Round Ball Gong Targets

[Pocket]

Everytime I see one of Duelist1954 and Evil Roy's videos, I here that musical "Gong".

I have some metal targets but none make that wonderful "Gong". Mine just seem to go Ding.. One even goes "Ping".

What are some low cost DYI set ups that are LOUD?

 

[troy fairweather]

find your self some old cutting edges, farm disks work good to. https://www.agrisupply.com/plain-mm-sch-rch-disc-blade-concvity/p/33181/

 

[ericuda]

What you shooting and what gongs. I find best are thin ar500 gongs.

 

[Pocket]

What you shooting and what gongs. I find best are thin ar500 gongs.

Thin as in 1/4""?

 

[Officers'Wife]

Interesting... Perhaps if you have access to a foundry furnace you could pour something out of aluminum bronze. Let me puzzle on the subject a while and see if I can come up with something more practical.

Okay, suppose you set up the target to ring a gong instead of the target itself being one?

Consider: using a fifty-five gallon drum… You set up a wooden target attached to a long steel rod that fits into a pipe welded into the side of the drum. Hanging from the inside is a large piece of steel well pipe say two or three inch diameter that is suspended from the top of the drum. When the round ball hits the wood target the energy of the ball pushes the rod against the pipe acting like the clapper of a bell.

The advantages would be that the wood faceplate could have paper targets glued or stapled to it and could be easily replaced with a trip to the lumberyard. With a little effort and a grinder you could "tune" the pipe to any note you desire. And with a little imagination and a lot of steel pipe you could actually play tunes when the faceplate is hit.

 

[ericuda]

Yep I order from shootingtargets7. Thinner targets seem to ring better.

 

[troy fairweather]

get them cow bells from harbor fright lol.

 

[arcticap]

I sent Pocket a personal message about one.
It seems like a "steel" for the price.

 

[44 Dave]

I shoot at old fire extinguishers, the Co ones are thicker metal.

 

[LonesomePigeon]

I went and rewatched some duelist 1954 videos and I think at least part of the musical sound is due to the recording equipment picking up sound you don't normally hear. When you are shooting, your ears are much closer to the gun blast than the recording equipment is.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

It also depends on how they "hang" folks, if they "hang" at all.
I have three AR500 steel targets 3/8 ". One is 8", one is 6", and one is 4". They are rated for modern rifle, jacketed bullets, and they work fine for those. They also work very well for lead round balls and conicals. In fact all lead or lead alloy only knocks the paint off their surface. So for BP shooting, they should last pretty much longer than I will last.

Anyway...

IF they are bolted to a 2x4 or 4x4, they only make a sort of "donk" sound.

If they are suspended from chains, or from an actual steel plate holder https://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist?k=steel+plate+ they ring much better, since the steel is able to vibrate. I just use cheap, small C-clamps to hook the chains onto and clamp on a target backing which lets the plate hang about 2" in front of the target backing at the range, and for where the plate attaches, I use cheap aluminum "carabiners" made for holding car keys (not actual climbing carabiners). With the all lead or lead alloy bullets there's no worries, but..., if you also try jacketed bullets, if you hit high on the plates, near the carabiners, after a while, they get damaged by the splattering copper from the jackets, and fail. Pretty cheap replacement though. They ring fine

The BEST ring I've seen is when steel wire from a coat hanger is used, on a plate with a single hang-point. You need a backstop close to such a plate, as a hit will spin it and swing it something fierce, but the small amount of surface contact from the coat hanger wire gives the most vibration so the most sound. BUT it's also fragile and easy for the bullet splatter to cut that wire.

What does NOT work...is cast iron pot lids, or a cast iron, round griddle. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/lo...iron-fajita-skillet-with-handle/530L6OG3.html My .530 patched ball fired with 70 grains of 3Fg will zip right through one of those hanging at 50 yards.

Not a cheap alternative to proper steel.

LD

 

[woodnbow]

Long time ago a buddy cut some plates for me. 1/2” mild steel so they’re only good for bp or lead handloads under 1500 FPS or so. I hang them from cedar branches using the wire used to bind bundles of 5/8” rebar. It’s probably 4 or 6 gauge wire and a the target is free to vibrate and gives a really nice aural feedback but the wire is stiff enough that the plates don’t twist and swing too much.

 

[drobs]

I found out both 5.56 & 7.62x39 will cut through an AR400 steel plate target like a hot knife through butter...

 

[Pocket]

Long time ago a buddy cut some plates for me. 1/2” mild steel so they’re only good for bp or lead handloads under 1500 FPS or so. I hang them from cedar branches using the wire used to bind bundles of 5/8” rebar. It’s probably 4 or 6 gauge wire and a the target is free to vibrate and gives a really nice aural feedback but the wire is stiff enough that the plates don’t twist and swing too much.

I like this idea. But I still want an Evil Roy

 

[woodnbow]

I like this idea. But I still want an Evil Roy

Yeah, I can see the attraction... I started using these the first year I hunted elk with a revolver so 30 years or so ago. They’re still going strong except for a couple of.338 caliber holes in one of them.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I found out both 5.56 & 7.62x39 will cut through an AR400 steel plate target like a hot knife through butter...

Thanks, that's good to know, as I am planning on getting a few more steel targets, and I will be extra careful to stick to AR500 and avoid AR400 or lesser steel, as the AR500 handles 5.56 and 7.62x39 and even 7.62 NATO without any trouble.

LD

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Try the top of an old oxygen cylinder, they ring like a bell. I used to set up the targets for the club I belonged to, we had this cut off top from an old oxygen cylinder that was cut about 12 inches past the shoulder. It had a ring welded to the threaded part for a hanger.

 

[westernrover]

This has more to do with the acoustics of the space than the target.

 

[daboyleroy]

Try the top of an old oxygen cylinder, they ring like a bell. I used to set up the targets for the club I belonged to, we had this cut off top from an old oxygen cylinder that was cut about 12 inches past the shoulder. It had a ring welded to the threaded part for a hanger.

ricochet ?

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Not really, the curved surface tends to deflect stuff off to the sides rather than back at the shooter, unless you hit it absolutely straight on. We also set the target out around 100 yards or so, if something did come back at you there wasn't anything left for energy.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

ricochet ?

And all lead tends to splatter much more than ricochet. That's why you see minimum distances for modern pistols being used on steel, as it's from the bits bouncing around. I've seen a few true ricochets but they were jacketed ammo, or in one case a fellow was trying to use steel ball bearings as a substitute to comply with California law ...., wow them things bounce a lot!

LD

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I hang mine from chains. One made little noise so I wired a bell to the chain so it hangs behind the target. A distinct "ding a ling."

 

[Gordon]

Another vote for the cut off oxygen cylinders they really gong ! We used to throw old 16 " diameter disc harrow blades over high hillsides strung on ATV winch cable so they dangled in front of the cliff face. They would ringije crazy for quite a while before we hauled them up and replaced the disc

 

[wild willy]

Be very careful shooting any cylinders or barrels.As long as the bullets don’t go thru the metal it’s pretty safe but if a bullet go in a hole along the side it will go around inside till it runs out of energy or finds another hole.Ive seen it shooting 55 gallon drums bullet whizzed by our heads .

 

[Loyalist Dave]

...,so I wired a bell to the chain so it hangs behind the target. A distinct "ding a ling"

I never thought of adding a distinct noise to the steel target. Why not? Could be fun!

LD