Bush Hog Blade Hardness

[Chain Bender]

Anyone have any idea what the brinell (sp) hardness of a standard blade might be?

My dad gave me 12 worn out blades the other day to make popper targets with. Best I can tell they are 1/2" thick and vary in width by as much as an inch. Anything to take the beating they do has to be pretty hard. And for the bolt hole not to wallow out they must be hard and riding on an even harder bolt. I laid one on a 1" thick piece of plate steel yesterday and hit it as hard as I could 6 times on one of the bends with a 16# sledge hammer and couldn't bend it. Just for reference, I never have a problem making the bell go ding at the top of the pole at the county fair.

I plan on shooting these things after I've cut them down to about 12-14" out at 200+ yards with an AR-15 and 300-800 yards with 243's and 270 WSM's. I figure since they are sitting on a swivel/hinge base and are almost ready to fall over backwards just by being set up that way that they should give way easier and shed more impact than the same target hanging on a chain.

Just looking for input.

Chain Bender

 

[smiley]

I don't know where they are on the Brinell scale but I do know they almost shatter when stopped dead with 100 hp driving them. Lucky I didn't take the pto out. If I still have it I'll post a photo where the 2 halves parted company. It looks like string cheese torn apart with shreds on both broken ends, so it must be hard. It'll sure take a lot of hits probably even from a .50 seeing as they fall away and not solid mounted.

 

[dntfxr]

I'd still hang it from a chain. Even though the hinge will tip easy it's still a fixed attachment on that end and a low hit will put alot of energy into the target.
The hardness I'd guess to be around 50 or less. Much harder and they'd probably be too brittle for bushhogging.
If you find that they are too hard and break from the shot, you could draw the temper a bit with most any heat source even your oven. Let me know how the targets hold up, I can't get a mild steel target to last very long around here before they're perforated.

 

[Chain Bender]

I'd still hang it from a chain. Even though the hinge will tip easy it's still a fixed attachment on that end and a low hit will put alot of energy into the target.
The hardness I'd guess to be around 50 or less. Much harder and they'd probably be too brittle for bushhogging.
If you find that they are too hard and break from the shot, you could draw the temper a bit with most any heat source even your oven. Let me know how the targets hold up, I can't get a mild steel target to last very long around here before they're perforated.

I'll be sure to let you know how they hold up. I suppose there are several ways to look at "dissapating" energy. If it's hanging on a chain and I make a high hit center line the target can spin/rotate some to lessen the impact, but with the high hit the total weight of the target comes into play, same as a popper target on the ground on a hinge. A target on the ground on a hinge is not able to spin/rotate and off center shots put X amount of impact upon the hinge or piviot point.

I shot the target lastnight with a hot 40 fmj round and it did nothing but leave a copper ring/dusting where the round struck the blade. The target fell quickly and freely. I love to hear that "PING". I video's my son doing some speed shoting last week. I was about 20 yards behind him filming over his shoulder at the targets. PING---Boom, target falls. Don't know if I posted a picture of my 6 plate steel target set up or not. Will try to find one and post it.

The targets are going to remain relatively small for "distance shooting". Roughly 4" wide X 12-14" tall. In my mind, the smaller the target the less weight. The less weight, the easier it is for the bullet to knock the target down. The easier it goes down the less fragmentation occurs and if a ricocette does occur it will occur with less energy

CB

 

[Chain Bender]

6 steel plate set. Bush hog blade taret is on the ground under it.

bush hog blade hinge/pivot point

 

[dntfxr]

Glad to hear that it's working so far. Nothing like ringing steel! Except for load development and score I don't hardly shoot paper anymore. There's something very satisfying about that report and confirmation of a hit! If you get a chance to see how it holds up to the long heavies let us know.

 

[Chain Bender]

Glad to hear that it's working so far. Nothing like ringing steel! Except for load development and score I don't hardly shoot paper anymore. There's something very satisfying about that report and confirmation of a hit! If you get a chance to see how it holds up to the long heavies let us know.

XXXXXXXXX

I plan on making a few more tomorrow with the same design in mind. Maybe just a little closer together at the front of the frame. Plan on shooting at least one with a Bushmaster at 100 yards Sunday or Monday. If it stays together for the 5.56 I might send a 100 grain 243 at it. Still working on a hunting/primary round for my son's 270 WSM.

I used to shoot paper a lot, and if I may brag just a little I was very good at combat shooting. Got tired of the politics of the FPOA and after I shot that 100 round target I sold my progresvie reloader, all (5) but one pistol (S&W 686) for hog hunting and haven't shot for score since. That was in 2005 I think. Will try to upload my best two targets if I can find pix of them.

988/60X 50 rounds right handed and 50 rounds left handed. 7 to 50 yards. shot with 686 w/adjustable front sight

Shot with a S&W Model 14 7-50 yards 1 rounds left handed

CB

 

[Haroldm]

Anyone have any idea what the brinell (sp) hardness of a standard blade might be?

My dad gave me 12 worn out blades the other day to make popper targets with. Best I can tell they are 1/2" thick and vary in width by as much as an inch. Anything to take the beating they do has to be pretty hard. And for the bolt hole not to wallow out they must be hard and riding on an even harder bolt. I laid one on a 1" thick piece of plate steel yesterday and hit it as hard as I could 6 times on one of the bends with a 16# sledge hammer and couldn't bend it. Just for reference, I never have a problem making the bell go ding at the top of the pole at the county fair.

I plan on shooting these things after I've cut them down to about 12-14" out at 200+ yards with an AR-15 and 300-800 yards with 243's and 270 WSM's. I figure since they are sitting on a swivel/hinge base and are almost ready to fall over backwards just by being set up that way that they should give way easier and shed more impact than the same target hanging on a chain.

Just looking for input.

Chain Bender

I don't know about the hardness test, try looking for average spring steel results. I dno't know about brush Hog, but the Land Pride blades are of spring steel.

 

[Chain Bender]

I don't know about the hardness test, try looking for average spring steel results. I dno't know about brush Hog, but the Land Pride blades are of spring steel.

I talked to a fellow last night on a pistol shooting site and he said they were about half as hard as a file. He mentioned a number and a hardness code, but I ca't remember it off the top of my head, Will post some pix of the target after it is shot)ed).

CB

 

[Chain Bender]

Here it is. Just as I thought it would be. The Fast, but light, 55 grain FMJ barely dimpled the bush hog blade. The hits actually look worse on cameral than they really are. The least one is lest than 1/16" deep and the two bad ones less than 1/8".

The 3/16" mild steel frame didn't fare so well.