I didn't think I was a plinker, but maybe I am after all

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barnfrog

barnfrog

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Whenever I heard or read things like "plinking" or "plinking loads," I always thought of people shooting without really caring if their gun or ammunition was very accurate or precise. "Plinking" in my mind was little more than glorified noise making. Sure, plinkers were aiming at a target, but they kind of expected to miss a goodly number of times because their "plinking gun" or "plinking ammo" was maybe only good for 2 or 3 MOA at best. Not that I cared if others plinked, but when I shoot I like to know my gun and ammunition are dialed in so I can be relatively sure that misses are my fault.

But today for some reason I decided to look up the term and found that, at least according to Wikipedia, plinking is often intended as marksmanship practice, but is just more informal. To wit:

"The primary attributes of plinking that make it appealing as a sport are as follows: easy availability and broad variety of locations, minimum cost, freedom in practice, outdoors environment, and more engaging shooting experience when compared to established target ranges. Since not all people have reasonable access to a target range, outdoor shooting done at home or other nearby piece of land is a natural alternative, and for many, homemade shooting ranges are the only way to keep up good marksmanship."
​
It would seem that one plinks whenever they are shooting at things other than paper targets and doing so someplace other than a formal shooting range. Nothing about sub-standard firearms or ammunition or not caring if one hits what they're aiming at.

So based on this information, I guess I plink. Is this what most of you think of as "plinking?" Do you plink?
 
I would agree with the definition of shooting cheap ammo casually at anything other than paper.

"Minute of tin can?"

Our old gun club up north had a dedicated "plinking" range. You were allowed to shoot anything other than glass and you had to clean up afterwards.

Clay pigeons and cans were most popular. Once saw a fella testing body armor and another brought a car door once.....
 
My only requisite while Plinking is there be a target that “plinks”.:)
Steel is audible and rarely wears out!:thumbup:


NIGHTLORD40K said:
"Minute of tin can?"
Click to expand...
Soda cans are great because there are a lot of small letters to aim at. “Minute of letter E on the caffeine content” at 100 is my plinking goal.

Even better when they’re full!:D
 
barnfrog said:
....
But today for some reason I decided to look up the term and found that, at least according to Wikipedia, plinking is often intended as marksmanship practice, but is just more informal. To wit:

"The primary attributes of plinking that make it appealing as a sport are as follows: easy availability and broad variety of locations, minimum cost, freedom in practice, outdoors environment, and more engaging shooting experience when compared to established target ranges. Since not all people have reasonable access to a target range, outdoor shooting done at home or other nearby piece of land is a natural alternative, and for many, homemade shooting ranges are the only way to keep up good marksmanship."
​
It would seem that one plinks whenever they are shooting at things other than paper targets and doing so someplace other than a formal shooting range. Nothing about sub-standard firearms or ammunition or not caring if one hits what they're aiming at.

So based on this information, I guess I plink. Is this what most of you think of as "plinking?" Do you plink?
Click to expand...
I'm a die-hard plinker,and I think that's a pretty good definition of plinking. Away from a dedicated firing range, out on a farm or undeveloped land, with makeshift targets. I prefer soup cans to soda cans, as they're a little heavier, so a breeze doesn't blow them over as easily. Lately, though, I've been using biodegradable targets so that I can just leave them where they fall. I think oranges might be my favorite, but I've also used cabbage and a coconut. Oranges and cabbage give pretty nice feedback when hit. The oranges splat, and the cabbage 'shudders' when hit. I was hoping the coconut would explode, but no such luck. It turned out to be fairly boring.
 
Plinking to me means an enjoyable time at the range with friends or family. I load plinking rounds for my 9mm and 30-30 so that they are accurate and easy on the hands/shoulder. Also, 22LR gets used a lot for fun. There is always an expectation to hit the bullseye. We even play 'Battleship' with the 22's using a special grid target. Extra points if you nail a fly that lands on your target!
 
I very much started out as a plinker, frequenting abandoned quarries and places like that. Later on I got a shooting range membership and became a little more organized about it. Since covid came around I've gone back to being a part-time plinker. Personally I think it's a great way to practice since you can be more spontaneous that way and most self-defense situations will probably be more spontaneous than not. So I tried to practice shooting off hand a lot, which is what I think will probably be ultimately required of me if I ever have to shoot in self defense. I don't hunt much but plinking out in the woods also allows you to stay connected to nature and your own instincts.

A problem arises though when too many informal plinkers start frequenting the same spots. The more people you have the more it becomes necessary for organization and safety protocols.. that recently happened to a place where I had gone for years. People went up there and did everything, but you rarely saw more than one person anytime you went. If there was more than one car at the trailhead at any given time I'd turn around and come back another day...which wasn't often.

Something must have happened recently because somebody started putting up threatening posted signs targeting people riding dirt bikes and ATVs. Maybe somebody broke their arm and tried to sue.... Which is bulldung if you're trespassing in the first place. But I can testify that for years people freely parked up there and entered those properties along the abandoned public road which offers the most obvious access. Nobody ever seemed to have a problem with it and even a cop once told me parking and roaming around wasn't a big deal.

I never did a lot of shooting up there. If I had a revolver with me I might shoot up two or three cylinders at cans and other junk, then leave. Just enough to make sure that me and the gun could still work well together! Now it looks like I have to look a little farther and wider for a place to plink.
 
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Long time “plinker” here. Anything other than serious competition can be plinking IMHO, from very casual shooting, to fairly serious target work with very accurate ammo.

“Blasting”, or “blasting” ammo, on the other hand, is just slinging rounds down range, where any ammo you can lay your hands on will work.
 
Casual shooter enjoying weekly range session with the added benefit that it’s also building good gun handling techniques. If push comes to shove maybe those thousand of rounds a year of holding a good sight picture will pay off. Paper only by necessity as it’s what’s permitted at the two gun venues I shoot at.
Plinking with benefits maybe. :)
 
barnfrog said:
Sure, plinkers were aiming at a target, but they kind of expected to miss a goodly number of times because their "plinking gun" or "plinking ammo" was maybe only good for 2 or 3 MOA at best.
Click to expand...

Some times that’s more than good enough. The other way to get around “expecting to miss” is to shoot at bigger targets. If I never just played with guns using different targets, I doubt I would have near as much interest in them.

It’s no mistake that the 10 plate rack doesn’t reset on the smallest target, rather the largest. That way you don’t have to be able to hit the small targets to keep shooting.



Sometimes it gets boring being able to just clear the rack over and over. Move back 200 yards from it and use a .22 LR and you feel a great sense of accomplishment if you can clear it without a miss and it’s the same target…
 
AJC1 said:
When I go to the range am I plinking with 14.1 grains of 2400 or 7 grains of unique.
Click to expand...

No, that is target shooting at a known distance at a standardized target. Plinking is finding an old homestead or garbage dump in the woods and shooting at the various objects visible.
It does not necessarily connote poor marksmanship, though surely some who plink are poor marksmen. And personal opinions on it vary also. It is my opinion that shooting at steel targets is plinking, not only defined by the sound, but that marksmanship is measured by hit/miss, vs. paper targets where scoring by proximity to a central point is the norm.
Shooting a large metal disc at close distance does not really sharpen marksmanship, but it prepares one for more realistic shooting outside the range. (hunting, self defense, military/LEO training, etc.) Which is why 3 gun is so fun, and popular. The ultimate plinking game.
 
Plinking to me is shooting at targets of opportunity, either found on the range or positioned by the shooter. I still try for the best marksmanship I can.

I do load some ammunition using economically priced components but it is loaded with the same care as any other ammunition that I load. I would not call the economical ammunition plinking or blasting ammunition. It is just frugal use of funds where high performance ammunition is not needed.
 
Walkalong said:
Long time “plinker” here. Anything other than serious competition can be plinking IMHO, from very casual shooting, to fairly serious target work with very accurate ammo.

“Blasting”, or “blasting” ammo, on the other hand, is just slinging rounds down range, where any ammo you can lay your hands on will work.
Click to expand...


But then we would have to get into the differences in caliber between plinking and blasting??

Can one "blast" with a 22lr?
 
I do both plinking and target shooting. I'm a much better shot when plinking. To hit a row of tin cans at 25 yards with a handgun is much more impressive than to make a 3" group on paper. The group on paper may be decent by many standards but poor by the better shooters.

Often I do a bit of both. I rarely shoot targets from a bench though. Mostly offhand or from a field position.
 
Today "plinking" means just informal trigger time. Plinking ammo is often not up to the reloader's normal standards for hunting or accurate target ammo (often using up poor quality, damaged, mismatched or older not really suitable components). Personally, I don't have any "plinking ammo" as it's the OCD in me that sets my "standards". I occasionaly plink as just using handloads to get brass for reloading, refreshing myself with a particular gun or just trigger time, informal practice...
 
Most of my shots are taken at random tree stumps, pine cones, or unfortunate chipmunks.

chipmunks are my favorite really because I don't plan them. Out doing fire mitigation or the like, chipmunk pops up, I draw and point shoot fast as I can! Those little bastards are quick and small to hit with my BHP at speed, and they mostly get away, but I get super close every time.
 
I've never thought much about it. I guess I've always divided shooting into "hunting", "target shooting", and "plinking". In other words, if you weren't shooting at animals or formal targets like paper and steel, you were plinking. "Found targets" or "targets of opportunity" is a good way of putting it.

Other versions of "plinking" - some variation of tossing cheap ammo at whatever without really caring if you hit it - are what I have always called "blasting". Not to knock anyone else's hobby, but I've never understood "blasting". I guess I'd rather light off firecrackers or something. When I pull a trigger, I do it with the intention of hitting as well as possible, whether I'm on the line at nationals or wandering around the desert looking for old beer cans. In that light, I consider plinking to be one of the most enjoyable ways to spend a day and also an excellent way to improve practical marksmanship.
 
entropy said:
No, that is target shooting at a known distance at a standardized target. Plinking is finding an old homestead or garbage dump in the woods and shooting at the various objects visible.
It does not necessarily connote poor marksmanship, though surely some who plink are poor marksmen. And personal opinions on it vary also. It is my opinion that shooting at steel targets is plinking, not only defined by the sound, but that marksmanship is measured by hit/miss, vs. paper targets where scoring by proximity to a central point is the norm.
Shooting a large metal disc at close distance does not really sharpen marksmanship, but it prepares one for more realistic shooting outside the range. (hunting, self defense, military/LEO training, etc.) Which is why 3 gun is so fun, and popular. The ultimate plinking game.
Click to expand...
The steel definition means prs is plinking and as entertaining as that is for me it may damage their ego. ;)
 
I do buy bulk packs of .22 with the idea of just seeing how much of it we can shoot. So, in a way we're just blasting away, but - that is a lot of trigger pulls, and sight aquisition, and practice claring a firearm and practice loading mags. So, it is all with some intent - and that it is fun to shoot at a reactive target, be that a soda can or a spinning arm, or whatever, it is all practice. In a way to me shooting at sometimes swinging tarets, but also just different stationary targets, simulates shooting at a moving target to a degree, so - there is some real world skill to it, or being learned, but - informally for sure. It is a bit like free swim at the pool, or open gym.
 
I consider myself more of a plinker than anything but I only shoot at my club. Fortunately we have a nice collection of steel to shoot at including plate racks, hanging steel targets and a Texas star. We also have a .22 range where I can blast soda cans and steel targets.

I'd love a place where I could shoot cinder blocks, pumpkins, watermelon, etc but I don't have one of those.

Reloading pistol is enjoyable to me because I get to tinker with different loads and find out what I like and what works well in my guns. Chasing tiny groups, while perhaps more "serious", isn't as much fun for me and more of a way to prove out that I'm on the right track in developing a good load.

The most fun for me is clearing a plate rack or Texas Star without missing.

I don't hunt or compete. I enjoy guns and reloading for the mechanical aspects. Hearing ringing steel fits into that I suppose.
 
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