Steels for practice? What do you use?

[Therealkoop]

I want to pick up some steels for shotgun, handgun, and rifle practice soon. I was thinking 8" or 6" circles. Probably only getting 3 for now (and a stand) so I need a good size to cover all my practice.

Any thoughts?

[fueddy]

4 inch is used at a lot of bigger matches so training with them couldn't hurt on pistol and shotgun. Rifle the "standard" popper and 6 inch Colt Speed steel are great for 100-200. And you know a guy that has a membership to a 500 meter range fyi lol

[wgj3]

If only for shotgun and handgun, not too much of a challenge as it hasn't got to be super tough steel. If you wanna use them for rifle too, then the cost at least doubles. Self-resetting mini poppers and/or colt speed plates are tough to beat since they react nicely, but you don't have to stand em back up.

Edited September 16, 2013 by wgj3

[Therealkoop]

Looks like those poppers are 4" and 6" at the widest parts. Might just buy a set of both (4" and 6" plates), since 6" is pretty standard for a pistol plate rack as well. Thanks, and Eddy I have enough trouble at 200, 500 would be pretty tough with my .223 bulk ammo.

[Alaskapopo]

I want to pick up some steels for shotgun, handgun, and rifle practice soon. I was thinking 8" or 6" circles. Probably only getting 3 for now (and a stand) so I need a good size to cover all my practice.

Any thoughts?

I use 10 inch steel challenge circles and square plates for pistol practice. For rifle I use C zone style steel and auto poppers. I also practice on the MGM spinner. I like practicing on steel that I don't have to reset. More time shooting.

pat

[GuildSF4]

Self re-setting rifle rated 90% bowling pin targets of my design.

[mpeltier]

If you can only get three for now, the most versital would probably be 6" plates. The majority of my range steel is 6" and 4" plates. I do have one full size IPSC static steel plate that gets used more than all my other steel. And my favorite set of plates are little Micro-IPSC plates that are 4" body with a 2" head. I made all my steel (about 95 pieces plus stands) out of mildly hard steel I purchased locally from a local steel company that also sheared it to size and I welded it with a little Lincoln welder I baught. Total investment was less than 1k

.

Edited September 18, 2013 by mpeltier

[Therealkoop]

I ended up ordering 3 target stands, and a set of 6" and 4" plates. Should hold me over for now. The good thing is that the stands are the expensive part, plates are cheap. Ill get more in the future.

[mpeltier]

Micro-IPSC

[markhawkeyeordnance]

I recently switched to steel and I can't believe how much more fun I am having on range days. I picked up 4 5" plates on shepard hooks, 2 10" steel auto poppers and a 2/3 IPCS on a static stand. I knew that it would be great for pistol training but the real surprise was the rifle. I set the poppers up at 100 and 200 meters and shot at them with different positions (off hand, prone, or off staging) while sprinting downrange in 25 yard increments on the otherwise empty bay. I discovered several little technique flaws when my heart got pumping that I have never been able to address at a match. I could go on - I am like a kid at Christmas right now with a new set of toys...

[MetropolisLake]

My dad made his own set out of 3/8" mild steel and was quite proud of them. Works great for hand guns, even .44 mag, but I shot them with a 30-06 once. Kept thinking I was missing as they weren't budging. Then I checked on them and there were all these melted holes in them. He wasn't happy.

[Jesse Tischauser]

I only use MGM steel. I've had the knock offs and it simply doesn't hold up. Plus MGM sponsors the heck outta 3 gun and the shooting sports as a whole. So that's where my $ goes.

1 plate rack

3 full size IPSC steel targets

1 B/C Zone

20 - 5" round

10 - 4"x10" rectangles

20 - 6" squares

6 - 10" circles

A Flash Target

2 Colt Auto Poppers

2 Skinny Sammy Auto poppers

I practice with whatever target is common at the match that I'm about to shoot next. Every MD has his own flavor of steel size/type.

[Jesse Tischauser]

Grizzly Targets

AR500 Steel, hot dipped galvanized

http://www.grizzlytargets.com

Wow those look like MGM Targets knock offs for sure. Plus I've never seen Gruzzly as a match sponsor. Hmmmm? I know where my money is going.

[Bryan 45]

How long does galvanizing stay on an auto popper being impacted by a 55g bullet at 2800 fps?

The best pricing I've found on MGM targets is from Cheaper Than Dirt. I just ordered some Colt Speed Steel autopoppers for $137.00 e, which included the sniper base. The 6" wide x 13" tall CSS has turned out to be a great all around target. Excellent for handgun practice from 7 to 50 yards and rifle from 80 to 350 yards. Get them stretched much past that and they become quite a challenge. Very portable, and with the sniper base all you have to do is throw them out on the ground.

Edited September 24, 2013 by Bryan 45

[Doug H.]

I've had an R&R 6" self setter for 4 years and it works great. Set it at 100 yards for off hand practice then move it back past 200 and shoot it from different positions. Lots more fun than shooting paper. More expensive than the competition but contains a lot more AR500 steel and will last a lifetime plus no springs to break.

Doug

http://randrtargets.com/site/products-page/reactive-targets/6-self-setter-popper/

Edited September 24, 2013 by Doug H.

[MetropolisLake]

How long does galvanizing stay on an auto popper being impacted by a 55g bullet at 2800 fps?

Interesting question. There does seem to be differing levels of galvanization when speaking in general. The galvanization on deck components is horrendous, but my tractor box blade is holding up surprisingly well, and that's with a 5,200 pound 60 horse tractor tugging rocks and concrete out of the ground. I'm not about to shoot it though.

Edited September 24, 2013 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[rkgsmith]

We use a lot of Big Dog Steel, super targets and a great guy to deal with..

[toothandnail]

We make all our own, mild steel for pistol/SG, 3/8-1/2" AR500 for rifle.

Plate racks , 4" and 6" plates

Flashers - mini IPSC

Dueling tree , 4" and 6" plates

Static mini IPSC , also with 3" hostage target

MANY 4"x4" plates

Texas stars

Paper holders

Drop turn

double drop turn

Single and Double swingers

Spinners

Almost forgot

Osama and his Camel :roflol:steel

Edited September 26, 2013 by toothandnail

[MarkCO]

Just because steel is AR500, does not mean it is as good as MGM steel. The AR500 is "abrasion resistance" and does not have a direct correlation to impact resistance. MGM knows this and they do make the best stuff.

I use 2 of the skinny 4" auto-poppers more than anything else for practice. I do have an 8" for out at 300 yards plus.

[toothandnail]

Just because steel is AR500, does not mean it is as good as MGM steel. The AR500 is "abrasion resistance" and does not have a direct correlation to impact resistance. MGM knows this and they do make the best stuff.

I use 2 of the skinny 4" auto-poppers more than anything else for practice. I do have an 8" for out at 300 yards plus.

I was surprised/disapointed with this MGM at one match I RO'd, we had 3 on our stage that did this, one was worse, one was not as bad.

This one had been shot with armor pirecing. I believe they DID replace them, no charge.

Edited September 26, 2013 by toothandnail

[Chills1994]

Back a couple of years ago, I helped Mike run a steel challenge stage at the Scholastic Clays Nat's. In talking with him, it sounded like to me that everything is farmed out, or at least the cutting of the AR500 (or whatever steel is used) to places that have a laser. To me it sounded like firms that made airplane or aersopace parts. While that is nifty that Mike is able to get nice clean cuts that are very accurate, I somehow doubt he is getting in large sheets of AR500 from just one supplier and then transporting the sheet to whatever laser company, coming back in a week and picking up the cut out parts.

IIRC, from the Steel Challenge club packet I got, there were like only 3 places in the whole US that make AR500 steel.

[Alaskapopo]

Just because steel is AR500, does not mean it is as good as MGM steel. The AR500 is "abrasion resistance" and does not have a direct correlation to impact resistance. MGM knows this and they do make the best stuff.

I use 2 of the skinny 4" auto-poppers more than anything else for practice. I do have an 8" for out at 300 yards plus.

I was surprised/disapointed with this MGM at one match I RO'd, we had 3 on our stage that did this, one was worse, one was not as bad.

This one had been shot with armor pirecing. I believe they DID replace them, no charge.

Looks like it was shot with some heavy caliber stuff. What was the range. My MGM auto poppers are holding up pretty well even when hit with .308 and 30 06. But I keep them at 100 yards and out.

Pat

[toothandnail]

Nothing bigger than .308, if I remember correctly they were at 75 and 100.

[Chaser_2332]

I get my steel from the people that I see sponsoring the sport, in the long range game I choose big dog steel. Ryan is great to deal with and his targets are awesome.