impact resistant material?

[BrokenBiker]

been asked by a mates wife if i can make him a life sized fox shaped target, free standing, for his birthday later on this year...

it will need to withstand a .223 round from 60 ish yards and up...

she has come up with a little game for me and him...get the fox target with a bicycle reflector eye and a small exploding target stuck to the shoulder, i hide it somewhere on the farm and then while he is out and about if he comes across it he shoots it,moves it to somewhere else, posts the spent target patch through my letter box and then i know its my turn to try and find it and repeat etc

basically its a way of adding a bit of fun, target practice and an explosion to the days when we go out for hours on end and see nothing at all...

so what steel would stand up to an 1100ft/lb thud?

i was thinking something like en8 as its quite tough...i also thought that maybe there would be an issue with ricochet so thought of angling it forward slightly to direct the round downwards on contact with the plate

 

[WorkshopChris]

Would you be better off with some sort of sacrificial front on a frame to avoid any possibility of the ricochet.

 

[BrokenBiker]

Would you be better off with some sort of sacrificial front on a frame to avoid any possibility of the ricochet.

not really, that would mean having to replace it every few shots and that would get expensive quick the amount of times we are out. weight isnt an issue by the way, he rides a quad around the land that i usually borrow if i cant be arsed to walk

 

[wyn]

They usually tend to be made of Hardox.

 

[Parm]

Have a word with eSCHNe (think that's how you spell it) he's doing something similar for one of his mates

 

[BrokenBiker]

They usually tend to be made of Hardox.

didnt think of hardox, i have some gong type targets here made of ar500 and one made of ar550 but i imaging the amount of material i would need is going to be hard to get hold of in anything special, especially with it being a one time order

 

[123hotchef]

get a sheet of that 20mm steel from @Welderpaul

 

[Maker]

I would have thought plain old mild steel of decent thickness would be fine.

 

[Mr shiney]

Erm....Speaking as an RCO, you are opening yourself to a world of pain on that one from a legal and safety perspective. A round of that calibre bouncing around after bouncing of steel has an unpredicted trajectory and is highly dangerous. Your land is max calibered based on the availability of straight trajectory back stop.

Personally I would make it out of something like marine ply so the round passes through and terminates safely in the ground. It's going to be sacrificial and will need replacing in due course but you are less likely to get yourself into strife......

 

[MattH]

didnt think of hardox, i have some gong type targets here made of ar500 and one made of ar550 but i imaging the amount of material i would need is going to be hard to get hold of in anything special, especially with it being a one time order

I've got a couple of metres of ABRO 10mm. PM me.

 

[penfold]

Erm....Speaking as an RCO, you are opening yourself to a world of pain on that one from a legal and safety perspective. A round of that calibre bouncing around after bouncing of steel has an unpredicted trajectory and is highly dangerous. Your land is max calibered based on the availability of straight trajectory back stop.

Personally I would make it out of something like marine ply so the round passes through and terminates safely in the ground. It's going to be sacrificial and will need replacing in due course but you are less likely to get yourself into strife......

Make the hinged target a shallow fox-shaped tray/dish and melt lead into it; lots of mass to absorb the inertia, squishy and absorbent, it might even catch the rounds. Every so often just remelt to get a fresh target.

 

[Hitch]

Polycarbonate?

 

[Parm]

Erm....Speaking as an RCO, you are opening yourself to a world of pain on that one from a legal and safety perspective. A round of that calibre bouncing around after bouncing of steel has an unpredicted trajectory and is highly dangerous. Your land is max calibered based on the availability of straight trajectory back stop.

Personally I would make it out of something like marine ply so the round passes through and terminates safely in the ground. It's going to be sacrificial and will need replacing in due course but you are less likely to get yourself into strife......

What's an RCO?

 

[Mr shiney]

What's an RCO?

Range Control Officer. Both civilian and ex military.

 

[Parm]

Range Control Officer. Both civilian and ex military.

Thanks, ive been educated fella

 

[blenkie1]

Could you not try a few different thickness and see what works. I think 8mm mild steel would hold it.

 

[Brad93]

8mm steel would have dents in it, big dents.

Whatever you choose the target needs to be hanging on chains from a frame to absorb some of the energy of the round. If you're using Vmax style plastic hollow points richochets shouldn't be a problem as the bullet should fragment, if you're using normal rounds I'm not sure.

 

[blenkie1]

Yeah would have dents but don't think it would pass through. Worked on a mod base where they were testing roadside bombs against steel plates and firms like hesco bastion. Frightining stuff When you think they were just ball bearings.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

You're going to be wanting hardox/armox if you can get hold of it , but as others have stated you're going to get some hellish ricochets, not something I'd want to be in the vicinity of

 

[blenkie1]

Personally I would make it out of something like marine ply s

Think I would have to agree