Thread: Richochet!!

Looking at replacing 50 metre swinging gongs at the Black Power range, had a piece of 1" bisaloy on trial last shoot, hung on two shackles, no chain. Shooting a 223 at it, there was a lack of movement on hitting and real ricochet danger. Current gongs dor BP shooting are swung off horizontal galv pipe, approx 4" long hinge to plate, these swing well and deflect projectile downwards. Anybody got any other ideas to stop the boredom?

Originally Posted by Maca49

Looking at replacing 50 metre swinging gongs at the Black Power range, had a piece of 1" bisaloy on trial last shoot, hung on two shackles, no chain. Shooting a 223 at it, there was a lack of movement on hitting and real ricochet danger. Current gongs dor BP shooting are swung off horizontal galv pipe, approx 4" long hinge to plate, these swing well and deflect projectile downwards. Anybody got any other ideas to stop the boredom?

All steel targets should be BIS500/AR500, arranged so that the impact face is square to the shooting position, and leaning forward at the top of the target, 20deg off vertical, to ensure that the bullet splatter is directed towards the ground and minimise the chance of a ricochet. Keep bullet speed (regardless of calibre) below 900m/sec if you want to keep your plates in good condition (not a problem for black powder)

To stop boredom:
1. stop shooting black powder (rate of fire is way too slow to be fun)
2. use live reactive targets (we need to import and release some ground hogs and some Meerkats!)

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

All steel targets should be BIS500/AR500, arranged so that the impact face is square to the shooting position, and leaning forward at the top of the target, 20deg off vertical, to ensure that the bullet splatter is directed towards the ground and minimise the chance of a ricochet. Keep bullet speed (regardless of calibre) below 900m/sec if you want to keep your plates in good condition (not a problem for black powder)

To stop boredom:
1. stop shooting black powder (rate of fire is way too slow to be fun)
2. use live reactive targets (we need to import and release some ground hogs and some Meerkats!)

I read that with interest until #1. #2 we use live pigeons for shotgun in the avo!
Under 900 FPS is a bit ask, my double does 1900 FPS and the 45/70 gets up there.
Thanks for the help on the above.
Sorry see your a metric man, just trebbled my speed!
Will take this to the range and try it. 50 metres is far for stuff to come back!

Originally Posted by Maca49

I read that with interest until #1. #2 we use live pigeons for shotgun in the avo!
Under 900 FPS is a bit ask, my double does 1900 FPS and the 45/70 gets up there.
Thanks for the help on the above.
Sorry see your a metric man, just trebbled my speed!
Will take this to the range and try it. 50 metres is far for stuff to come back!

Speed in the quoted post is 900 Metres per second unless he made a typo. That is 2900fps or thereabouts....

Originally Posted by timattalon

Speed in the quoted post is 900 Metres per second unless he made a typo. That is 2900fps or thereabouts....

No typo. I had (but currently cannot find ....??) a very detailed report from trials done in the USA on AR500 plate damage done with various caliber and projectile design.
The conclusion was that the caliber and bullet design had little to do with the level of plate damage, it was all about speed. They discovered that a .223 with a 50gr PSP projectile traveling at over 3,200fps was more damaging to the surface of the target than the likes of a 140gr .308 doing 2,700fps. The most damage from what they tested on the day was a .22-250 with 50gr doing 3,700's fps.
Only exception to this was larger caliber, heavy round nose projectiles that dented the plate rather than cratered it as the high speed projectiles did.

So, rule of thumb, don't let anyone shoot at your AR500 plate with anything with a MV above 3,000fps (900m/s round figures).