Steel targets

[frayluisfan]

How close is too close with steel targets? A friend was popping a stell plate from 5-7 yards the other day, and the plate was hanging from a screw that went through a hole in the top of the plate. This made the plate swing around a bit and it seemed to me that the swinging plate could make ricochets go flying back at the firing line. But I don't know. Is this an issue?

Thanks in advance.

 

[LiquidTension]

Minimum range for our pistol plate machine at the rifle club is 10 yards and I've still had some fragments hit me.

 

[SASS#23149]

Lead or jacketed?

we shoot led up close in cowboy shoots,and I see some IPSC guys shooting jacketed farily close.Having a little flex would make the bullet recochet less I'd think.
We do get hit hard once in a while,so I can't say it's the smartest way to target shoot,but it sure is fun.
do not ever do it without safety glasses,and side shields are a real help there.It's usualy the bystanders that get hit it seems.

 

[M2 Carbine]

I shoot faster pistol bullets, 800-1,000 fps at my steel as close as 5 yards away.
Shooting slower bullets, about 700 fps and under, I'll shoot from 10+ yards.

The fast bullets virtually explode into dust and very small pieces when hitting the steel but the slower bullets break up into larger pieces, as big as half the bullet, with some splashing back at times.

As long as the steel is fairly smooth the fragments and dust tends to fly off to the sides and bottom but if the steel is cratered the chances of bullet material splashing back is greatly increased.

I've been hit maybe 30 times by splash back, but never hard enough to scratch the skin, in the about 20 years I've used this setup for pistol shooting.
I keep all the steel facing the shooter. I don't like targets swinging as you describe. I have swinging targets but they are hanging by both top corners.

 

[flatdog]

http://www.policeone.com/police-products/training/shooting-range/articles/67903/

While the above link from (2003) is somewhat dated. It basically confirms and augments the information in the previous posts.

flatdog