Shootin Steel!!!

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Wondered if anyone here has the same gun/shooting fettish that i do and if any of you have built any steel plinkin targets.  either dueling trees, poppers, or spinners?  I've made a few(a while ago) and just used scrap thin steel lain around, but investigating some of the larger manufacturers sites, they all talk about safe steel to shoot at.  they also talk about a limited number of manufacteres of steel that is deemed safe to shoot at(non pitting/, or of a hardness that won't warp or ding).  i guess my question is this; i typically shoot .45acp and am looking to make a few solid sillouette targets, but don't know enough about "rockwell hardness" to know what would be safe and last through multiple shooting sessions.  3/4" plate seems to be the standard, but where do you go to get specific hardness and how do you request hardness?  Any info on this would be greatly appreciated.  thanksT
Reply:I've seen targets made of A36 mild steel or AR400 alloy.  I believe that you meant to say 3/8" plate instead of 3/4" which would be excessive.  Either steel would work for pistols, but AR400 would last longer.  For rifle plates, I believe you'd need AR400 at a minimum and I'm not even sure that would work.-Heath
Reply:Wonder what all exactly they are talking about speaking of "safe" to shoot at?? Target fragmenting, sparks, too much bullet splatter?? I'm not a regular but I do plinkin on ocassion. 357, 38 special, cowboy 44-40, 22 mag and such. I'm way to attention deficit to stand there and plunk a hundred rounds into a single target so I can't really say what's good or bad. I'd just as soon see a spud go splat. I have made a few pingers and spinners over the long haul tho. Since I'm a casual shooter I'm not about to buy anything special for sure. What I use most often is used cutting edges off crawlers or motor graders. They run in the 3/8ths to 1/2 inch range for the average equipment. Pretty resiliant. A hopped up 357 will make dents at the thirty yard line. Part of the trick is the right amount of deflection and in the right direction. I try and make it to deflect down. The one I have now is about a 4×4 of 3/8ths or close with a small heavy square of some 1/2 on top, pipe in between. I've never tried any high velocity rounds on it. Couldn't say how that would hold up.Should edit to say that the cutting bars have the bolt holes on a regular basis so you have to work around those. Or leave a hole in the target and claim you went through it. That works on newbies for the first couple of misses.Last edited by Sandy; 06-16-2006 at 10:43 PM.
Reply:a member of our club cut slices from the axle of a railroad car.  These things are about eight inches in diameter and three to four inches thick.  They last forever on the handgun range but we go through one a year on the rifle range.  The bullets fragment on contact and, if you watch the target through a spotting scope, you can see the fragments kick up sand underneath.  They will last longer if they are suspended and allowed to swing.