Does anyone else still shoot bottles and cans

[MagnumDweeb]

Yesterday I got to go shooting at a buddy's property(inherited from his mom) with over 400 acres and well away from neighbors. He actually had a an earth berm, more of a bump four feet high with a higher one behind it about six feet high. My other buddy is a Marine reservist and by his words a "real shooter" which makes me laugh because he failed out of the local police academy for reasons he's never been honest about.

I love shooting at coke cans and regurarly raid some of my friends recycling bins when I get to go shooting outside. There's folks near my buddy's property that toss their trash on someone else's land off a road so he raids the epic amounts of beer bottles and cans. It's one thing to shoot at a big paper target and another to shoot at something the size of a regular coke can or bottle.

Since I started shooting at cans and bottles I've noticed that I'm shooting better on silhouettes, way better, you almost develop a whole new eye-hand coordination. Then there's the shooting on the move we get to practice. It's nothing more than a controlled continued side step, or moving backward while shooting either to the left or right, but it puts a whole new spin on things so to speak. My Marine reservist buddy made us nervous to even stand behind as he got frustrated that he couldn't hit bottles or cans with the first three to four shots from his Glock 19(he'd get close honestly but it was still fun in a way to watch the big talker fall flat).

On the move I could usually get my first three out of six(sometimes four and once five but I stopped moving altogether on the fifth so it really doesn't count) cans or bottles with my Ruger Sp101 3" with American Eagle .357 JSP high velocity, in a few seconds at fifteen feet back or so. After a five or so goes though I had to stop because my adrenaline was up and I wasn't doing myself any good learning bad habits as I saw it.

Back in my grandpas day it was quite normal to shoot playing cards(which I have done before but I keep forgetting to buy new packs of cards), bottles, cans, and most folks still do bowling pins. I have to say in my opinion it's far better for real world self-defense prep. The solar plexus is about the size of a coke can and it helps develop the discipline of hitting what you aim at. There is a IPSCA range not too far away but they want thirty bucks an hour to use the range, I'd rather hang out with my friends. I'm trying to talk my buddy into tossing coke cans no higher than five feet and shooting them out of the air but he's not up for it unfortunately.

If I ever get a property I can shoot on I know I'll be asking my friends if I can take their coke cans and bottles(recycle, reduce, resuse).

 

[postalnut25]

When I had property, I'd fill old cans with water and freeze them to get them heavy enough to stay still. Then a grouop of buddies & I would shoot them. Filled with ice, they exploded nicely. I also like shooting full cans of stuff like soup, cause they explode when hit as well. Much more fun than regular empty cans & milk jugs.

 

[lab28143]

I do as well. Most of the time actually. I seem to have a need for reactive targets.

 

[Bud Tugly]

I save up plastic milk jugs for when I want to shoot on my property. You can hang them frrom a tree branch or set them on a stump or on the ground.

They're nice and light to carry and it's easy to clean up afterward. I would never want to shoot glass bottles on my land since cleanup is a nightmare.

 

[jcwit]

Neither is allowed on our range. Try 4 inch squared of 2 inch foam insulation. Very reactive and they hold up for many shots and cheap to.

 

[VegasAR15]

I save all of my milk jugs and water bottles to shoot. But my favorite is shooting shaken up beer cans.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Is this a loaded (sic) question?

 

[Rembrandt]

Use to mow our clubs range and occasionally find shot up glass bottles.....people that do that should be forced to pick up the shards in the dark while naked. Grrrrrrr....

 

[rondog]

Aluminum cans and plastic bottles/jugs full of water are our all-time favorites! It's very satisfying to hit a soda can full of water at 100 yards with an M1 Garand. Challenging too.

And yeah, anything made of glass is a BIG no-no. Don't shoot it if you don't plan to pick up all the shrapnel.

 

[Rabbitcreekok]

The only problem with the current paper thin pop cans is I have shot them with a .22 while they were sitting on a fence and they did not move off the fence. The bullet passed through them and they did not move.

Shooting shaken up beer cans is a waste of good beer.

 

[pockets]

Glass bottles and railway telephone-pole insulators were fun to shoot when I was 12 years old.....but leaving glass and trash littered all around is not something I would do today.
Try something like saltine crackers, Oreos, oranges, apples, other fruit, etc.... are all good when "blowed up". Then just let the animals clean up after you. Even clay shotgun targets make good reactive shooting that don't result in permanent trash.
Then you needn't be concerned (if you were at all) about tiny bits of foam, glass, metal, plastic and such being spread over the land permanently.

Well...perhaps if there were still small public dumps like there were in the 60's when I was younger. Back then we didn't have to worry about broken glass and rat corpses in public dumps.
.

 

[Chemist]

Shoot at overly ripe fruit, and you can freeze it holding it for the day you need it. You don't really need to clean it up (depending on your range) because the birds will eat it!

 

[slicksleeve]

I do. (In the backyard.)

 

[parsimonious_instead]

I wrap soda and beer cans in bright green office paper, and put them down range. If they're all torn up, I pick up the remains and throw it away. If they're relatively intact (placed toward the end of a shooting session or shot at exclusively with a .22) I'll leave them for other people to shoot at. My local range is a pretty small and informal place.

 

[ArmedBear]

I shoot cans on public land. Making a can dance with a single action revolver is a lot of fun -- and I can pick it up when I'm done. Plastic bottles are not as fun, but might do in a pinch.

Glass bottles, OTOH, are the targets of scumbags who get our shooting areas shut down, one after another.

Balloons are my favorite, though. They're cheap, interactive, and still easy to see at 350 yards.

 

[heron]

Bottles and cans, not much, but I shot a groundhog and a tree squirrel today . . . do those count?

 

[Mudinyeri]

My son really likes to shoot "reactive" targets. Tin cans, milk jugs, laundry detergent jugs, etc. I like the slushy-frozen milk jug idea for testing HD ammo. Unless you freeze them on-site, though, it would be hard to keep them the right consistency.

In the Army, they had us shoot ammo cans full of water to demonstrate what entrance and exit wounds would look like.

 

[1KPerDay]

I save my plastic OJ bottles and water bottles my kids and I and shoot those, filled with water. Easier to clean up than glass bottles.

Cheap store-brand diet soda in cans also makes for fun, reactive targets (diet soda isn't sticky when you clean up the cans).

You DO clean up after yourselves... right?

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Cans, not bottles. Cans are easy to pick up. Glass would be a time consuming nightmare to pick up.

 

[Little Weaz]

While some would say it is wasteful, and it is, I have discovered a new target. EGGS!! They are great to shoot with any caliber. Even the smallest 22 LR pistol has enough energy to blow an egg up with a good hit. At 100 yards, and egg is a great challenge for those target rifles, especially on a windy day. I tried using some silicone to stick the eggs to golf tees so they would be easy to set up, but the silicone did not stick very well. Mother nature will take care of the eggs you just need to pick up your reusable tees. You can also throw them and shoot them with your shot gun of choice.

Potatoes are great!! They react nicely, and bits fly off, but they are usually good for a few hits. I am wanting to build a spud gun for some modified trap shooting.

Weaz

 

[lions]

Lucky for me, I really like milk. Almost as much as I enjoy shooting the jugs filled up with water! When I was a kid just shooting a BB gun, my brother and I would have races to see who could empty the jug faster. Every pop and soup can I recycle goes back full of holes too.

 

[Boba Fett]

Does anyone else still shoot bottles and cans

Not since I accidentally shot some country guy's cans. I had no idea they were his. He came running out, "My cans! My precious antique cans! Aww, look what ya done to ‘em." I felt really bad...





I haven't had a chance to shoot at water jugs or cans or bottles yet, but I think it would be fun. With eye protection of course...
I'd probably pass on the bottles unless I had a way to catch the glass...don't really want shards of glass for people or animals to get cut up on.

 

[Nushif]

Since my main shooting spot is an abandoned quarry on Mary's Peak ... Absolutely!
Plastic bottles are the best targets ever. But the occasional abandoned piece of electronics equipment is even better.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

Cans yes lots of fun, glass bottles or electronics equipment with hazardous materials inside, NO.

 

[Nushif]

Man ... by the time I get my hands on that stuff it's usually already filled with more holes than swiss cheese.

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