Old harrow discs are some of my favorite field expedient targets. They are light weight, inexpensive (free) and their hardened steel makes them very sturdy when suspended as much of the bullets energy is dissipated when the disc swings out of the way after being struck. Most of them are about 18"-19" in diameter so they are good for about 1 MOA to 1900ish yards. The .338LPM/300gr. SMK's bounce off them with no damage at least as close as 1000 yards. I recently introduced the harrow disc to the 352gr CE L-09. The results were, well, different.
Here is my ELR testing target; 4x8 sheet of OSB, 1 MOA replaceable center target (cardboard) and the harrow disc, suspended off the side.
Here is the Harrow disc after a first round (past 600yds) hit while sighting in at 1022 yds.
The L-09 punched right through the disc like a hot knife through butter. The inside of the bullet hole is now copper colored from the bullet passing through it.
At 1520yds the effects were just as impressive:
The first bullet passed right through the disc, the second cracked off the section you can see.
At 1953 yds the first round fired dropped right at the discs foot, a 2 MOA adjustement yielded a second round hit that didn't penetrate the disc but did crack another section.
Here is the view back at the target from the 1520 yd firing position, the target is the small white spec to the left of the valley.
The most impressive part for me is the terminal ballistic performance-utterly destroying the target. The biggest disappointment was the large (2-3 MOA) difference in elevation from between the predictions of both my Kestrel/Horus and Applied Ballistics calculations and the true drop of the bullet.
Here are the pics from the cardboard target groupings
1022 9"x10" square (+18.25 predicted, fired at +18.25, ended at +18.25 based on steel hits, and cardboard)
1520 15"x15"(+35MOA predicted, fired at +35, ended at +35.25 based on steel and cardboard)
1953 15"x15" square(+53MOA predicted, fired at +55 based on hit on steel, still at least 1 MOA low, large vertical spread
Temperature was between 48 and 60 degrees F, Da topped out at 5150 winds were at 3-5 MPH out of 10 O'clock target was situated at approximately 180 degrees magnetic. All in all, a pretty good day.
Here is my ELR testing target; 4x8 sheet of OSB, 1 MOA replaceable center target (cardboard) and the harrow disc, suspended off the side.
Here is the Harrow disc after a first round (past 600yds) hit while sighting in at 1022 yds.
The L-09 punched right through the disc like a hot knife through butter. The inside of the bullet hole is now copper colored from the bullet passing through it.
At 1520yds the effects were just as impressive:
The first bullet passed right through the disc, the second cracked off the section you can see.
At 1953 yds the first round fired dropped right at the discs foot, a 2 MOA adjustement yielded a second round hit that didn't penetrate the disc but did crack another section.
Here is the view back at the target from the 1520 yd firing position, the target is the small white spec to the left of the valley.
The most impressive part for me is the terminal ballistic performance-utterly destroying the target. The biggest disappointment was the large (2-3 MOA) difference in elevation from between the predictions of both my Kestrel/Horus and Applied Ballistics calculations and the true drop of the bullet.
Here are the pics from the cardboard target groupings
1022 9"x10" square (+18.25 predicted, fired at +18.25, ended at +18.25 based on steel hits, and cardboard)
1520 15"x15"(+35MOA predicted, fired at +35, ended at +35.25 based on steel and cardboard)
1953 15"x15" square(+53MOA predicted, fired at +55 based on hit on steel, still at least 1 MOA low, large vertical spread
Temperature was between 48 and 60 degrees F, Da topped out at 5150 winds were at 3-5 MPH out of 10 O'clock target was situated at approximately 180 degrees magnetic. All in all, a pretty good day.
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