Are steel targets safe to shoot? dont they ricochet?

Ricochets are basically not a thing.

Here it is simplified for you

>high velocity (rifle) rounds may put a crater into armored steel at close range
>bullets (kind of) turn into liquid when they hit something harder than them
>if you have a crater in armored steel a piece of bullet can enter this crater, pull a 180° and come back at you
>manufacturers specify what calibers are safe to shoot at what ranges

tl;dr- this has happened a total of 2 times in the course of 700 trillion rounds being fired at AR500 or similar targets

>>30738620
$.20 cents have been deposited into your account.

Sincerely,
AR500 Armor

>>30738631
AR500 isnt a brand dumbass, its a material. This is true for ANY steel targets

I got hit by ricochets (that's a funny word) on the range about a dozen times. Mostly pistol rounds. Nothing ever hurt. It was shocking because fuck - I just got shot. Nothing penetrated or caused damage.

>>30738652
That not a ricochet. Thats tiny shrapnel from you shooting the target hangers like a dumbass.
You are the reason most indoor ranges don't let us use steel core ammo of hollow points.

>>30738620
They are a fucking thing you gnome

22lr is the worst 2bh

If you hang them right, with the top angled toward you, it'll reduce the chance of a ricochet hitting you by directing any that do occur into the ground

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Well designed steel targets are perfectly safe, especially with pistol. Targets that are angled to direct bullets into the ground like those on the left and right in your picture can, in my experience, be shot essentially point blank with handgun. I've not done much with rifle as I don't have access to longer ranges and I don't want to put too much wear on my steel.

The only time I've had splatter (Not ricochet, but splatter) was targets that had some kind of base at a 90 degree angle to the target face (See pic). Even those were only an issue inside 15 yards, and the splatter was not a big deal even if I chose to shoot at than range.

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If a .45 can come back and hit me in the head hard enough to cut my scalp [superficial] Because I was shooting at bottles on frozen ground, it sure as fuck can come back at you from a steel target. Difference being is that 90% of the time fly-backs from steel are often not dangerous. The largest problem I see with returns are from faggots that use mild steel and not AR500.

If you intend on shooting steel, wear eye pro and stay at range or use frangible ammo if you're shooting rifles.

>>30738693
You could explain it without all the insults.

>>30738730
Frangible if you're close with rifles**

Proof reading is important, kids.

Also, I shoot steel every week. It's perfectly safe, just don't be a mongoloid.

>>30738723

I should also say, I actually OWN the stands to the left and right in your pic. They're fucking fantastic. They're heavy duty but pretty portable if you've got enough cargo space. When you put a good number of rounds into them, you can actually see a line in the ground beneath the targets where all of the spatter has been directed, it's very consistent and predictable if your steel is good and flat.

>>30738599
>Are steel targets safe to shoot? dont they ricochet?

It's unlikely for a standing target to redirect a projectile back at someone firing at a flat trajectory, even more so to send it back with enough force to hurt the shooter. Ricochets off of shallow angles are the only kind really worth worrying about and even then that's more about hitting other people. For instance, here in Austin every 4th of July some dumbass richfag ends up firing at a lake and hitting stuff on the other side, last year at least one person died in just such an incident.

All that being said, many ranges angle their steel targets slightly downward just to avoid that 1 in a million ricochet because there's really no reason not to.

>>30738706
>reading comprehension

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ABGIJwiGBc

>>30738804
Shame that isn't a proper steel target, huh?

>>30738734
And you could live without being such a fucking retard.

I'll change when you do.

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>>30738804
>>30738819

>Oh willy!

Every time

The worst I ever had was a tiny jacket fragment bounce back at 12 yards or so and get stuck in my pants fabric. With lead or plated bullets you might feel a tiny piece bounce back at you on rare occasions.

Don't shoot rifles closer than the design calls for or you might damage the target, but pistols are not an issue. Also bear in mind it is speed, not energy, that does the most damage. You can shoot steel all day at handgun ranges with a 4570 but a 223 will dimple it right away.

>>30738599
What about those floor rolling targets
>isnt shootint at the ground a bad idea kuz of our friend rico

>>30738749
This. I had my car shot at a range because somone let their 10 yeard old shoot their ar15, kid hit the ground in front of the target and it skipped over the burm and veered right. Right into my passenger door. Damn dont have a pic on my phone.

Basically hit the door, keyholed and put a big dent in and blew off the paint. Range people apologized, made the family leave and supposedly banned them because they argued or whatever.

>>30738723

This. If diameter of AR500 plate is small enough and they are thick enough, they can take intermediate calibers, but that may reduce their service life on the long run.

I would not place plates closer than 15 meters/yards for pistol. With shotgun they can be brought bit closer (12 meters/yards is what we are using as minimum) assuming that shells are 24 - 32 gram. When it comes rifles minimum distance of 20 - 25 meters/yards has proved pretty good.

AND while shooting plates wearing proper eye protection is NOT optional. Especially shotgun pellets can ricochet quite often, but small pellets do not have enough mass to do real damage unless they hit an eye.

There are still some very small risks involved. One my friends took a large fragment of .223 bullet from about 23 meters (we measured the distance after the event) to his face - superficial wound, no permanent damage but it bled like hell. That is the only real accident I have seen with ricochets over the years and tens of thousands of rounds fired at plates.

>>30738693
This.
I got hit in the neck with one once, that hurt like hell.

>>30738820
Suck a dick asshole.
Mommy and Daddy not love you enough?

Why not just shoot through plywood into a dirt bank to prevent all chances of injury or less them even more?

>>30738599

Properly hung, it'll never ricochet back at you provided the plates aren't compromised.

Now if its been pockmarked by shooting the wrong stuff at them it can cause shit to go wonky. But usually they'll deflect to the side or into the ground.

I know of multiple people who javelin been hit by shrapnel from shooting steel.
Generally it leaves a welt and nothing more however my grandmother did get a large enough chunk come back at her that she had to go to the hospital, after the x-ray the decided to leave it in rather than than take it out. "Dented" steel was blamed every time. As for my grandmother she isn't into guns but her boss, my dentist before he passed, had a range set up in the basement of his practice and they would sometimes shoot after hours. Now that I think about it that might have been a contributer to their cancers.

>>30738693
This, dumb asses always destroying the range.

>>30738734

Lol, what fucking hugbox did you crawl out of?

>>30738650
AR500 is an armour brand but idk if that's what he was referring to.

>>30739850
BECAUSE THEY USE AR "ABRASION RESISTANT" 500 GRADE STEEL

If the steel is harder than the bullet, which it is 99.99% of the time, then the bullet will basically bust and send all the shrapnel from the brass into the sides of the shit hanging the target. I've had to replace support posts from them having so much shit stuck in the sides

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>>30738599
>use steel hard enough not to crater
>angle it towards the ground
>angling not only makes it much safer by deflecting bullets//steel-cores/fragments away from you, but makes your steel much more resistant to damage
Also, xm193 556 is the most damaging round I've shot at my steel within 100 yards. It even makes a fool of steel cored 762x54r, which pic related has been pegged by countless times. 556 just melts through it every time since it's going so fast from a 23.3" RPK barrel.

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>>30740395
>cratering
Would that be the same as the divets I'm seeing on my steel?

How worried should I be about it?

What's a good reasonably priced steel target company?

>>30738631
>>30739850

jesus christ, ar500 is a rating for the hardness of steel you retards he wasnt making a plug for a company that doesn't even sell targets

https://www.moatargets.com/static-steel-targets

>>30739104
Why is the parking lot behind the berm at the range?

>>30739637
So it was unventilated? That sounds like it would smell good.

>>30738652
>I just got shot
Did ya? Faggot

>>30738599
Yes. Yes.

>>30740515
This. People need to stop thinking in branding. Fuck media culture.

>>30740473
just keep it 100 yards away and wear eye pro.
I wouldn't shoot it (with any caliber) up close with those craters.

>>30740473

Those craters won't do shit.

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>>30738599
I've used gongs for years now with no problems, even using a cratered rigid target(early prototype homemade poper made with retired gong with broken mounting brackets malfunctioned due to design flaw) I never had issue shooting 5.56, 12guage slugs, or 7.62x39(granted this was only one range trip). Pic related early design.

>>30740473
is that from 22lr?

>>30744954
.223/5.56 if I had to guess

>>30738620
>Ricochets are not a thing
>earpros are a meme
>ND's are things to brag about
>turning in guns is actually ok
>2A applies to all, except for blacks, trans, and gays.
>voting for Hillary isn't that bad

Keep it up /k/.

>>30740473
That doesn't look like AR500. It shouldn't be peening that much at the edges, even at very close range.

I wouldn't shoot that with anything, at any range, but those craters are at the shallow end. Still, my 5 year old AR500 targets with thousands of 5.56 impacts don't have craters even a tenth as deep as that, and I shot at 50 yards regularly.

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>>30738599
I set up a few of these and some steel on plant hangers. I havent had any problems, 22-308. as long as they swing down or up when you hit them it seems like you should be fine.

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You could target practice cops, but recently theyll start reacting to shit like pic

>>30738650
It is also a brand dumbass
http://www.ar500armor.com/

>This is true for ANY steel targets
see now this is actually not true

>>30738620
>Ricochets are basically not a thing.
oh yeah?
my scar say's your fuckin' wrong.