Bang A Gong

I've wanted to have a gong target for a long time, but the prices for one at gun shows and such have made it a 'someday' thing for me.  I love to shoot, but $100+ for a pre-made gong will buy a lot of .22.

One of my co-workers is married to the owner of one of the local machine shops, and she graciously provided me with a few pieces of scrap 1/4 inch steel plate.  A little rough framing, some drilling, and a bit of chain later, and I have a rudimentary gong.

This is a piece of steel that is about 12" by 12".  I drilled two holes in it about 2 inches from the top, constructed an 18" by 36" footed frame out of scrap 2x4's, and hung it by some scrap chain using lag bolts that were left over from another project last year.  So basically, this gong cost me the price of a can of spray paint to make it day-glo-orange.

While gathering material for the frame, I found an old license plate I'd shot at before, and decided to make another, lighter weight target out of it.  The frame is identical to the one for the heavier steel gong, and I used some old rope to tie it to the frame instead of using lag bolts and chain.  I drilled similar holes in the frame as I did for the plate steel, so if I want to make another heavy gong out of some of the smaller pieces of plate, all I'll have to do is get more hardware to do it.

I expect that the license plate will look like swiss cheese after a couple of range trips, but it's a throw-away.  I think I have some more in the garage, so I can always replace it.  The steel plate should stop .22 and will probably defeat pistol rounds like .45 or .38.  I'm also going to shoot at it with 7.62x54r and .30-06, and I won't be surprised if those don't go through it.  Just in case, I'm going to keep this one out past 50 meters tomorrow while I try it out.

I'm going to the range tomorrow morning, so I'll let you all know how it works.