Steel Gong sizes

CYanchycki

CYanchycki

Club Coordinator
I am making steel gongs for out at the farm and am wondering waht the average sizes are that are used at different yardages.

I was thinking 300, 500, 700, 1000. I was thinking,

300 6" circle
500 12"x12"
700 14"x14"
1000 18"x18"

Any thoughts?

Calvin
 
I don't know what is proper but I use a 12" x 12" at 1000 on my range.
 
It would depend

If you are setting gongs for shooting standing or off hand then the sizs would be much larger.

But for a varmint rifle off a rest or bench I think 2 inches at 200 yards, 3 inches at 300, 5 inches at 500, 8 inches at 700 and 12 inches at 1000.

I think if you have accurate rifles the larger targets might get boring after a while.

I don't shoot much past 500, but hitting a beer can at that distance is fairly easy.
 
It is for

off a bench.

I will be shooting my Rem 700 6BR and factory 243 Win. It will be for my bud's to shoot with there factory hunting rifles as well.

I am new to playing with long range shooting so I was thinking having larger targets to start with then I could always make smaller ones later.

In regards to larger ones getting boring after a while not yet for me. I have had some trouble hitting 14X14 at 500 with 20 mph crosswinds on occasion.

Calvin
 
If you're buddies are hunters you might want to get a set of standard steel NRA silhouiette targets of roughly life size animals to make things a little more interesting. A set conists of a Gallina (chicken)set a 200 meters, a Javelina (pig) set at 300 meters, a Guajalote (turkey) set a 385 meters, and Borrego (ram) set at 500 meters.
It's intened to be shot with a typical huning rifle standing, no sling or other support.

Heres's more info: http://www.nrahq.org/education/training/marksmanship/rifle_silhouette.asp

In the actual sport the targets must be knocked over, but a mounted set is a lot of fun and good for practice. The targets are heavy made of steel armor place. The ram weighs about 50 lbs. Common cartriges for the sport are in the 6mm to 30 cal range, Most 308 based cartridges work.
 
If you're buddies are hunters you might want to get a set of standard steel NRA silhouette targets of roughly life size animals to make things a little more interesting. A set conists of a Gallina (chicken)set a 200 meters, a Javelina (pig) set at 300 meters, a Guajalote (turkey) set a 385 meters, and Borrego (ram) set at 500 meters.
It's intened to be shot with a typical huning rifle standing, no sling or other support.

Heres's more info: http://www.nrahq.org/education/training/marksmanship/rifle_silhouette.asp

In the actual sport the targets must be knocked over, but a mounted set is a lot of fun and good for practice. The targets are heavy, made of 3/8" or 1/2" armor plate. The ram weighs about 50 lbs. Common cartridges for the sport are in the 6mm to 30 cal range.

I use the same targets for practice from a bipod with longer range rifles (7mm STW, 300-378 Wby) with the same targets set at 1000, 1500, 1760, and 2000 yards. The chicken is easy but the further ones are a real challenge. The problem is telling where the misses are impacting even with dry ground and a spotter.
 
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dead ringer

I am told that a high pressure bottle IE scuba tank with the bottom cut off make a beautifull sound
 
Why would anyone shoot a 50 cal that close???

When steel plates are set up at <100 they are typically angled slightly forward to deflect the bullet down.

At 1000 yds, I think a 18"x18" would be minimum. You can paint them and see how close to center you hit when you drive out there. If they are shooting hunting rifles, they will never hit anything smaller!!
 
slugger said:
Why would anyone shoot a 50 cal that close???

When steel plates are set up at <100 they are typically angled slightly forward to deflect the bullet down.

At 1000 yds, I think a 18"x18" would be minimum. You can paint them and see how close to center you hit when you drive out there. If they are shooting hunting rifles, they will never hit anything smaller!!
Click to expand...

Considering a standard 1000 yd target is like 5 ft X 6 ft and we all plan on using only the center 5 to 10 inches it don't always work out that way. :rolleyes: You can paint aiming center any size you want. Quite often it is helpful to know by how much you missed the center. You may think this is extreme but I have seen such plates mounted on trailers, as you can imagine they can be quite heavy.

D R
 
I have and use AR500 steel targets all the time. I tend to use 1.5 MOA round targets inside of 1K, but in decent winds even that can be tough to hit.

Outside of 1K I use a 1/2" 18"x24" tall plate, a 3/8 15x20 Shilouette, and a 1/2" 30" x 30" (sucker weighs at or slightly above 165 lbs.)".

I use a 4" dark Yellow/Gold circle in the center of the White steel targets, it shows up nice and still shows bullet impact when you hit it.

JeffVN
 
Thanks

fellas. I wanted some sort of idea what was used out there. I want the plates large enough for the factory rifles but still a bit challenging.

I think I will go with what I was thinking.

It is fairly easy, and I use fairly loosely, to hit the plate when you have a Kestrel in hand and a idea of the windage required.

The wonders of ballistics programs.

Calvin
 
plate size

For factory guns I would say 2 MOA targets past 400 yards.

We bring people to shoot with us and we uses,

10" circle at 550
18X20 at 1050. I would say a 24X24 target at a 1000 is about good. With any wind it will become a challange to hit every time!.

And for AR plate--forget about it past 500 yards. We shoot a 7RUM at 550 1/2inch plate and its fine. and at 1050 1/4 steel is fine. The 7RUM takes the paint off, A 308 with 175 SMK barely takes the paint off. Hard to see hits!

We have found the 7RUM puts a big crater in the steel at 500 and below. Nothing a little welding will not fix. At 400 it goes clean through.

I say make the plates much bigger than you think and just aim for the center.

With that said a 8" steel plate at 1050 is a great target to see you can hit it first. I swear if it was a 8 inch square we would have hit it a bunch. A round target just seems eaiser to miss.

Willys46
 
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