Steel Targets Bring New Life to Backyard Range

Today I went out and shot my steel targets. It’s surprising how different it is from shooting paper.

First of all, you don’t have to take a lot of junk. When I shoot paper, I take a bunch of targets and tape. Then I have to tape targets up. Sometimes I have to replace them during a session. For steel, you just drive to the pasture and start shooting.

Another difference: you really blow through ammunition. When I shoot paper with a pistol, I aim very carefully and slowly squeeze off rounds because I want to hit an area the size of a dime. With steel, you have no small aiming points to shoot at. I’m aiming at targets that are at least 6″ wide, so I can fire a round every second.

Because I’m not aiming at tiny points, I can back up from the targets. Today I shot a .22 pistol from over 60 feet away, standing, and I hit a gong most of the time. When I missed, it was because I was playing around.

It’s really strange to shoot at something from 60 feet with a pistol and hit it most of the time. I would be hitting the gongs 95% of the time if I tried. I haven’t even sighted my gun in properly. I need to finish adjusting the sights and move back to 25 yards to make it a challenge. Didn’t see that coming.

Speaking of the gun, it’s a real surprise. I had a Smith & Wesson Victory pistol, and I thought it was great. Then I bought a Colt Woodsman, and suddenly, the Victory’s trigger seemed so bad I didn’t want to shoot it. I put it away and ordered a new trigger from Tandemkross, which is a company that specializes in gun upgrades. I believe they coordinated with Smith & Wesson before the Victory came out, because it seemed like they had a bunch of upgrades available right away.

The new trigger is flat in the front. I don’t know too much about flat triggers, but I believe they are supposed to be better for accuracy because you can choose a consistent place to rest your finger. On a curved trigger, you pretty much have to press wherever the curve puts your finger. Seems that way, anyhow.

The Tandemkross trigger is a little lighter than the original trigger, but the main difference is that is extremely smooth and consistent. You know exactly when the gun is going to go off. I can’t say for sure without shooting some paper, but I think this gun, and the Woodsman, may bring me to a completely new level of pistol accuracy. Or not. I have to put them to the test on paper.

The Tandemkross trigger seems to be truly excellent. The Woodsman’s trigger break is like snapping the stem of a wine glass sized for a Barbie doll, and that’s impressive. The Tandemkross trigger doesn’t have the same elegance, but it’s so smooth and predictable, it may be just as good.

I’ve been using CCI’s Troy Landry Choot ‘Em Mini-magnums. They’re very nice. They come lubricated from the factory, they cycle beautifully, they shoot well, and they don’t leave black filth all over your guns like Remington Golden Bullets.

I believe I shot 76 rounds in 20 minutes. My magazines hold 11 rounds, and one round failed to cycle. In fairness to CCI, I only clean my guns when they stop shooting.

Anyway, if I had been shooting paper, I would probably have shot about 50 rounds. On top of that, I will shoot more often now that I have steel.

It’s good to be hitting small targets easily at over 20 yards. That tells me I’m in good shape should I ever have to shoot in order to defend life. After shooting steel for a week or two, I’m going to be Dirty Fricking Harry. Stay away from me, or at least mind your manners.

Speaking of defense, I’ve gone back to carrying a 10mm. I decided to get a full-size 10mm Glock for carry on my property, and that got me thinking about putting the 9mm away. I was carrying a 9mm I bought for my dad. It has Tru-Glo sights and a Crimson Trace laser. It’s very nice. Still, there is a lot to be said for big bullets that go fast.

I need to put a rack on the utility cart, which I keep calling a golf cart. If I have a rack, I can put an AK-47 on it and forget about pistols.

I’ve learned a lot about steel targets. I learned that tilting targets downward to send metal into the ground isn’t as effective as it sounds. The stuff that bounces off a target isn’t bullets that bounce in one direction. Bullets splatter like water balloons when they hit steel, and the metal sprays back in a cone-shaped splash that covers something like 20°. You would have to tilt your target a lot to eliminate, say, 95% of the spall.

Based on my knowledge of physics, I think it makes more sense to use the lightest targets you can and make sure they swing freely. A target that moves a lot when a bullet hits it will take momentum (and velocity) away from the bullet, so fragments traveling toward a shooter won’t move as fast. That’s my theory.

If a target is infinitely hard and heavy, none of a bullet’s momentum will go into it, so all of the bullet’s energy will go into the formation of the spall, the spall’s velocity, and things like sound and heat. If a target is light, a lot of the bullet’s momentum, and therefore energy, will be transferred to it when the target swings. That leaves less energy to propel the spall back at your face or crotch or whatever. If you’re going to be hit with spall, slow is better than fast.

I learned that you don’t need anything thicker than 3/8″ for anything up to a .308. I have 3 1/2″-thick targets. Next time, I’ll go thinner.

I think I want 4 more small targets and one big one. Big targets just aren’t challenging for most guns, but I would like to have a big gong for shooting rifles with iron sights. You need to be a hundred yards back to shoot steel safely with a centerfire rifle, and I am not all that confident in my iron sight rifle skills. Also, I may want to shoot relatively inaccurate guns like the AK-47.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to shoot the .204 Ruger at steel. When velocity gets too high, steel can be damaged, and damage makes it reflect bullets. The .204 goes nearly 4000 fps.

I highly recommend you try steel. Paper is great, but it’s limited in what it can do for you, and steel is much more fun.