Looking to hear from those with a gong on their range for some details.
I would like to add a gong to my range, I plan on shooting the gong from 100 yards and further but it should be capable of sustaining hits at 50 yards as well.
The other day my brother and I shot a piece of 4" schedule 80 pipe with big heavy flanges on it about 24" long and our 325WSM and 9.3x62 smoked holes right through it and blew chunks of steel off the backside. How thick does a "gong" need to be?
We will shoot our gong with all manner of rifles (22/250, .284, 30/06, 270WSM, 325WSM, 9.3x62, .375 H&H) and will probably shoot it with 416's and 458's in the future.
How thick?

Sorry that I can't answer your question, but you should check out a particular video on youtube - made me laugh my butt off. Do a search for "ricochet". Not trying to dissuade you, but your question reminded me of that video and the need for eye protection.

Some time back (a few years) I posted some pictures of 1/2 thick steel that my son had welded up. The 416 Rigby went right though it at 25 yards (obviously knocking it over in the process). If your target is going to be rigid, then, as CCMDoc says, watch out for blow back. Saeed had similar experiences. Other than that, I would say 1 inch thick at least. Also, be aware that once you have some craters in it, then the likelihood of ricochets increases significantly. Steel plate shooters (Bianchi Cup) experience this a lot.
Peter.

Get proper hardened steel gongs, AR500 grade is what I use and have seen used on many ranges.

There are a number of websites that sell gongs of this steel. 1/2" or so should be good for 100 yards but the little fast rounds are hardest on the steel and may go through, the little 22-250 will be much harder on the target than the 416. The big bore rifles won't do much (so long as you allow the steel to hang free).

I've shot proper hardened steel at single digit yards with 223 and no holes or craters were made, lots of brass and lead but no steel shards.

If you elect to use mild(er) steel you're asking for some trouble.


Here's a video to view.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coTw0WX_KJ8

Thickness is only part of the issue. Check with the HP silhouette shooters as to the type of steel as well. I think that the norm is called T1. I would not shoot any metal with a rifle at 25 yards. The blow back can be very serious and at that range the 22-250 will probably just shoot holes through it anyway. When it comes to shooting steel, "speed kills", read that holes and craters.

Seen the video Doc and it is kinda funny I must admit.
The gong I was planning on would be about 10" round and chain hung, I doubt we would shoot much at it with the Varmint rifles but its primary function would be Deer and Elk rifles offhand at 100 yards and beyond and bigger bores at 50 yards and on out further.
I am very un-informed on steel hardness.
Thanks for the input guys.

We've had jackets come back at us from 100 yds from 416 Rigby's,we always use swinging plates welded at an angle for that reason.At 250 yds my 338-378 "Green Monster"will blow through railroad plates wthout even being full tilt loads.

I recently bought two AR500 10" steel gongs from a fella out Las Vega way for use at home, I've shot them with my 22-250, 30-06, 308, 45-70 (hot loads) and 450 Marlin... I just paint them back to white and shoot some more, all that happens to them is the paint gets blown off, no dimples or craters.

One of the shooting schools I frequent has steel on the Close Quarter Battle (AR-15/M16 and handgun) range as well as for the long range rifle, no problems with the steel.


Here is the fella I bought from recently, scroll down to the #9 target, it is 10" diameter and comes in 1/2" thick for a decent price.

http://www.lvsteeltargets.com/main.htm

I looked at the 300 yard gong at the range in Jackson Hole some time ago ... They are hung so as to allow the gong to swing a bit to lessen the damage done by impacting bullets. It was about 2" thick and it was pretty badly pock marked from high velocity hunting rifles.

I'd not want to shoot steel with a high powered rifle much closer than that 300 yards.

Make sure that the gong hangs slightly off vertical, 5 - 10 degrees; so that the bullet "splash" is directed slightly downward into the ground. This really helps prevent any bullet pieces from getting back to the firing line. All it takes is to weld the hook/hanger on the back of the steel a little below the top, instead of on the top.

quote:

Originally posted by Snellstrom:
Looking to hear from those with a gong on their range for some details.
I would like to add a gong to my range, I plan on shooting the gong from 100 yards and further but it should be capable of sustaining hits at 50 yards as well.
The other day my brother and I shot a piece of 4" schedule 80 pipe with big heavy flanges on it about 24" long and our 325WSM and 9.3x62 smoked holes right through it and blew chunks of steel off the backside. How thick does a "gong" need to be?
We will shoot our gong with all manner of rifles (22/250, .284, 30/06, 270WSM, 325WSM, 9.3x62, .375 H&H) and will probably shoot it with 416's and 458's in the future.
How thick?

Find a 20" 150 Blind Flange. it will last a long time

Good advice to NOT shoot steel at close range with anything that will dig in or crater it. Big bores, with their tough, heavy, slow slugs are the worst for ricochets and you can never be 100% certain where they will head.

Although they get chewed up quickly, there is an advantage to using thin steel as the bullets punch through and stay on a course heading away from the shooter. The absolute worst plate I had was 2" steel scrap from a front end loader bucket bracket. "Big Bertha" became cratered and after one good .416 400 getting pitched back at me like a line drive base hit, she was retired.

Even smaller cals like an 06 will do strange things sometimes. I had a copper tube inbedded in the front of my 50 yard bench as the result of a 150 grain Hornady hitting a plate, turning completely inside out and spitting straight back into the bench. What that would have done to flesh makes me shudder.

Cast or frangible bullets work well with a flat surface slightly angled to direct the frags downwards but high powered bullets are a crap shoot for where the material is going to go.

I would use caution with full powered big bore loads on steel and recommend hard cast practice loads only, especially at anything closer than 100 yards.

This might be nuts, but... Would putting a horse mat (one of the solid ones, not the chopped up conveyor belt ones.) on the face of the gong help?

Aggie,

That might not be a bad idea!

Never tried it but I did build a 1/2" plywood deer silouette with a gong behind the vital area. The plywood ended up getting blown out from the sprayback but something rubbery and tough might last and keep the ricochets captured.

I'm familiar with T1. Good stuff for targets but you have weld it with reverse polarity if you're mounting feet as in a sillohette target.

I think the bad idea in the 50 cal video was shooting ball ammo with the steel core. That wouldn't have happened with A-Max lead core projectiles. ONTH, it might with mono-metal solids made from brass alloy shot from a big bore.

Well thanks for the advice gents.
I called one of my local steel suppliers today and they will sell me a 10" square, 1/2" thick of AR500 for a mere $165.13. Wow all I could say was thanks for working that price down for me, he gave me a quote number so that I won't get charged a higher price!
I'm not even sure if that includes tax!
He said that AR500 is in high demand because of the war.
I'll keep looking.
Thanks for the link to the supplier in Vegas, my local guy makes his prices look reasonable.

snellstrom,
check out this guys products.
mgmtargets.com,
i bought an prairie-dog auto-popper from him years ago, regards

I made targets from a 1/2inch T1 equivalent for pistols. They hung from a cable on a angle and were still good after years of shooting. I also made a rifle target hung by chain from 1 inch mild steel and a 30/06 at 325 yards crater it.

AR500 is pricey but once you've used them for targets you'll definately appreciate them.

AR500 is the premier steel for this type application.

I have a 12" round "Targets On A Stick" type that I'd sell if you are interested (I thought the one's I bought were 10" but I just measured them at 12"). I bought two but to this date I've only shot one. If you'll pay shipping I'll let you try it, if you like it it'll be a very good price.

DKing
E-mail me and let me know what you need for it.

Snellstrom@pcisys.net

Snellstrom

Contact Mike Gibson of MGM Targets.

www.mgmtargets.com

Tell him what you want, and he will tell you what you need.

He is a good guy.

Whatever you do, make sure you follow expert advice...bad things happen with steel targets and "do it yourself"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laSRfJ8WgwQ

I learned the hard way... I've got a chunk of a .375 H&H bullet still in my right forearm from shooting steel plates.

While I obviously wouldn't claim to be an expert... I would say it's hard to do safely with big guns and short to moderate distances. In my case it was a matter of time until there was a wreck. Although a friend watching got his neck grazed by part of the same bullet that went into my arm... thank goodness nobody else was hurt. Now we know better but that was a REALLY bad way to learn!!!!

Kyler

quote:

Originally posted by DKing:
I recently bought two AR500 10" steel gongs from a fella out Las Vega way for use at home, I've shot them with my 22-250, 30-06, 308, 45-70 (hot loads) and 450 Marlin... I just paint them back to white and shoot some more, all that happens to them is the paint gets blown off, no dimples or craters.

One of the shooting schools I frequent has steel on the Close Quarter Battle (AR-15/M16 and handgun) range as well as for the long range rifle, no problems with the steel.


Here is the fella I bought from recently, scroll down to the #9 target, it is 10" diameter and comes in 1/2" thick for a decent price.

http://www.lvsteeltargets.com/main.htm

I also have 2 of his targets in 1/2" AR500 vry tough the 1/2 plates are claimed to hold up to the 50 BMG
I purchased mine on advise from Ian and have been very pleased...

The GONG at my range is 1" thick Hope this helps.

if *I* were to make a gong (heh) ...
brake roters make GREAT swinging targets ... and generally last 10-15 shots...

seriously, If I where to make a gong, for all my stuff, I would take a 12" blind flanged, AT LEAST 1.5" thick... I would weld a sch40 or 80 pipe to the TOP about 18" long, and a T- from the same....

I would make a frame of 1/2" rebar, and use the T as the hanging Henge, and put it at 200+ yards, so it swings, rotates back and up, and is thick enough to take repeated hits from a 257 webby, which I have seen CRATER the same on a rigid base at 200.

jeffe

I've used Astralloy plate that a welder buddy used to get for me.The key to getting steel for nothing, is that when people are building big things that require big round holes cut in them, the pieces that fall on the ground are:

1) Round
2) Garbage

One man`s trash is another mans treasure.

Any mining operations in your neck of the woods? A neighbor who works up at the Boulder Mine got a very nice 10" x 16"x 1" piece of steel from the "crap" pile. Welded some hooks on the back and it works great. I'm not sure what kind of steel it is but it will stop anything at 100 to 500 yards with only a bit of splatter on the surface. We had several pieces to experiement with and some of the "softer" stuff, my 9.3x62 just drilled through them at 100 yds.

Close range? No thanks. I like them for long range practice only, after a long practice secession the area in front of the plate is shreaded by splatter, I'm sure some of that comes back "home" but at 300 yds it's not going to make it. A friend took a few shots at "the plate" at 300 with FMJ 308's and well, one near miss smacked the berm out at 500...no more FMJ rounds period.

The Gong At my range is about 2" thick