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Steel or paper


a matt

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I'm getting ready to order some targets for my practics range. My question is.. Does it help or hurt to shoot with mainly steel. Steel is just easier to reset. I'm thinking a good mix of each. What do you think? The area is large enough for a field course, but is only 1 bay. Thanks.for any suggestions in advance.

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Do both. More fun.

A box of 50 targets is very reasonable. I had mainly steel on my home range, this year I got a box of 50 paper targets and I'm so glad I did. I find them a great for additional training. It's kinda hard to get realistic hard cover and no shoots with steel. You can do it of course, but with the paper you can do it just like you find in a match.

In addition I got me one of those fancy target paster thingys. I love that thing!

Edited by Chris iliff
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Steel, no pasting, you know when you hit it and it won't blow away. A can of paint now and then is all you need. I had a practice range in my back yard back in Illinois. I had steel metric targets, round plates and a texas star. The texas star was the most fun to shoot but had to reset it after each time. Steel metric targets and plates were the best. I miss them now, I have to drive 50 minutes to get to a shooting range.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I keep meaning to write an article about "The potential perils of pass/fail practice."

Basically, when practicing on steel, your shots are either pass or fail.

This is not strict enough for USPSA shooting.

Shooting on steel can help when you are learning to call your shots, but you gotta shoot some paper too.

If you only have access to steel, make the shots difficult.

SA

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I would much rather practice on paper, it is too easy to get sloppy on steel

Wow. I'm honestly surprised at this answer. I usually DO practice with both, however I recently started practicing with 8" steel plates at various distances. 8" happens to be the exact same size at the down zero zone of the IDPA target. It's amazing how "easy" it is to miss that target at speed. I try to do drills with the 8" plates at ranges from 10 yards to 20 yards. If you don't call your shots and have already started to transition to the next steel it KILLS you in time. It's an eye awakener to see how many DOWN ONEs I'd get!

I like to do a mix of steel and paper as well... just for what seems to be a good balance.

Oh and one other thing. Moving into a position to engage a target is awesome with steel.... and difficult at many "easy" distances!

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Paper, especially because of partials and no shoots. Ideally both, but mostly paper. And paper don't lie, you will see the holes. When shooting steel make sure you take some paint, and spray often, otherwise you won't be getting the whole story. On steel call your shots, paying attention to only dings will cost you, when you shoot a match with hard cover steel partially concealing a popper you will understand this.

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Good topic!

As mentioned, a steel target is generally more difficult to hit when it's the first OR last target to shoot in any one position. Being able to call that first or last shot in a given position is a valueable skill, and the margin of error is much less when shooting steel.

If you can set up some steel plates so they don't fall when hit, do so and put 2 shots on each steel. The farther away you get from the steel target, the more it will show you the deficiancies with your grip/sight tracking/shot calling.

Close up "hoser" arrays with no-shoots or hard cover are impossible to re-create with steel, and come up enough in matches to justify getting some paper targets into your practice sessions.

If I HAD to choose a ratio of steel:paper, factoring in cost of cardbard targets and longevity of steel, I'd probably go with about a 3:1 steel to paper ratio.

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I think steel is okay if you shoot alot of targets that are smaller than the a zone on a metric target. This way you are at least practicing on a target that is smaller, which, if you prefer steel, is somewhat of a compromise to using paper.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I like to use both. A tip for the budget minded (I still haven't gotten around to ordering targets and tape): help out your local club, you can take the best of the used targets home after the match for practice targets. Use masking tape to tape.

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I think steel is okay if you shoot alot of targets that are smaller than the a zone on a metric target. This way you are at least practicing on a target that is smaller, which, if you prefer steel, is somewhat of a compromise to using paper.

Smaller steel is also cheaper :cheers:

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Where is the best place to get 8" steel circle plates with stands?

I shoot mostly paper but I want to work on transitions and also want to work on calling the shots without waiting for the sound.

PM if it is against the rules to post a link. Thanks.

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I prefer paper at 25y and less, and steel for 50y.

25 y and less I like to see how I group and where, but at 50 Y, a good hit on the popper mean roughly a good A or C hit, enough fo me at those distances.

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I keep coming back to this thread. Other than steel usually being painted white (doesn't have to be) and doesn't need to be taped- there is no difference IMO. You can get steel that is shaped just like an A zone or down zero zone.... and that IS what we are aiming at on paper right? I guess a miss is less forgiving since there are no Cs or Ds. You might be surprised how many Cs. down 1s you are letting yourself get away with. Just saying.

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I use both steel and paper for practice. The majority of the time I use steel less maintenance and instant feedback, but like others have said you need to incorporate paper into your practice.

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If I could only have one it would be steel. Not falling steel but small static steel. I use a bunch of 6x6 plates welded to 1/2" rebar that can easily be moved around, shot as many times as you want and need no resetting. When I practice my goal is no misses as fast as I can go. Makes A's on paper almost feel like cheating.

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