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Safe to shoot .22lr at Steel Target Rated for 9mm-30.06?

10K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  bearcatter 
#1 ·
I've been trying to buy a spinner/resetting target that is at least 4 inches across. I noticed that most of the spinners rated for .22 are really small, so I bought a spinner rated for 9mm-30.06. I was just wondering if it would be safe to shoot my 10/22 at it? It is extremely thick, and pretty heavy, so will ricochet be an issue?

Thanks!
 
#4 ·
There is always a chance for the bullet to ricochet, but if you keep a safe distance between you and the target and wear eye protection, it should not be an issue. But i do know from shooting falling steel rimfire matches, lead can bounce a long way off steel. More so with slower bullets. The faster ones tend to just explode.
 
#5 ·
Try it out in a safe place and stay back from it.

Like was already said, slow speed can be a problem. I've had air rifle pellets come back at me if the steel can "resonate". Anyway, I think that's what caused it. If the steel is "dead", they just drop to the ground.

If you stay back from the target, you should be fine. Any bounce-backs, if any, will slow pretty fast and fall before they can hurt you.

One sure caution-- Don't shoot the steel at an angle, unless you know for sure nothing can get hurt from a ricochet going in that direction. Lead hitting steel straight on will usually just splat and drop. But hitting at an angle, like was also said, it will definitely want to fly off into space at that angle, singing all the way!

A .22 hitting a spinner built for .30 cal might not hit it hard enough to reset it...?
 
#6 ·
The 22 target was made the way it was on purpose, so it would move out of the way and allow the bullet to keep moving forward as it looses energy. The larger steel targets are made to perform the same way with larger caliber. A 22 LR is not going to move that target enough to cancel out some of the potential for bullet come back.
A hit at 12 O-clock will hardly move it at all, and could very, very, well act like a flat surface and send a little lead your way or worse yet, someone in the same area as you.
So you not only endanger yourself but others as well.
Your choice as to a safety issue was wrong, You will do as you please, or listen to some bad advise, your choice. WHY TAKE THE CHANCE, get the correct tool for the job.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Being a bit of smart-ass (at times)... I did just the opposite of what you are describing. After shooting a bunch of 22 LR at my spinner disk, My S-I-L was scoring 9/10 each time with my Walther G22 and my Ruger Charger.

I put 3 rounds of fmj .223 55 grain into my Model 70 Varmint gun, and had him move the target from 40 yards to 125 yards out from my back deck. Then I passed him that 10.5 lb Winchester and told him to see if he was still on target. There was no visible movement of the metal disk from the first two rounds...so he went out to discover that they had gone straight thru the disk at a speed so high they didn't poke a hole bigger than if they had hit a paper target.

I gained a lot of respect for the 223 round from that little exercise. Now if I can just get our next intruder to line up his 'gang' in a single column, I can take them out with one round !
 
#10 ·
Took a ricochet to my right hand from a metal target. 7.62x39. Opened me up pretty good and hurt alot....metal targets at close range=bad idea.....
 
#12 ·
I have a 3 tear drop metal swing target set-up with 1.5", 3", and 5" plates. When you shoot these, the motion of the plate causes the ricochet to go down. Plates that fall backwards will cause the ricochet to go up. Dueling trees will cause ricochets to go the side. Fixed metal targets will cause perpendicular deformation or go straight backwards. Simple billiards physics. If you want to save money and be safe, just make your own targets out of 2x4's. They are super cheap to replace, absorb impact instead of ricochet, and they still make a nice "WHACK" sound. You would be amazed what a few .22lr rounds will do to a couple layers of 2x.

AND ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES! "You'll put your eye out"
 
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