BB gun game ideas - for new shooters

[jasonbterry]

hello all! i'm a lifetime shooter/hunter (IOW, very conscious of safety) and i recently picked up a couple of low-end daisy bb guns (buck model) for use with the group of teenagers i work with... a few of them have shot guns before, but many of them have not. i'm trying to come up with some interesting/engaging games that i can use for this group with guns like these. the shatter-blast targets are kinda cool, but i'd be interested in things that require strategy and team-work. if TopShot ever featured Red Rider BB guns, what kind of games would they play?
Thanks, in advance, for any help you may lend. Blessings...

 

[average_shooter]

One of the games we used to play is to set up two targets side by side. Have two shooters standing in front of their respective targets, start close to the target. With each hit you take a step backwards. If a shooter misses he has to take a step closer with each miss then work his way back again. Basically the point was to see how far we could get and who had to shoot the least to get there.

ETA:

Another idea if you're going for team events: Teams of two, targets involving multiple smaller targets (like maybe a board with ten balloons), one person shoots until they hit a target, then the other person shoots until they hit one, keep going back and forth until all targets are gone, shoot for team times to see which team can work together the best or quickest.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Little green Army men. knock em down

 

[Ramone]

Ritz cracker Skeet.

http://www.retrieversportingclays.com/ritz_cracker_thrower_launcher.html

It CAN be done with BB guns.

 

[splattergun]

Little green Army men. knock em down

That, or lil plastic animals/dinosaurs, hidden in grass, bushes or papier mache diorama.
Have a 'spotter' and a 'shooter'. Devise a scoring system that promotes cooperation.

Ritz 'clays' sounds like lots of fun too!

 

[Quoheleth]

I would suggest staying away from shooting the plastic army men. Given today's state of heightened fear of guns, having your young shooters tell others that you're teaching them to shoot at plastic men might come back to bite your well-intended training.

Ping-pong balls on a string, dancing in a little breeze, is a challenging and fun target. Soda cans are cheap targets. Larger than the ping-pong balls, they also dance in the breeze. Dollar-store crackers or cookies make cheap, biodegradable targets.

Paper targets abound - see targetz.com - with the associated shooting games. For example, there's a 9-ball game (shoot the pool balls in order), shoot off the head of a match, and speed shooting (how quickly and accurately can you shoot at 9 different balls) just to name a few.

Shoot til you miss was a favorite of my Dad and me. When I started shooting, he maintained control of the gun for significant lengths of time while I watched him continue to score. Inspired me to practice until it was about even, and eventually I got better than him and controlled the gun for longer times than him.

I like this with .22s - paint the tip of paint-stirrer sticks red so it looks like a match. Each shooter gets one. Who can shoot the red off first? Speed plus accuracy.

The .22 rimfire contest thread would give new ideas, too - just modify for BB gun ranges.

Good luck,
Q

 

[Acera]

http://www.cabelas.com/targets-chronographs-birchwood-casey-game-targets.shtml

These are not too expensive.

 

[Swing]

Little green Army men. knock em down

mhmm.

 

[gp911]

For reactive targets shooting outdoors in a rural area, try a couple dozen eggs. Biodegradable! The printable targets online have all sorts of cool games you could adapt to bb guns by shortening the distance.

 

[Billll]

Necco wafers.