favorite non-target targets

[wishin]

Golf balls are fun and challenging.

 

[crazydaysorg]

Frozen Milk Jugs

Frozen milk jugs are not that exciting with a 9mm. Perhaps something larger or with a rifle or shot gun would be more exciting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V05okGGPG9k

 

[Armored farmer]

I buy seed for our farm in heavy paper bags. At the end of planting season we may have 500 bags in a pile. I take a utility knife and split them, then staple them to a pallet against my backstop. Makes for a nice clean target for sighting in. After the range session, just pull 'em down, toss in a match, and your done 'till next time.

Paper plates are about right for sighting in slug guns and blackpowder rifles, for deer season.

 

[gbran]

Drill a 13ga x 3 inch hole in a 4x4, insert a 12 ga shotgun and try to hit the primer with a .22 or .17 rimfire from a safe distance. It's harder than you'd think, but pretty rewarding one successful.

 

[Legionnaire]

Paint balls sitting on golf tees.

Gonna try this one ...

 

[StoneDog]

Tannerite can be a pretty fun alternative to paper targets

Plastic redcoat army men can also be fun and very challenging. Try headshots on a 2" plastic figure at 25 meters...

 

[TCB in TN]

I have done a number of different things. Big fan of water bottles and rifle rounds, used bowling ball, old non-working computer equipment, golf balls, coins, cheap plastic lighters (lit at night), apples/oranges/cucumbers/tomatoes (when they are going bad), eggs (had to get rid of the kids easter eggs some how), cheap shaving creme cans, Charcoal briquets, etc.

Some involve more clean up than others.

 

[JHK94]

My uncle got a bunch of old christmas decorations....A big plastic Santa and some reindeer. The lights didn't work anymore, the paint was real faded...and man, they were fun to tear up.

 

[crawfobj]

Tannerite. If you haven't tried it you should. Try it in the chamber of a cinderblock and watch the cinderblock disappear.

For nighttime fun, tape one or more glow sticks to a bottle of tannerite. The glowing mist and glowing coating on the ground is impressive.

 

[crawfobj]

Search tannerite on youtube sometime, especially the ones involving old washing machines or buckets of ice.

 

[BigDeesul]

Pumpkins, bowling pins, Basketballs, spraypaint cans, empty r134a tanks, exploding golf balls.

 

[konfederate.kowboy]

I actually have about 30 bowling pins at home in texas I bought for a couple dollars each.
I haven't got a place to shoot them. Most ranges at home find it unsafe to shoot anything but paper.

 

[konfederate.kowboy]

I actually have about 30 bowling pins at home in texas I bought for a couple dollars each.
I haven't got a place to shoot them. Most ranges at home find it unsafe to shoot anything but paper.

 

[oldfool]

Sounds like a great idea... Who wants to shoot "target crackers" with me? Bring your own .22LR loaded up with #12 shot!

they used to make those things in-the-way-back-when, always wanted one, never got one, and 22 shotshells is exactly what they were for, too !
would be a hoot out of a single shot 22 cheapo rifle, like maybe a Favorite or NEF

tried the paintballs, but just wasn't enough splash to fully satisfy the child within
the half size cheapo soda pop cans splash good w/ a 38 revolver at 75 yards, but use 'em up too quick, too much walking to seet 'em up
dandelions, when in bloom, make fair targets for a 22, and no walking downrange required to set 'em up

but I still have to vote for hard foam practice golfballs and baseballs for most durable fun, provided you watch your backstop, hits count, long bounces get extra points, but high bounces gets big bonus points... the gold medal goes to whoever gets 2nd hit before they come to rest... or whoever runs 'em downrange further/fastest

have oft thought of frozen or semi-frozen jello in small somethings, never got around to trying it out, though... some in a small balloon maybe ???

 

[Marc257]

charcoal briquettes, asprin, dum-dum sucker, and cow piles. When I was young and dumb we used to take empty baby food jars filled with gasoline and set them in front of a candle. Very dangerous, but interesting.

 

[Palehorseman]

Rocks, always different sizes, shapes and distances, and here in the Arizona desert, never a shortage of targets. Plus I enjoy the sound of a big cast boolit smacking them.

 

[Seattleimport]

Cheapo model airplanes, suspended from branches or pipe. Most fun when shooting with BB gun.

For bullets: old PC monitors, juicy fruit (oranges, grapefruit, and such), CDs/DVDs, shaken soda cans.

 

[Wyo_F-A]

prairie dogs! never in short supply!

 

[Roswell_Kid]

OK, entirely incorrect use of fossil fuel etc. etc., but Marc257´s baby food jar on a large scale...

Way back many years ago we did that at my uncle´s ranch in the NM desert, out in a huge pit dug for road material. Fill a 5 gallon plastic jug with gasoline, seal the top tight, set it up on an old table or something else to get it a couple feet off the ground. Strike a road flare and set it about fifteen feet behind the table (downrange), then shoot the jug with a very powerful weapon.

The bullet energy vaporizes the gasoline and you get what looks like a miniature nuclear explosion back over the road flare. The more energy in the round, the better the result. 50 BMG a half hour after sunset makes an unforgettable impression.

 

[FightDiary]

Bowling pin or a playing card for a smaller target.

 

[OkieOFT]

Lava lamps. Looks like a firework going off. Only when shooting stuff in a dump though, wouldn't want to blow glass all over a real range.

 

[Hatterasguy]

Water bottle caps, and once in awhile a big rock so I can slam a 7.62x54 steel core round into it and watch the dust fly.

My favorite game is shooting 7.62x54R through steel...they say its not AP...but it makes pretty holes through 3/8 and 1/4 plate.

 

[Zoidberg523]

One of my favorites is to buy dollar store soda ($1 for four 16 oz cans, six 12 oz cans, or one 3 liter) and pop them with my 22 mag. BOOM.

I also enjoy putting soup and coffee cans on knee- and waist-high weeds and saplings.

 

[wow6599]

Small Coleman type propane tanks, a gasoline line of fire in front of them and tracer rds. Very fun.

 

[loadedround]

I shoot someting no one has mentioned yet and make excellent 100 and 200 rd targets when you're tired of shooting paper targets. I save the aluminum(tin) lids from canned goods and OJ cans and have a collection of various sizes. They can be stapled to a target backstop and used as a target by themselves. They have nice contrast against the target backstop and are fun to shoot...cheap too.