Plinking plate from hardware store

[south]

I know it won't last like a heavy duty shooting gong, but is it worth picking up a few 3-4mm steel sheets from the hardware store for plinking?

Will they last a while shooting centrefire or will they come apart so quick there's no point?

[Chronos]

Is it worth it? Not really. Your .22 will destroy 3mm pretty quick so a centerfire will turn it into a sieve the first day.

Minimum is 6mm mild steel for .22lr targets and a .223 will blow clear through 100 mild steel.

Look here for a bis500 target raft will survive all your centerfire shooting for a good ten years

http://stsonline.com.au/store/index.php ... ry&path=59

Chronos.

[1290]

rimfire ok, centre fire ok until you hit them....

I made up some target frames out of 10mm wire (mild steel), took a noob out with the 8x57 and said ok, try to hit paper.....FMJ goes through the steel like a hot knife through butter...

[bigfellascott]

rimfire ok, centre fire ok until you hit them....

I made up some target frames out of 10mm wire (mild steel), took a noob out with the 8x57 and said ok, try to hit paper.....FMJ goes through the steel like a hot knife through butter...

I poke a hole in a mates Hardox 500 plate using my 22.250! he couldn't believe it, we'd shot the crap out of it with 338lap, 308, 223, 222 etc and none of em made a scratch on it

[Chronos]

Yep, speed kills

Also be careful about shooting steel with centerfires at closer ranges.

Chronos

[bigfellascott]

It certainly did in this case! I think we had the plate set up around 80m or so away so no real issues there, the ground beneath the target was well chewed up. funnily enough that load was only doing around 3500fps so not overly fast for the 250 but I guess fast enough in combination with the .224 diameter pill (Sierra Super Roo).

[Chronos]

It certainly did in this case! I think we had the plate set up around 80m or so away so no real issues there, the ground beneath the target was well chewed up. funnily enough that load was only doing around 3500fps so not overly fast for the 250 but I guess fast enough in combination with the .224 diameter pill (Sierra Super Roo).

Sorry Scott my comment about close range on steel was advice for the OP,

Chronos

[bigfellascott]

Not a prob at all Chronos.

[Tiiger]

They'll work.

You won't get a rewarding *plink* because it'll just shoot straight through the plate, but you'll see it swing and get dozens of shots out of one.

[bigfellascott]

If it were me I'd go to a engineering place and buy some scrap plate of em, it would work out better in the long run I'd imagine.

[brett1868]

Got any friends on the council? The steel plates they use when doing road works look perfect if you could get one cut to size.

[disko]

Proper plates made for shooting aren't that expensive, not since they'll last you forever anyway.

Check out here these steel targets.