What are you guys using for training for close range rifle/carbine shooting–paper targets, or do you shoot steel and use frangible ammo? Most of my rifle shooting is at 100-500m, but I would like to incorporate some up close shooting in to my practice regime. I have been lazy and I pretty much exclusively shoot steel. I’m inclined to believe paper is the better answer just to get better feedback on shot placement–if that’s the case, are there any hacks to make dealing with cardboard/paper less annoying?
I’ve got several steel targets ranging from a 6” round plate to a 2/3 size IPSC shaped plate hanging on my property. I use mainly M193 and shoot those targets from 10 yards to 100 yards regularly with no issue. I hang them with chain so they swing freely when hit, directing the splatter down.
Steel is great for teaching to get “hits” etc meaning give me three HITS on steel so folks will need to stay on it and get the hits, following up to make sure the threat is down. Paper is great to zero, confirm zero’s, scoring, etc.
The saying goes, “You shoot at steel and aim on paper” Although we all know we are aiming at steel also. Think of it from the standpoint of sight management and trigger control which will increase speed and still get the hit on the prescribed target which should be a realistic sized one relative to range.
We use combination of both; steel, paper.
Our steel has an “angled down” bracket that sits on the drive posts.
Have no trouble ricochet to 20 yds, other than to sides. A cardboard target close to steel can get pretty shredded if it’s placed wrong.
^^^This. I’ll paper at 3 feet steel not so much. Short answer, I use both steel and paper depending on what I’m doing, sometime together and I don’t use frangible ammo.
They had the good ones at Sportmans Warehouse last month. Federal made with the partial jacket. But they’re really too expensive for close up stuff. Anything over a buck per round has to be shot at 300 yards or more in my mind.
I’ve been hit in the legs with ricochets (45 acp), and I thought I had been shot. I would encourage you to wear your armor and really good safety glasses.
Interesting enough I have found a lot of .45 acp 230 grain hardball bullets intact on the ground underneath steel plates. They looked good enough to reload and shoot again.
Yeah. Those compressed copper powder/whatever bullets that don’t have a jacket disintegrate and bead blast your throat, barrel and suppressor baffles if shooting suppressed.
The good stuff in the Federal boxes/NT marked, etc. will have a jacket to keep the frangible material intact when the bullet is fired.