Swinging target v4.0

farm boy

Last night at work I had enough free time to knock this together.



It is a 12x10x1.5" mild steel plate. Over all height is 5.5' with 1' of legs to drive in the ground. The bottom of the plate ends up about 3' above the ground. Totally welded angle iron frame for easier patching when (not if) it gets shot up. It also will break down into four pieces and lay flat for easier transport.







Over all I'm pretty happy with it. I can't wait to range test it.

farm boy

My total monetary investment is about 3.5 hours.

Diver43

Looks GREAT. wish i had a place to make stuff like that and even more so wish i had a place to use it if i did.

bisley

It's not square, level, or plumb, and you didn't paint it...I LIKE IT! It doesn't make me feel inferior. :tooth:

NN

Bring it to the next shoot and see if we can shoot it to pieces.

BigDanS

The plate is nearly indestructable. Now the frame...

farm boy

cpj wrote: »

Gimme 10 shots at 100 yards with my ar. I'll have that big fat steel plate laying on the ground. I'm good at ing up other people's targets.

Ask Fishhead. :tooth:

That's why I used angle iron for the frame, very easy to scab back together. My last three attempts taught me a little.

farm boy

bisley wrote: »

It's not square, level, or plumb, and you didn't paint it...I LIKE IT! It doesn't make me feel inferior. :tooth:

It is ALMOST square. I am still considering painting it. If I do it will be a nice earth tone to make it harder to pick out against the background. Even better practice that way.

Fisheadgib

BigDanS wrote: »

The plate is nearly indestructable. Now the frame...

I beg to differ. The thickness of the steel has little to do with if or how deeply it gets cratered. I'll post a pic of one of my hardened 3/8" plates that has been shot hundreds of times with a variety of calibers at a couple of SE shoots along with plenty of hits at the range at my hunting camp and I'll show it next to a 5/8" mild steel plate that I hung at 25yds at the last SE shoot and you'll see a noticable difference.

farm boy

You are absolutely right fishhead. When this one gets beat up enough it is thick enough I can weld in the caters and resurface it.

tennmike

Looks like a good sturdy target stand and target. And free is good.

Question: What the devil are you going to shoot a 50+ pound plate with to make it swing? :silly:

farm boy

I don't know Mike. I was hoping my various .30's would do it. Want to loan me your .50?

Fisheadgib

Here's a pic of two of my swinging targets that have been to the SE shoot. The one on the left has been to a couple of shoots and has sustained a countless number of rounds from almost everything but a 50BMG. The one on the right has been to one shoot and was on the 25yd line. (I asked that no one shoot it with jacketed rifle ammo but some didn't get the memo)
After a few years of tinkering with targets, I found that light and loosely mounted lets the energy dissipate without as much being absorbed by the surface of the target. Rebar also makes good legs or frames as it's hardened and cheap. On the few occasions that the rebar legs were hit they were only bent slightly and the only real damage was when the chains were hit but that was easily repaired with a scrap of coat hanger wire.

BigDanS

True enough. My 7.62x39 m43 is mild steel core and put a hole one year in Jerry's saw blade or clutch plate he had hanging out at 75 yards or so.

Certainly his target is good for any pistol caliber.

D

farm boy

Being cheap I went with the free thick plate. I will build one with AR steel, I just keep hoping I will come up some scrap AR from work.

farm boy

Most center fire rifles above .243 will reliablypunch holes in 3/8" mild steel. Lighter bullets not every time.
Railroad spike plates are very tough. They will break eventually.

farm boy

Next weekend I get to test it out. I will post results, probably going to take 7.62x51, 7.62x54R, 5.56x45, maybe .44Mag carbine.

HvyMax

30-06 black tips would make short work of that. That said enjoy shooting the crap out of it. Top hung swingers are perfect. They deposit the bullets in the ground right under them.