Unusual targets

Man, I really need to place to just go shoot "stuff". I spent awhile at the indoor range today, but it's just not the same. That said, I think I had a ricochet from one of my rounds at the end of the range that somehow flipped up and knocked out a flourescent light tube. Oops! I know I wasn't aiming anywhere near that high.

Last month I was invited to a private range, a quarry where the flat rock floor was partially flooded from recent rains. One of the popular things to plink at was golf balls we tossed out in front of the firing line. I got lucky and tiddlywinked one from a couple yards in front of the table, all the way to the mud bank back in the left side of the picture, just clearning the water.

bowling pins
matchbox cars

I acquired a life sized cardboard cutout of Jeff Gordon several years ago. I'm no big Gordon fan and back then I was what could be considered a Jeff Gordon Anti. Needless to say, the cutout became well perforated.

Milk jugs filled with water.



Oranges shot with birdshot - they vaporize into orange mist!



Hard drives



Laptops



Oh and of course - computer monitors!

I recently started shooting paintballs, they give a pretty good splat. I came across a whole mess of them for free but I won't pay for them as targets. I hope I can get more for free soon, I'm running low.

I acquired a life sized cardboard cutout of Jeff Gordon several years ago. I'm no big Gordon fan and back then I was what could be considered a Jeff Gordon Anti. Needless to say, the cutout became well perforated.

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ROFL! Now that you brought that up, I had a poster from a while back. I was young when I got it, so I knew no better. That poster was shot several times with a 12 ga. and then lit on fire It was very satisfying.

I've got two satelite dishes i shoot at. i had a wooden door i shot at, but i cut it in half. But i always shoot some cans.

The little cheap dum-dum pops. Set up on a board drilled with holes. Shot with a .22, you have immediate feedback. If you've hit it right dead center, the stick will be gone.

Got to go back to mic'ing my .22 rounds now.

I don't mean to be a spoilsport here, but I have to admit to being perturbed by some of the items that have been shot at before.

I'm by no means a greenie, but I have real problems with a lot of the stuff being shot because it's NEVER CLEANED UP!

I've gone up to BLM land around the Portland area and found old computers, monitors, televisions, refrigerators, CARS, all sorts of crap that has been used as targets, and then NEVER CLEANED UP.

A lot of those places are now OFF LIMITS to shooting because people haven't cleaned up the crap they've left up there. Additionally, as satisfying as shooting that old computer that just kept acting up was, there are some potentially toxic materials in there that if not cleaned up properly will eventually leach into the ground.

Now, to add something positive to this thread, I like shooting the different targets as much as anyone. Punching holes in paper does get old. But I've found that those biodegradable clay pigeons are GREAT targets, especially for first time shooters who get to see their target break apart when they hit it. Another poster mentioned milk jugs filled with water, those are great targets. I like to freeze mine first, they tend to make the target last a little longer than one shot.

All I ask is that if you take it up there with you, and it's not biodegradable, bring it back home for proper disposal. And maybe pick up after your fellow shooters that weren't as considerate. That'll just mean that those public lands will stay open to shooters just a little longer.

old disc blades work pretty well if you hang them up

One of the fondest memories that I have is following through with a threat that I made to my computer.

I had a Compaq that constantly needed working on. When I say work, I don't mean software issues. I mean PARTS failing.

One day, I said that if this thing dies again, I am going to shoot it.

Well, a couple months later, it did. True to my word, I dragged it out in the yard and shot it a few times with a semi-auto AK-47.

But that's not the fun part....

I then went back in the house and called Dell to order a new computer.

I got an Indian guy in a call center IN India. I calmly stated "Hi, my name is John, and I just shot my computer. I need you to build me a new one."

It set the tone for a unique conversation.

And both my Dells work perfectly.


-- John

A guy a the range picked up a box load of toy rats from a garage sale.

I shoot at all kinds of things:

Apples, oranges, grapes, melons.
Water bottles, spent 12 ga shell casings, .22lr brass, etc.
Tennis balls are fun and last a long time. I'll have to try golf balls.
Phone books, tree stumps, etc.

I put about a tablespoon of baby powder (via a funnel) into a balloon, inflate it, and then use that as a target. One gets a satisfying large POOF of white cloud upon shooting the balloon.

Flea market garbage!

I have a decent sized flea market 5 minutes from my house, so when I go down their every weekend I keep an eye out for .50 cent and $1 ceramic and other "made in china" junk.

I have shot up snow globes (a solid glass one that some how survived 3 .357mag shots at 50 yards), ceramic toys, barbies, just to name a few.

mnrivrat said:

Dragon Flies !

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Leave them critters alone they eat mosquitoes!
Meanwhile I like to shoot up my old expended fireworks tubes.

When I was much younger I bought a plastic model of the Bismark, that had a battery driven motor. It had a steering pattern that you could set to do circles, or figure eights.
Spent a previous weekend putting it togther, and the next weekend dismantling it on the pond while it did figure eights, till it sank.
If your real carefull with a .22 you can get hours of fun taking it apart from top to bottom.
It even sank like you see in the movies, bow up bloop, bloop, and .......gone.

If you are shooting with young kids, buy a 12 pack of cheap red pop. Shake it up and let them shoot it. My kids use to love it.

I used to clear spruce trees by shooting them down. It worked esp. well in the dead of winter when they were frozen. Shotgun slugs were by far the most effective at this, even more than the .375 H&H.

I also considered any grouse a target of opportunity. A very tasty target.

Empty propane cylinder with a bad valve. Someone else had discarded it at the range, but I kept it going for three more sessions. It was fun sticking it on top of the 100m berm then shooting for it with a pistol. It was almost comedic to score a hit and hear the TING come back a second later.

I really want to get some life-size printouts of the King from the BK commercials. I figure that ought to motivate me to really make good shots.

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He is one creapy dude!


I have shot small trees in two with a shotgun and a .444 Marlin.

There was a tree on the land that we used to hunt that we would lean target up against. It was probably 4-6 inches in diameter. We shot it down over a period of a couple of years with .22's. It was not intentional. We just eventually shot targets on it till we shot it in two.

I have shot diferents things:

green plastic army men

bottles and cans

rocks

sticks

brick (.444 Marlin)

armidillos

But my favorite of all time would have to be turtles on a pond or creek!

I wouldn't mind some Obama, Jesse, and Al cutouts to shoot at!

I don't have anywhere to shoot now because I do not belong to any hunting club. There is an indoor range that I go to, but it is paper targets only.

Oh, I just remembered another good one!

I made a home made gong by welding two 1/8" steel plates together. Then I welded that to a heavy duty door hinge, and bolted it to a wooden a-frame.

It handled .22, 32 H&R mag, .38spl & 9mm no problem. But when I shot it with the .44 mag then entire gong and stand leaped in the air and jumped back about 2 feet!

You can thread roaches through the rear end with a needle and a piece of thread about 4 inches long, pin the thread to the center of a paper target over cardboard, and send it downrange. Makes the boring paper target a little more interesting with the moving bullseye.