Not sure where to put this so here goes. I do some home tinkering fabrication. I make make my own t post hangers, dueling trees, fire pits, etc. I ended up with some off cut 3/8 plate of Hardox 450. Talking to the guy at the steel yard yesterday he says that stuff makes great targets as it is actually better than AR500. I tried to look on the interwebs to verify this, but found little info. Is there some truth to this? I am shooting the standard stuff up to 223, 308, 6.5cm, 4570. I could get it water jetted locally so would be nice to know before vesting that kind of money.
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Ar500 steel variants
- Thread starter mzvarner
- Start date
http://www.centralsteelservice.com/hardox.htm So the steel yard guy says it's better than AR500 for target use? Ask him how, exactly, is it better when it's hardness is 425 - 475 Brinell and its yield and tensile strengths are lower than AR500.
Ditto what 308p said. You can go ahead and use it for distances 400-500 yds and out without issue, but it's just not "better than AR500". As long as you are not hammering it at 100-200 yards with high speed .223, it should last a good long time.
308pirate - I think he was saying that it takes hits just fine, saying the 450 is close to 500. I had brought in a spinner plate from my dueling tree and its pretty beat up. We shoot ars at it at 50 yards and out. Think he was trying to be a sales man, but then I informed him I bought a bunch of it and have scrap laying around.
lash- Honestly that is all I want. Maybe some "know your limit" targets, and some varying percentage IPSC torso's for distance. Hell, maybe I will even donate some steel to my local 1000 yard range. Im sure they wont say no.
lash- Honestly that is all I want. Maybe some "know your limit" targets, and some varying percentage IPSC torso's for distance. Hell, maybe I will even donate some steel to my local 1000 yard range. Im sure they wont say no.
As you found out, shooting even AR500 at 50 yards with a rifle, especially a .223 with it's speeds in the range of 3100 fps, will eat it up pretty bad. I have done it, knowing better, but paid the price in having to replace those pieces of steel, lol.
It will work fine , not quite as good as AR500 but close & far better than mild steel. I use scrap AR400 type steel (hardox , tribraze & ect.) always because it doesn't cost me anything. I build all my own targets & just cut it with the plasma cutter not as nice as waterjet but I have it and I'm just going to shoot the $hit out of it anyways.
Your 3/8 hardox will probably do fine @ 200-250 + . Like lash said the speed is what kills it.
Your 3/8 hardox will probably do fine @ 200-250 + . Like lash said the speed is what kills it.
I have used tons of Hardox/SAAB steel. I have seen AR 500 at the lower end of the allowable tolerance with an HBW of 470. I have also seen AR 450 at the upper end with a HBW of 475. However, the nominal hardness is 450 and 500 respectively. In addition to "hardness" there are also impact resistance tests, a.k.a. Charpy v-test for energy absorption. That's important for target longevity. If you want some really high zoot targets that will last like the Energizer Bunny, try some Hardox 500 Tuf or Hardox Extreme.
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