Proper steel type for plates?

[4ked Horn]

Hello all.

I just got off the phone with the man who runs the plant that my scrap T1 came from.

He had some interesting info about this type of steel. He said that the "T" in T1 comes from Tank, as in WWII tank armor. It was designed to be shot at.

He said that my 12" gong should do fine at 100 yards in front of my friends 300 win mag.

In fact he said that if the round goes through that he wants to see the plate.

Then he said that he has stuff that is tougher still (notice that I said tougher instead of harder). It almost sounded like what he meant was that if he was wrong that he would make me a great deal on an upgrade.

He also sells scrap @ .10 to .20 cents per pound. That seems like a heck of a deal.

I will be certain to let you all know how the gong popping contest goes this weekend.

 

[Brent]

Just got off the phone with Steel Fab and had quite the interesting conversation with Earl.

He said they have AR400 and T1 in stock with lots of remnants, 3/8", 1/2" and 3/4".

They don't stock the AR500.

Now here's what he said the difference is between T1 and AR400 & AR500.

Both are Abrasive and Impact Resistant Rated Steels.

T1 - Type B and A (B is more common) is normal weldable and maliable steel, more easy to form. It's rated at 321 BHN (brinnel hardness)
Type A - has a lower alloy content than Type B does, but is rated at 321 BHN still.

AR400 is rated at a minimum 360 BHN, medium carbon steel, tempered chromoly and boron treated. It is a little more brittle than T1 but is harder.

AR500 is rated at a minimum 500 BHN, everything else is the same as AR400.

He told me that a 12"x12"x3/4" piece of AR400 is about 30 lbs. and would run me about $60 cut up. Then I told him that the guys in the shop just tossed me some remnant pieces for free if they didn't have to cut them to specs and had something close to what I wanted.

He said sure, if you we could help you out if you didn't want too much and had some scraps.

Truth is, the guys in the shop said they load it all up in a van and get rid of the stuff if they couldn't use it if it's small, they don't store it for a rainy day... Once a week the piles of remnants get pitched.

So, how much harder the AR400 is than the T1 in relation to bullet impacts I'm not sure. I will get some of each next time I'm in there to compare though. AR400 is going to be the better stuff by the numbers...

Hope that helps some.

 

[Tim Behle]

Another, cheap way to go.

I picked up a disk brake the other day from the local Mechanic. Hitting the inner circle (6") doesn't even make a dent. The outer edge ( the part the pads touch ) flakes away each time I hit it. The better I shoot, the longer it lasts. Better yet, when I get done with it, I just toss it in the dumpster and grab out a few more!

 

[4ked Horn]

Hey all,
We took out the T1 plate last sunday and shot it with .223 .308 win and a 6.5 gibbs all at just over 400 yds.

We didn't get so much as a dimple but we all figured on that .

Next time we will be certain to smack it with a 300 mag at some closer ranges.

We did knock the cork out of an old bowling ball though. That was a blast. Now go out and hit up the local bowling alley for an old ball and hang it from an 4" eye bolt. Stick 'er out in the tooleywonkers and fire away.

With that I will send this post back to the archives.

 

[Brent]

Did the 6.5 Gibbs leave any crater/divot on the front though?

 

[4ked Horn]

The markings only varied in the diameter of the grey "starburst" pattern with the 00 buckshot being the smallest and the .308s and the 6.5 being the largest.

Any indentation on the face of the plate was unmeasureably shallow with the depth function of my vernier caliper. You can feel where the hits were with your finger though.

 

[Brent]

It doesn't sound like it cratered yet, that's cool.

Keep us posted on the 300WM results too.

 

[Black Diamond 408]

Hey Guys,,,Just thought you should know about shooting steel under 200yds!!!!! A customer of mine was shooting steel at 100 yds and the bullet jacket returned and hit him squarely between the eyes, knocked him out cold!!!! had two stiches. I tested a 408 for penetration in 1 1/4" steel block at 200yds, it went 1" in with large crater, the bullet riqocheted somwhere???? Not doing that again. Maybe if the plates are angled so the frags hit the ground???? Still its scary to know where all the frags are going!
We updated to 500 steel on our targets, now just a dimple occurs with high vel rounds. They ring like a bell! At 1000yds it sounds like a church bell ringing for over 30 secs.
Cool!

If you run from a sniper, you'll die tired

 

[4ked Horn]

Thanks for the concern. Safety first.

My dad told me a story about a friend of his that shot at a chunk of 1 1/4" thick plexiglass with a .45 hardball round. It supposedly did the same and came back and put the guys lights out.

I call that narural selection.

My plate is hung with eyebolts on the top rear causing the plate to pitch forward. We did have a nice splash line in the dirt below and to the sides from all the bullet frags.

All the pieces that we recovered were flat flat flat. There was no way those frags were coming back 100 feet much less 100 yards.

I have had bird shot come back and pepper us after being shot at bowling pins @ about 25 yards. Didn't take long to learn that lesson.

 

[Ian M]

Check the latest info from Celt, he has some 500 steel available for targets. Perhaps he can let us know more if he sees this.

 

[Ian M]

Here is the link to the info Celt put on one of the sniper sites.
http://www.snipershide.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=002309

 

[ktg]

I'd never shot steel before today. I used a 3/8" piece of mild steel. 300 GR MK's at 2750 fps muzzle velocity burns nice 3/4" holes clean through from 600 yds. Fun stuff.

[ 01-24-2004: Message edited by: ktg ]

 

[Brent]

 

[dbhostler]

Shot some A514(T1) yesterday with a 7 RUM @ 400. Just made a ding 1/2" dia. about 1/16" deep. Stands up much better than the mild plate I have been using. Wonder what would happen if this stuff was heat treated then drawn back to about 60 or 61? Might try it.
db