Ya, ass holes shot them full of holes.
Found it best to use AR500 steel, pricey, but will be more a-hole proof. Will stop everything up to the big centerfires until they start shooting AP. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
Actually as luck has it, AR500 is tending to come down in price. Probably not as cheap as a guy with a torch and some scrap boiler plate, but
"buy once cry once" applies.
All my steel is AR500. It will stand up to anything but AP because it IS armor. When it comes to soft lead from a muzzleloader, those bullets barely mar the paint. AGAIN you take the steel with you when you leave.
We had cowboy steel at my local range, stored in a metal shed. Some schmuck found it, pulled it out, shot holes in it, put it back. I showed up with my steel on the same day, after the schmuck left..., somebody called the club president and told him
I was the one shooting club steel. I offered to drive over to his house with my steel and the video I made of my son shooting my steel on that day, and the club president took my word for it.
The range committee instead of putting a padlock on the shed...simply banned all steel target shooting except at a scheduled event. Too much left-wing exposure even among some gun owners here (imho).
You can add a committee to a club, or you can lease property and be your own club (don't buy it as it becomes an asset if your club gets sued) . If your shoots stay tiny, you can "get the ax". IF like the CAS division at my range, you bring in shooters and thus some cash..., they won't get rid of you.
The key to "stretching" the steel is to use additional novelty targets. Such as biodegradable disks. You can use clay birds made that way, OR you can bake up a ton of ship's biscuit, with some orange food color added. Plastic spinning targets that are rated for modern rifles might also be an option.
LD