School me on steel dueling tree in and outs and safety please

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  • 44man

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 19, 2013
    10,129
    southern md
    The boy and I are building a double tap dueling tree in a week or so.

    Ar500 steel plates 3/8” thick

    An extra set of thinner .22cal plates for the old lady and I to play together

    I have plenty of room, it will be used with a hundred acres of woods as a backstop

    What do I need to know?
     

    gwchem

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 18, 2014
    3,434
    SoMD
    Wear safety eyeglasses and have fun. You will likely get hit with minor shrapnel once in a while if you're shooting steel at pistol ranges. Its just part of the game.
     

    iH8DemLibz

    When All Else Fails.
    Apr 1, 2013
    25,396
    Libtardistan
    The boy and I are building a double tap dueling tree in a week or so.

    Ar500 steel plates 3/8” thick

    An extra set of thinner .22cal plates for the old lady and I to play together

    I have plenty of room, it will be used with a hundred acres of woods as a backstop

    What do I need to know?

    Shoot Fast and Accurately.
     

    Laddertowr

    trigger puller
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 3, 2013
    829
    Sir I have one ( 6 plate).... at the time I didn't have 500-600 bucks to buy one so I started building it / buying it a few items at a time from Grizzly targets...you can buy the base off of ebay for 41 bucks all steel... where grizzly sells a galvanized base for 58 bucks...the grizzly dueling tree uses a 2x4 for the main trunk and the Plates slide down over it... Good thing is you can use the same plates in a plate rack system...advantage is no need to reset... when they flip shoot them back up...I just bought 2 bases and waiting for the VERTICAL T CONNECTOR's to come in from grizzly then onto buying more plates. Im usually using one of my 45's on the tree..
    and at 75 yards the plates have held up well with 223...but don't use the green tip stuff (fricken kids) or they will become vented.

    www.grizzlytargets.com/product-category/build-your-own-range-products-byor/

    sorry for what ever reason the pic flipped
     

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    killng

    Active Member
    Nov 29, 2015
    325
    moco
    Sir I have one ( 6 plate).... at the time I didn't have 500-600 bucks to buy one so I started building it / buying it a few items at a time from Grizzly targets...you can buy the base off of ebay for 41 bucks all steel... where grizzly sells a galvanized base for 58 bucks...the grizzly dueling tree uses a 2x4 for the main trunk and the Plates slide down over it... Good thing is you can use the same plates in a plate rack system...advantage is no need to reset... when they flip shoot them back up...I just bought 2 bases and waiting for the VERTICAL T CONNECTOR's to come in from grizzly then onto buying more plates. Im usually using one of my 45's on the tree..
    and at 75 yards the plates have held up well...but don't use the green tip stuff (fricken kids) or they will become vented.

    www.grizzlytargets.com/product-category/build-your-own-range-products-byor/

    sorry for what ever reason the pic flipped

    Thats cool I wish there was a public range in md that allows dueling trees
     

    AlanInSilverSpring

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Apr 25, 2017
    1,645
    How much does it cost for a day visit, does it get packed? I wanted to know before making a 2 hour drive.

    They're very nice people there. Give them a call and they'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

    I would suggest going on a weekday. I've heard it can get very busy on weekends. I went on a wednesday and me and my buddy had one of the pistol ranges all to ourselves for several hours
     

    44man

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 19, 2013
    10,129
    southern md
    Thanks for the replies!

    More specific questions

    Can I use fmj ammo?

    What’s the proper distance to shoot with pistols?

    What’s the proper lean forward on the angles? 11-16 degrees?

    Can I shoot 223? If so at what yardage with 3/8 ar500 plates??

    How big of a base do I need?

    I have plenty of steel and we both can weld just fine so material doesn’t matter.

    45 or 9mm?

    3%antinomy? ( just had to throw that in somewhere)
     

    tjohn55

    LDO for CNO!
    Jan 13, 2016
    151
    Willards, MD
    I have a 20 yard range in my yard. I have railroad ties with 14 yards of dirt behind the ties. I have shot FMJ, 9MM .38 Special, colt .45, .380 and .45 ACP using 4, 6, 8 inch gongs and a 4-paddle (4 inche paddles) shooting tree with no problems. AR500 steel 3/8". Don't shoot any closer than 10 yards with a handgun. I feel comfortable at 15-20 yards. I haven't had any shrapnel come back at me - yet - after about 1000 rounds shot at the steel. The key is that the targets have to have some "give". The gongs are on chains and of course the paddles move to the opposite side when hit. Makes a cool sound too!

    The only rifle I have shot at the steel is a sub2000 in 9MM and haven't experienced any problems. I shoot the sub2000 at 20 yards.

    tj
     

    AlanInSilverSpring

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Apr 25, 2017
    1,645
    At Delmarva they say nothing closer than 15 yards (handgun only) at the steel so 10 yards is probably good enough. If the targets are suspended (have give) or are tilted like the dueling tree I can't imagine there'd be a problem with handguns.
     

    44man

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 19, 2013
    10,129
    southern md
    Sir I have one ( 6 plate).... at the time I didn't have 500-600 bucks to buy one so I started building it / buying it a few items at a time from Grizzly targets...you can buy the base off of ebay for 41 bucks all steel... where grizzly sells a galvanized base for 58 bucks...the grizzly dueling tree uses a 2x4 for the main trunk and the Plates slide down over it... Good thing is you can use the same plates in a plate rack system...advantage is no need to reset... when they flip shoot them back up...I just bought 2 bases and waiting for the VERTICAL T CONNECTOR's to come in from grizzly then onto buying more plates. Im usually using one of my 45's on the tree..
    and at 75 yards the plates have held up well with 223...but don't use the green tip stuff (fricken kids) or they will become vented.

    www.grizzlytargets.com/product-category/build-your-own-range-products-byor/

    sorry for what ever reason the pic flipped

    Thanks for the info, nice set up!
     

    inkd

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 4, 2009
    7,512
    Ridge
    Thanks for the replies!

    More specific questions

    Can I use fmj ammo?

    What’s the proper distance to shoot with pistols?

    What’s the proper lean forward on the angles? 11-16 degrees?

    Can I shoot 223? If so at what yardage with 3/8 ar500 plates??

    How big of a base do I need?

    I have plenty of steel and we both can weld just fine so material doesn’t matter.

    45 or 9mm?

    3%antinomy? ( just had to throw that in somewhere)


    On my 3/8in AR500 target I regularly shoot FMJ 9mm 115/124 factory ammo and 230gr 45acp FMJ at it from a distance of about 30 yards and have not had any problems with divots in the steel. I've not had any back splatter cause I'm shooting from the second floor of my apartment at a downward angle.

    At about 50yds, I've had .223 FMJ ammo either go right through or put in craters that were damn near all the way through.

    At IDPA matches at Sanners Lake, I've been splattered when shooting steel at about 20 yards, not sure what ammo was being used cause I was the RO.

    According to the "shoot steel" website, targets may be used for handguns and rifles up to 308Win. Handguns should be used no closer than 10 yards and rifles 100 yards.

    I have no idea about the angles, I know some of the static targets have a downward facing angle but I didn't think the dueling trees had them since they have a little "give" in the target from swinging.

    I'm not sure if this helped at all? Sounds like you have a nice project going though. :thumbsup::thumbsup:
     

    AlanInSilverSpring

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Apr 25, 2017
    1,645
    I have no idea about the angles, I know some of the static targets have a downward facing angle but I didn't think the dueling trees had them since they have a little "give" in the target from swinging.

    I can't find the directions right now but what I had was for welding a piece of tube on the inside of a piece of angle iron, with the target on a straight piece of round steel that simply slips into the tube, so it easily flips around when hit. This means that the tree has to be tilted slightly forward so the target doesn't simply bounce back where it started, thus giving you a target that gives and is tilted downward, thus virtually eliminating any danger of splatter.

    If you go this route they also suggested slightly rounding the edges of both tube and target to lessen friction.
     

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