Shooting steel targets with pistols. Do you guys know of anything better than this

[Ole]

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productnumber=377497

I have an older version of one of these. It holds up ok with .380 and 9mm, but requires frequent rewelding when shooting it with light 44 mag loads and 44 special.

Is there a more durable, reasonably-priced other option available guys? :)

[Frozone]

I have the "44mag" version. It held up well to 45 colt loads. I couldn't bring myself to shoot the 454 at it, it was a gift. Until one day with the .556 ;-) a 55g FMJ does not 'Quite' make a hole, but it does make a crater 95% of the way through! And I can't explain how I got 2 of ~ 10 into the circle but blew big holes in the 1/4" 'wire' frame with 5!!! Murphy was aiming.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Ole,

Have you tried a Texas Star? Loads of fun.
http://www.anythingmetal.com/projects/images/guntarget1_lrg.jpg

Sam :D

[dale2242]

Our crowd does a homemade version of the steel target fun. We have a track pad from a D8 dozer at 115 yds. 12" wide by 24" tall. We have a full size IHMSA turkey at 300 yds and 24" saw blades at 325 and 350 yds. We set the track pad up with the idea of it being our handgun target and the other long range ones for rifles. Well, guess what. The long range ones became handgun targets also. What fun!! You may be surprised how often you can hit a 24" target at 300+ yds with a hand gun.
If you have the room, set some long range targets up and have a go at them with the magnums....dale

[Bret4207]

I have a skid off a highway dept snowplow. It's a 10" x 2" thick hunka steel. Nothings penetrated it yet, or even made a dent.

[cajun shooter]

That Texas Star ate me up until I used a little knowledge from my physics classes. Sir Issac Newton helped me shoot three clean Stars.

[Ole]

I'd like to get something like that Texas star, but I prefer cheaper stuff that is smaller. I was @ JG sales a few weekends ago and they had a great dueling target that was built really sturdy, about 5-6 feet tall, but the price tag was $800 and it probably weighed 100lbs.

A buddy of mine has a MIG welder. Maybe he can make me a stand for my my small spinners. I have some scrap material that should work great for a stand. One thing I don't like about these spinner targets is about 10 hits in the whole target starts falling over. A stand would solve that problem.

What about those soft cube things you shoot?

[crabo]

What about those soft cube things you shoot?

I got one, it was a dissapointment. I'll make you a deal on mine. $25 shipped, hardly used.

[tophet1]

Replace the steel circles with bisalloy.

[looseprojectile]

A couple of boxes of bowling pins. Some of the best shooting fun I have ever had.
Twenty five feet with a handgun or a hundred yards with a rifle.

Life is good

[missionary5155]

Greetings
When up north there I run matches with bowling pins.. miltary rifles at 50 & 100 yards. I have bolt & semi class and then a scoped class. No rests.
On the side I shoot the 50 yard pins with whatever hand gun I have along. It does take concentration sitting on my sitter.

[sargenv]

If you all think the texas star is cool, you need to check out a Polish Plate rack... talk about frustrating once it starts going.. :)

On another note.. There are lots of steel targets made that can take a 44 magnum.. in fact we sometimes shoot some of our steel with 223 and 308 win/30-06. There are these rifle steel we call Lollipops.. Check out Mike Gibson Manufacturing for some really nice bullet resistant stuff. It's not cheap, but it holds up well to thousands of rounds of all kinds of ammo in rifle and pistol.

The steel that MGM uses is AR500.. plenty tough enough for most high velocity rifle work.. though AP will likely still either crater it or punch through.. I had a guy shoot 308 FMJ at it from 40 yards and it put a little dimple in it.

[GBertolet]

I just cut discs out of steel plate. I have a 12" a 8" and a 6". I have only room for 100 yd shooting. I use the 12" for handguns at 100 yds and the 6" and 8" for rifle shooting at the same distances, or for pistol, shorter distances as the situation dictates. I made the 12" out of 3/8", and the 6" and 8" plates of 3/4" steel. I welded 2 chains at 10 and 2 o'clock and hang them from angle iron frames. The 3/8" is sufficient for handguns, and rifles with cast bullets at sensible velocities. For full power jacketed bullets in rifles you need the heavier 3/4" steel, as 1/2" does not hold up, unless you have access to T1 temper steel, then you can go 1/2". I found from personal experience that the steel targets must be able to move when hit. If they are fixed rigid, the bullets at lower handgun velocites can bounce back, and are a threat when shooting at closer distances.