Never Shoot Steel on Steel, says Jerry Miculek
Russ Chastain 01.11.21
(Image: Screenshots from ‘steel on steel’ video)
Steel targets are great things. They can provide instant sound feedback so you know whether you’ve hit or not, which is way more fun than punching holes in a sheet of paper — and many steel targets move when hit, which is another indicator of a hit and adds to the enjoyment. But steel can also be quite dangerous under the wrong conditions
Jerry Miculek is a well-respected shooter who’s also one of the most down-to-earth folks out there, and he likes to help educate shooters about possible hazards. About six months ago, we shared one of his videos about the dangers of steel targets; click here to check that out.
This time around, Jerry is talking about — and demonstrating — how steel shot from a shotgun can and will bounce off of steel targets and come right back at the firing line! I think we can all agree that we want our projos to go away from us and never towards us when we’re shooting. To that end, one should never, ever fire steel on steel.
He starts out with a run-of-the-mill Red Ryder BB gun (yes, it seems that even Jerry Miculek loves a Red Ryder) to show the BB bouncing off the steel plate target. Jerry doesn’t like to waste time, so from there he dives right into shooting the shotgun at the same plate.
The first shell contains lead shot, which naturally smashes to bits against the much harder steel… or in Jerry language, it turns into “fairy dust.” LOL!
The steel shot is number 4 bird shot, which is fairly large, and it bounces back off the plate. It also clobbered the heck out of the steel, even leaving dents… man, that’s some hard shot.
Moral of the story: Never shoot steel on steel. As Jerry says, “Leave it for the birds.”
