Best Steel plates for Targets?

[ViniVidivici]

Yes, I've heard from others that thinner rings more.

So yeah, took thr bolts & chains off the plate, put it on the hook stand I made a while back.

Hell yes, definitely more audible impact, with a nice "RIIIIIINGGG" to it. Which was nice, as we've had heavy fog here, and at 225 yards, through 6x optic, could barely see the white plate, let alone any movement from it. But the impacts were solid and definite.

Did some work from kneeling at 100 also.

So yeah, this thing is just gonna go on a hook from now on.

[Wildcat]

Yes, I've heard from others that thinner rings more.

So yeah, took thr bolts & chains off the plate, put it on the hook stand I made a while back.

Hell yes, definitely more audible impact, with a nice "RIIIIIINGGG" to it. Which was nice, as we've had heavy fog here, and at 225 yards, through 6x optic, could barely see the white plate, let alone any movement from it. But the impacts were solid and definite.

Did some work from kneeling at 100 also.

So yeah, this thing is just gonna go on a hook from now on.

3/8" plates can ring like bells.
1/2" plates do not ring as well by comparison but they do have better endurance.

The location of the hole/mount also matters in how the plate rings. If the mount is in a natural node, the plate will ring nicely. If the mount forces a node to occur in an unfavorable location you'll get more of a thud. Fortunately, plates can vibrate a lot of different ways and its unusual to completely prevent a plate from ringing.

Using bolts is a common mounting design but the plates will be able to ring the best if you don't have to -tightly- clamp the plate to the mounting hardware.
Leaving the bolt slightly loose (assuming the nut won't spin itself off) is a good compromise that allows the plate the vibrate.

[markm]

Yeah. Our 1000 yard target is 1/4, and it doesn't ring worth a crap because of the stand. We have a 3/8 at 500 which hangs more freely and rings deep due to the massive size (IPSC sized)