Shooting aimlessly.

I make sure I aim at something.

I've found I can empty a 1911 on a target as quickly as I can just empty it, and so I do. I've never enjoyed using ammo to make noise; feels like a waste.

Regards,

Josh

I can honestly say I have never shot AIM-lessly... but I have shot at random targets over the decades to see what happens when a bullet hits them... or if I was able to actually hit the whatever-it-was, or even to feel the action operate and/or the recoil imparted on my shoulder just to see if I could handle it. But to blast away at the sky just to hear a bang? No.

Ive seen others shoot aimlessy at the berm or ground, having fun. Although i don't have a problem, it can be kind of annoying when i need to check targets and am waiting until their mag dumps are complete. I always have some sort of target I am aiming at.

However, i think it is all a matter of perspective. At a minimum they are establishing confidence that their firearm will function when they need it to.

I also know there are some who think target shooting other than sighting in a deer rifle is pointless.

I dont let it bother me if it is done safely.

My stepkids like to go shooting with their dad. This is fine, doesn't bother me in the least. Only thing that kinda erks me is that they quantify how much fun they had in terms of how much money in ammo they shot up.

I, on the other hand, can take 50 rds of meticulously handloaded ammunition and spend the entire day at the range.

The fundamental difference can be summed up in the response to their mother asking, "So, what'd you shoot?"
The boy answers, "I shot my AR, and dad's AR, and his AK, and my Beretta, and a shotgun..."
Whereas my answer would be along the lines of, "Well, checked zero at 200, then hit some golf balls at 200, moved back to milk jugs at 4 and 5, then steel plates at 600 and 3 hits on the half-mile plate..."

Different strokes and all, but i generally feel like, if you're not trying to actually hit a specific target, then your money is better spent on fireworks than firearms.

It’s the joy of simply holding a firearm and shooting. It’s fun.

Choctaw said:

It’s the joy of simply holding a firearm and shooting. It’s fun.

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Naw. Nobody has "fun" shooting unless they shoot the same way I shoot. Not even if they're paying for it themselves.

Last time I was in Las Vegas I rented 3 different full autos just for fun. And fun it was.

I have a few ammo hose type weapons which I enjoy too, never shoot them aimlessly though, always try to stay on target.

foxmeadow said:

I used to shoot in a league (my wife called it bowling with guns) and there was this guy who won almost every season. I happened on him practicing one day. He had 8 mags (1911) and loaded them randomly with at least 2 snap caps per mag. He said that he assumed that the next round he fired, every time, would just go click, and that his sights would still be on the x-ring. He got surprised a lot, but he hit the x-ring a LOT. I don't think a mag dump was even in his vocabulary..

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This I am going to use.Thanks foxmeadow
I have a bunch of arrows just for stump shooting and have always enjoyed plinking.I tell my spouse that I need the practice,But it is about hitting a chosen spot on a safe target at random distances.It’s fun too.

I’ll admit to not always aiming at something in particular. Sometimes I am just checking function or checking speed through a chronograph, just need the bullet to go at that point. Not often but it happens.

Unless I'm sighting in a new scope or verifying a scope/load I don't much care for serious, frownyfaced, aimed shooting. Only so many teeny little groups I can make at the 100 yard range before I get bored (though on the rare occasions I get to sttetch it out past 100, different story)

So I do like shooting my AR and AK rapidly at pie plates under various timed scenarios. I suppose to some that may seem aimless.

Much like I prefer defensive drills with my pistols over slowfire bullseye.

As long as folks are safe I wonder why other folks feel the need to judge, just live and let live and all that. We don't all gotta be 100% training all the time.

[And yes I also love mag dumpers at the range as they rarely are there for long and leave me lots of once fired brass ]

.308 Norma said:

Naw. Nobody has "fun" shooting unless they shoot the same way I shoot. Not even if they're paying for it themselves.

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Hahaha!

I can’t believe this thread is still running & four pages long! To me, the most entertaining “theme” on and forum post is the overwhelming assumptions that “everybody ought to be just like me!” Like the same Guns, shoot th same ammo, carry in the same holster, drink the same koolaid, wear the same socks, ....

If somebody likes firearms & excercises:supports the 2nd amendment, GREAT! This is America, the land of the free (to do whatever you like).

entropy said:

Good thing she isn't a combat vet that would react differently......like flash back and take care of the situation themselves.

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A good thing for HER.

Why can't a stump be a target?

I always aim at something. Often I hit it. Sometimes not.

I avoid tree stumps unless it is possible to determine where the shot struck, like a stump with no bark which has not been peppered previously.

Best thread title EVER

Dirt Shooters gonna shoot dirt...

cc-hangfire
If you think this thread shows a lot about drinkin the koolaid just check one out on which kind/color of press to buy in the reloading section!

paulo57509 said:

I've done it before, for about 90 seconds. I got bored real quick. It's similar to riding a jet ski.

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Great comparison!

243winxb said:

Seen small boulders turned into gravel at a public range when it first opened.



They get out of the car, blow a couple 30 round magazine down range, then leave. Never go down range. (Safer) All good fun.

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I watched a few guys blow a gallon of Tannerite at the range one day. Can't help but wonder if it isn't the same principal at play sometimes...just need to let it out. Different people, different motivations.

I never shot tannerite and when it first came out my windows were always rattled on weekends thanks to my neighbors, but it must get old fast because the last few summers have been quite.

My only concern is the safety aspect, as any people, homes,cars, etc., within a certain radius may be struck by a deflected round.

This is the voice of experience, as many years ago I was at an informal range with a friend where we were shooting a .22 into an earthen backstop.
Something buzzed behind our heads, then we heard a gunshot.
Turns out someone in the vicinity who also had been shooting at an earthen backstop then decided to begin shooting at a discarded car door.
Factory .357 round took a weird richochet and passed behind our heads.
If it had changed its course just slightly one of us would have been injured or killed.

Another time I was squirrel hunting on public land and I began hearing a rifle/pistol being fired rapidly with at least one round passing through the tops of trees near me.
I laid on the ground until it stopped and started yelling when the shot ceased.
Never saw who or where they came from, but I laid there for awhile and killed time until I was sure it wasn't going to start up again.
I'm sure he was as surprised as I was to discover someone else in the woods.

People can do what they want. They can pick their noses in public, if they want. They can text while they drive. Doesn't mean what they do is safe or is healthy.

I understand people doing function checks or shooting clays or practicing drawing or working with their grip or speed drills, or having fun stump shooting etc.... But shooting dozens and dozens of rounds of high powered ammo randomly into the back of the range so that a person can take a picture of himself with fire coming out the end of the gun is dangerous, immature, scares people who live nearby and worry anyway if shooters nearby are responsible, and gives shooters a bad name as a bunch of adolescent lunkheads.

So there is no stopping the kids at the range who choose to do this and think that hitting a dinner plate constitutes accuracy. They can do what they want, but I suspect the vast majority of the people who shoot at the range think this is dumb, kid behavior.

^^

So they are having fun wrong. Got it.

Not everyone shoots at a public range. The nearest neighbor to my property is nine miles away. If we want to unload into the dam of one of our tanks exactly who is that hurting? If shooting from a bench (I have four on my range for serious work) and punching holes in paper is your idea of fun, that is great (it really is). However, to criticize how others enjoy the shooting sports shows a lack of tolerance.

If I had a lack of tolerance I would complain to the Range Board and whine until they outlawed ARs or something. I can disapprove of something and even argue against it while still tolerating it. Being tolerant of others does not mean always agreeing with them.