Plate Racks

[md8232]

I plan to purchase my own plate rack in 2022. I want to buy once, cry once, but have no idea
which rack to choose. The rack would be used for 9mm with some other pistol calibers on occasion.
I’d like to hear which racks to choose, and especially which to avoid.

[John Hearne]

For a plate rack, I like MGM for a "buy once, cry once" option. If you don't want to spend that much money, I've bought the Action Target plate racks for work and they seem to be at the sweet spot for price/quality.

[Darth_Uno]

https://shootsteel.com/speed-rack/

I've got this, and it's been fine with 9mm and frangible 5.56. Don't really have much to add...it's just a bunch of steel plates.

[mmc45414]

I have three of the shoot Steel racks made from conduit and am very happy.
They say not to make them this tall, but it works great.
Does it need to be portable? This stuff packs down into the truck and we set up three of them every Sunday.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211229/c18227af5d2f9f663d37718c4a8624d2.jpg

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[fatdog]

If it is not getting moved around and you can afford it, the MGM. Got three at our club and they stand the test of time as long as nobody attacks one with a rifle.

[camsdaddy]

If it is not getting moved around and you can afford it, the MGM. Got three at our club and they stand the test of time as long as nobody attacks one with a rifle.
That is the key. The range I attend has some nice racks but it never fails someone will show up and shoot them with a rifle.

[BobM]

I bought the sportsman’s plate rack from MGM for my agency several years ago. It gets used at most quarterly by 20 +/- officers and it’s held up well. The higher grade MGM rack is around twice the price but probably worth it for a gun club or an agency that would use it more heavily.

[JCN]

I plan to purchase my own plate rack in 2022. I want to buy once, cry once, but have no idea
which rack to choose. The rack would be used for 9mm with some other pistol calibers on occasion.
I’d like to hear which racks to choose, and especially which to avoid.

Question for you: it sounds like it's for your own personal use and not for a club or a competition.

Is there any reason you want a plate rack in particular? It makes sense if you're training for a plate rack competition, but for general marksmanship and practice with transitions I prefer:

Self-resetting targets: more time shooting, less time resetting.
Individual targets: I can change the spacing and distances to vary the marksmanship challenge.

Depending on what your range surface is, I like the budget mini-staked poppers for $50 with a hinge and spring. The absolute cheapest way is to buy ebay 8" rounds and put them on gardening shepherd crooks. I have video and pictures of what that looks like if you're interested.

[md8232]

Question for you: it sounds like it's for your own personal use and not for a club or a competition.

Is there any reason you want a plate rack in particular? It makes sense if you're training for a plate rack competition, but for general marksmanship and practice with transitions I prefer:

Self-resetting targets: more time shooting, less time resetting.
Individual targets: I can change the spacing and distances to vary the marksmanship challenge.

Depending on what your range surface is, I like the budget mini-staked poppers for $50 with a hinge and spring. The absolute cheapest way is to buy ebay 8" rounds and put them on gardening shepherd crooks. I have video and pictures of what that looks like if you're interested.

With a rack, the targets will be up higher where I want them. I have some individual targets now, set on t-posts. I'm shooting in
front of a barbed wire fence and want my targets up above the fence line. I'm not training for competition, just occasional
practice with friends. I have a .22 rack on the way also.

[md8232]

If it is not getting moved around and you can afford it, the MGM. Got three at our club and they stand the test of time as long as nobody attacks one with a rifle.

This is a home range, so no one shoots without my permission. MGM is buy once, cry a few times!!
Although they aren't that much more than Action Targets.
I have a 10% coupon, and I'm leaning towards MGM.

[JCN]

With a rack, the targets will be up higher where I want them. I have some individual targets now, set on t-posts. I'm shooting in
front of a barbed wire fence and want my targets up above the fence line. I'm not training for competition, just occasional
practice with friends. I have a .22 rack on the way also.

Auto reset plate rack here:

https://innovativetargets.net/product/auto-reset-plate-rack

You could use taller T-posts too. They go up to 10' or so.

Having to reset my own plate racks after every run for practice would drive me nuts. :D

This is what auto reset can look like if you start the video at 1:19


https://youtu.be/1zknAzX2nr4?t=79

[md8232]

Auto reset plate rack here:

https://innovativetargets.net/product/auto-reset-plate-rack

You could use taller T-posts too. They go up to 10' or so.

Having to reset my own plate racks after every run for practice would drive me nuts. :D

This is what auto reset can look like if you start the video at 1:19


https://youtu.be/1zknAzX2nr4?t=79

I have some nice stands for paper targets, but the wind up here on the hill keeps knocking
them down.
The plate racks I'm looking at have a rope to reset the targets, but the auto reset
looks interesting.

[JCN]

I have some nice stands for paper targets, but the wind up here on the hill keeps knocking
them down.
The plate racks I'm looking at have a rope to reset the targets, but the auto reset
looks interesting.

So I have a home range that looks like this:


https://youtu.be/ysLLBd1blJw

And I just had some berms put in that look like this:

82040

If it’s for just yourself, you really want to make it as versatile and EASY as possible IMO.

Plate racks are so limited in what you can do with them that I don’t find them worthwhile for the cost.

There’s a company that makes individual knock down auto reset plates too. I can try and remember who that was.

Even for my practice poppers, I just want them to wobble and ring but I don’t want to have to reset them haha.

[md8232]

So I have a home range that looks like this:


https://youtu.be/ysLLBd1blJw

And I just had some berms put in that look like this:

82040

If it’s for just yourself, you really want to make it as versatile and EASY as possible IMO.

Plate racks are so limited in what you can do with them that I don’t find them worthwhile for the cost.

There’s a company that makes individual knock down auto reset plates too. I can try and remember who that was.

Even for my practice poppers, I just want them to wobble and ring but I don’t want to have to reset them haha.

Pretty jealous right now. Most of our land is in hay, so I can’t put in a cool playground like yours. Half the time
I have to chase away the horse and goats to shoot. One in the ground and they run to the barn!
We just had 7 deer up at the back fence grazing away. I let our mutt out and you should have seen them run.
When I walk down to the neighbors field the deer just stare at me until I get close. Really should start hunting,
but I like my dry aged steaks too much.

[rcbusmc24]

I've got two of these that I love to use for various things. For the price they are probably the best thing. I've used them to support several classes as well. If you don't suck then your 2x4's will last for quite a while as well...


https://mgmtargets.com/product/steel-challenge-plate-rack/

[Skinner Precision, LLC]

If you have the ability to fab or pay for fabrication-Magnum Target in Bauxite,AR has "tabbed" 8" plates that are great for building plate racks.

They also have the cheapest price I could find for AR 500 2/3 USPSA targets and T post hangers. I have 3 of the 2/3 USPSA targets and 2 plate racks worth of plates from them and am very happy

[md8232]

If you have the ability to fab or pay for fabrication-Magnum Target in Bauxite,AR has "tabbed" 8" plates that are great for building plate racks.

They also have the cheapest price I could find for AR 500 2/3 USPSA targets and T post hangers. I have 3 of the 2/3 USPSA targets and 2 plate racks worth of plates from them and am very happy

Thanks for this. Bauxite is a little more than 2 hours away.

[ECK]

My club is local to MGM, so suffice to say the majority of our steel is MGM. We have four of their regular plate racks and also spec’d them with the rifle shield to the protect the base. The membership really likes them and they get a lot of use from .22 to shotgun. Fortunately we’ve only had a few instances of somebody dumping a rifle round into them but the club prez is a machinist and has the means to repair them and the club also ponies up the $$ each year to buy replacement plates and hinges for when they break from all the use. If I was into casting, I could probably collect a year’s worth of lead from all the splatter that each plate rack has on it.

However I rarely shoot them outside of a match. For practice I much prefer static plates or something that auto-resets. A few mags into on a plate rack, having to stop and reset each time after 6 shots (if I’m on), gets a little boring after a while. But with a couple static plates, such as 8” hex or a A/C zone, and a couple-three target stands, I can set up some fun (and productive) live-fire drills.

It would be awesome to have my own private range out my back door.

[JCN]

My club is local to MGM, so suffice to say the majority of our steel is MGM. We have four of their regular plate racks and also spec’d them with the rifle shield to the protect the base. The membership really likes them and they get a lot of use from .22 to shotgun. Fortunately we’ve only had a few instances of somebody dumping a rifle round into them but the club prez is a machinist and has the means to repair them and the club also ponies up the $$ each year to buy replacement plates and hinges for when they break from all the use. If I was into casting, I could probably collect a year’s worth of lead from all the splatter that each plate rack has on it.

However I rarely shoot them outside of a match. For practice I much prefer static plates or something that auto-resets. A few mags into on a plate rack, having to stop and reset each time after 6 shots (if I’m on), gets a little boring after a while. But with a couple static plates, such as 8” hex or a A/C zone, and a couple-three target stands, I can set up some fun (and productive) live-fire drills.

It would be awesome to have my own private range out my back door.

The staked mini poppers are A-zone sized and if access to a berm or someplace where you can mount them chest level they’re great.

82091

They’re also light and portable. I think they’re $40 or so each.

[ECK]

I have two MGM targets: A simple auto-popper that is spring loaded so it resets, and a Steel Challenge stand & hanger with a 10” and 6” plate. Everything is AR500 and .223 friendly provided I don’t shoot them too close.

https://mgmtargets.com/product/auto-popper-cowboy-action-8-inch-hex-target/

https://mgmtargets.com/product-category/steel-challenge/

[md8232]

I do like the idea of auto reset targets, but need the targets up about 4’ in the air.
Thanks for al the ideas.

[JCN]

I do like the idea of auto reset targets, but need the targets up about 4’ in the air.
Thanks for al the ideas.

It’s very easy to mount auto reset targets 4 feet in the air.

The staked ones that I posted are two parts. A stake and an upper part. Held together by bolts and springs.

Instead of using the stake, you can bolt it to a 2x4 or a 4x4 which is basically the same thing as a speed rack.

It’s cheaper than doing something like this, but this works too.

https://www.challengetargets.com/product/ARP-80055-H-3PK.html

[mmc45414]

I do like the idea of auto reset targets, but need the targets up about 4’ in the air.

I agree. Mine (like I pictured) (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?51046-Plate-Racks&p=1302438&viewfull=1#post1302438)are about that high up, and I have had very good results from using chain. With two chains they settle down very quickly, there is no problem with splatter, and there is no doubt when you hit them.

Also, using the conduit has worked out very well, it is much more durable than I expected, and when it does get hit remains stronger than I thought it would be.

ETA: With this method you could probably do five 8" plates on a conduit stand (if you drill your own holes and cut your own chain) for ~$400.
https://shootsteel.com/1-emt-gong-stand-kit/

[backtrail540]

https://tatargets.com/product/phoenix-plate-rack/

I haven't used their rack, but the TA mini dap is great. Posting as another option for those interested.

[Round1]

https://www.spartanarmorsystems.com/diy-ar500-plate-rack/?sku=TTM-DIYPR6