Shooting paper or shooting "stuff"

[Spec ops Grunt]

Stuff's cool. I lived on an old ranch where junk had been dumped for many generations in big pit (like they used to do back then). For months, I'd dig around and scrounge tons of old medicine bottles, all sizes, shapes and all glass. Then I'd set up little shooting galleries for my pistol. Loads of fun. Glass is a very satisfying reactive target. The place was a giant junk heap anyway, so the broken glass didn't make any more mess than was already there. Old refrigerators from the '50s make nice targets for shooting groups on. Paper is okay, but stuff is better.

Thought I was the only one.

 

[john5036]

For distance shots... a small fire next to some small propane tanks is pretty fun. It's no Knob Creek, but it's pretty close.

 

[Col. Plink]

A 4x scope goes a long way in seeing those clays at 100 yds; I'll admit that w/ open sights they're barely visible (especially through peeps).

 

[Sniderman]

STUFF!
Paper for knowledge, stuff for fun!

My favorite stuff to shoot is actually called "Great Stuff" expandable foam,
(You can all see where this is going)
I have a friend who is a contractor and ends up with cans of it which are half full but have clogged nozzles
Be SURE to go back the next day with a BIG trash bag to pick up the hardened foam!

 

[Ruger44mag]

+1 for stuff!

I like blasting stuff over paper any day!

 

[cyclopsshooter]

walkin pop cans! can do that all day...

 

[Still Shooting]

"Stuff" is great, But...

The club I belong to has recently put a range ban on all vegetable matter. We are in the Eastern Adirondack Mts., and we do have populations of skunks, bears, etc. who could be attracted to those objects' remains - not to mention the ever-present bees!

In general, I think one of the biggest problems with keeping a range attractive for club members is the guys who leave junk on the range after they've had their fun and gone home.

While I like to shoot "things," right now I'm working up loads for 5 different rifles, so my current shooting is definitely paper!

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I voted stuff, because I was started on shooting cans when I was six, and spendt a lot of .22 rounds sinking cans at an abandoned rock quarry pond or plinking walnuts on the family property. Such practice prepared me for squirrel hunting with my uncle.

Mostly I shoot paper or metallic silhouettes on the lower formal range at the gun club now, but every so often on the upper informal range at the gun club I'll set up a row of golf balls at ten yards and plink at them til they disappear in the grass past the sixty yard mark. (Going to the practice range to shoot golf balls means something different to my wife's uncle.)

 

[madcratebuilder]

I like the ring of steel from a .308. I have started taking brightly colored clays to the range, you one large target and then a bunch of small targets from them.

 

[x_wrench]

paper is a great tool, especially for working up loads. but the fun starts when things, or peices of things, start flying!

 

[JR05]

I shoot both. Paper for rifle accuracy and idpa targets for pistol shooting. But about 60% of the time it is clays bottles shell casings bowling pins and other misc objects.

 

[mrbro]

No clay pigeon within 300 yds is safe! (on a good day)

 

[Furncliff]

Gallon water jugs with a Marlin 1894c and hot .357 loads. I almost enjoy watching my daughter blow them up more than doing it myself.

 

[CraigC]

Definitely "stuff"! Shooting paper bores me to tears and is only done for testing purposes.

 

[GrimCPT]

coconuts are a ton of fun to shoot!!

 

[armoredman]

Paper. Why? I have witnessed two fine wildcat ranges shut down due to people leaving thier "stuff" out there, up to an including cars and water heaters. A fine shooting area that was a pit to shoot into was also lost the same way, even after volunteers cleared shooting positions and removed debris time after time. Slob shooters leaving "stuff" behind make us all look bad. Even at the range I shoot at there is remnants of "stuff" out there, hard drives, jugs, etc., but far less of that than most wildcat ranges. Clay pigeons will at least melt back into the ground, but circuit boards are forever.
So I shoot paper, and I place any and all used items in the garbage cans provided at the range. Since I reload, I snag my brass, so the only thing I am leaving behind is my lead.
If you clean up all your "stuff" when you are done, instead of leaving the shot through golf balls and TV tubes behind, then great, go for it. If you leave your mess and don't care, well, whatever I'd say would be meaningless to you.

 

[clutch]

Paper. Why? I have witnessed two fine wildcat ranges shut down due to people leaving thier "stuff" out there, up to an including cars and water heaters. A fine shooting area that was a pit to shoot into was also lost the same way, even after volunteers cleared shooting positions and removed debris time after time. Slob shooters leaving "stuff" behind make us all look bad.

I tend to shoot at paper because it is nailed up in front of a berm that will stop my bullet on my property or the range property if the land isn't mine. Since I like IDPA and Highpower, shooting at paper is how you score your efforts. Heck, I shoot at paper with air guns all winter and paper is a tough grader of your efforts.

When you are blasting at trash that isn't against a berm, there is risk that your bullet may ricochet and head to places unknown.

Old eggs against the back stop is a lot of fun. When I shoot stuff, it is biodegradable.

Clutch

 

[CharlesT]

My range has a nice array of fun things to shoot. Whole bunch of hanging steel, different shapes and sizes. It's nice when they vary in size so they make a specific noise.


There are a variety of steel plates at 225 yards, 175, 100 yards, 50, and 25.
It's fun to take the AK out and 'ping' those 225 yards steelies. I am continually surprised by it's ability to do that. (12 inch plates)

 

[Black Butte]

There was a hornet nest that I was very tempted to have a go at with my Ruger 10/22. Had to pass though because there was no proper backdrop in place. Who here has "fond" childhood memories of chucking rocks at hornets?

 

[LibShooter]

If you clean up all your "stuff" when you are done...

I guess I'm lucky to be able to shoot in my own backyard. I'll confess to leaving shot up bottles and cans out at my shooting spot for a few weeks at a time. Anyone who can see them is either my guest or a trespasser. When they start looking too trashy for me, I pick them up. Anyone who would behave that badly at a public range should be ridden out on a rail.

Who here has "fond" childhood memories of chucking rocks at hornets?

My childhood waspicide memories involve BB guns. There were clothesline T posts behind the deck that seemed to have nests every summer. From relative safety I could fire away. A BB ricocheting down the pipe got the wasps boiling out. I learned to shoot them with a Crosman (4 pumps) as the wasps returned and landed.