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Hi guys, at work i have a bunch of steel plate 20mm thick a mag drill and a welder eho will work for beers I want to have a go at long range gonging on a mates farm.
Anyone had a go at making them themselves and what sizes would you recommend? I'm thinking 300x300 two holes at the top small length of chain from holes to hanger. Any info would be helpful cheers
What type of plate? I use two warrahtahs and high tensile wire but 20mm might be a bit heavy for that
What grade of steel plate have you managed to get your hands on? Just asking as this will determine how long it will last.
My gong is a 250mm square with holes at the top corners. Chain attached with shackles. I have seen a better design where the chain is attached to the back of the plate about 80mm down from the top edge. This gives the plate a slight downward slant, so the bullet splatter heads down, and the chance of a bullet coming back are greatly reduced.
Mild steel no matter how thick will be cratered by most centrefires out to around 300 m, and close bits can come back at the shooter, so at a minimum bis 80 hardness is recommended (wear steel is a trade name as well i think). Your size is about right its 12 moa at 100, and 4 at 300 yds. Fire hose or conveyor belt makes the best hanger, and angle the attachment point so the plate hangs at about 10 deg over vertical so bullet splash is directed downwards, this also reduces damage to the plate surface.
If you are just using mild steel, you are pretty much wasting your time mate, no matter the thickness. With mild steel you will destroy the gong first session.
Do yourself a big favor and get hold of some wearplate. Mine are Hardox 450 12mm, others use bizalloy, all just different brands of wearplate. The bullets just disintegrate on the surface and dont damage the plate at all. Will last forever.
I have two plate sizes, a nice big 500x500 with a 2-3" bull painted in middle. (nothing worse than missing a small plate at range and not having a clue where you have missed. Much easier to get everything sorted if you have a bigger plate, so you can still see the splash from say 700 yards, then make adjustments and shoot again.
Then i have an 8" plate for when you want to make it a bit more challenging.
I hang a chain between two wharratahs and then hang the gong off the chain with D shackles and steel spring carribeaners
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I went for 200mm discfor portability . A lighter plate moves more on impact So abs0rbs less energy for craterng. As said its not so good When I miss! A big piece of paper on plastic corfUte is best for that.
It needs to behung from something stretchy . I've used old Climbing rope, I use a tight figure 8 Knot fixed by mild steel bolt and big Washer on the back of the plate which gives a nice down angle.
There is this thread mate.
http://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.n...ng-play-13813/
I use a steel frame with a vertical pin that the chain loop just drops onto. I move mine around every time so needed a portable solution.
12mm Bizalloy and the only thing to dent it was a few Barnes at 100 :D has had RUMs hitting them from 100 too and no issues
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PS the frames don't look that pretty now :)
Awesome info boys thanks for that! we have some 20mm 300x300 mild steel cleats that attach the steel beams to concrete spandrels kicking around site that i was hoping to use as they are going to get binned (wrong size etc) I'll ask the steelys for some wear plate now. I like the 10mm over vert for bullet splatter idea! Also @Gibo I don't know how I missed that thread when searching, my bad ill have a good read now cheers
10mm Hardplate is perfect
@Blisters
The 20mm Mild plate will easily last for hundreds of rounds
It will crater, but you won't shoot holes in it.
The down side is if you want to move them then it will be heavy
I'd use it without hesitation.
Cheers
Pete
This is ours 16mm Biz 400. Conveyor belt straps.
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All welders work for beersies :thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Blisters
Universal currencyQuote:
Originally Posted by Tommy
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Use whatever you have available if its free. 20mm mild will last a while, will last longer beyond 300. Conveyer belting is the best by far, bolt it down the back face as suggested to give the plate a bit of a lean, and we use a piece about 150 wide, no need for fancy 2 straps or narrow pieces, bullet goes straight through it, whereas chain blows apart with a decent hit.
Mild will work ok for a short while. You will need at least 20mm thick as i had a .270 that would damn near punch holes in 25mm thick mild at 200m. My main issue with mild steel is the cratering. The more cratering there is this increases the risk of deflecting bullet splatter at some angle you don't want i.e. back at the shooter. If they are cleaned up and smoothed off a bit then mild works ok...
High hardness steels work much much better - bisalloy, hardox, etc. Get your steel once and get good steel and it will basically last forever.
Old fire hose works great to hang steel targets with. As i improve and replace targets i have i am moving towards using that over conveyor belt (which is also much better than chain)
Costing me $55 to get a 10mm bizalloy 400mm square from the local CNC shop...I imagine getting a few cut would drop the price way down
Yeah knowing the right people drops it even more ;)
