Steel plate target tech

[Robinhood4x4]

Back in Jan when I went to the steel supply store I picked up some remnant steel plates to make some targets for when we go out to the desert to shoot. The steel is the cheapest stuff I could find so it's just mild steel, nothing fancy. I found a 1/4" thick steel plate, a 1/2" plate and 3/8" diamond plate.

The 3/8" diamond plate I ended up cutting in half and welding the two pieces back to back to make the thickness 3/4" inch. I also didn't want the targets themselves to take up too much room in the truck so I made them foldable.

http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010516%20(Medium).JPG

http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010522%20(Medium).JPG

Now the fun begins. We started out with .22 on the 1/4" plate and it withstood the beating just fine. No dents as expected. But then, my friend accidentally shot it with my .40 SW (180 grain) and to our surprise, it barely scratched the surface. There was a small dent that could barely be felt. It did end up breaking my lockwashers that I used to attach the plate to the frame.
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010588%20(Medium)2.JPG
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010589%20(Medium)2.JPG

We had our fun with the pistols, so we moved back 100 yards and tried out the AR15 in .223. Here are the results of the 3/4" thick plate being shot with a 55 grain FMJ:
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010612%20(Medium).JPG
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010614%20(Medium).JPG
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010615%20(Medium).JPG

Here's the 1/2" plate:
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010593%20(Medium).JPG

And here's the 1/4" plate:
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/IMG_4325%20(Medium).JPG

The depth of the craters in the 3/4" plate is about 3/8" so half the thickness. It probably would have went right through 3/8" plate. Unfortunately, I caught the 1/2" plate on the edge so it's hard to tell whether it would have went right through it or not. The 1/4" plate looks like I took a drill to it, it's such a clean hole.

I will be improving my plate attachment method and reinforcing the frames with angle iron to deflect the bullets. My folding design and anchor spikes worked perfectly and seemed to take the abuse.

At least now I can say my welds are bullet proof!
http://www.robinhood4x4.com/UY/steel_plates/P1010600%20(Medium).JPG

[RunnerUp]

nice dude, looks like you had some fun that day!

[Good Times]

fix em up so we can mash em when we visit ya!

looks good man!

[corax]

first off, nice work
second . . . wow, what did you use to burn a hole through the 1/4" plate?

[Robinhood4x4]

All the big craters and the hole are .223.

[oly884]

Next time, try and find some SS109 (steel tip penetrator) rounds for the rifle!

[fustercluck]

Let's set 'em up at 300 yards and have a go at them with a .300 win mag. Hehe. Nice work on the plates and frames!

[Robinhood4x4]

Yeah, I'm getting requests from friends to test out larger calibers, like the AK round. We'll try that next time. In the mean time, I might try my 30'06.