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Swinging Targets?

Author	Comment
Colin	Swinging Targets?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 1687 (09/05/08 02:33 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None I've been looking for something as a change from punching holes in paper, and am wondereing about some of the reactive targets; swinging and otherwise. I'm thinking of shooting with a pistol at not less than 25 yds, to reduce the danger of bullet splatter. Does anyone have any first hand experience with these things? I'd be most interested in your experience.
Jacks308		#1	[-]
Posts: 797 (09/14/08 09:10 PM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A very good friend of mine gave me a swinger years ago . The plate is a piece of armour plat that is rated to withstand rifle fire from a hundred yards and I have hit it thousands of times with 3006 and eight m/m surplus ammo . No divots in the plate yet but it is fainally starting to develope a crack . I have had to rebuild the swinger a couple of times , first was a defect from the maker . They welded the armour directly to mild steel and the harmonics of getting blasted cracked the welds . Second time , I had the plate trilled large enough to attatch hardened bolts to the angle iron that was welded to the pivot pipe . This lasted much longer untill those welds broke . So to fix this , I made up new pivots to bolt to the steel . This one is holding up the longest but is tearing the pipe that pivots on a solid steel bar . Bad thing is , a high shooting eight m/m and some surplus ammo during a rapid fire string nearly blew the solid bar in half so I had to buy a new bar ( one inch round stock ) I still need to finish fixing it too It has lasted much longer than I thought it would and has been a great deal of fun . It appears that handgun rounds don't affect this one very much at all . Jack
moisinman	My experience	#2	[-]
Posts: 388 (11/17/08 12:10 PM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	At our club, we shoot swingers at 50 ft cause thay're bad shots and because some spatter has come back at 20-30 ft. hard enough in one case to penetrate a person's fave slightly. The swingers are 6 - 8 in. made from 1/4 mild steel and hund from a tramework of pipes with heavy chains, the heavier the better, as they will dampen the plate's action and reduce wrap around. We used to weld the chains to the plates, but it was hard to find a hot enough welder, so we bolt with heavy 5/16 bolts with the head facing the shooter. Also, the upper part of the chain is attached to tabs hidden from the shooter, but I've seen the chains just slung over the pipes and secured together with heavy bolts. Another reason for the bolts on the plates and on the pipe is for easy removal for servicing or for periodically reversing the plates to minimize spatter. Also, empty liquid laundry jugs, the blue and green especially, can be hung with yellow plastic rope and take a lot of hits! GOOD LUCK.
Jacks308		#3	[-]
Posts: 802 (11/22/08 10:01 PM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The repairs are finished on my steel swinger and it's as good as new again . Without a doubt it is the handiest target I have . Some others that work well I got from Dillon some time back . They are a self sealing plastic and meant only for round nose bullets . I use the four inch red discs at forty yards with the twenty-two and it's fun to shoot at offhand and see how many hits I get before a miss . Jack
m1 talker		#4	[-]
Posts: 6240 (11/23/08 10:10 AM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Whatever you decide on, make sure it observes all the unpublished rules for gongs. We had some large sections of boiler pipe at our range. This is 12" diameter pipe cut into two foot sections and stuck in the berms. They were fun to shoot at and let you know in very uncertain terms when they were hit. However, the local sportsman association was applying for a grant thru the NRA for range improvements, one of which was to get power into the range so we could have lights in the range shack. Before the grant would be granted, the range needed to be inspected by some NRA official and he came to inspect the range one day. We were told that the round pipes had to go, and all the larger rocks sticking out of the berms also had to go. He claimed that a bullet hitting a curved surface, like the pipes, could cause a bounce back at unknown angles and could cause injuries to others at the range. He said they were ok at the 200 yard berm, but not at the 100 yard or 50 yard berms. I questioned where was this written in the books at, and got no answer and was told it was just one of those "common sense" things, so we simply went along with it and removed the pipes, as we really wanted that grant, which was close to $5000. The next Saturday, my friend and I took care of the rocks with our SKS rifles. I went thru 406 rounds that day out of one of my 59/66A1 Yugos and my friend went thru about the same amount. But we managed to pulverize all the rocks that we could see and it was a heck of a lot more fun than taking a shovel and digging the rocks out of the berms by hand! Yes, we did get the grant, and had power brought in, lights installed and the whole works. The range has been there since 1922 and it is vastly improved over what it used to be. On my first trip to the range after the power was brought in and the lights installed, I had to wait at the gate for a cow moose and her calf to get out of the road so I could enter the range! And guess what, moose season also opened that same day! But I do not hunt, and have never had a moose permit and no way would I want to take on one with just an SKS with me. Curt
ALLONS		#5	[-]
Posts: 44 (12/26/08 05:17 PM) active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	HI Colin! We have shot swinging steel for a lot of years. We had our first "injury" last October (08). Shooting a 3/8" mild steel plate at 100 yds w/7.62x54R steel jacketed CZ Silvertip surplus ball ammo. The rds were blowing holes thru the plate, but one rd stripped the steel jacket off the bullet and sent it back the 100yds to stick in a fellas shirt, just above the belt line. The skin looked like a bee sting and the jacket was kinda crushed. As a result we decided not to use any jacketed rifle ammo on steel at under 200yds. Years ago I got hit in the leg by a bounce back 9mm FMJ bullet fired from a Luger at a steel plate 50' out, hurt like hell, so now we use swinging 1" plywood squares for pistol work under 50 yds, that way we can use lead OR jacketed pistol bullets. We also had a .45ACP rd bounce off a 30 degree hillside 70yds out and come back right between my brother & I and smack the front grill of my truck! Other than for sighting in, I don't shoot much paper either, too much other "fun" stuff out there! Good Luck in the new year!
jorjohn11		#6	[-]
Posts: 17 (12/29/08 08:01 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I was at a range years ago and shooting at 25 yard targets with a pistol. The target frames were 1" pipe. The guy next to me was using a 357 magnum and hit the pipe upright dead center. The jacket flew back and several pieces hit me in the face. They all penetrated and travelled about an inch under the skin. Man they burned! I looked in the side mirror in my car and had 4 blue streaks in the left side of my face and neck with little drops of blood trickling out. Being young and dumb then I proceeded to cut them out myself with a pocketknife. It was easy to feel the lumps where the fragments were and luckily they were all just under the first layer of skin. Never stood next to that guy again at the range.
umslmjt		#7	[-]
Posts: 19 (08/14/09 03:44 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Allons, could you elaborate on how you built this? "so now we use swinging 1" plywood squares for pistol work under 50 yds" Thanks,
ALLONS		#8	[-]
Posts: 53 (08/21/09 06:43 PM) active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	HI umslmjt, this is what I was talking about. We use 3/4" - 1" thick plywood squares or rectangles to paste our targets on. The thicker the wood, the more reaction you get when the bullet hits it. The curved steel weight on the bottom is to keep the wind from moving it. The strap on top is for hanging from the tripod. The orange pc at the top is light sheetmetal. About the only way to get a bullet bouncing back at you, would be to hit one of the bolt heads. Hope this helps, Ken

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