Homemade Targets

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giggitygiggity

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The usual paper targets and soda cans/bottles are rather outdated. Does anyone have suggestions for other homemade targets? Thanks.
 
I tend to look @ the clearance fruit when I stop @ Wally World to get ammo.....Watermelons and cantaloupe are alot of fun......
 
Making sure it is not enviro-ugly, used paint cans, with just a bit of color left and filled with water work well - place the lid on TIGHT and place it lid-side DOWN in a hard surface. When hit at 100 yds by something like a 7mm mag, the can has a tendency to go airborne, spraying a pretty picture.

For .22's golf balls on a string are cool (and hard).

If you have some land, and a lot of big moths, using a big light at night will attract them - we used to try and shoot them at a gun club with shotguns in between stations during our night league - amazing how they could survive almost point blank shots, but they would "helicopter" downwards when you nailed them
 
I make target frames from 2x2's and 2x4's, and put a 24"x24" piece of cardboard on them to staple targets to. You can glue a bunch of cheap cookies like vanilla wafers, or Necco Wafers, onto poster board, then staple to the cardboard for nice little reactive targets. Or nearly anything similar and crappy tasting and cheap.
 
If you make friends with the person who works in the grocery store Produce section, you may be able to work something out where you will buy, at a really reduced rate, any melons, cantoloupe, etc that may be outdated or starting to turn bad. That way, it doesn't end up in the dumpster, you get to shoot it, and everyone is happy!:)
 
Since football season is getting close, go out and try to find jerseys marked down or on clearance of your rival team.

Fill them with straw, old rags or anything that will bulk them up.

Take them out and hang them so that they are about the same height as you are.

This will give you a man size target that you can practice hitting the vital areas.

By the way, anyone have any Browns, Ravens or Steelers jerseys they want to part with?

:neener:

:D
 
I have recently started buying old fruit from the grocery store too. Some fruit can make for some pretty cool explosions. Once, I took some empty wine and beer bottles and started firing at them! :)
 
16 ounces of prilled Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer (must be straight Nitrogen fertilizer, with no fillers, no Potassium, no Phosphorus). Mix in one teaspoon full of powdered aluminum. Shake well to distribute aluminum powder. Pour into a dry 16 ounce bottle, stand back at least 25 yards, and shoot with most any centerfire rifle round.

Enjoy!


-Matt

Note: This is not legal to transport after mixing the two parts. Perfectly safe and legal to transport as long as the AN and Al powder are kept separate.
 
I make man high target stands out of 1"x2". Drill holes through the top frame and hang different sized tin cans with string. The small tomato paste cans are very hard to hit. For COM sized targets I use a tomato can and for the shotgun I hang old paint cans.

They're fun because they are reactive, they're essentially free plus my range has banned all steel target so my store bought swingers are now verboten.
 
Golf balls and paint balls on golf tee's are hard and a lot of fun.

I also enjoy blasting text books I can't sell back, I have a calc book thats about to get a few .45 holes put into it later.:evil:
 
Hanging targets on a single string will allow them to turn and move. With a little wind, trying to hit 3-4 targets that faces you at different speeds, can be fast and challenging.

Throw in moving and changing distance while shooting and it doesn't get much more fun than that.:D

Hangingtargets.gif
 
MattTheHat where are you getting the fertilizer??

The farm supply stores around here have so many Homeland Security fliers posted about people trying to buy this stuff it's very uncomfortable even if you can find it in the proper concentration. I know you can buy small amounts off the internet, but got a source for cheap 50 lbs bags like we used to be able to get??
 
MattTheHat where are you getting the fertilizer??
Click to expand...

Step 1: Find a large amount of cow dung.
Step 2: Spread cow dung on clothing liberally.
Step 3: Go to farm store and ask for said fertilizer for your cow pasture.
Step 4: Tell them it's for farm use, and non-taxable. :)

Honestly, I purchased 10 pounds of it off the internet. I happen to have a farm, but I haven't gone to any ag supplies looking yet. I did the home made stuff last fall, and nobody seemed to be stocking fertilizer that late in the year.

I don't anticipate a problem with HLS issues from a rural ag supply place.

BTW, I purchased the aluminum powder off the internet too. I don't recall the name of the company, but they sell supplies to folks who make their own fireworks. I've got plenty o' aluminum powder left, so I need to go on and try to source some AN this summer.

-Matt
 
Today my buddies and I were setting up spent casings on the wooden rails that hold up the targets at the range. We had a blast taking turns shooting them, first one to run out of targets wins and the loser buys the next box of .22...
 
A computer keyboard hit with #4 buck is pretty exciting, if a pain to clean up. Retired cell phones and other dead electronics are fun as well, just be sure to remove the batteries. CRT monitors have a host of nasty chemicals in them, so avoid those. A computer mouse is fun too (just remove the ball, it is hard enough to cause very random richocets), as they've already got a cord to tie around tree limbs.
 
After Easter, I head to WM and buy the small plastic eggs. Not the regular sized eggs but the smaller ones. They are tough to hit and inexpensive on clearance.
 
http://www.thehighroad.org/printthread.php?t=532220 <-- great thread, same subject!

To add: dollar store items can be an absolute scream if you know what you're looking for. Little plastic eggs, big plastic eggs filled with water & frozen, little chocolate eggs, plastic 10" dia. pinwheels that have different colored blades (call the color, then try hitting it); pretty much anything that isn't too hard to clean up. Wally World is getting higher in price, so I hit the dollar stores pretty hard when I need cheap targets. Another good one is paintballs; a 1,000 count box @ $20 comes out to 0.02¢ each. Dick's has the Inferno paintballs on sale right now for exactly that. You can't even get ammo that cheap!

For the stuff that is a pain to clean, try this: get a friggin' humongous cardboard box and place it on its side. The breakables go inside the box. You still get some explosive fun, but most of the shrapnel is contained. Just tape up the holes in the bottom before you pick it up to move it. That way the stuff inside stays inside.
 
Honestly, I purchased 10 pounds of it off the internet. I happen to have a farm, but I haven't gone to any ag supplies looking yet. I did the home made stuff last fall, and nobody seemed to be stocking fertilizer that late in the year.

I don't anticipate a problem with HLS issues from a rural ag supply place.

BTW, I purchased the aluminum powder off the internet too. I don't recall the name of the company, but they sell supplies to folks who make their own fireworks. I've got plenty o' aluminum powder left, so I need to go on and try to source some AN this summer.

-Matt
Click to expand...


Thanks, that is exactly what I had to do last time I got some. Got it at the same time as I got the AL powder, but in different shipments. http://scienceforyou.net/
is where I got mine. It's as low as $4 a pound now.

But with Tannerite at $4.60 a pound complete I may give up making my own if I can't find a good source for bulk AN.

Texas has made it f'n tough to get any here from regular sources. It's now controlled under the Texas Commercial Fertilizer Control Act
Texas Agriculture Code (1981)
Chapter 63
(As amended September 1, 2007)

Which sucks for us.
 
I like saving the steel backing plates they cover the railroad ties with. That's the plate that's nailed to the tie that the rail sets on top of. Bring along the spikes and you have a standable steel target you can stand on uneven ground by careful positioning of the spike. Just keep an eye on your local tracks and wait till you see a spot where maintainance is being done.

These plates will survive any handgun cartridge, though a thin spot can be punched out with a 5.56mm FMJ. During fire season though, steel targets are prohibited. That's when I bring a bag full of oranges to shoot at. An orange can be vaporized by a good 9mm hit, so bring grapefruit for larger calibers.
Michael
 
I like saving the steel backing plates they cover the railroad ties with. That's the plate that's nailed to the tie that the rail sets on top of. Bring along the spikes and you have a standable steel target you can stand on uneven ground by careful positioning of the spike. Just keep an eye on your local tracks and wait till you see a spot where maintainance is being done.
Click to expand...

Coincidentally, I have five of those in my garage right now! Picked 'em up from a pile of RR scrap at one of my telecom sites. I figure I can bend a piece of rebar into an S hook to hang one from a taget frame. I have 400 rounds of armor-piercing .30-06, an M1, a scoped Rem 700, and I'm anticipating good times!
 
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