was thicker but it would degrade fairly quickly.
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That is fine if you shoot it at distance. The problem with pock marked steel is it creates little 'bowls' that allow the bullet fragments to change direction and come back at you with little loss of energy. When a bullet hits a flat hard surface it will generally splatter perpendicular to the surface of what it impacts, as well as dumping a lot of energy. That is what makes high grade steel targets safer. Again if they are hundreds of yards away you are fine, but all it takes is for some clown to drag your pock marked target to the 25 meter line and start pounding away with his SKS and steel jackets till someone loses an eye.
 
IMO, if you are shooting at steel, you should be at least 500 yards away. There is no point in shooting at steel targets any closer than that, when talking about this type of shooting. Paper will tell more at most distances, it's just a pain to spot hits. I also try to keep steel at 1 to 1/2 moa to make it worthwhile. There is no point at pounding on 20" plate at 500 yards, other than to make noise, as you're not learning anything.

R.
 
if you are using match bullets (which most long range shooters are) you can use 1/2 inch mild steel for 500m and further. the problem with hardend plate is you shouldnt weld on it because you make it more brittel where you heat effected zone is. and also on the higher end plate (4140 htsr) you have to get it water cut or you will wreck the plate before it is shot. 90% of my targets at my shoot are mild steel and have been hit hundreds of times in the last four years and the most damage is on the stands not the plates. IMO
 
One particular plate I remember trying to destroy with little affect was a 3/8" AR500 plate someone brought to one of Jerry Teo's fun shoots in summerland. The guy used a light frame and chain to hang it from and as I pounded away at that plate with my 338LM AI, and then the 50cal, I fully expected to open the center of that plate up but when we checked it during a cease fire, I'd barely marked it. I was shocked. The gong was 823yds out and yet beside it there were a pair of drive tanks with holes through both sides. With mild steel not hanging, also 3/8" thick, I've punch 300gr Sierra Match bullets through it at 1230yds. Hanging is definitely the way to go and I think going with a light frame (conduit piping) with extra frame pieces, just incase you shoot through it, coupled with a short chunk of chain has got to be the easiest solution. There's a military grade steel out there that makes AR500 look pathetic but it's going to be very costly and I'd have to research the name of it. There was a SWAT vehicle at the SHOT Show that was manufactured with it and one of the guys took the time to show us the difference between the steel they used and something commonly known like AR500 and it was impressive.
 
an easy way to help stop ricochets is to have the plate angled down so they go into the dirt, also helps shooting steel from further away, if they are static have them fixed on an angle towards the ground, if they are on chains add a chain to the bottom to pull the bottom up a bit.
 
Good point. The further you are away, the sharper angle the bullet will be coming down towards the target even if the plate is straight up and down. Also chain on conduit pipe moves very easily and the lack of friction vs a pipe over a steel bar makes a big differnce also.
 
Max, alot of the problems with different grades of steel, have to do with how they are named. Steel makers have set formulas for making product, and just like other metals, they have ATSTM/SAE numbers, denoting hardness, toughness, and other properties. AR500 is an impact and wear resistant steel used for industrial applications such as coal car liners, and dig buckets in the oil sands. The AR stands for Abrasion Resistant, and the 500 refers to the Brinnel hardness of the steel. There are several name brands that are AR500 such as Hardox, Chapalloy 500, and Armox, to name a few. So to shorten this up, and specifically answer your question, AR400 plate is not as hard as AR500, but would still make a good target to shoot at, it just won't last as long as the AR500 would. Having said that, you would have to pound the crap out of it, at close range, to make that happen. Shoot it at the sensible distances you mentioned, and I doubt you would ever tell the difference. I hope this helps.

R.
 
I have worked with some 1/2" HHA (hardened homogeneous armour) that is rated for a 0 degree strike at 100m from 14.5mm AP.

Centre punches shatter instead of dimpling it.

That said SS109 still chips it out to 300m.
 
Rman said:
Max, alot of the problems with different grades of steel, have to do with how they are named. Steel makers have set formulas for making product, and just like other metals, they have ATSTM/SAE numbers, denoting hardness, toughness, and other properties. AR500 is an impact and wear resistant steel used for industrial applications such as coal car liners, and dig buckets in the oil sands. The AR stands for Abrasion Resistant, and the 500 refers to the Brinnel hardness of the steel. There are several name brands that are AR500 such as Hardox, Chapalloy 500, and Armox, to name a few. So to shorten this up, and specifically answer your question, AR400 plate is not as hard as AR500, but would still make a good target to shoot at, it just won't last as long as the AR500 would. Having said that, you would have to pound the crap out of it, at close range, to make that happen. Shoot it at the sensible distances you mentioned, and I doubt you would ever tell the difference. I hope this helps.

R.
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Aye.....

Now this is kinda what I am looking for.

Friend mentioned about abrasion resistance. I have AR 500 stuck in my head because I read on here that it works.

When I go back to the steel suppliers, I should ask them what else they have that is equivalent to AR 500.

Thanx guys.
 
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