Question- What thickness of ar500 steel for rifle targets?

[hc18flyer]

I want to get some ar500 steel for rifle targets. I have used 3/8 mild only to have multiple people blast holes with jacketed bullets. Is 1/4" enough, or should I go with thicker? There are several of us using them, one of which has his own plasma table to cut out targets. Thanks, Flyer

[justashooter]

anything over 1800 fps will go thru regular structural grade steel plate (.25"). 1500 fps in some jacketed bullets will go thru .125" (30 tokarev, for example).

body armour plates made from .1875" AR 500 (even 400) steel will stop most rifle rounds, up to 308 at fairly close range, but they will deform and transfer the shock to what is behind the plate in a sometimes fatal manner.

.375" AR 500 will retain it's shape well against 308 at 100-200 yards, but will eventually dish pan and need to be turned. such plates should always be hung with a 10-15 degree down pitch facing the shooter to keep bullets from ricocheting, especially when turned after panning.

hardened steel core, and some mild steel core, will punch even AR500 at yardage. 5.45X39 steel core post 1985 will do this, which is why the surp 5.45 to date has been early 80's and late 70's.

[1Hawkeye]

Half inch is what you want to use. Just keep the 7 & 300 magnums off of it and you should be fine they will go through like a torch at close range. The club I'm in has two plate racks made of 1/2" ar500 and the only damage suffered was when someone tried some green tip 556 on them at 25 yards which left a very slight dimple in the plates he hit. The racks are used for anything from.22 LR to.58 musket including.221 fireball.223/556 ,30-06,& .45-70 also all kinds of pistol calibers. We have had a couple of welds fail but the plates are fine.

[rondog]

I have a 3/8" x 8" AR500 disc that I shoot with .30-06 M2 ball and 7.5x55 GP11 on a regular basis, and it's held up well. That Swiss ammo hits it hard too, like the hammer of Thor. I have the plate suspended from a pipe with chains and that GP11 is the only ammo that's ever made the plate swing up and over the pipe a full revolution. It's got a few slight pockmarks, but very slight. Hits at the very edges can leave a notch. But I keep the M2 A/P away from it!

[jmorris]

I use 3/8" up to 300 WM.

[flyingrhino]

I make steel targets. Generally, 3/8" AR is good for anything less than 3000 fps. So, you move the target out to the point that the terminal velocity is below 3000 and you should be good. I shot one of mine with a 308 FMJ at 45 yards and it made a slight dimple. You could barely feel it but it was there. That was too close but shows you how tough the steel is. The round was pretty close to 3000 fps at that point. A lead soft point probably wouldn't have made a mark. AR is really expensive stuff. 1/2" would be good for anything other than armor piercing rounds but it is heavy and expensive. I have a bunch of it that I got for free. I use it for gongs. 3/8" will stand up to any handgun round, and to most rifle rounds.

Also, the way it's mounted makes a big difference. The target should be able to move to dissipate the energy. If it is rigid mounted all of the energy is absorbed by the steel and it will weaken much quicker.

[justashooter]

Also, the way it's mounted makes a big difference. The target should be able to move to dissipate the energy. If it is rigid mounted all of the energy is absorbed by the steel and it will weaken much quicker.

bullet profile is also a factor. in WW1 the germans used case hardened armour plate sheilds to protect their machine gun emplacements. it was determined that a 30-06 would not penetrate, but that a 30-06 with the bullet pulled and reloaded base first would punch right thru, blowing spall off the back side. the difference in effect had to do with the duration of expression of energy. the bullet striking point first crumpled over a short but measureable period of time, extending the expression's duration. the base first loading expressed it's energy instantaneously.

[rockrat]

We have T1 for close in (1") and the 223's do pock mark them. They will last about 5 years. We have AR500 for some targets, but its tough to see where you hit. Last targets, we went with AR400, which seems to do well. Most of the AR targets are 1/2" thick, although we do have a few 1" thick AR500's for those that shoot 50's.

[Gunslingerdoc]

3/8" will be fine. I used to have a company that made targets...My friends parents had a company subcontracted to make armor for Humvees and we could get the 'scrap' cheap. I can tell you from personal experience 50 BMG BALL (not AP) will bend/dish a manhole cover sized plate at 35 yards - I lacked the courage to shoot it any closer (35yds was probably stupid - but I was younger and dumber then) but will not penetrate.

What will wreck you plates in short order are small caliber hypervelocity rounds - like a 220 swift breaking 4000fps...about 50% will penetrate at 100yds. A 7mm 120gr bullet at 4000fps will penetrate about 10% of the time....velocity and little bullets = BAD. Steel core will ding up/crater the plates over time which can result in unpredictable spall so be careful there as well. Im still using prototypes in my back yard range and theyve had 1000's of Full auto, 308 and 556...rarely steel core. theyre 15 years old and still safe and working fine.

Also remember, how you cut the steel effects its hardness - torch cutting results in temper loss the worst (it decreases as you get farther from the edge), plasma cutting isnt as bad. controlling thermal spread obviously helps. water jet cutting is the least damaging to hardness.